OMB note

SUBJECT: OMB Clearance Memorandum for ECLS-K Phase IV National Data Collection OMB 1850-075

The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize changes to the study instruments and procedures resulting from the field test. A brief summary of the preliminary results of the field test is included in Section A2.2 of the clearance documents. More details of the Spring 2006 field test will be discussed in the forthcoming field test report.

Study Instruments.

Changes in the student and parent questionnaires resulted in the increase in the projected respondent burden for the students and parents for the national data collection. See attached Estimated Respondent Burden chart.

Student Questionnaire. Questions on the availability of foods at school and home were added to the questionnaire before the field test that increased the length of time to complete the instrument. Timing tests performed after the clearance submission in October 2005 and before the field test indicated that the questionnaire averaged 29 minutes to administer, longer than the projected administration time shown in the OMB respondent burden chart. To shorten the length of administration time, consultations with subject matter experts and the Content Review Panel were made to identify items that were critical for the study to collect. While the revised student questionnaire worked well in the field test, the addition of the items on the availability of non-Federally sponsored foods at school and consumption of food at home and school to the final set of items increased the respondent burden from the projected 0.25 to 0.34 hours per instrument to complete. The final Spring 2007 student instrument focuses on the following topics:

- perceived academic and interpersonal skills and competencies,

- locus of control/general self,

- parent communication and receipt of social support,

- peer relationships and receipt of social support,

- participation in school-sponsored activities and other activities in the home,

- general health, perceptions of weight, and reports of exercise, and

- availability of snack foods in schools and dietary intake in school and home.

Parent Interview. The increase in the projected burden hours per instrument is due to the addition of the questions that comprise the section on family structure (FSQ). It will have been 3 years since this family information was collected, consequently, this information will include updates to the household composition.

School Administrator. Questions on school facilities were reintroduced from the spring 2004 questionnaire.

Other Changes. Other changes in wording, item order, or format were made to improve the logical flow of the questions, reduce the burden from reading instructions, and to allow for the scanning of completed paper and pencil instruments by an optical scanner.

Study Procedures.

Participant Incentives. The remuneration plan for the national ECLS-K eighth grade study is as follows:

- parents receive a token $2.00 with the advance packet of materials (see Exhibits A-1 and A-2 in Clearance package);

- students receive $15 upon completion of the student questionnaire and direct assessments;

- teachers and school administrators receive $25 in their questionnaire package for the teacher/school administrator background, the student rating questionnaires and the school questionnaire; and

- schools receive an honorarium depending on the number of students enrolled at the following rates $50 (1 -4 students), $75 (5 - 9 students), or $100 (10 or more students), after all school data collection activities are completed.

More details are found in Section A9, page A-22 of the Supporting Statement.

Data Collection. With the exception of the parent interview that is administered through computer-assisted interviews (CAI), all other respondents complete self-administered paper/pencil questionnaires.

Data Security. Procedures for ensuring the security of data are elaborated in section A10.

Burden Hours. The estimated burden for the eighth grade national collection is summarized in the attached table and in section A12, page A-33. Please note that the hours shown in the table only include burden hours for the spring 2007 eighth grade data collection. Hours ascribed to the completed spring 2006 field test have been deleted from the table.

Eighth grade followup
Respondent type	Sample N	Response rate/ selection rate	Number of respondents	Hours per instrument	Number of instruments per respondent	Total hours	Total number of instruments
Spring-Eighth Grade Main Study (Spring 2007)
Spring School Administrator Questionnaires (SQ)	2,829	0.85	2,405	0.50	1	1,203	2,405
Spring Classroom Teacher Questionnaire (TQ)	6,224	.90	5,602
English Questionnaire	3,112	.90	2,801	.25	4	2,729	10,916
Science Questionnaire	1,556	.90	1,400	.25	4	1,365	5,458
Math Questionnaire	1,556	.90	1,400	.25	4	1,365	5,458
Teacher Background Questionnaire	6,224	.90	5,602	.167	1	936	5,602
Spring Special Education Teacher Questionnaire (SP)	708	.90	637
Questionnaire A	708	0.90	637	.083	1	53	637
Questionnaire B	708	0.90	637	.167	2	213	1,274
Spring Student Questionnaire	12,129	0.90	10,916	0.34	1	3,711	10,916
Spring Parent Interview	12,129	0.85	10,310	0.75	1	7,732	10,310
Study Total	34,0191	NA	29,8702	NA	NA	19,307	52,976

NA Not applicable

1 Total Sample N represents the total sample size of respondents, with no duplication on the number of listed instruments each respective respondent is asked to complete.

2 Total Number of respondents represents the total number of respondents, with no duplication on the number of listed instruments each respective respondent is asked to complete.

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