CEO C_20 SEA Survey
OMB Clearance # 0584-XXXX
Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX
Community Eligibility Option Evaluation
State Education Agency (SEA) Survey
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 20 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Research and Analysis, 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22302.
Hello, my name is ___ and I’m calling from Abt Associates on behalf of the Food and Nutrition Service (of the USDA) about the Community Eligibility Option Evaluation. May I please speak with_______? Thank you for taking the time to talk briefly with me today.
Before we start the survey, I would like to confirm your name, title, and the State office you are affiliated with. I have… [READ, WILL BE PRE-POPULATED]
Name:
Title:
State Office:
Were you able to complete the Phone Survey Worksheet I sent you on __DATE__?
YES [IF NECESSARY: “Would you please get that now?”] GO TO INTRODUCTION
NO READ: “Some of the questions for this survey may not pertain to your area of expertise. The Phone Survey Worksheet is designed to help you gather information about State fund allocation for a variety of programs. I would like to complete this survey after you have had time to review and complete this worksheet. When would that be?” [SET CALLBACK; RESEND WORKSHEET IF NECESSARY]
[Introduction]
Great, thank you. To refresh you on what this interview is about, one component of the Food and Nutrition Service Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is the Community Eligibility Option. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has hired Abt Associates to conduct an evaluation of this Option. The Option is implemented in 7 States this year, 4 more States will join next year, and then all States will be eligible in school year 2014-15. Under this Option, participating schools and districts are no longer required to certify the eligibility of every student for free or reduced-price meals by reviewing household applications. Instead, the school or district is reimbursed for a fixed percentage of the meals it serves based on the percentage of directly certified students, that is, students who are already certified as eligible for benefits under other Federal programs such as SNAP, TANF, or FDPIR. In participating schools, all meals are served free of charge and the Local Education Agency [IF NECESSARY: “LEA or school district”] must use non-Federal funds to pay for the costs of these meals in excess of the Federal reimbursements. The potential benefits are that more students may be offered nutritious meals and schools and school districts may experience reduced administrative burden. A big difference, however, is that the Free and Reduced Price Lunch data are not available for participating schools and districts. Many States, districts, and schools use Free and Reduced Price Lunch data for things other than determining eligibility for the School Breakfast and Lunch programs. Today we are interested in knowing what these uses are in your State and how your State might need to adjust if these data were not available for schools and districts participating in the Community Eligibility Option.
Do you have any questions about the Community Eligibility Option or what I am trying to learn today? [ANSWER QUESTIONS AS NEEDED]
Information provided in this survey will be kept private, to the extent provided by law. No data will be attributed to specific survey respondents. De-identified data from this study will be provided to the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S Department of Agriculture, and aggregate measures of subgroups of Local Education Agencies (LEAs) may also be provided. Responses to the study will in no way affect your agency’s receipt of funds from USDA’s school meals program. As you may know, the Healthy-Free Kids Act of 2010 (PL 111-296, Section 305) requires cooperation with program research and evaluation by agencies and contractors participating in programs authorized under the Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966.
[IF NECESSARY, READ: If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a study participant, call Teresa Doksum. She is the Institutional Review Board Administrator at Abt Associates. Her phone number is 877-520-6835 (toll-free).
Going forward, I will refer to Free and Reduced Price Lunch data as “FRPL.” Also, when I say “LEA,” I am referring to a Local Education Agency, often called a school district.
There are two categories of use for the FRPL data that we are interested in learning more about: reporting and allocation of funds. Let’s talk about any reporting that your State does to the Federal government.
Reporting
Does your State use FRPL data in any of its reporting to the Federal government, other than for the School Breakfast and Lunch Programs?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Does your State use FRPL data for reporting to the Federal government related to No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?
Yes ASK 4 NEXT
No ASK 3 NEXT
Don’t know ASK 3 NEXT
What does your State use to identify economically disadvantaged students for NCLB (No Child Left Behind)?
[SPECIFY]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Can you tell me about any other types of reporting to the Federal government that your State uses FRPL data for?
[SPECIFY]
Allocation of Funds
Now let’s talk about allocation of State-level funds or Federal level funds that your State has control over.
Do any of your LEAs (districts) allocate Title 1 funds to schools based on FRPL data?
Yes
No
Don’t know
I will now ask you questions about different methods of allocating State funds to schools and LEAs, as described on the “Phone Survey Worksheet.” For each item, please tell me if your State uses FRPL data to allocate State Funds to LEAs or to schools, and if your State requires LEAs to use FRPL data to allocate State funds to schools for that item.
