Attachment A - Formative Usage Report 0970-0356

Attachment A: use of Formative generic FOR ACF RESEARCH (0970-0356) From 2018-2020

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Mary Switzer Building

330 C St., SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

In June 2018, OMB approved ACF’s request to renew the generic information collection for formative data collections (0970-0356). This report describes the use of the generic IC over the three years of approval, including the number of hours used, as well as the nature and results of the activities completed under this generic clearance.

The renewal of the generic IC was approved for three years, during which time ACF requested 24 generic ICs for formative data collection. The use of the formative generic IC has been beneficial to the development and improvement of ACF program and demonstration research and evaluation projects. By October 2020, project use of this generic clearance met the original estimate approved in June 2018 and we were approved at that time to increase the burden level by 1,200 hours while ACF published a Federal Register Notice to allow for public comment on this revision request. The increased use is indicative of how useful this formative information collection process has been to informing our research and evaluation projects.

	Date	Project	Annual # Responses	Annual # Burden Hours
1	2/25/2017	Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions (VIQI): Examining the Quality-Child Outcomes Relationship in Child Care and Early Education	70	105
2	3/31/2017	Formative Data Collections for Culture of Continuous Learning Project: A Breakthrough Series Collaborative for Improving Child Care and Head Start Quality	40	37
3	3/31/2017	Supporting and Learning from Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Implementation Research and Evaluation: Understanding the Two-Phase Grant Structure to Inform Future Research	12	16
4	1/19/2018	The Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families Project (BEES) (FIRST SUBMISSION)	55	100
5	1/19/2018	Family Level Assessment and State of Home Visiting (FLASH-V)	118	57
6	2/6/2018	PREP Studies of Performance Measures and Adult Preparation Subjects (PMAPS)	75	19
7	7/14/2018	Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Innovation Project – Formative Data Collection	24	24
8	8/14/2018	Assessing Options to Evaluate Long-term Outcomes Using Administrative Data: Targets of Opportunity (FIRST SUBMISSION)	20	40
9	8/14/2018	The Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families Project (BEES) (SECOND SUBMISSION)	66	141
10	8/31/2018	Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare Project	65	135
11	2/4/2019	Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages	36	36
12	2/13/2019	Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project (FIRST SUBMISSION)	127	69
13	3/6/2019	Child Care Interstate Background Check (CC-IBaCs) Environmental Scan	232	198
14	3/15/2019	Integration of Head Start and State Early Care and Education Systems	44	11
15	4/3/2019	Runaway and Homeless Youth Program - Grantee Assesment	24	12
16	6/4/2019	Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project (SECOND SUBMISSION)	120	214
17	6/13/2019	Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and Cross-Site Services Components (FIRST SUBMISSION)	52	312
18	8/13/2019	Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS)	226	277
19	2/14/2020	Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) (FIRST SUBMISSION)	387	1155
20	2/19/2020	Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and Cross-Site Services Components (SECOND SUBMISSION)	34	1360
21	5/13/2020	Assessing Options to Evaluate Long-Term Outcomes Using Administrative Data: Identifying Targets of Opportunity (SECOND SUBMISSION)	9	18
22	5/16/2020	Head Start Connects	29	32
23	7/14/2020	Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Programs (NS2G)	476	424
24	8/6/2020	The Experiences, Needs, and Voices of Workers in Low-Income Households During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency	44	88
25	10/26/2020	Understanding Judicial Decision-Making and Hearing Quality in Child Welfare: Descriptive Study of Child Welfare Courts	73	23
26	10/26/2020	Strengthening the Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) (FIRST SUBMISSION)	256	364
27	11/6/2020	Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) (SECOND SUBMISSION)	235	610
Interim Burden Increase (1,200 hours)
28	11/27/2020	Expanding Evidence on Replicable Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families (R3)	140	572
29	12/17/2020	Strengthening the Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) (SECOND SUBMISSION)	43	344
30	12/17/2020	Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) (THIRD SUBMISSION)	42	336
	Totals		3174	7129

Example uses of the Formative Generic Clearance

Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Project

The Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) project is studying ways to help Responsible Fatherhood programs overcome implementation challenges related to recruiting fathers, enrolling them in services, and keeping them actively engaged in programming. The SIRF project will identify implementation roadblocks and work with fatherhood programs to develop and test promising solutions using iterative learning research methodologies such as rapid cycle evaluation.

The SIRF study used the formative generic clearance to gather information from staff at fatherhood programs on existing services, implementation challenges, and promising solutions, to help identify a list of priority challenges and strategies that can be tested in iterative learning cycles. Due to limited information readily available about fatherhood programs’ current implementation challenges or what approaches are most effective addressing their challenges, the study team gathered information about programs’ current practices to inform the study design and promising approaches to test in SIRF.

The project benefitted greatly from the Formative Generic for ACF Research because it allowed us to begin gathering information about the state of the field quickly to inform the larger study. Because of the generic clearance, we were able to speak with practitioners in the field and gain valuable feedback on study priorities, including common and critical challenges programs are facing and the types of approaches they have tried to address those challenges, to identify promising solutions to explore through iterative learning cycles. We identified more than 300 unique challenges. This information collection allowed us to create a priority list from over 550 promising strategies to test with programs and to develop a study design appropriate for testing the approaches we identified.

Following this information collection in the spring of 2020, we submitted a subsequent information collection request under this same generic to dive more deeply into programs’ unique experiences with the specific challenges and priority solutions we had identified. Importantly, this second information collection has allowed us to engage a new cohort of grantees who received grant awards in September 2020, ensuring our study aligns with the new programs’ practices and plans. This information collection is ongoing and will help the study hone in on specific solutions to be tested and in what programs, and will inform how we implement the rapid learning cycles to ensure the study aligns with the programmatic context.

The information collected in both packages was not available via written materials, and is critical to developing a sound plan and design for the rapid learning evaluation activities that will be carried out in 2021 under a future information collection request.

Head Start Connects: Individualizing and Connecting Families to Family Support Services

Head Start Connects: Individualizing and Connecting Families to Family Support Services (HS Connects) is a research project intended to build knowledge about how Head Start programs (Head Start or Early Head Start grantees, delegate agencies, and staff) across the country coordinate family well-being support services for parents/guardians and tailor services to individual family needs. HS Connects used the Formative Generic for ACF Research to collect preliminary information about the landscape of Head Start programs with respect to how they coordinate family support services. Specifically, the goal was to develop an understanding of the variation in coordination processes and models used by Head Start programs to inform the design of case studies as part of the larger HS Connects project and to learn more about specific Head Start programs that could potentially be candidates for the case studies.

The information collected during the formative data collection was used to shape the case study design and, in particular, the site selection criteria and interview protocol development. The formative data collection revealed important differences in program structure and resources that could influence coordination processes. For example, some sites have partnerships that allow them to provide support services for families at the same location where they receive Head Start services, potentially making it easier for families to receive needed services. In other sites, staff worked with a large number of families to coordinate services given budget constraints, which may limit the individualized attention given to each family. Insights such as the ones described above helped the HS Connects team select sites that represented some of the diversity of Head Start program structures and resources related to coordination and ensure the protocols contained relevant and specific questions that would provide in-depth information on how coordination varied across sites. In sum, the project greatly benefited from the opportunity to collect information about the landscape of coordination and allowed the project team to make informed decisions about the case study design.