Part B and C NHES 2012

NHES:2012

Full-scale Data Collection

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Part B

September 14, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DESCRIPTION OF STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY 1

B.1 Statistical Design and Estimation 1

B.1.1 Sampling Households 1

B.1.2 Within-Household Sampling 2

B.1.3 Expected Yield 3

B.1.4 Estimation Procedures 4

B.1.5 Nonresponse Bias Analysis 5

B.2 Survey Procedures 7

B.3 Methods for Maximizing Response Rates 11

B.4 Individuals Responsible for Study Design and Performance 12

References 12

List of Tables

Table Page

1 Estimates of required sample size to detect a relative difference between two estimated proportions of 10 or 15 percent 2

2 Expected percentage of households with eligible children, by sampling domain 3

3 Expected numbers sampled and expected numbers of completed

screeners and topical surveys in the NHES:2012 4

4 Numbers of completed interviews in previous NHES survey administrations 4

List of Figures

Figure

1 Screener Data Collection Flow Chart. 9

2 Topical Data Collection Flow Chart 10

PART B. DESCRIPTION OF STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY

B.1 Statistical Design and Estimation

Historically, an important purpose of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) has been to conduct repeated measurements of the same phenomena at different points in time. Recently, decreasing response rates required NCES redesign the NHES. This redesign involved changing the sampling frame from a list-assisted Random Digit Dial (RDD) to an Address-Based Sample (ABS) frame. The mode of data collection has also changed from telephone, interviewer-administered to mail, self-administered.

The NHES:2012 will be an address-based sample covering the 50 states and the District of Columbia and will be conducted from January through August 2012. Households will be randomly sampled as described in section B.1.1, and a screening questionnaire will be sent to each sampled household. Demographic information about household members provided on the screener will be used to determine whether anyone is eligible for the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) or Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) surveys. In order to limit respondent burden, regardless of the number of eligible children, no more than one child per household will be sampled for the topical surveys and no more than one topical survey will be administered in a household.

The target population for the ECPP survey consists of children age 6 or younger (as of December 31, 2011) who are not yet in kindergarten. The target population for the PFI survey includes children/youth ages 20 or younger who are enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grade or are homeschooled for the equivalent grades.

B.1.1 Sampling Households

A nationally representative sample of 160,000 addresses will be used. This nationally representative sample of addresses will be drawn in a single stage from a file of residential addresses maintained by a vendor, Marketing Systems Group (MSG), based on the United States Postal Service (USPS) Computerized Delivery Sequence File (CDSF). MSG provided the sample for the NHES Pilot and Field Tests. As in past NHES surveys, the NHES:2012 will oversample black and Hispanic households using Census and frame data. This oversampling is necessary to produce more reliable estimates for subdomains defined by race and ethnicity. NHES:2012 will use the stratification methodology used for the Census Bureau’s Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (AQE) or a comparable methodology. The AQE design concentrates on achieving a significant sample of black and Hispanic households. The universe consists of Census tracts likely to contain relatively high proportions of these subgroups. The three strata for the NHES:2012 are defined as households in:

1) Tracts with 25 percent or more Black persons;

2) Tracts with 40 percent or more Hispanic persons;

3) All other tracts.

The Hispanic stratum contains a high concentration of households in which at least one adult age 15 or older speaks Spanish and does not speak English very well and will be used for the assignment of Spanish screener mailing materials. The sample allocation to the three strata will be 20 percent to the black and Hispanic strata and 60 percent to the third stratum. This allocation will provide improvement in the precision of estimates by race/ethnicity compared to use of a uniform sampling rate in each stratum, and will protect against unknown factors that may impact the estimates for key subgroups, especially differential response rates.

The NHES:2012 is also designed to meet precision requirements that allow for comparison to prior NHES administrations. The precision requirements are the ability to detect a 10 to 15 percent relative change in percentage estimates between 30 and 60 percent. Table 1 shows the sample sizes needed to meet these precision requirements (alpha=.05, 1-B=.80).

Table 1. Estimates of required sample size to detect a relative difference between two estimated proportions of 10 or 15 percent

True value of  	10 percent relative difference		15 percent relative difference
	Value of  (1)	Sample size (2)	Value of  (1)	Sample size (2)
30 percent	33 or 36 percent	1,300	25.5 or 34.5 percent	830
60 percent	54 or 66 percent	400	51 or 69 percent	170

(1): the value of  when the true relative difference is 10 or 15 percent.

(2): the number of completed interviews assuming one child per household is selected for either ECPP or PFI. The sample size applies to overall estimates and for any particular subgroup of interest, e.g. Hispanic.

B.1.2 Within-Household Sampling

Eligible children within households that have a completed screener will be sampled for the ECPP or PFI topical surveys. One key criterion in the development of the sampling scheme for NHES is minimizing respondent burden. With a mail survey, this is more of a concern than with a CATI instrument, since the customization that is possible with CATI is impossible or impractical with a hard-copy mail instrument. First, the inclusion of multiple topical survey instruments would result in a bulky mailing that would likely depress response rates. Second, the redundancy of some items (e.g., the household characteristics section, and the mother and father sections for children having the same parents) would result in increased respondent burden or the need for potentially complicated instructions to the respondent. As a result, the decision for 2012 is to restrict the number of topical survey interviews to no more than one per household.

Each household will be randomly pre-designated as either an “ECPP household” or “PFI household.” This pre-designation will be used only when a household has children in both domains. In any household with a child/children in the eligible population for only one survey (either ECPP or PFI, but not both), one child will be randomly selected in that domain. Because ECPP eligible children comprise a smaller portion of the population compared to PFI eligible children, differential sampling will be applied to ensure a sufficient sample size for the ECPP survey. Among households with children eligible for both surveys, approximately 51 percent will be designated to the ECPP domain and 49 percent will be designated to the PFI domain. Once the sampling domain for a particular household has been determined, a random number will be used to sample from amongst the eligible children if the household has more than one child in the sampling domain.

B.1.3 Expected Yield

As described above, the initial sample will consist of approximately 160,000 addresses. An expected screener response rate of 68 percent and an address ineligibility¹ rate of 10.5 percent are assumed, based on results from the 2009 NHES Pilot and 2011 NHES Field Test. Under these assumptions, the expected number of completed screeners is 97,376.

The ECPP and PFI topical surveys will be administered to households with completed screeners that have eligible children. Both the NHES Pilot and Field Tests achieved a percentage of households with children of about 31 percent, which is 3 to 4 percentage points lower than population estimates.² The NHES-generated estimate is used in sample size calculations because this most accurately reflects what can be expected under the NHES design. Expected estimates of the percentage of households with eligible children overall and in each sampling domain are given in table 2, as well as the expected number of screened households in the nationally representative sample, based on the distribution of household composition and assuming a total of 97,376 completed screeners.

Table 2.  Expected percentage of households with eligible children, by sampling domain

Household composition	Percent of households	Expected number of screened households
Total households with children	31	30,187
Households with at least one ECPP eligible child and no PFI eligible children	5	4,869
Households with at least one PFI eligible child and no ECPP eligible children	21	20,449
Households with at least one ECPP eligible child and at least one PFI eligible child	5	4,869

NOTE: The distribution in this table assumes 97,376 screened households. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Estimates are based on calculations from NHES:2011 Field Test.

Table 3 summarizes the expected numbers of completed interviews for the NHES:2012. These numbers take into account within-household sampling. A topical response rate of 73 percent is assumed based on results from the Pilot and Field Test.

Table 3.  Expected numbers sampled and expected numbers of completed screeners and topical surveys in the NHES:2012

Survey	Expected number sampled NHES:2012	Expected number of completed interviews NHES:2012
Household screeners	160,000	97,376
ECPP	6,339	4,628
PFI	23,847	17,409

Table 4 shows the number of ECPP and PFI completed interviews from previous NHES survey administrations. Recent administrations of the telephone NHES suffered from low response rates that affected desired samples sizes. The NHES:2012 design will return the NHES sample sizes to levels consistent with a key objective of the NHES, to provide cross-sectional comparisons of estimates over time.

