SABS 2013 and 2015 Part B tracked changes

National Center for education statistics

(nces)

School Attendance Boundary Survey

(SABS)

July 2013 – July 2016

Part B

OMB Submission

DECEMBER 2012

2. Collection of information employing statistical methods

1. Respondent Universe

The universe of this survey will come from the 2012- 2013 Common Core of Data public school universe, with a few exceptions. Boundary data will not be collected from:

1. Regional schools

2. Special Ed schools

3. Charter schools

4. Closed schools

5. Open enrollment schools

2. Statistical Procedures for Collecting Information

This is a census of the school universe, thus sampling will not be utilized. We expect approximately 0.88 response rate. The expected response rate for SABS is based on the experience in the original SABINS and response targets set for SABS. In SABINS, no limit was set on how many times respondents were contacted or over what period of time, and almost all districts in the end provided data. Financial and time limits in SABS, will not allow us to meet the same level of response rate. We already have boundaries for de facto districts, so the estimated response rate is reflected as 1.00. For the other schools, a target response rate of 0.75 was set, which, based on the SABINS experience we believe is achievable. Across all types of districts this would result approximately in 0.88 response rate.

3. Procedures for Collection of Information

NCES and Census staff will prepare a list of eligible schools and school districts from the 2012-2013 CCD school universe file and will categorize districts into three types:

1. Census Bureau staff will contact the acquired SABIN school districts first to confirm and update their school boundaries.

2. Census staff will contact and confirm school districts that have only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. The district boundary for these schools will be each school’s boundary.

3. Census staff will then contact the rest of the school districts.

NCES’s quality control process uses custom python scripts to confirm the following: all regular schools within a district have a boundary; every geographical point in the district is served by grades K-12; all attributes in the database correspond and conform to set formats (e.g., NCESSCH IDs must be 12 characters); and school points fall within submitted school boundaries.

In anticipation of discrepancies we may discover between the school boundaries already collected by the Census Bureau and the district boundaries we will collect, we are currently working on a process to inform the School District Collection team at the Census Bureau about school boundaries that are reported in this SABS collection that extend beyond the reported school district boundary lines.

4. Methods for Maximizing Response Rates

The school service area boundaries will be collected using one of the following methods:

1. Districts will submit through the online collection system, which allows them to log in during the collection period to update, submit, and correct school boundaries. The final file will be in the shape file format that can be used by all GIS system;

2. Districts will submit through the online collection system or via email their already existing shape file; or

3. Districts will submit their paper maps via mail, which the Census Bureau will digitize into shape file format.

As the survey due date approaches, the Census Bureau will contact nonresponding school districts by phone and mail to encourage their participation in the survey.

NCES also attempts to maximize response by reducing response burden. The Census staff will contact and confirm school districts that have only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school and set the district boundary as the school’s boundary. Also, the district that already have reported 2010-2011 school boundaries will only have to make changes to the schools that had a boundary change. The ones that did not change will only have to be confirmed.

5. Tests of Procedures and Methods

The SABS system will use cloud technology maintained and updated by NCES’s contractor, Sanametrix, who will daily review and update the school boundaries data during the data collection period.

6. Reviewing Statisticians

Tai Phan, of NCES, is the SABS program director and Marilyn Seastrom is the Chief Statistician for NCES consulted on technical aspects of the data collection.