SAMO_Part_A_11-8-2012

Supporting Statement A

Assessment Tools for Park-Based Youth Education

and Employment Experience Programs

at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

OMB Control Number 1024-NEW

Terms of Clearance: None

General Instructions: A completed Supporting Statement A must accompany each request for approval of a collection of information. The Supporting Statement must be prepared in the format described below, and must contain the information specified below. If an item is not applicable, provide a brief explanation. When the question “Does this ICR contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods?” is checked "Yes," then a Supporting Statement B must be completed. OMB reserves the right to require the submission of additional information with respect to any request for approval.

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection.

From the Organic Act of 1916 to enabling legislation for specific parks, the National Park Service (NPS) has received viable Congressional mandates for collecting information needed to assist in the management of national park programs. Specifically, 16 U.S.C. 1 through 4 (NPS Organic Act of 1916); the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998; and the NPS Management Policies 2006, provides the authority for the Director of the NPS to manage the parks and to facilitate social science studies that support the NPS mission by providing an understanding of park visitors and human interactions with park resources. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-62) requires that the NPS develop goals to improve program effectiveness and public accountability, and to measure performance related to these goals.

The National Park Service is requesting the approval of a new information collection needed to evaluate and provide measureable outcomes for the educational and employment programs at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO). While the primary focus of these programs is to provide opportunities to help young students understand the importance of preserving the cultural and natural resources within the national park system. The program also offers special opportunities for school aged children who might not otherwise have the chance to visit or work in a national park. The park will use this information to evaluate the following youth programs offered at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area:

1. Students Helping Restore Unique Biomes (SHRUB) program provides education and in-depth involvement for students and their families in grade school.

2. EcoHelpers program provides one-day service learning programs for high school students.

3. SAMO Youth program provides progressive integrated work experience for high school and college students.

The Authority for NPS interpretive and educational programs is contained in the following laws, regulations, policies and statutes:

• National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. §a-1-6

“…which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”.

• National Park Service Director's Order #26: Youth Programs

The authority to issue this Director's Order is found in 16 USC 1 through 4 (the NPS Organic Act), and the delegations of authority contained in Part 245 of the Department of the Interior Manual.

• National Environmental Policy Act of as amended in 1982 (Sec 102 [42 U.S.C. § 4332A])

The Federal Government shall utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary approach which will insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decision making which may have an impact on man's environment.

• National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (16 USC 5934)

The Secretary shall undertake a program of inventory and monitoring of National Park System resources to establish baseline information and to provide information on the long-term trends in the condition of National Park System resources. The monitoring program shall be developed in cooperation with other Federal monitoring and information collection efforts to ensure a cost-effective approach.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection. Be specific. If this collection is a form or a questionnaire, every question needs to be justified.

Students participating in the SHRUB and EcoHelpers and SAMO programs will be given a pre and post survey to evaluate their participation in the field study programs. A link to the on-line surveys (pre and post) and instructions for completing the surveys will be emailed to the teachers. The teachers will be provided information that will be used to assist them with administering the surveys to their students. In the cases where teachers require paper copies of surveys, copies will be provided via postal mail. The teachers will be asked to mail completed paper surveys back in a preaddressed and postage paid envelope. The teachers participating in both programs (SHRUB and EcoHelper) will be asked to provide feedback via a post-field trip survey. In addition to the evaluations of the three programs above, the SAMO Youth alumni will be asked to complete a retrospective survey regarding their experiences in the program.

Our plan is to use the information collected to evaluate the short and long-term success of our environmental education programs. We are interested in evaluating the program participant’s:

• Understanding and concern for natural and cultural resource conservation, stewardship and resulting behavior changes both inside and outside parks

• Awareness and understanding about the National Park Service

• Recreational interests and activities

• Influences on family and friends’ attitudes and behaviors

• Education and career choices

• Usefulness of work experience

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden and specifically how this collection meets GPEA requirements.

At least 90% of the information will be collected using an on-line survey (SurveyMonkey™). We will provide paper copies to be mailed back to anyone requesting this mode. We feel that there are at least three important factors for using an electronic method to collect this information:

• Internet surveys assist in increasing response rates over and beyond what can be achieved through mail alone.

• Internet surveys have shown improvements in the quality of data through the effective use of automated skip logic and prompting for missing data.

• Finally, internet surveys typically result in cost savings by significantly reducing the cost of printing, postage and manual data entry.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

To our knowledge, there are no duplications of efforts and no other agency is currently collecting information regarding the educational programs at SAMO.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.