Table 4. Numbers of completed interviews in previous NHES survey administrations
Number of completed topical interviews	NHES survey administration
	1993	1995	1996	1999	2001	2003	2005	2007
ECPP	†	7,564	†	6,939	6,749	†	7,209	†
PFI	19,144	†	17,774	17,652	†	12,422	†	10,681
† Not applicable; children in this category were not eligible for these topical interviews.

B.1.4 Estimation Procedures

Fully weighted datasets from the NHES:2012 will be available. Separate datasets will be created for the PFI and ECPP surveys. The estimation weights for the NHES:2012 surveys will be formed in stages. The first stage is the creation of a base weight for the household, which is the inverse of the probability of selection of the address. The second stage is a screener nonresponse adjustment. The third stage is the adjustment of the base weights for households with multiple addresses. The fourth stage is the poststratification adjustment of the weights to Census Bureau estimates of household totals by household demographic characteristics. Variables that may be used include region and presence of children in the household. These household-level weights include nonresponse and undercoverage adjustments. National household-level estimates may be produced using these final, poststratified household weights.

The poststratified household-level weights are the base weights for the person-level weights. For each extended interview, the person-level weights also undergo a series of adjustments. The first stage is the adjustment of these weights for the probability of selecting the person within the household. The second stage is the adjustment of the weights for topical survey nonresponse. The third stage is the raking adjustment of the weights to Census Bureau estimates of the target population. The variables that may be used for raking at the person level include race and ethnicity of the sampled person, household income, home tenure (own/rent/other), region, age, grade of enrollment, gender, family structure (one parent or two parent), and highest educational attainment in household. These variables (e.g., family structure) have been shown to be associated with response rates. The final raked person-level weights include undercoverage adjustments as well as adjustments for nonresponse.

Standard errors of the estimates will be computed using a jackknife replication method. The replication process repeats each stage of estimation separately for each replicate. The replication method is especially useful for obtaining standard errors for complex statistics such as quantiles. The standard errors may be computed using the complex survey data analysis package WesVar Complex Samples Software or other software packages that use replication methods such as Stata, SAS, SUDAAN, or the AM software package. Also, PSU and STRATUM variables will be available on the data files for users who wish to use Taylor series linearization to compute standard errors.

B.1.5 Nonresponse Bias Analysis

To the extent that those who respond to surveys and those who do not differ in important ways, there is a potential for nonresponse biases in estimates from survey data. The estimates from NHES:2012 are subject to bias because of unit nonresponse to both the screener and the extended topical surveys, as well as nonresponse to specific items. Per NCES statistical standards, a unit-level nonresponse bias analysis will be conducted if the 2012 NHES overall unit response rate (the screener response rate multiplied by the topical response rate) falls below 85 percent. Additionally, any item with an item-level response rate below 90 percent will be subject to an examination of bias due to item nonresponse.

Unit nonresponse

To identify characteristics associated with unit nonresponse, a multivariate analysis will be conducted using a categorical search algorithm called Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID). CHAID begins by identifying the characteristic of the data that is the best predictor of response. Then, within the levels of that characteristic, CHAID identifies the next best predictor(s) of response, and so forth, until a tree is formed with all of the response predictors that were identified at each step. The final result is a division of the entire data set into cells by attempting to determine sequentially the cells that have the greatest discrimination with respect to the unit response rates. In other words, it divides the data set into groups so that the unit response rate within cells is as constant as possible, and the unit response rate between cells is as different as possible. Since the variables considered for use as predictors of response must be available for both respondents and nonrespondents, demographic variables from the sampling frame provided by MSG (including household education level, household race/ethnicity, household income, number of children in the household, number of adults in the household, age of head of household, whether the household owns or rents the dwelling, and whether there is a surname and/or phone number present on the sampling frame) will be included in the CHAID analysis.

In addition to the above, the magnitude of unit nonresponse bias and the likely effectiveness of statistical adjustments in reducing that bias will be examined by comparing estimates computed using adjusted weights to those computed using unadjusted weights. The unadjusted weight is the reciprocal of the probability of selection, reflecting all stages of selection. The adjusted weight is the extended interview weight adjusted for unit nonresponse (without the raking adjustment). In this analysis, the statistical significance of differences in estimates will be investigated only for key survey estimates including, but not limited to, the following:

All surveys

• Age/grade of child

• Census region

• Race/ethnicity of child

• Mother’s employment status

• Mother’s home language

• Educational attainment of mother

• Family type

• Household income

• Home ownership

Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP)

• Child receiving relative care

• Child receiving non-relative care

• Child receiving center-based care

• Number of times child was read to in past week

• Someone in family taught child letters, words, or numbers

• Child recognizes letters of alphabet

• Child can write own name

• Child is developmentally delayed

• Child has health impairment

• Child has good choices for child care/early childhood programs

Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI)

• School type

• Whether school assigned or chosen

• Contact from school about child’s behavior

• Contact from school about child’s school work

• Child’s overall grades

• Parents participate in 5 or more activities in the child’s school

• Parents report school provides information very well

About how child is doing in school

About how to help child with his/her homework

About why child is placed in particular groups or classes

About how to help child plan for college or vocational school

About the family's expected role at child’s school

• Parents attended a general school meeting (open house), back-to-school night, meeting of parent-teacher organization

• Parents went to a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference with child’s teacher

• Parents attended a school or class event (e.g., play, sports event, science fair) because of child

• Parents acted as a volunteer at the school or served on a committee

• Parents check to see that child's homework gets done

The final component of the bias analysis will include comparisons between respondent characteristics to known population characteristics from extant sources including the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Community Survey (ACS). Additionally, for substantive variables, weighted estimates will be compared to prior NHES administrations (2007 for the PFI and 2005 for the ECPP). While differences between NHES 2012 estimates and those from external sources as well as prior NHES administrations could be attributable to factors other than bias, differences will be examined in order to confirm the reasonableness of the 2012 estimates.

Item nonresponse

In order to examine item nonresponse, all items with response rates below 90 percent will be listed. For items with particularly low response rates, means (for continuous variables) or frequency distributions (for dichotomous and categorical variables) will be estimated with and without imputed values and compared. This is similar to the analysis comparing adjusted and unadjusted estimates that will be conducted to examine unit nonresponse bias. Large differences are likely to indicate a reduction in item nonresponse bias through imputation, and an absence of differences suggests that either imputation had little effect on the potential bias or that there was little to be removed.

In order to further assess possible nonresponse bias for key items with low item response rates, new sets of imputed values will be generated by imposing extreme assumptions on the item nonrespondents. For most items, two new sets of imputed values—one based on a “low” assumption and one based on a “high” assumption—will be created. For most continuous variables, a “low” imputed value variable will be created by resetting imputed values to the value at the 5^th percentile of the original distribution; a “high” imputed value variable will be created by resetting imputed values to the value at the 95^th percentile of the original distribution. For dichotomous and most polytomous variables, a “low” imputed value variable will be created by resetting imputed values to the lowest value in the original distribution, and a “high” imputed value variable will be created by resetting imputed values to the highest value in the original distribution. Both the “low” imputed value variable distributions and the “high” imputed value variable distributions will be compared to the original distributions. This analysis helps to place bounds on the potential for item nonresponse bias through the use of “worst case” scenarios.

