Request for District Administrative Records

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Appendix F:

Request for District Administrative Records

From: [Data Collection Liaison]

Date: xx/xx/20xx

Subject: Student data request for the National Study of Continuous Quality Improvement to Inform the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program

Thank you for participating in the National Study of Continuous Quality Improvement to Inform the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, a study that Mathematica and its partners are conducting for the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of this evaluation is to examine the implementation and effectiveness of a continuous quality improvement system designed to improve staff practices and student outcomes in afterschool centers in your district.

This memo outlines our request to [district name] for administrative data on students in the study. The data requested consist of background information and outcomes of the participating students, covering the 2020–2021 through 2022–2023 school years.

We will work with your district to determine the appropriate timing of data delivery. In addition, we realize that some data elements listed in this memo might not be collected by your district. If a data element is not available in your district’s data systems, please let us know, and we will work with you to determine if another, similar data element may be used instead.

A. Student Data Requested

Sample of students for whom data are requested. We would like data on selected students in your district who attended an afterschool center that is participating in the study at any point during the first month of the 2021–2022 school year. We will send you a list of these students (identified by either name and date of birth or by student ID), and we request that the student administrative data you provide contain these same identifiers so that we can link these data with other data collected for the study. When we create files for analysis, we will drop all personally identifiable information. No individuals will be named in any reports.

Data elements requested. Table 1 lists the individual-level data elements we are requesting for students in the sample. We are requesting these data for the 2020-2021 through 2022–2023 school years.

Table 1. Student Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
Background data
School year	School year to which the record pertains (2020–2021, 2021–2022, or 2022–2023)
Student ID	ID used by the district or state to uniquely identify students. The ID should be consistent across years of data and in all files provided on students. For example, if state assessment data are provided in a separate data file, please use the same ID in that file as in other data on students, such as background, attendance, and behavior data.
First name	First name of student. You may provide name in only the background data if other data are provided separately.
Middle name	Middle name of student. You may provide name in only the background data if other data are provided separately.
Last name	Last name of student. You may provide name in only the background data if other data are provided separately.
Date of birth	Month, day, and year of birth (for example, MM/DD/YYYY)
Gender	Gender of student
Race	Race of student
Ethnicity	Hispanic or Latino indicator for student
Grade level	Grade level of student at the beginning of the school year
Free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) status	Student’s eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch as of the beginning of the school year
English learner status	English learner status of student as of the beginning of the school year
Special education status	Special education status of student, such as having an Individualized Education Program, as of the beginning of the school year
School ID: beginning of the school year	ID used by the district or state to uniquely identify the school in which the student was enrolled at the beginning of the school year
School name: beginning of the school year	Name of school corresponding to School ID for beginning of school year
School ID: end of the school year	ID used by the district or state to uniquely identify the school in which the student was enrolled at the end of the school year
School name: end of the school year	Name of school corresponding to School ID for end of school year
State assessment data
Math score on the state assessment for the school years requested, as available	Student’s score on the math section of the state assessment. Please provide all available scores (for example, scale score, normal curve equivalents, and number correct). If a student retook a test, please provide the first score in that year, not any subsequent score(s).
Math test grade level	Grade level of math test taken
Math test description	Name of math test. Please indicate if a modified or alternate form of a state test was taken.
Math test language indicator (if other than English)	Indicator for whether the math test was taken in a language other than English, such as Spanish
Math test date	Date of math test taken by student. If no date is available, then “spring,” “fall,” or similar qualifier can be provided.
Math test mode	Indicator for whether the math test was administered by computer, paper, or other mode
Math test exemption or invalidation code, as applicable	Code or indicator if a student received an exemption from taking a math test (such as a medical exemption) or the test was found to be invalid
English language arts (ELA) score on the state assessment for the school years requested, as available	Student’s score on the ELA section of the state assessment. Please provide all available scores (for example, scale score, normal curve equivalents, and number correct). If a student retook a test, please provide the first score in that year, not any subsequent score(s).
ELA test grade level	Grade level of ELA test
ELA test description	Name of ELA test. Please indicate if a modified or alternate form of a state test was taken.
ELA test language indicator (if other than English)	Indicator for whether the ELA test was taken in a language other than English, such as Spanish
ELA test date	Date of ELA test taken by student. If no date is available, then “spring,” “fall,” or similar qualifier can be provided.
ELA test mode	Indicator for whether the ELA test was administered by computer, paper, or other mode
ELA test exemption or invalidation code, as applicable	Code or indicator if a student received an exemption from taking an ELA test (such as a medical exemption) or the test was found to be invalid
Attendance data
Total absences	Number of days the student was absent from school in the district during the school year requested. This should be a total for all schools attended in the district during the year.
Unexcused absences	Number of days the student was absent without permission (i.e., had an unexcused absence) in the district during the school year requested. This should be a total for all schools attended in the district during the year.
Excused absences	Number of days the student was absent with permission (i.e., had an excused absence) in the district during the school year requested. This should be a total for all schools attended in the district during the year.
Tardy days	Number of days the student was marked as late to school in the district during the school year requested. This should be a total for all schools attended in the district during the year.
Days enrolled	Total number of school days the student was enrolled in the district during the school year requested.
Behavior data
In-school suspensions (days)	Total number of days during the school year that the student was suspended (in-school)
In-school suspensions (times)	Total number of times during the school year that the student was suspended (in-school)
Out-of-school suspensions (days)	Total number of days during the school year that the student was suspended (out-of-school)
Out-of-school suspensions (times)	Total number of times during the school year that the student was suspended (out-of-school)
Expulsions	Indicator if the student was expelled at any point during the school year from any school in the district
Behavioral incidents that did not lead to suspensions or expulsions (times)	Number of times that the student was cited for a behavioral incident that did not lead to a suspension or expulsion.

^aThe notes column will be completed by study staff using information provided during an initial call to discuss the data request.

B. Justification for Requested Data

We greatly appreciate your assistance with this data request. We want to assure you that the study team and the U.S. Department of Education carefully considered this request to ensure it includes only the data necessary to conduct a high-quality study.

We will use the requested data to measure the impacts of the continuous quality improvement system on student outcomes in the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years. The outcomes include students’ achievement in math and reading, absences, and behavior. The data from 2020–2021 will enable us to account for preexisting differences between students in centers that did and did not implement the continuous quality improvement system. We will also use the 2020-2021 data to examine whether any impacts differ by student characteristics.

C. Data Confidentiality

Mathematica and its subcontractors follow the confidentiality and data protection requirements of The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183. We will use the data provided in response to this request for research purposes only. The reports prepared for the study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district, school, afterschool center, afterschool program, or individual. We will not provide information that identifies respondents to anyone outside the study team, except if required by law.

D. File Format

You may provide the data in a single file or multiple files, whichever the district prefers. We can work with almost any file format, including Excel, comma delimited or fixed-width text files, SAS, SPSS, Stata, and Access. Please also provide documentation of the data, including definitions of variables, codes, and values, as well as contact information for someone who can answer questions about the data.

Thank you very much for your assistance with this data request! We greatly appreciate your assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns at [liaison phone number and email].

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is xxxx-xxxx. The time required to complete this voluntary information collection is estimated to average 20 hours per district, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences 550 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC  20024.