District Letter and Instructions for Web

District Letter and Instructions For The Web-Based Survey

Dear (Name of Designated ARRA Study Liaison)

Thank you for your participation in the U.S. Department of Education funded study, Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act’s Role.

Information from the attached survey will be combined with data already submitted through Recovery.gov and other required reporting to provide a national picture of implementation and funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, or the Recovery Act). It is vitally important to ED that every state is represented; they have asked us to remind you that your Local Education Agency (LEA) is a federal grantee and therefore required to cooperate with this national evaluation.

I am writing to provide you with instructions for accessing the web-based survey to be completed as part of this study. We request that, as your district’s designated liaison for the study, you be responsible for identifying the appropriate staff to complete various sections of the survey and for submitting the completed web-based survey to Westat.

The survey can be completed at a time of your convenience on our website but should be submitted no later than June 1, 2011. Please review the table on the first page of the survey to determine the most appropriate staff for completing various sections of the survey

You and the staff designated to complete a section or sections of the survey may go to the website at any time and enter your confidential user login and password below to begin the survey. The sections do not have to be completed at one time. Each respondent can save their answers and return to complete the survey. All staff will use the same user login and password listed below to access the survey:

Survey address: https://www.ARRASurvey.org

User Login: «Username»

Password: «Password»

We look forward to receiving your completed web survey. If you prefer to complete a paper version of the survey, email your request to the study team at ARRAStudy@westat.com or call our toll-free number, 1-888-855-1452. Please feel free to contact me directly with questions or issues. Juanita Lucas-McLean, the evaluation’s Data Collection Manager, can also assist. We both can be reached by calling 1-888-855-1452 or by emailing ARRAStudy@westat.com. We welcome the opportunity to work with your agency over the next several years to make this study a success.

Sincerely,

Babette Gutmann

Charting the Progress of Education Reform

Evaluation Project Director

Notice of Confidentiality

Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183).  Information that could identify an individual or institution will be separated from the survey responses submitted, kept in secured locations, and be destroyed as soon as they are no longer required. Survey responses will be used only for research purposes. The reports prepared for the study will summarize findings across individuals and institutions and will not associate responses with a specific district, school, or person. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1850-0877. The approximate time required to complete this data collection is estimated to be 75 minutes. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimates or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202-4651 If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20208.