B.2 Survey Procedures

This section describes the data collection procedures to be used in the NHES:2012. These procedures represent a combination of best practices to maximize response rates based on findings from the NHES:2009 Pilot Test and NHES:2011 Field Test within the Agency’s budget constraints. The NHES is a two phase self-administered survey. In the first phase, households are screened to determine if they have eligible children. In the second phase, a detailed topical questionnaire is sent to households with eligible children. The NHES employs multiple contacts with households to maximize response. These include an advance letter, up to four questionnaire mailings at each phase, as well as one reminder postcard and one reminder phone call at each phase. To further improve the design, a small number of experiments are proposed. These experiments are outlined below. The questionnaires and letters can be found in Appendix B.

Screener Procedures

Figure 1 presents a flow chart for the NHES:2012 data collection which will begin with the mailing of an advance notification letter in early January 2012. During the NHES:2011 Field Test, an advance letter was shown to be effective at raising response rates to the first questionnaire mailing. A questionnaire package will be mailed to households one week after the advance letter. This package will contain a cover letter, household screener, business reply envelope, and $5 cash incentive. We plan to test three different versions of the screener. The first version will ask child’s name and the second version will not ask child’s name. The third screener version will be identical to the first version (child’s name) but the cover page will include the Census Bureau’s logo. The cover letter for this version will also utilize the Census Bureau logo and the Director’s signature. A Spanish version of each of these forms will be offered with the second mailing in addition to the English version. Cases that are sampled as part of the Hispanic oversample, or where the frame vendor indicates a Spanish surname is associated with the address, will receive both the English and Spanish versions with the first mailing. The same version of forms sent in the first mailing will be sent in all subsequent nonresponse follow-up mailings (e.g., households that receive the child’s name version of the screener in the first mailing will receive the child’s name version in all follow-up mailings). A thank you/reminder postcard will be sent approximately one week after the first mailing. A second questionnaire mailing will be sent to nonresponding households approximately two weeks after the postcard. A third questionnaire mailing will be sent using rush delivery (FedEx or UPS) and an automated reminder phone call will be made on the day the questionnaires are sent out to encourage households to complete the study as soon as possible. This package will be sent to nonresponding households approximately three weeks after the second mailing. Results from the 2009 and 2011 tests indicated that households with eligible children tend to respond to later mailings, for this reason we have added an additional mailing to our process and extended the data collection period. The fourth questionnaire package will be sent to nonresponding households approximately three weeks after the third questionnaire mailing.

Topical Survey Procedures

Topical survey mailings will follow procedures similar to the screener procedures. Only households identified as having a child eligible for a topical survey through a completed returned screener will be mailed a topical survey. Households will receive a topical package in English or Spanish depending on the language they used to complete the screener. The initial topical mailing will include a cover letter, questionnaire, business reply

Figure 1: Screener Data Collection

Figure 2. Topical Mailing Plan

envelope, and a cash incentive. The NHES: 2011 Field Test showed that a $5 incentive was effective with most respondents at the topical level. However, it appears that late screener respondents (those that responded to the third mailing) were more sensitive to incentive amounts. As a result, we will experiment with offering some late screener responders a $15 prepaid incentive with their first topical questionnaire mailing. All other respondents will receive $5 with their initial mailing. The experiment will allow us to detect differences of 4% or greater. One week after the initial topical mailing, all households will receive a thank you/reminder postcard. Nonresponding households will be mailed a second topical questionnaire. If households that have been mailed a second topical questionnaire do not respond, a third package will be mailed by rush delivery (FedEx or UPS) approximately three weeks after the reminder postcard. A reminder phone call will also be made to households where the frame vendor has a phone number. If the household does not respond to the third mailing, a fourth mailing will be sent. The fourth mailing will contain either a regular full length questionnaire or a shortened version that contains only select survey items. Figure 2 shows the topical mailing plan.

Survey Monitoring

Mail survey returns will be processed upon receipt, and reports from the survey management system will be prepared at least weekly. The reports will be used to continually assess the progress of data collection.

B.3 Methods for Maximizing Response Rates

The NHES:2012 design incorporates a number of features to maximize response rates. This section discusses those features.

Total Design Method/Respondent-Friendly Design. Surveys that take advantage of respondent-friendly design have demonstrated increases in survey response (Dillman, Smyth, and Christian 2008; Dillman, Sinclair, and Clark 1993). We have honed the design of the NHES forms through multiple iterations of cognitive interviewing and field testing. These efforts have focused on the design and content of all respondent contact materials. As noted previously, we will include a respondent incentive in the initial screener mailing. Many years of testing in the NHES have shown the effectiveness of a small cash incentive on increasing response. The Census Bureau will maintain an email address and toll free questionnaire assistance line to answer respondent questions or concerns. Additionally, the questionnaires contain contact information for the Project Officer.

Engaging Respondent Interest and Cooperation. The content of respondent letters and frequently asked questions (FAQs) is focused on communicating the legitimacy and importance of the study. Past experience has shown that the NHES survey topics are salient to most parents. To encourage response at the screener level in households that do not have children, we will be testing the effectiveness of highlighting the Census Bureau’s participation in the data collection. The Census Bureau is known for its household data collections and this may help to engage households that do not have school age children.

Nonresponse Follow-up. The data collection protocol includes several stages of nonresponse follow-up at each phase. In addition to the number of contacts, changes in method (mail, FedEx, and alternate envelopes) are designed to capture the attention of potential respondents.

B.4 Individuals Responsible for Study Design and Performance

The persons listed below participated in the study design and are responsible for the collection and analysis of the data: Andrew Zukerberg, NCES 202/219-7056

Sarah Hastedt, NCES 202/502-7363

Christopher Chapman, NCES 202/502-7414

Steve Tourkin, Census 301/763-3791

Fredrick McKee, Census 812/218-3410

References

Dillman, D.A., Sinclair, M.D., and Clark, J.R. (1993). Effects of questionnaire length, respondent-friendly design, and difficult questions on response rates for occupant-addressed Census mail surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 289-304.

Dillman, D.A., Smyth, J.D., and Christian, L.M. (2008). Internet, mail, and mixed mode surveys: The Tailored Design Method. New York: Wiley.

NHES: 2012

Full-scale Data Collection

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Part C

September 14, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

JUSTIFICATION OF NHES QUESTIONNAIRES 1

C.1 Screener 1

C.2 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey 3

C.3 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey 17

List of Exhibits

Exhibit

1 Content of Screen-out Screeners 3

2 Item-by-item descriptions of the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey and associated research questions 9

3 Item-by-item descriptions of Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and associated research questions 25

4 Item-by-item descriptions of Homeschool Survey and associated research questions 33

PART C. JUSTIFICATION OF NHES QUESTIONNAIRES

NHES:2012 data will be collected using a screener questionnaire and three extended topical questionnaires. The NHES:2012 instruments are as follows:

• The household screener, to be used to identify eligible households for participation in one of the topical surveys.

• The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey (ECPP), to be administered to a parent or guardian knowledgeable about the care and education of children from birth through age 6 and not yet in kindergarten (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers).

• The Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI), to be administered to a parent or guardian knowledgeable about the education of children enrolled in school in kindergarten through grade 12 or homeschooled at these grade levels. To reduce respondents’ burden, two questionnaires were developed for this survey: one for parents of children attending school and one for parents of homeschooled children.

The topics addressed in the ECPP and PFI have been covered in previous NHES administrations. Many of the items were reworded to account for the change from an interviewer-administered mode to a self-administered mode. In revising the survey instruments, it was necessary to remove some past ECPP and PFI items and simplify others. The instruments went through multiple rounds of cognitive interviewing. In some cases, alternate wording or question structures were tested in the field test using a split panel. Item missing data and response distribution for alternate and original versions of items were compared and those with less item nonresponse and/or response distribution closest to previous versions of the NHES were selected for inclusion in the NHES:2012.

The screeners, ECPP questionnaires, and PFI questionnaires appear in Appendix B.

C.1 Screener

The household screener is an essential part of the NHES survey instrumentation. It is used to confirm that the sampled address is a residential address, determine whether the household includes potentially eligible children or youth, and collect information required for conducting within-household sampling.

