OMB83C Change Memo ICILS 2018 Main Study Sample Increase

DATE: January 31, 2017

TO: Robert Sivinski & E. Ann Carson, OMB

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela, NCES

FROM: Lydia Malley, NCES

Re: International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2018) Main Study Recruitment Sample Increase Change Request (OMB# 1850-0929 v.3)

The International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) is a computer-based international assessment of eighth-grade students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) skills that will provide a comparison of U.S. student performance and technology access and use with those of the international peers. ICILS is conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), an international collective of research organizations and government agencies that create the assessment framework, assessment, and background questionnaires. In the U.S., the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts this study. In preparation for the ICILS 2018 main study, NCES will conduct a field test from March through May 2017 to evaluate new assessment items and background questions, to ensure practices that promote low exclusion rates, and to ensure that classroom and student sampling procedures proposed for the main study are successful. The U.S. ICILS main study will be conducted from February through May 2018. Field recruitment will begin in October 2016 and main study recruitment in May of 2017.

The request for the field test and the main study recruitment activities and the field test data collection was approved in August 2016 (OMB# 1850-0929 v.1), with the final versions of the field test questionnaires approved through a change request in December 2016 (OMB# 1850-0929 v.2).

This request updates the approved record with an increase in school, teacher, and student samples sizes planned for the main study to be conducted in early 2018. Research application to special handling districts and school recruitment for the main study will begin in spring 2017. NCES is increasing the planned main study sample sizes in order to improve accuracy of resulting estimates by reducing standard errors, and to increase the number of subgroups that can be reported. The planned sample sizes are increased from 150 to 300 schools; 3,000 to 6,000 teachers; and 3,000 to 9,000 students.

These increases in burden have been reflected in the attached updated Supporting Statement Part A and Part B. These changes increase the total requested burden time by 825 hours (from 2,046 to 2,871 hours), and correspond to an increase in estimated respondent burden time cost of $22,855 (from $57,285 to $80,140).

Due to the increased sample sizes the total cost to the federal government for ICILS 2018 has increased by $238,130 (from $2, 510,970 to $2,749,100, covering a 2-year study period).