The Private School Universe Survey
(PSS) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES) to collect basic information from the universe of private
elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The PSS is
designed to gather biennial data on the total number of private
schools, teachers, and students, along with a variety of related
data, including: religious orientation; grade-levels taught and
size of school; length of school year and of school day; total
student enrollment by gender (K-12); number of high school
graduates; whether a school is single-sexed or coeducational;
number of teachers employed; program emphasis; and existence and
type of its kindergarten program. The PSS includes all schools that
are not supported primarily by public funds, that provide classroom
instruction for one or more of grades K-12 or comparable ungraded
levels, and that have one or more teachers. No substantive changes
have been made to the survey or its procedures since its last
approved administration (OMB# 1850-0641 v.6-7). The PSS is also
used to create a universe list of private schools for use as a
sampling frame for NCES surveys of private schools. This request is
to conduct the 2017-18 Private School Universe Survey (PSS) data
collection and the 2017-18 and 2019-20 PSS frame-development
activities
US Code:
20
USC 9543 Name of Law: NCES is authorized to conduct this survey
under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA)
There is no change in the
estimated number of respondents or burden per respondent from the
last approved PSS administration. The apparent increase in total
burden hours is due to the last clearance request listing burden of
two data collection years based on a three-year average, while this
request list total burden requested from June 2016 through May
2019.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.