In the NHES:2011 field test, we experimentally tested different versions of the screener and in 2012 will use a version that best maximized response among targeted households. One version was referred to as the ‘screenout’ screener, because it was designed to quickly screenout ineligible households

(i.e., those without children). An alternate screener was designed to engage households that did not have children to encourage them to return the questionnaire. This version was referred to as the ‘engaging’ screener. The field test showed that there was little difference in response rates between the screener versions, but the short screenout questionnaire achieved the highest overall response rate. However, this screener achieved a lower percentage of households with children than the engaging version. The NHES:2012 will use a modified version of the screenout screener. This screener both maximizes household response and minimizes household burden.

The screener captures whether there are eligible children in the household. A household respondent is asked about the number of children age 20 or younger living within the household. The screener questionnaire uses a grid format over two pages that are viewable on opposite facing pages. This form of navigation reduces the space necessary for enumerating children and possibly decreases the potential for respondent errors such as omission of a child.

In the NHES:2012 we will experimentally test the effects of asking respondents to provide children’s names on the screener. Although we tested this in the 2011 field test, we found evidence of confounding effects on response rates of including a question asking for a contact phone number for the household on forms that asked respondents to enumerate children by name. We will not ask for a phone number in the NHES:2012 and therefore can cleanly test the response rate effects of asking for children’s names. The “name” version of the screener will ask for each child’s first name, initials, or nickname so the selected child can be specified in the topical questionnaire. The respondent is also asked for each child’s age, gender, enrollment status and grade. These items are used to determine which topical questionnaire will be sent to the household for the sampled child.

Commonly Asked Questions. The back of the screener contains commonly asked questions and responses intended to address questions that many respondents may have. The purpose of this material is to inform respondents fully and assure them of the sponsorship, legitimacy, and privacy protections of the study.

Exhibit 1 includes item-by-item descriptions of the NHES screeners, below.

Exhibit 1.  Content of Screen-out Screeners

Question #, Version 1 (With Names)	Question #, Version 2 (Without Names)	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
1	1	Are there any youth or children age 20 or younger living in this household?	Determine Eligibility
2	2	How many youth or children age 20 or younger live in this household?	Determine Eligibility
3	N/A	What is his or her first name, initials, or nickname?	Sampling
4	3	How old is this child in years?	Sampling
5	4	What is this child’s sex?	Sampling
6	5	Is this child currently in…	Sampling
7	6	What is this child’s current grade or equivalent?	Sampling

C.2 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey

The NHES ECPP questionnaire draws items from several previous NHES administrations and is very similar to the NHES:2005 and NHES:2001 ECPP interviews. The following topics are included in the survey:

• Participation in relative care, nonrelative care, center-based programs, and Early Head Start/Head Start;

• Care/program characteristics such as location, days and hours per week, and cost;

• Care provider characteristics such as language and race/ethnicity;

• Difficulty in finding care and child care selection criteria;

• Family education activities such as visiting a library and reading to the child;

• Emerging literacy and numeracy;

• Children’s health and disability;

• Parent characteristics; and

• Household characteristics.

Below, the survey items are discussed in more detail. The descriptions are presented in the order the questions appear in the printed instrument.

Instructions

The first page of the questionnaire identifies the selected child using information from the screener and provides the respondent with instructions for completing the questionnaire. Contact information is provided (a toll free number) in case there is confusion about the selected child or the household has no child fitting the description given.

Section 1. Early Childhood Care and Programs

A major focus of the ECPP Survey is addressed in the first three sections of the questionnaire, which focus on types of nonparental care and education: care by relatives, care by nonrelatives, and center-based programs. Three sets of items within section 1 collect extensive information to describe the different types of nonparental care and education that children may receive. These items provide detailed information on the extent of current participation in the different types of care arrangements and programs, location, amount of time children spend in current arrangements or programs, and the financial cost of current care arrangements or programs to the child’s household. This information can in turn be related to children’s personal, family, and household characteristics. The following information is collected in each of these series of items:

• The number of current arrangements or programs of the respective type;

• The location of the arrangement or program (including whether programs are located at parents’ workplaces);

• The number of days and hours per week the child receives care or attends a program on a weekly basis, and the length of time in attendance at the arrangement or program;

• The language of the care provider;

• Whether the care provider will care for the child when the child is sick; and

• The cost to the household of the arrangement or program, and assistance in paying for the arrangement.

In addition to these common items, the section on relative care contains an item concerning the relationship of the care provider to the child and an item asking the age of the relative care provider. Age of the nonrelative care provider and if the parent already knew the care provider is also obtained in the nonrelative care section. The section on center-based care asks additional items on whether the center provides health services such as hearing, speech, or vision testing, and if the center is religiously affiliated.

Care Your Child Receives From Relatives (Questions 1-16). This section collects information regarding care provided on a regular basis by relatives other than the child’s parents. This includes grandparents, aunts or uncles, brothers or sisters, etc. Occasional babysitting is explicitly excluded. The care may be provided in the child’s home or in another home. For the child care arrangement in which the child spends the most time, key facets of care such as location, hours, and cost are collected. Limited information on other relative care arrangements is collected to provide a full accounting of time spent in care without undue burden.

Care Your Child Receives from Nonrelatives (Questions 17-34). This section collects information on care provided in a private home on a regular basis by nonrelatives. This includes home child care providers, regular sitters, or neighbors. Care may be provided in the child’s home or in another home. Occasional babysitting is explicitly excluded. Key indicators (e.g., location, hours, cost) are collected for the primary nonrelative care arrangement, and hours for other arrangements are collected to provide a full accounting of time spent in care.

Day Care Centers and Preschool Programs Your Child Attends (Questions 35-53). This series collects information on programs provided for groups of children in day care centers, preschools, and pre-kindergartens. This can include daycare centers, preschools, prekindergartens, or center-based Head Start or Early Head Start programs. Key indicators (e.g., location, hours, and cost) are collected for the primary center-based program arrangement, and hours for other arrangements are collected to provide a full accounting of time spent in care.

Early Head Start/Head Start (Questions 38 and 54). Head Start is a federally funded early childhood education program for disadvantaged children. Most participants are 3 to 5 years old. Participation in an Early Head Start program may begin at birth. Respondents with a child in center-based care are asked if it is a Head Start arrangement. Following the collection of relative, nonrelative, and center-based care arrangements, respondents are asked if the child has ever attended Head Start or Early Head Start. These items help to characterize the arrangements in which a child participates.

Section 2: Finding and Choosing Care for Your Child (Questions 54-58)

Access to care and early education programs is a topic of concern to experts in child development and early education and to policymakers. This section asks parents if they feel they have good choices for child care where they live and the difficulty parents have had finding the type of child care they want. The last item addresses the importance of factors in choosing child care and early education arrangements.

Section 3: Family Activities (Questions 59-65)

Activities with potential education benefits that families can do together are measured in this section of the questionnaire. Parents are asked about reading to their children and the amount of time spent reading to the child every day. In addition, parents are asked about other activities such as telling a story, teaching letters or numbers, or doing arts and crafts. Also asked of parents is whether someone in the family has visited a library with the child in the past month. These items are indicators of the richness of the child’s education environment at home and the parents’ involvement in promoting the child’s development.

Section 4: Things Your Child May Be Learning (Questions 66-73)

This series measures the child’s accomplishment of developmental tasks that indicate readiness for school. Analysts and policymakers are interested in tracking progress in emerging literacy and numeracy across time and examining the relationship of emerging literacy and numeracy with preschool program participation and family education activities.

Section 5: This Child’s Health (Questions 74-84)

This section includes items about the child’s overall health, any serious medical conditions, and disability services the child may be receiving. The presence of diagnosed conditions is an important risk factor and is related to children’s development and education experiences in the preschool years as well as their later experiences in school. Condition status may be associated with access to nonparental care and education programs.

