Honor Roll PRA Justification 07. revised 3.21

President’s Higher Education Community Service

Honor Roll Application

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act

Justification

A1. Need for Information Collection

The statutory purposes of the Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation) include renewing the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community throughout the United States, and encouraging citizens to engage in full-time or part-time service. (See Sec. 2 , Findings and purpose, of 42U.S.C. 12501.) In pursuit of its 2006-2010 Strategic Plan, the Corporation’s Board of Directors asked the Corporation to lead a national campaign to increase the community service participation of college students and to increase and improve the community service and service-learning activities of colleges and universities across the nation.

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll program identifies and rewards exemplary higher education community service programs and practices. This important program, which cannot be implemented without the application/ data collection vehicle, helps fulfill the Corporation’s strategic goals of engaging 5 million college students in service, and ensuring that half of all higher education institutions provide, or stimulate the creation of, resources to coordinate service, service-learning, and community partnerships. During this second year of the Honor Roll program, the application will include a special focus area that highlights tutoring, mentoring and other services provided by college students to youth in disadvantaged circumstances—an emphasis that directly supports the President’s No Child Left Behind initiative and the First Lady’s Helping America’s Youth initiative.

A2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used

The information collected includes descriptions of specific community service projects, data on the scope and impacts of the service projects, estimates of the number of enrolled students participating in community service activities, and information on institutional supports for service such as academic service-learning opportunities and community service coordination offices.

As with last year’s program, the data collection will be implemented by means of emailed electronic application forms. College staff will assemble the needed information and input the requested data into the application.

Data are reviewed by a panel of staff from the Corporation to determine which institutions are included on the Honor Roll, which is maintained on the Corporation’s website. The application data will also be evaluated by a Presidential Awards review panel, composed Corporation officials and staff, Department of Education officials and staff, and, potentially, higher education community representatives.

A3. Minimize Burden: Use of Improved Technology to Reduce Burden

The Corporation is using an electronic Honor Roll application that uses technology that is readily available on a Personal Computer. This electronic application form allows an applicant institution to create and review an application before sending it electronically to the Corporation. Using this approach, the Corporation expects 100 percent of the Honor Roll applications to be submitted electronically, as they were last year.

A4. Non-Duplication

There are no other sources of information to use or modify for the purposes described in A2 above.

A5. Minimizing economic burden for small businesses or other small entities

This collection of information impacts only those small businesses which are degree-granting colleges. There is no economic burden to such colleges or to any other small entities beyond the cost of staff time to complete the application. This is minimized as much as possible by only requesting the most directly relevant information for making Honor Roll membership and Award determinations.

A6. Consideration of Collection

If this information were not collected, the Corporation would not be able to fulfill commitments to its Board of Directors regarding Strategic Plan approved by OMB. Nor would it be able to meet expectations of higher education associations and of the general higher education community, which responded very positively to the Honor Roll’s first year.

The Honor Roll program collects information in response to the President’s Call to Service. In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President Bush issued a challenge to all Americans, calling on each citizen to dedicate at least 4,000 hours to service over the course of their lives.

The Honor Roll program is expected to stimulate both colleges and students toward significantly expanded participation in the national service programs managed by the Corporation, particularly Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps*VISTA, and AmeriCorps*State and National. In its first year, 2006, the Honor Roll program drew over 500 applications, and it is expected that the higher education community’s demand for this program will grow significantly in this second year, to approximately 1,000 applications.

A7. Special circumstances that would cause information to be collected in the specified ways

There are no special circumstances that would require the collection of information in any other ways.

A8. Provide copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the Agency’s notice

The notice to solicit feedback on the proposed Application for the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll appeared in the Federal Register on December 6, 2006, Volume 71, No. 234, page 70742 and 70743. No comments were received. However, the Honor Roll’s proposed special focus area for this year, tutoring and other college readiness services for youth in disadvantaged circumstances, which was discussed in the December Notice, has received very positive support at several higher education community conferences over the last few months.

A9. Payment to Respondents

There is no payment or gift to respondents.

A10. Confidentiality

The application includes an assurance that information provided by applicants will not be publicly disclosed in institutionally identifiable terms exception in the case of information taken from “exemplary project” summaries which may be posted on the Honor Roll website and other Honor Roll publicity. Information provided by respondents is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

A11. Sensitive Questions

The information collected does not contain questions of a sensitive nature.

A12. Hour burden of the collection

1,000 estimated respondents; response frequency: 1 time per year; average response time per response: 1 hour; total estimated burden time: 1,000 hours.

A13. Cost burden to the respondent

There is no annual cost burden to respondents resulting from the collection of this information other than employee salary costs for the time required to complete the application., which is estimated as $16.41 per respondent (assuming the national average hourly wage rate.), for an annual total of $16,410.

A14. Cost to Government

A total annual cost of $61,500 is estimated for 2007, which includes a one-time database investment of approximately $50,000. For future years, the annual cost of contractor support for the application and related database is estimated at $11,500.

A15. Reasons for program changes

Last year’s Honor Roll application included 15 questions specifically related to Hurricane Relief services provided by college students—in response to Gulf coast hurricane disasters of 2005. Because the special focus has been changed, all of the Hurricane Relief questions have been eliminated from this year’s application. The new application form includes two questions requesting student service estimates related to a yearly determined “special focus” -- a net reduction of 13 questions compared to last year’s application in this area.

Similarly, the request for “exemplary project” descriptions in last year’s application related to Hurricane Relief service has been replaced by a request for project descriptions related to the new special focus topic. (Disaster relief community service projects can continue to be reported in the General exemplary service project descriptions section.)

The new application includes two new institutional characteristics questions—related to minority-serving status and whether the institution is recognized under the Carnegie Foundation’s “Community Engagement” classification. These questions will facilitate analysis and reporting of Honor Roll institutional data, and will be used to improve the targeting of Honor Roll publicity activities. In addition, one question has been added asking applicant institutions to indicate how they learned about the Honor Roll program. Again, this information will help target future Honor Roll promotional activities.

Further, in order to improve clarity for respondents and application reviewers, the revised Application provides five project description blocks (in place of a single block allowing five project narratives) for General Community Service projects and five for the Special Focus area. In addition, in order to facilitate data analysis, the revised Application provides blocks for identification of community service areas, number of students serving, and total service hours for each of the up to ten narrative project descriptions.

A16. Publication of results

Not applicable because this information collection will not be published.

A17. Explain the reason for seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

Not applicable.

A18. Exceptions to the certification statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement in OMB Form 83-I.

Part B - Part B is not applicable. 

This information collection is for an application for recognition of exceptional practices in higher education community service, and will not involve the use of statistical methods.