Supporting Statement _NEW_Training

Department of Justice

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Information Collection Requirement

Supporting Statement

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Office of Training and Professional Development Student and Supervisor Training Validation Surveys.

A. Justification

1. ATF is conducting ongoing training evaluation studies to determine the effectiveness and value of its training programs for Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel. The Kirkpatrick 4-level model is used by ATF to evaluate formal training programs. A survey combining both quantitative and qualitative components distributed to both students and their supervisors will be used to collect date to measure at level 3 of the model. This level determines whether the training program has changed the behavior of the participants; i.e., is what the student learned being applied on the job? This is called transfer of learning. According to a GAO study (GAO-T-GGD-00-131) conducted on the design, implementation, and evaluation of training in several high-performing agencies, all of the agencies used the Kirkpatrick model. Further, the conduct of Kirkpatrick level III evaluations is a necessary requirement of Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (standard 4.06.02) which is an accrediting body founded by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress in order to validate Federal law enforcement training efforts, spending, and allocation of resources. This level of evaluation also further supports ATF’s efforts to gather program performance measure data regarding the accountability of training costs and assure value of training.

2. The information collected on these surveys will provide ATF with data on how the training participants have transferred the knowledge and skills learned to their jobs. ATF utilizes a web based survey program to distribute surveys and collect data. The use of such software decreases burden time for those completing the surveys, eliminates the need for manual data entry, increases the reliability of data, protects the privacy of responding individuals, and increases the security of the data. Collection of this information will help ATF determine whether the training program is consistently meeting objectives and impacting the performance of the individuals in their work place. These efforts support the President’s Agenda for Human Capital Management which includes elements to improve employee performance and to identify specific outcome metrics through which to demonstrate agency program results.

3. The surveys (one student and one supervisor survey) will be sent to participants via a web based medium. An e-mail will be sent to each participant with an online link to the survey. The survey provides directions for completion and submission. The web based survey instrument is designed for ease in completing, but still adequate to collect the desired data. The use of technology to collect and store responses will significantly reduce the burden to both the public and the government. The web based surveys are comprised primarily of checking boxes with options for some brief narrative responses. The survey is voluntary and should take respondents no more than 12 minutes to complete.

4. The information collected is specific to ATF training activities and is not collected anywhere else either within the Bureau or externally.

5. The collection of this information does not have any significant impact on small business or other entities.

6. The collection of this information is necessary in order for ATF training programs to provide performance measure data to OMB and meet Federal law enforcement training accreditation requirements. The inability to meet these requirements will cause failure to achieve Federal accreditation, as well as severely hamper the collection of performance measure data, and may have direct funding repercussions for future Bureau training efforts.

7. There are no special circumstances regarding this information collection and it is in conformance within the guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.6. Respondents are sent the survey 6 to 10 months after completing training. This gives students enough time to begin implementing the learned skills on the job.

8. ATF benchmarked survey collection questions and systems with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, as well as consulted with various industry texts regarding best practice. Further, ATF used its past experience conducting similar types of surveys to determine the best use of the survey instruments in order to support the purpose of the data collection. No other outside sources were consulted. A 60-day and 30-day Federal Register Notice was published to solicit comments from the general public. No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is associated with this collection.

10. Respondents are advised that the information being collected will remain confidential and that the confidentiality of the information collected via this survey is protected by 5 U.S.C. 552 except where noted. Access to responses is secured.

11. No questions of a sensitive nature are asked.

12. Estimates of the annual burden hours are as follows:

Number of Respondents: Ave 1,800 per year

Frequency of Response: Per training attended

Completion Time: 12 minutes

Annual Hour Burden: 360 hours

13. There is no annual cost burden to the respondent as a result of this collection of information.

14. Estimates of the annual cost to the Federal Government are as follows:

Printing:	None
Distribution (Electronic):	None
Staff Salary (monthly review, analysis, and reporting, GS13 @ 16 hrs per month):	$ 8,648
Total:	$ 8,648

15. There are no program changes or adjustments associated with this collection.

16. The results of this collection will not be published.

17. ATF does not request approval to not display the expiration date of OMB approval for this collection.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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