Section 6: Child’s Background (Questions 85-92)

Questions about the child’s month and year of birth, race/ethnicity, country of origin, and language will be used to examine differences in children’s participation in care and education programs. For children whose primary language is not English, a question about participation in English language education is asked. English language education may help children to participate in other early education and prepare for school.

Section 7 : Child’s Family (Questions 93-127)

This section collects information on the child’s parents or guardians who reside in the household. The topics include age at first becoming a parent or guardian, native language, country of origin, educational attainment, and employment status. These items on parent characteristics measure factors that may be associated with participation in early care and education and may also indicate risk factors, such as low parent education, that could be associated with participation in care, child development, and preparation for school.

Section 8: Your Household (Questions 128-140)

This final series of items collects information on the relationship of people in the household to the child, receipt of public assistance, and household income. Household composition is an indicator of resources for care and opportunity for interaction within the household. Receipt of public assistance and household income are used to classify families according to the economic resources available to them, and to examine the relationship of the family’s economic status to early childhood program participation. These variables, taken along with parent characteristics, can be used to identify children who may be at risk in terms of development and education preparation.

Early Childhood Program Participation Survey Research Questions

The items in the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey (ECPP) will obtain information useful for investigating the following research questions.

1. To what extent do preschool children (birth to age 6 and not yet in kindergarten) participate in nonparental care and early childhood programs?

a. In what different types of nonparental care arrangements/programs do children participate?

b. How many children participate in multiple care arrangements/programs?

c. Where are care arrangements/programs located?

d. How much time do children spend in nonparental care arrangements/programs?

e. What is the relationship of relative care providers to the children for whom they are caring?

f. What is the cost and what payment arrangements are made for the cost of care arrangements/programs?

g. How are child and family characteristics related to the care or early childhood education children receive?

h. What resources do parents use to find child care?

i. Is (emergent) literacy and numeracy related to the type of child care, amount of time in child care, or stability of child care?

j. What is the availability of sick child care?

k. How does parents’ employment status influence their choice of arrangements?

l. Do parents report difficulty in finding child care?

m. What factors do parents consider important when selecting child care arrangements?

2. How has the participation of preschool children in nonparental care arrangements/programs changed from 1991 to the present?

a. Have the subpopulations of children participating in various types of care arrangements/programs changed?

b. Has the amount of time children spend in care arrangements/programs changed?

3. Do at-risk children have the same access to nonparental care arrangements/programs as other children?

a. Are at-risk children more or less likely to participate in nonparental care arrangements/programs than other children?

b. Do at-risk children participate in different numbers and/or types of care arrangements/ programs than those children not classified as at-risk?

4. What type of child care subsidies/benefits have parents received from government agencies or from their employers?

5. What is the extent of families’ involvement in family-child education activities?

a. To what extent do families participate in selected education activities at home with their child?

b. Is participation in education activities related to preschoolers’ emerging literacy and numeracy?

6. How is children’s health/disability status related to their participation in nonparental care and education?

These research questions are reflected in exhibit 2 which includes item-by-item descriptions of the ECPP questions and their associated research questions.

Exhibit 2.  Item-by-item descriptions of the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey

Question #	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
Section 1: Childhood Care and Programs; Questions 1-53
1	Child receiving relative care from someone other than a parent or guardian	Household/family composition; Research Question 1a.
2	Arrangements regularly scheduled at least once a week	Research Question 1d.
3	Relative care provider’s relationship to the child	Research Question 1e.
4	Age of relative care provider	Research Question 1e.
5	Place care is provided	Research Question 1c.
6	Number of days each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
7	Number of hours each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
8	Age of child when this particular care began	Research Question 1d.
9	Language relative speaks while giving care	Research Question 1g.
10	Relative care for child when sick	Research Question 1j.
11	Fee charged for care	Research Question 1f.
12	People/programs/organizations that help pay childcare expenses	Research Question 1f, 4a.