There are no impacts on small businesses or other small entities. Only students and teachers participating in the SAMO educational programs will be involved in this data collection.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Failure to conduct this study would force the NPS to rely on anecdotal information. This information is needed to provide feedback to NPS program managers to better understand and predict the potential long term effects of the programs.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

* requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

* requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

* requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;

* requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records, for more than three years;

* in connection with a statistical survey that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;

* requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;

* that includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or

* requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secrets, or other confidential information, unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.

No special circumstances apply to this information collection.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and in response to the PRA statement associated with the collection over the past three years, and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Consultation with representatives of those from whom information is to be obtained or those who must compile records should occur at least once every three years — even if the collection of information activity is the same as in prior periods. There may be circumstances that may preclude consultation in a specific situation. These circumstances should be explained.

On January 30, 2012, we published a 60-day Federal Register notice (77 FR 4577) stating that we intended to request OMB approval of our information collection associated with Assessment Tools for Park-Based Youth Education and Employment Experience Programs. In this notice, we solicited public comment for 60 days ending March 30, 2012. We did not receive any comments concerning this notice.

In addition to our Federal Register notice, we solicited comments from several potential applicants for the new program. We specifically requested comments on:

• Estimated length of time to complete a submission

• Clarity of the instructions

• Overall usefulness of the information requested

The individuals listed below provided editorial suggestions and feedback concerning the clarity of the information based on their previous experiences with surveys of this general nature and scope. We incorporated their suggested edits to improve the grammatical clarity of the final instruments. The respondents also said that the survey instruments and associated correspondences were straightforward and that the intended results would be very useful. The reviewers concurred with our estimated burden time to complete the survey of about 20 minutes per respondent. We believe that this estimate reflects the time it takes each respondent to read the instructions and complete the questionnaire.

Individuals Contacted Outside the Agency

Dr. Theresa Westover, Director Center for Education and Evaluation Services University of California Davis 1 Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616 Ph: (530)754-9523 Email: [email protected]	Dr. Francisco J. Herrera Jr., Institutional Research Analyst UC Santa Barbara, Graduate Division 3117 Cheadle Hall Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2070 Ph: (805)893-4231 Email: [email protected]
Christine Steigelman, SHRUB Coordinator, EARTHS Magnet School 2626 Michael Drive Newbury Park, CA 91320 Ph: (805)498-3686 Email: [email protected]

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

No payments or gifts will be given to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

We will not provide any assurances of confidentiality to any respondents. Because electronic surveys administered to teachers and SAMO Youth alumni are linked to an email address, the respondents’ email addresses will be used for the sole purpose of sending making the initial contact and providing follow-up reminders for this collection only. This process will be managed electronically in most cases and in the limited cases where postal mail is used, only members of the research team will be privy to the names and contact information of the individual respondents. Email addresses and names will be replaced with random numerical identifiers in all data files. This unique identifier will be used to link pre and post responses and any follow-up correspondences. No list connecting responses with the respondents’ names, email addresses, or mailing addresses will be retained after this data collection is completed. Any information reported in any format will be presented in summary form only, and no individually identifiable responses will be reported.

The EcoHelpers and SHRUB programs surveys will be accessible via a shared, common web-link, allowing student responses to be entirely anonymous. Comparisons of responses pre and post will be based on classroom level summaries and not individual student responses. Again, no identifiable individual student responses will be released in any report; only summary data will be reported.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

No questions of a sensitive nature will be asked.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should:

* Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. Unless directed to do so, agencies should not conduct special surveys to obtain information on which to base hour burden estimates. Consultation with a sample (fewer than 10) of potential respondents is desirable. If the hour burden on respondents is expected to vary widely because of differences in activity, size, or complexity, show the range of estimated hour burden, and explain the reasons for the variance. Generally, estimates should not include burden hours for customary and usual business practices.

* If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens.

* Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories. The cost of contracting out or paying outside parties for information collection activities should not be included here. Instead, this cost should be included under “Annual Cost to Federal Government.”

This collection will involve three groups:

SHRUB Program- Approximately 240 students and 8 teachers participate in this program. All students will be asked to participate in the pre and post surveys. Assuming an 80% response rate among students (accounting for any absent students), we expect to receive 192 student responses. We anticipate that all participating teachers will respond (n=8) to the Teacher’s post survey. We expect a total of 200 respondents and 392 responses for this group.