READ EACH PROGRAM, AND ASK THE THREE QUESTIONS ACROSS THE ROW:
Item/Program |
Does your STATE use FRPL data to allocate State funds to…. |
Does your State require LEAs (districts) to use FRPL data to allocate State funds to schools for: |
|
… LEAs (districts) for: |
… schools for: |
||
a. Early childhood education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
b. Tutoring programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
c. Vocational and technical education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
d. Telecommunication and internet expenses (the E-rate initiative) |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
e. Literacy and reading programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
f. Special education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
g. Curriculum development |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
h. After school programming |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
i. Teacher professional development |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
j. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
k. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
l. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
m. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Does your State require LEAs to waive fees for low income students through the use of FRPL data?
Yes ASK 8 NEXT
No ASK 9 NEXT
Don’t know ASK 9 NEXT
Does your State require LEAs to use FRPL data to determine the allocation of funding to support waivers for:
[READ ANSWER CATEGORIES BELOW, CHECK IF ANSWER YES]
Transportation
Advanced Placement tests
Sports fees
Textbooks
Any other support waivers? [SPECIFY]_________________________________________
Don’t know
Other
Does your State use FRPL data for any planning purposes?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Many states are moving towards value-added models of teacher effectiveness and include students’ FRPL status in these models. Does your state use FRPL data for this purpose?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Data Sources
Next, I would next like to discuss data sources that could replace FRPL. One is the American Community Survey, which is an ongoing, annual survey conducted by the Census Bureau. It is intended as an improved replacement for many uses of long-form Census data. Income and poverty data are part of this survey and can be aggregated for school districts.
[IF ASKED: More information is at www.census.gov/acs]
If your State didn’t have the FRPL data, do you think it would consider using the American Community Survey data for the purposes you currently use FRPL data for?
Yes
No
Don’t Know
What other sources of data do you think your State would consider using (to replace FRPL data)?
Don’t Know ASK 14 NEXT
[SPECIFY]
How do you think these other data sources will compare with FRPL data? Would you say they will be not as good, as good, or better?
Not as good
As good
Better
Don’t Know ASK 14 NEXT
Do you think other data sources would be adequate to meet the needs of what you currently use the FRPL data for in your State?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Do you think your State would use more than one source of data (to replace FRPL data)?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Do you know if any LEAs in your State use the FRPL data for any purposes that are not specifically mandated by the State? Please think about the use of both aggregated data and individual level data.
Yes ASK 17 NEXT
No ASK 18 NEXT
Don’t Know ASK 18 NEXT
Please briefly describe these ways in which LEAs use the FRPL data.
[SPECIFY]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Are there other State agencies that use FRPL data that you are aware of?
Yes ASK 19 NEXT
No ASK 21 NEXT
What agencies?
[SPECIFY]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you know what they use the FRPL data for?
[SPECIFY]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Communication
Have there been discussions about the Community Eligibility Option at the State level that you are aware of?
Yes ASK QUESTION 22
No GO TO QUESTION 23
Don’t Know GO TO QUESTION 23
What has been the nature of those discussions?
[SPECIFY]_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Has there been communication between the offices at the Federal Department of Education (that allocate Federal and State Funds) and your office about the Community Eligibility Option?
Yes ASK QUESTION 24
No GO TO CONCLUSION
Don’t Know GO TO CONCLUSION
What has been the nature of these discussions?
[SPECIFY]_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Conclusion]
This concludes our interview. Thank you again for your time. I invite you to send me an email at [email protected] after this interview if other uses of the FRPL data come to mind.
C
OMB
Clearance # 0584-XXXX Expiration
Date: XX/XX/20XX
State Education Agency (SEA) Phone Survey Worksheet
Please complete this worksheet in preparation for the Community Eligibility Option Evaluation State telephone survey.
Often times, there is not one person at the State level who is knowledgeable about all the ways Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) data are used. If this is true for your State, please take the time to contact other departments to ask if FRPL data are used for any of the following programs:
Item/Program |
Does your STATE use FRPL data to allocate State funds to…. |
Does your State require LEAs (districts) to use FRPL data to allocate State funds to schools for: |
|
… LEAs (districts) for: |
… schools for: |
||
a. Early childhood education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
b. Tutoring programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
c. Vocational and technical education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
d. Telecommunication and internet expenses (the E-rate initiative) |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
e. Literacy and reading programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
f. Special education programs |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
g. Curriculum development |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
h. After school programming |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
i. Teacher professional development |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
j. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
k. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
l. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
m. Other (specify): __________________ |
Yes No |
Yes No |
Yes No |
State
Education Agency (SEA) Survey
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Katie Speanburg |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-30 |