Exhibit 2.  Item-by-item descriptions of the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey —Continued
Question #	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
13	Total amount of childcare	Research Question 1f.
14	Number of children amount covers, including sampled child	Research Question 1f.
15	Any other relative care arrangements	Research Question 1a.
16	Total hours each week spent in those other relative care arrangements	Research Question 1d.
17	Child receiving non-relative home-based care on a regular basis	Household/family composition; Research Question 1a.
18	Arrangements regularly scheduled at least once a week	Research Question 1d.
19	Care provided in home or in another home	Research Question 1c.
20	Care provider lives in household	Research Question 1c.
21	Number of days each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
22	Number of hours each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
23	Age of child when this particular care arrangement began	Research Question 1d.
24	Was the care provider someone the respondent knew	Research Question 1h.
25	Provider aged 18 or over	Research Question 1e.
26	Language non-relative speaks while giving care	Research Question 1g.
27	Non-relative care for child when sick	Research Question 1j.
28	Would you recommend this care provider to another parent	Research Question 1h.
29	Fee charged for care that is paid by respondent or another person/agency	Research Question 1f.
30	People/programs/organizations that help pay childcare expenses	Research Question 1f, 4a.
31	Total amount of childcare	Research Question 1f.
32	Number of children amount covers, including sampled child	Research Question 1f.
33	Any other non-relative home-based care arrangements	Research Question 1a.
34	Total hours each week spent in those other non-relative home-based care arrangements	Research Question 1d.
35	Is child now in any center-based/Pre-school/Pre-K care arrangements	Research Question 1a.
36	Does child go to a center-based care/Pre-school/Pre-K at least once a week	Research Question 1d.
37	What is the child's current program	Research Question 1a, 3b.
38	Is this program a Head Start or Early Head Start program	Research Question 1a, 3b.
39	Location of center-based care arrangement	Research Question 1a, 3b.
40	Religious affiliation of childcare	Research Question 1c, 1g.
41	Care provided at parents workplace	Research Question 1c.
42	Number of days each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
43	Number of hours each week child receives care	Research Question 1d.
44	Age of child when this particular care arrangement began	Research Question 1d.
45	Language main care provider speaks while giving care	Research Question 1g.
46	Would you recommend this program to another parent	Research Question 1h.
47	Program provides services to the child/family	Research Question 1f.
48	Fee charged for care	Research Question 1f.
49	People/programs/organizations that help pay childcare expenses	Research Question 1f, 4a.
50	Total amount of childcare for this program	Research Question 1f.
51	Number of children amount covers, including sampled child	Research Question 1f.
52	Does this child have any other center-based care arrangements	Research Question 1a.
53	Total hours each week spent in those other center-based care arrangements	Research Question 1d.
Section 2: Finding and Choosing Care (54-58)
54	Has child ever attended Head Start	Research Question 1g, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a.
55	Main reason for wanting childcare	Research Question 1l, 1m.
56	Good choices for childcare	Research Question 1l, 1m.
57	Difficulty finding care	Research Question 1l, 1m.
58	Importance of factors considered when choosing childcare arrangement	Research Question 1l, 1m.
Section 3: Family Activities (59-65)
59	Number of books this child owns	Research Question 1i.
60	Number of times child was read to in the past week	Research Question 1i.
61	During those times, how many minutes are spent reading to the child	Research Question 1i.
62	Activities done in the past week	Research Question 1i.
63	Visited the library in the past month	Research Question 1i.
64	Visited a bookstore in the past month	Research Question 1i.
65	Eaten meals together in the past week	Research Question 1i.
Section 4: Things your Child may be Learning (66-73)
66	Child 2 years of age or younger/older	verification item
67	Child can identify primary colors by name	Research Question 1i, 5b.
68	Child can recognize letter of the alphabet	Research Question 1i, 5b.
69	How high can this child count	Research Question 1i, 5b.
70	Can child write his/her name even if words are backwards	Research Question 1i, 5b.
71	Does this child read or pretend to read storybooks on his/her own	Research Question 1i, 5b.
72	Does this child actually read the words written in books or does he/she look at the book and pretend to read	Research Question 1i, 5b.
73	When child pretends to read, does it sound like a connected story	Research Question 1i, 5b.
Section 5: This Childs Health (74-84)
74	Describe child’s health	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
75	Child's diagnosed conditions	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
76	If child under 3, has professional said child is “at-risk” for developmental delay	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
77	Response to question 75 or 76	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
78	Child receiving services for condition	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
79	Who are those services provided by	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
80	Services provided by an IFSP or IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
81	Adult in household helped to develop/change child’s IFSP or IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
82	Overall satisfaction/dissatisfaction with child’s IFSP or IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
83	Child currently enrolled in special education classes/services	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
84	Child’s condition affect his/her ability to do the following things	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b
Section 6: Child’s Background (85-92)
85	In what month and year was this child born	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
86	Where was this child born	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
87	Age of child when first moved to the US/ District of Columbia	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
88	Is this child of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
89	Child’s race	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
***	Child’s sex	Verification question (will only appear when not reported on screener)
90	Childs address since the beginning of the school year	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
91	Language child speaks at home	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
92	Child currently enrolled in English as a second language, bilingual education, or an English immersion program	Demographic/ background characteristics
Section 7: Child’s Family (93-127)
Parent 1	Parent/Guardian section
93	Parent/guardian relationship to child	Research Question 1g.
94	Is this person male or female	Research Question 1g.
95	Marital status of this parent or guardian	Research Question 1g.
96	First language parent or guardian learned to speak	Research Question 1g.
97	What language does this person speak most at home now	Research Question 1g.
98	Where was this parent or guardian born	Research Question 1g.
99	How old was this person when he/ she first moved to the US/ District of Columbia	Research Question 1g.
100	Is this person of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin	Research Question 1g.
101	What is this person’s race	Research Question 1g.
102	Parent/guardian’s highest level of education completed	Research Question 1g.
103	Is he or she currently attending or enrolled in a school/job training	Research Question 1g.
104	Parent/ guardian employment status	Research Question 1g.
105	Number of hours worked per week for pay, if employed/self-employed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
106	Looking for work in the past 4 weeks, if unemployed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
107	Worked for pay or income in the past 12 months	Research Question 1g, 1k.
108	Age of parent/guardian	Research Question 1g.
109	Age when first became a parent/guardian to any child	Research Question 1g.
Parent 2	Parent/Guardian section
110	Parent/guardian # 2 present in the household	Research Question 1g.
111	Parent/ guardian relationship to child	Research Question 1g.
112	Is this person male or female	Research Question 1g.
113	Marital status of this parent or guardian	Research Question 1g.
114	First language parent or guardian learned to speak	Research Question 1g.
115	What language does this person speak most at home now	Research Question 1g.
116	Where was this parent or guardian born	Research Question 1g.
117	How old was this person when he/she first moved to the US/District of Columbia	Research Question 1g.
118	Is this person of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin	Research Question 1g.
119	What is this person’s race	Research Question 1g.
120	Parent/guardian highest level of education completed	Research Question 1g.
121	Is he or she currently attending or enrolled in a school/job training	Research Question 1g, 1k.
122	Parent/ guardian employment status	Research Question 1g, 1k.
123	Number of hours worked per week, if employed/self-employed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
124	Looking for work in the past 4 weeks, if unemployed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
125	Worked for pay or income in the past 12 months	Research Question 1g.
126	Age of parent/guardian	Research Question 1g.
127	Age when first became a parent/guardian to any child	Research Question 1g.
Section 8: Your Household (128-140)
128	Number of people in household	Household Demographics
129	How many of the following live in the household with this child	Household Demographics
130	How is respondent related to child	Household Demographics
131	Languages spoken by adults in household	Household Demographics
132	Benefits received in the past 12 months	Household Demographics
133	Total household income	Variables used for weighting; Research Question 1g, 2a.
134	Number of years at address	Household Demographics
135	Home ownership	Household Demographics
136	Mail received at another address including P.O. Boxes	Household Demographics
137	Internet access in household	Household Demographics
138	Presence of a landline telephone	Household Demographics
139	Own a working cell phone	Household Demographics

C.3 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey

The PFI questionnaires draw upon the PFI surveys of 1996, 2003 and 2007. The PFI is for parents of children enrolled in school or homeschooled and was developed for ease of respondent self-administration. The following topics are included in the PFI survey:

• School characteristics such as control (public/private) and school choice;

• Student experiences in school, academic grades, and grade repetition;

• Parent and family involvement/participation in school including involvement in school decision-making and barriers to such participation;

• School practices to involve and support families;

• Family involvement in children’s schoolwork;

• Homeschooling;

• Family activities such as arts and crafts, visiting a library, or attending a play or concert;

• Children’s backgrounds;

• Children’s health and disability;

• Parent characteristics; and

• Household characteristics.

School enrollment or homeschooling status and grade are collected for all children in the screener and displayed at the beginning of the self-administered topical questionnaire. Parents of children enrolled in elementary or secondary school are asked about their children’s experiences in school, feedback that they receive from teachers on their child’s school performance, their involvement in school activities, school practices to involve families, and their involvement in homework. Parents of homeschooled students are asked about their reasons for homeschooling and sources of instruction used in their children’s homeschooling. All parents are asked questions on their home activities and family involvement in activities outside of school, such as visiting a library. Finally, parents of all children are asked questions on their children’s health, disabilities, and demographic characteristics; the characteristics of parents/guardians residing in the household; and household characteristics.

Below, the survey items are discussed in more detail. The descriptions below begin with the questionnaire for parents of children enrolled in school.

Instructions

The first page of the questionnaire identifies the selected child using information from the screener and provides the respondent with instructions for completing the questionnaire. Contact information is provided (a toll free number) in case there is confusion about the selected child or the household has no child fitting the description given.

Section 1: Child’s Schooling (Questions 1 through 25)

This section covers questions that are asked of all parents with children in elementary, middle or high school who are not homeschoolers. The section provides detailed information on the characteristics of the school that the child attends. This covers topics such as whether the school is a private or public school, whether it is a school that has been assigned or is a school that parents have chosen for their child, whether it is a charter school, and whether it is a Catholic school or has another religious-affiliation. The characteristics of schools provide important contextual variables that may be related to parent and family involvement and children’s education experiences. On the homeschooling version, these items are replaced with questions about the decision to homeschool and the child’s homeschool experience.

A series of questions (Questions 7 through 11) asks for information on whether parents chose the school that their children are enrolled in, including the information that parents obtained about the school before making a choice and whether the school was the parent’s first choice for their child.

A list of schools in the family’s area will be provided on the last page of the questionnaire. Identifying the child’s school permits linking data about schools from existing data sources at NCES, notably the Common Core of Data and Private School Universe Survey. This permits the analysis of family experiences in the context of school characteristics including public/private control, religious affiliation, school size, urbanicity, standardized test performance, and school population measures. These measures can also be used to assess the accuracy of parent responses about school characteristics.

This section of the instrument also includes items that address specifics of children’s and families’ experiences with schools that may be associated with parent involvement:

• Student experiences in school including grades and academic performance (Questions 15 and 22);

• Teacher feedback on the child’s school performance and behavior (Question 16);

• Grade repetition since starting kindergarten (Questions 19);

• Suspension or expulsion from school (Question 20); and

• Parents’ plans for their child’s education after high school (Question 21).

Section 2: Families and Schools (Questions 26-30)

A core area of interest in the PFI Survey is parents’ involvement in their children’s schools. This section includes questions on the frequency and nature of parents’ involvement in school including attending meetings, volunteering, serving on school committees, and other types of contact with school staff and teachers. Another aspect of parents’ contact with the school involves school practices to communicate with parents regarding their child’s progress and placement and parents’ expected role. Schools contact parents for various reasons including students’ performance, school volunteering opportunities, other methods and opportunities that can help children in their education, and planning for attending college or work after completion of education. The nature of contact measured includes letters, newsletters and email. Finally, parents are given the opportunity to express their level of satisfaction with the school.

