Parent Letter

Parent Letter

Dear (Name of Parent/Guardian):

I am writing to ask you to complete a survey of parents/guardians who applied for a private school scholarship through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). Enclosed you will find a check for $5 (NOTE: amount will vary depending on how many children the parent has) ; after you complete the survey we will mail you a check for $15 for each child that you complete a survey for in appreciation of your time spent on this effort.

The survey is part of a study of the OSP that is required by Congress, to help us learn whether the program is effective. The survey asks questions about what you looked for when choosing a school and your child’s or children’s current school experiences, whether they received an OSP scholarship or not. If you applied for more than one child, you will need to complete a survey for each child (and will receive an additional $15 for each completed survey).

The survey should take approximately X minutes. We ask that you complete it by Y date.

The easiest way to fill out the survey is on the web:

• Go to www.(name of website).com.

• Enter the unique username and password we have assigned to, listed below:

Username:

Password:

If you would prefer a paper version of the survey, please email, (insert email address), or call 888-xxx-xxxx.

When you applied to the program for a scholarship, you agreed that you and your child(ren) would participate in this study over the next few years. This spring at their schools, each child who applied for an OSP scholarship in 2011 will take a test; those who were in grades 4-12 last spring will also complete a brief survey about themselves and their school experiences.

The obligation to respond to this survey is required to obtain or retain benefits and all information from this study will be kept confidential as required by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (Title I, Part E, Section 183). To ensure privacy, no personally identifiable information will be disclosed as part of the evaluation. All of the information that is collected will be stored separately from school records in a secure location. Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific school or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you, your school, or anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

If you have any questions or need help completing this survey, please contact Laura Prinslow, Research Associate at Westat (phone: 1-888-xxx-xxxx; email: <email address>).

Thank you for participating in this important evaluation.

Sincerely,

Juanita Lucas-McLean

Project Director