OMB83C Change Memo v6

Memorandum United States Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

National Center for Education Statistics

DATE: July 18, 2018

TO: Robert Sivinski, OMB

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela, OMB Liaison, NCES

FROM: Nancy Sharkey, SLDS Program Officer, NCES

Kristen King, SLDS Program Officer, NCES

SUBJECT: Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Survey 2018 Schedule Change Request (OMB# 1850-0933 v.6)

As authorized by the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002, Title II, the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant Program has awarded competitive, cooperative agreement grants to states since 2005. Through grants and a growing range of services and resources, the program has helped propel the successful design, development, implementation, and expansion of K12 and P-20W (early learning through the workforce) longitudinal data systems. These systems are intended to enhance the ability of States to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data, including individual student records. The SLDSs should help states, districts, schools, educators, and other stakeholders to make data-informed decisions to improve student learning and outcomes; as well as to facilitate research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps. The SLDS grants extend for three to five years for up to twenty million dollars per grantee, and grantees are obligated to submit annual reports and a final report on the development and implementation of their systems. All 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply, and each state can apply multiple times to develop different aspects of their data system. Since November 2005, 97 grants have been awarded. In addition to the grants, the program offers many services and resources to assist education agencies with SLDS-related work. Best practices, lessons learned, and non-proprietary products/solutions developed by recipients of these grants and other states are disseminated to aid all state and local education agencies. The request to formalize the annual SLDS Interim Progress Report (IPR) as the SLDS Survey, intended to provide insight on state and U.S. territory SLDS capacity for automated linking of K-12, teacher, postsecondary, workforce, career and technical education (CTE), adult education, and early childhood data, and to conduct the annual SLDS Survey from 2017 through 2019 was approved in February 2017 with the latest update approved in May 2018 (1850-0933 v.1-5). The SLDS Survey helps inform ongoing evaluation and targeted technical assistance efforts to enhance the quality of the SLDS Program’s support to states.

This request is to change the approved time schedule of the 2018 administration of the SLDS Survey. As a result of needed changes to annual compliance documents required by the U.S. Department of Education, which must precede the annual SLDS Survey collection, we won’t be able to begin administering the 2018 SLDS until August 2018. Additionally, more time was added to make indicator tables available to the public, as the refined leadership review process is longer and more extensive than originally projected. This request does not impact the approved response burden or the total cost to the federal government.

We revised documents in this submission as follows (text in blue font denotes additions):

Part A

6. Frequency of Data Collection

The SLDS Survey will be an annual survey that will begin in April 2017 and then in August of each year, beginning in 2018.

16. Time Schedule for SLDS Survey

Timeline. The SLDS Survey is an annual collection, and the schedule is schedules for different years of its administration are shown below.

2017 Timeline	SLDS Survey Collection, Processing, and Publication
Early April 2017	Email instructions to SEA respondents
April – June 15, 2017	One or two webinars, on an as-needed basis, to provide more information about the Survey, how to complete the instrument, NCES’s planned use of the data, and to address respondents’ questions about the Survey
June 15–30, 2017	Survey final reminder email
June 30, 2017	SEAs are urged to have finished submitting accurate and complete data
July 15, 2017	Mandatory final submission date
September (Tuesday following Labor day)12, 2017	Response by SEA’s to requests for clarification, reconciliation, or other inquiries from NCES. All data issues to be resolved. Close survey submission on Tuesday following Labor Day. No files are accepted after close-out.
October 15, 2017	NCES review of files, file documentation, and brief analysis completed. Provisional responses available for internal use but not publication
November 15, 2017	Indicator tables and use cases become public, NCES website updated. Current year collection data will be available to assess and respond to ad hoc requests
November 15, 2017– April 1, 2018	Respondents have the option to make update, change, or reconciliation requests to adjust state-specific data reflected in the SLDS Survey public indicator tables

Beginning in 2018, the SLDS Survey data collection will begin in August of each year and more time will be allocated to the review of the submitted data.

2018 & 2019 Timeline	SLDS Survey Collection, Processing, and Publication
August 2018	Email instructions to SEA respondents
August – September 2018	One or two webinars, on an as-needed basis, to provide more information about the Survey, how to complete the instrument, NCES’s planned use of the data, and to address respondents’ questions about the Survey
September 15–30, 2018	Survey final reminder email
September 30, 2018	SEAs are urged to have finished submitting accurate and complete data
October 15, 2018	Mandatory final submission date
November 2018	Response by SEA’s to requests for clarification, reconciliation, or other inquiries from NCES. All data issues to be resolved. No files are accepted after close-out.
February 15, 2018	NCES review of files, file documentation, and brief analysis completed. Provisional responses available for internal use but not publication
June 15, 2018	Indicator tables and use cases become public, NCES website updated. Current year collection data will be available to assess and respond to ad hoc requests
June 15 – August, 2018	Respondents have the option to make update, change, or reconciliation requests to adjust state-specific data reflected in the SLDS Survey public indicator tables

Part B

3. Methods for Maximizing Response Rates

In 2017 SLDS Survey Administration:

1. Non-active grantee contact information retrieval is ongoing, and will be completed prior to the beginning of the data collection.

2. SLDS Survey will be sent to all States/U.S territories via email in April of each survey year 2017 (APPENDIX A – 2017 Introductory Email Script).

3. Non-response follow-up will take place from late April through June 30^th :

   1. 2017 Non-Response Follow-Up Email sent (APPENDIX C).

   2. Non-Response call process (APPENDIX D) to begin mid-June through June 30^th deadline.

4. Webinars (APPENDIX B):

   1. NCES will host one or two webinars annually, on an as needed basis, to provide more information about the Survey, how to complete the instrument, NCES’s planned use of the data, and to answer any questions from respondents.

   2. Respondents will be invited to webinars via listserv email invitation.

In 2018 SLDS Survey Administration and Beyond:

1. Non-active grantee contact information retrieval is ongoing, and will be completed prior to the beginning of the data collection.

2. SLDS Survey will be sent to all States/U.S territories via email in August of the 2018 and future survey years (APPENDIX A – Introductory Email Script).

3. Non-response follow-up will take place from late August through September 30^th :

   1. Non-Response Follow-Up Email sent (APPENDIX C).

   2. Non-Response call process (APPENDIX D) to begin mid-June through September 30^th deadline.

4. Webinars (APPENDIX B):

   1. NCES will host one or two webinars annually, on an as needed basis, to provide more information about the Survey, how to complete the instrument, NCES’s planned use of the data, and to answer any questions from respondents.

   2. Respondents will be invited to webinars via listserv email invitation.

Appendix A-D

References to 2017 have been revised so that different years can be inserted as needed.