Section 3: Homework (Questions 31-37)

Parent and family involvement in homework is another form of support for children’s education; Section 3 addresses this topic. This section includes questions about the amount of homework that children receive, the home environment that families create for children to do homework, and the involvement of parents and other family members in ensuring that children complete their homework.

Section 4: Family Activities (Questions 38-40)

Parent and family involvement in non-school activities with potential education benefits represents another way that parents and families can support children’s education and development. Parents of children in elementary school are asked about other activities such as telling a story, doing arts and crafts, playing sports and games, or getting involved in other projects. Parents are asked to report on the activities done with their child in the past week and in the past month with anyone in the family. Parents of older children who are in middle or high school are asked similar questions about activities that are appropriate to their age. Again, parents are asked to report on the activities done with their child in the past week and in the past month with any family member.

Section 5: Child’s Health (Questions 41-50)

This section includes items to identify disabled children and to determine whether children with disabilities are receiving services. The presence of disabilities is an important risk factor for all children and is related to children’s development and education experiences in school. These items will also provide the data to analyze the accessibility of special education and other programs and plans for disabled children.

Section 6: Child’s Background (PFI-Enrolled, Questions 51-58)

This section collects demographic information on the child’s race/ethnicity and country of origin. These characteristics can be correlated with the various levels of family involvement in children’s education.

Section 7: Child’s Family (Questions 59-99)

This section collects information on the child’s parents or guardians who reside in the household: mother and father, or other guardians if parents are not present. The topics include age at first becoming a parent or guardian, native language, country of origin, educational attainment, and employment status. These items on parental characteristics measure risk factors that could be associated with children’s development and progress through school. Other questions within both parent characteristics sections can be used to relate family involvement in education with parents’ characteristics including their education, choice of employment as well as the number of hours they work.

For parents of children who attend school, questions about school accommodations for parents or guardians whose primary language is not English are also included in these sections. These are important indicators of possible barriers to parent involvement.

Section 8: Your Household (Questions 100-114)

This final series of items collects information about who lives in the household with the sampled child, household receipt of public assistance, and household income. Receipt of public assistance and household income can be used to classify families according to the economic resources available to them, identify child risk factors, and examine the relationship of the family’s economic status to school participation.

Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey Research Questions

The items in the Parent and Family Involvement in Education survey will obtain information useful for investigating the following research questions.

1. In what ways and to what extent are parents and families involved in their children’s schooling?

1. To what extent are parents and families involved in choosing their children’s schools?

2. What are the reasons for parents’ school choices and what types of information do parents obtain to make these choices?

3. In what ways are parents and families involved directly with their children’s schools (e.g., meetings, volunteering, etc.)?

4. What is the relationship between parenting style and the extent of parents’ and families’ involvement in school choice and children’s schooling?

5. What is the relationship between parent and family involvement in school and student experiences and performance (e.g., grades, retention).

2. What are parents’ perceptions of communication by teachers or other school personnel with parents or families?

1. What is the type and purpose of school communication reported by parents including school contact to discuss both problems and how well the child is doing in school?

2. What frequency and modes of school contact with families do parents report?

3. What are the differences in parent perceptions of the purpose and frequency of communication by school characteristics?

4. How are parent perceptions of school/family communication related to their involvement with the school, in homework, and in learning activities outside of school?

3. What types of school practices to involve and support families are reported by parents?

1. What are the school practices that parents report?

2. What is the relationship between school practices and different types and levels of involvement with the school, in homework, and in learning activities outside of school?

3. What are the differences in reports of school practices based on school characteristics?

4. What is the relationship of parent-reported school practices to levels of involvement by socioeconomic status?

5. What is the relationship between family involvement with the school and parent assessments of the school environment concerning parent and family involvement?

4. What are the barriers to school involvement by families?

1. What are the language barriers that language minority families face and how do they relate to the type and extent of their involvement with the school?

2. Do parent perceptions of the efficacy of their involvement relate to the type and extent of family involvement?

5. In what ways and to what extent are parents and other household members involved in their children’s homework?

1. How does the involvement of household members in homework relate to student experiences and performance?

2. How often do household members help children with homework?

3. How does the environment that families create for homework completion relate to student experiences and performance?

4. How does parenting style relate to the extent of parents’ involvement in children’s homework?

6. In what ways are parents and family members involved in non-school activities with children at home?

1. What is the type and extent of family involvement in daily activities and other learning activities of children and how does this relate to student experiences and performance?

7. How is children’s health/disability status related to family involvement and student behavior, experiences and performance?

1. How is children’s health related to the level of parent and family involvement in their education?

2. What is the extent of parent reporting of children’s disabilities?

3. How are children’s health and disabilities related to the extent of parent and family involvement, school practices, and student experiences and performance?

4. To what extent do children receive services for disabilities and from what sources?

5. What is the extent of children’s participation in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or enrollment in special education classes?

6. What is the extent of parents’ and families’ involvement with the school in developing their children’s IEPs?

7. Are parents satisfied with their children’s IEPs or special education classes or services, including the school’s communication with the family, the special needs teacher or therapist, and the school’s ability to accommodate the child’s special needs?

8. What is the extent of homeschooling of children during their school years?

1. To what extent do homeschooled students also attend schools to receive some of their instruction?

2. To what extent do parents use homeschool communities or resources such as distance learning/Internet to obtain materials or develop curricula?

3. Of the total school-going years, how many years are children homeschooled?

4. What are the reasons for homeschooling by parents?

5. What is the role of the Internet and the use of other technology or media for homeschooling instruction and curriculum development?

These research questions are reflected in exhibit 3 which includes item-by-item descriptions of the NHES Parent and Family Involvement in Education Interview questions and their associated research questions.

Exhibit 3.   Item-by-item descriptions of Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and associated research questions

Question #	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
Section 1: Childs Schooling (1-25)
1	Confirm this child’s grade	Research Question 1
2	Is child homeschooled part-time	Verification question
3	Type of school this child attends	Research Question 1a, 2b,3c
4	His/her regularly assigned school	Research Question 1a, 2b,3c
5	School a charter school	Research Question 1a, 2b,3c
6	Move so that this child could attend his/her current school	Research Question 1a, 1e.
7	Does school district allow choice	Research Question 1a, 1e.
8	Consider other schools for this child	Research Question 1a, 1e..
9	Seek information on the performance of the schools you were considering	Research Question 1a, 1e.
10	School this child attends your first choice	Research Question 1a, 1e.
11	Child has been in the same school since the beginning of this school year	Research Question 1a

