Documentation for the Generic Clearance

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

FOR THE COLLECTION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH & ASSESSMENT

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

[ ] INTERVIEWS

[ ] SMALL DISCUSSION GROUPS

[ ] FOCUS GROUPS

[ ] QUESTIONNAIRES

[X] OTHER (EXPLAIN: LARGE DISCUSSION GROUP)

DESCRIPTION OF THIS SPECIFIC COLLECTION

1. Intended purpose

There are already several on-going federally-funded efforts to create better access to early care and education (ECE) administrative data (particularly at the state level) through investments in building early childhood integrated data systems (ECIDS). However, Head Start, a large federally administered ECE program that serves low-income children and families, has often not been as well-represented in local or state ECE data integration efforts. Therefore, in FY 2014, ASPE, in partnership with ACF/OPRE, funded a new project, Building Capacity to Use Linked Early Childhood Administrative Data for Program Improvement and Broader Research Initiatives (BCULD). The objectives of this project are to: (1) examine opportunities and challenges in linking Head Start and other ECE administrative data, as well as using these linked data, to support continuous program improvement in ECE settings, (2) develop resources that can support the linking of Head Start administrative data with other data systems (e.g., child care, state-funded pre-kindergarten, K-12 public schools, health, child welfare, etc.), and (3) examine the “readiness” of a select small number of Head Start grantees to engage in data linking efforts. This Generic Information Collection request will address objectives #1 and #2.

2. Need for the collection

This project is building on (and not duplicating) other federal and non-federal efforts focused on promoting the better use of administrative data and data linkages across early childhood and other administrative data systems, both vertically and horizontally. The project is placing a particular emphasis on the perspective of local programs, including barriers and challenges they face, as well as examples of successes. Prior to this project, the perspective on these issues is often that of states as opposed to local programs. There is also a particular emphasis on Head Start administrative data, since Head Start has often not been as well-represented in ECE data integration efforts.

3. Planned use of the data

Information gathered through this data collection will inform the work of an on-going federally-funded research project that is examining challenges ECE programs face in linking and using administrative; the current status of administrative data linkages across ECE programs; and what resources might be useful to support programs’ efforts to link administrative data. The information will be used to inform the development of products and resources that will support ECE programs in linking and using their administrative data for continuous program improvement. These resources will also build on existing tools and literature related to this topic, but would lack key informant information from the program and on-the-ground perspective of stakeholders without this data collection.

4. Date(s) and location(s)

Data will be collected through a large group discussion to be held on March 31, 2015 as part of the National Head Start Association’s (NHSA) 42^nd Annual Head Start Conference and Expo. The conference session will be held from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm in Washington, DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

5. Collection procedures

The data collection will be conducted through a large group discussion during a session at a research conference. The large group discussion will be held at the National Head Start Association’s (NHSA) 42^nd Annual Head Start Conference and Expo taking place in Washington DC on March 31, 2015. The session will be structured in a way where the session facilitator will pose open-ended questions to the session attendees, and session attendees will be invited to respond. Session attendees may also be broken up into smaller groups to brainstorm on their responses, and then report out to the larger group later in the session. Attendance at the session (and subsequent voicing of responses from attendees) will be completely voluntary. The questions to be posed by the facilitator during the large group discussion have been developed and revised prior to the session (see Attachment A). Hard copies of the questions will also be distributed in person at the session, so that attendees can jot down their thoughts in writing, if this is preferable over voicing their thoughts out loud during the session. The hard copies will not request any personally identifiable information. The verbal information shared by session attendees will be collected qualitatively in written note form by session scribes (the federal project offices will serve as the session scribes). After the conference session, Contractor staff will analyze the data qualitatively by reviewing the session notes and pulling out the main themes from the discussion.

6. Number of collections (e.g., focus groups, surveys, sessions)

There will be one large group discussion held as a session at a conference in Washington, DC with the possibility of smaller group discussions at the same session.

7. Description of respondents/participants

The large group discussion held at the NHSA conference in March will constitute a sample of convenience. Participants will include whichever conference attendees decide to participate in the conference session during their time at the conference. Possible participants include Head Start and other ECE program directors and staff, other educators, technical assistance providers, and other relevant partners (such as NHSA staff). We selected this as the mechanism for data collection in order to capitalize on the fact that several ECE program staff would be in the same location at the same time for the annual NHSA conference. We anticipate no more than 100 participants in the session.

8. Description of how results will be used

The qualitative information gathered from the large group discussion will be summarized by the Contractor for this project. Contractor staff will pull out the main themes from the group discussion and provide as notes to the federal project officers (FPOs). Together, Contractor staff and the FPOs will then decide what implications these themes have for two project products: (1) a brief summarizing opportunities and challenges ECE programs face when linking administrative data (which will already be underway at the time of the conference session); and (2) a series of resources to support programs in linking and using linked administrative data. For the opportunities and challenges brief, Contractor staff may make edits/revisions based on themes from the large group discussion. For the series of resources, Contractor staff and the FPOs will decide which resources are likely to be most useful to programs, based on the main themes that emerge from the large group discussion.

9. Description of how results will or will not be disseminated and why or why not

Both the brief and the series of resources described in #8 above will be made publically available after they are finalized, with Head Start and other ECE program directors and staff as the main intended audience. However, the document describing the main themes that emerged from the large group discussion will not be made public.

AMOUNT OF ANY PROPOSED STIPEND OR INCENTIVE – NONE

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response or participation time in minutes (/60) = annual burden hours):

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Early Care and Education Program Director and Staff	100	1.5 hours	150 hours

BURDEN COST COMPUTATION

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Hourly Rate	Response Time	Total
Early Care and Education Program Director and Staff	100	34.21	1.5 hours	$5,131.50

OTHER SUPPORTING INFORMATION

REQUESTED APPROVAL DATE: March 16, 2015

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Lindsey Hutchison, Social Science Analyst

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 202-260-6610

DEPARTMENT/OFFICE/BUREAU: HHS/ASPE

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