Exhibit 3.  Item-by-item descriptions of Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and associated research questions—Continued
Question #	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
12	Month and year child started at his/her current school	Research Question 1c.
13	Agree or Disagree with these statements	Research Question 3e.
14	Grades the child gets	Research Question 1e.
15	Child currently enrolled in advanced placement classes	Research Question 1e.
16	Number of times this child’s school contacted your household	Research Question 1d.
17	Number of days child has been absent	Research Question 1e.
18	Has child repeated any grades	Research Question 1e.
19	Grade or grades he/she repeated	Research Question 1e.
20	School suspensions	Research Question 1e
21	Expectations of child’s education	Research Question 1e.
22	Child’s work at school	Research Question 1e.
23	Take courses on Internet	Research Question 1e.
24	Provider of Internet instruction	Research Question 1e.
25	Fee for Internet instruction	Research Question 1e.
Section 2: Families and School (26-30)
26	Activities adult in the HH has done at this child’s school	Research Question 1c, 3a, 3d, 3e.
27	Number of school activities household has participated in	Research Question 1c, 3a, 3d, 3e.
28	Notes received from school	Research Question 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
29	How well has this child’s school done the following things	Research Question 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
30	Overall satisfaction/dissatisfaction	Research Question 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
Section 3: Homework (31-37)
31	How often does child receive homework	Research Question 5
32	Child’s time spent on homework	Research Question 5
33	Feelings towards the amount of homework (respondent)	Research Question 5
34	Feelings towards the amount of homework (child)	Research Question 5
35	Place set aside in home for child to complete homework	Research Question 5c.
36	Adult in household checks homework	Research Question 5b.
37	Number of days, per week, an adult in household helps child with homework	Research Question 5b.
Section 4: Family Activities (38-40)
38	In the past week, has anyone in your family done the following things with this child…	Research Question 6a
39	Number of days family has eaten the evening meal together	Research Question 6a
40	In the past month, has anyone in your family done the following things with this child…	Research Question 6a
Section 5: Childs Health (41-50)
41	Describe child’s health	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
42	Child’s diagnosed conditions	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
43	Did you mark yes to any condition	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
44	Child receiving services for his/her condition	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
45	Who are those services provided by	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
46	Services provided by an IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
47	Adult in household helped to develop/change child’s IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
48	Overall satisfaction/dissatisfaction with child’s IEP	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
49	Child currently enrolled in special education classes	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
50	Child’s conditions affect his/her ability to do the following things…	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
Section 6: Child’s Background (51-58)
51	In what month and year was this child born?	Demographic/ background characteristics
52	Where was this child born	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
53	Age when first moved to the US/ District of Columbia	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
54	Is this child of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
55	Child’s race	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
***	Child’s sex	Verification question (asked only if not provided on the screener questionnaire)
56	Child’s address for this school year	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
57	Language child speaks at home	Research Question 1g, 2a, 3a, 3b.
58	Child currently enrolled in English as a second language, bilingual education, or an English immersion program	Demographic/ background characteristics
Section 7: Child’s Family (59-99)
Parent 1	Parent/Guardian section
59	Parent/guardian relationship to child	Research Question 1g.
60	Is this person male or female	Research Question 1g.
61	Marital status of this parent or guardian	Research Question 1g.
62	First language parent or guardian learned to speak	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
63	What language does this person speak most at home now	Research Question 1g.
64	Difficult for parent to be involved at school because of language barriers	Research Question 1g.
65	Does school have interpreters	Research Question 1g.
66	Does school have translated materials	Research Question 1g.
67	Where was this parent or guardian born	Research Question 1g.
68	How old was this person when he/ she first moved to the US/ District of Columbia	Research Question 1g.
69	Is this person of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin?	Research Question 1g.
70	What is this person’s race	Research Question 1g.
71	Parent/guardian highest level of education completed	Research Question 1g.
72	Is he or she currently attending or enrolled in a school/job training	Demographic/ background characteristics
73	Parent/ guardian employment status	Research Question 1g, 1k.
74	Number of hours worked per week, if employed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
75	Looking for work in the past 4 weeks, if unemployed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
76	Worked for pay or income in the past 12 months	Research Question 1g, 1k.
77	Age of parent/guardian	Research Question 1g.
78	How old was this parent when she first became a parent to any child	Research Question 1g.
Parent 2	Parent/Guardian section
79	Presence of a second parent or guardian	Research Question 1g.
80	Parent/guardian relationship to child	Research Question 1g.
81	Is this person male or female	Research Question 1g.
82	Marital status of this parent or guardian	Research Question 1g.
83	First language parent or guardian learned to speak	Research Question 1g, 3a, 3b.
84	Language does this person speak most at home now	Research Question 1g.
85	Difficult for parent to be involved at school because of language barriers	Research Question 1g.
86	Does school have interpreters	Research Question 1g.
87	Does school have translated materials	Research Question 1g.
88	Where was this parent or guardian born	Research Question 1g.
89	How old was this person when he/ she first moved to the US/ District of Columbia	Research Question 1g.
90	Is this person of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin?	Research Question 1g.
91	What is this person’s race	Research Question 1g.
92	Parent/guardian highest level of education completed	Research Question 1g.
93	Is he or she currently attending or enrolled in a school/job training	Research Question 1g.
94	Parent/ guardian employment status?	Research Question 1g, 1k.
95	Number of hours worked per week, if employed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
96	Looking for work in the past 4 weeks, if unemployed	Research Question 1g, 1k.
97	Worked for pay or income in the past 12 months	Research Question 1g, 1k.
98	Age of parent/guardian	Research Question 1g.
99	Age first became parent to any child	Research Question 1g.
Section 8: Your Household (100-114)
100	Total number of people in household	Household Demographics
101	How many of the following people live in the household with the child	Household Demographics
102	Respondent relationship to child	Household Demographics
103	Languages spoken by adults in the household	Household Demographics
104	Benefits received in the past 12 months	Household Demographics
105	Total household income	Household Demographics
106	Number of years at address	Household Demographics
107	Home Ownership	Household Demographics
108	Mail received at another address, including P.O. Boxes	Household Demographics
109	Internet access in household	Household Demographics
110	Presence of a landline telephone	Household Demographics
111	Own a working cell phone	Household Demographics
112	Calls received on cell phone	Household Demographics
113	Identify child's school	Household Demographics
114	School Information	Household Demographics

Exhibit 4.  Item-by-item descriptions of Homeschool Survey and associated research questions

Question #	Item Stem	Research Question/Purpose
Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the PFI enrolled questionnaire have been replaced with the following questions for those students who are homeschooled.
Child’s Homeschooling (1-20)
1	Person in household who mainly homeschools this child	Understand trends in homeschooling
2	Is any instruction provided by a private tutor or teacher	Understand trends in homeschooling
3	Any of this child’s instruction provided by a local homeschooling group or co-op	Understand trends in homeschooling
4	Does child attend a public or private school or college or university for instruction	Understand trends in homeschooling
5	What type of school(s) does this child attend	Understand trends in homeschooling
6	Number of hours per week child goes to school for instruction	Understand trends in homeschooling
7	Grade or year in school child would in if he/she was attending school	Understand trends in homeschooling
8A	Number of days each week this child is homeschooled	Understand trends in homeschooling
8B	Total hours each week child is homeschooled	Understand trends in homeschooling
9	Has child participated in any activities with other homeschooled children	Understand trends in homeschooling
10	Formal curriculum versus informal learning	Understand trends in homeschooling
11	Sources of curriculum or books used to homeschool child	Understand trends in homeschooling
12	Courses taken to help prepare child’s home instruction	Understand trends in homeschooling
13	Does child take courses over the Internet	Understand trends in homeschooling
14	Is Internet instruction provided by local public school or other provider	Understand trends in homeschooling
15	Charge or fee for Internet instruction	Understand trends in homeschooling
16	Grade(s) child was homeschooled for some classes or subjects	Understand trends in homeschooling
17	Reasons parents choose to homeschool their child	Understand trends in homeschooling
18	Most important reason for homeschooling child	Understand trends in homeschooling
19	How far do you expect child to go in education	Understand trends in homeschooling
20	Subject areas	Understand trends in homeschooling
Family Activities (21-26)
21	In the past week, has anyone in your family done the following things with this child…	Research Question 6a
22	Days that family ate the evening meal together	Research Question 6a
23	In the past month, has anyone in your family done the following things with this child…	Research Question 6a
24	Does the family participate in other homeschooling activities or meetings	Understand trends in homeschooling
25	Number of times has family gone to meetings/participated in local homeschooling events	Understand trends in homeschooling
26	Member of a national homeschooling organization	Understand trends in homeschooling

1 Ineligible addresses are those which are undeliverable. Once a screener mailing for an address is returned as a postmaster return (PMR), the address will be coded ineligible.

2 The American Community Survey estimate is 34.5 percent.