EcoHelpers Program - In any given year approximately 60 high school classes participate in this program. We will randomly sample 15 classrooms (approximately 450 students and 15 teachers) to participate in the study. Assuming an 80% response rate, we expect responses from 360 students and 12 teachers for a total of 372 respondents and 732 responses.

SAMO Program - Approximately 10 students participate in the SAMO Youth Program each year. We will ask all participants to take the pre-survey prior to starting the program and the post-survey before their last day in the program. We expect that 100% (n=20) of the respondents will complete both surveys.

We will send a request to all SAMO Youth Alumni (n=120) to complete an alumni survey. This is a population survey, not a sample and given the uncertainty of contact information being current for all alumni, we expect a total response rate of 67% (n=80).

We estimate an average of 20 minutes per response (2 minutes to read the instructions and 18 minutes to complete the survey instruments) see Table 1 below.

Table 1. Total Estimated Burden

Respondents	Number of Responses	Completion Time (minutes)	Burden Hours
SHRUB Program Pre-visit Survey Students Post-visit Survey Students Teachers EcoHelpers Program Pre-visit Survey Students Post-visit Survey Students Teachers SAMO Program Pre and Post Youth Survey Alumni Survey	192 192 8 360 360 12 20 80	20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20	64 64 3 120 120 4 6 27
TOTAL	1,224		408

We estimate the total annual dollar value of burden hours to be $11,750 (Table 2 below). We multiplied the estimated burden hours by $28.80 per respondent (individuals or households). This wage figure includes a benefits multiplier and is based on the National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupation and Wages, (BLS news release USDL-12-1830 for Employer Costs for Employee Compensation—June 2012 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm, September 11, 2012).

Table 2. Estimated Dollar Value of Burden Hours

Activity	Sector	Annual Number of Responses	Total Annual Burden Hours	Dollar Value of Burden Hours (Including Benefits)	Total Dollar Value of Annual Burden Hour
Completing the survey process	Private Individuals	1,224	408	$28.80	$11,750

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual non-hour cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden already reflected in item 12.)

* The cost estimate should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component (annualized over its expected useful life) and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component. The estimates should take into account costs associated with generating, maintaining, and disclosing or providing the information (including filing fees paid for form processing). Include descriptions of methods used to estimate major cost factors including system and technology acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, the discount rate(s), and the time period over which costs will be incurred. Capital and start-up costs include, among other items, preparations for collecting information such as purchasing computers and software; monitoring, sampling, drilling and testing equipment; and record storage facilities.

* If cost estimates are expected to vary widely, agencies should present ranges of cost burdens and explain the reasons for the variance. The cost of purchasing or contracting out information collection services should be a part of this cost burden estimate. In developing cost burden estimates, agencies may consult with a sample of respondents (fewer than 10), utilize the 60-day pre-OMB submission public comment process and use existing economic or regulatory impact analysis associated with the rulemaking containing the information collection, as appropriate.

* Generally, estimates should not include purchases of equipment or services, or portions thereof, made: (1) prior to October 1, 1995, (2) to achieve regulatory compliance with requirements not associated with the information collection, (3) for reasons other than to provide information or keep records for the government, or (4) as part of customary and usual business or private practices.

We have identified no reporting and recordkeeping “non-hour cost” burdens associated with this proposed collection of information.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The total annual cost to the Federal Government is $32,762.This includes the cost to the Federal Government for salaries and benefits for administering this information collection ($5,980) and operational expenses ($26,782). Table 3 below shows Federal staff and grade levels associated with this information collection. We used the Office of Personnel Management Salary Table 2012-LA (http://www.opm.gov/oca/12tables/pdf/la_h.pdf) to determine the hourly rate. We multiplied the hourly rate by 1.5 to account for benefits (as implied by the BLS news release USDL-12-0450). The operational expenses for this collection are listed below in Table 4.

Table 3. Federal Employee Salaries and Benefits

Position	Grade/ Step	Hourly Rate	Hourly Rate incl. benefits (1.5 x hourly pay rate)	Estimated time (hours)	Annual Cost
Youth Outreach and Recruitment Program Manager	GS-11/1	$30.64	$45.96	40	$1,838
Park Ranger	GS-11/8	$37.79	$56.69	40	$2,268
Park Ranger	GS-9/8	$31.23	$46.85	40	$1,874
TOTAL					$5,980

Table 4. Operational Expenses

Operational Expenses	Estimated Cost
Travel	$2,965
Contractors
CEES Director	$5,669
Analyst III	$13,313
Analyst I	$4,535
SurveyMonkey Service	$300
TOTAL	$26,782

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments in hour or cost burden.

This is a new collection.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

The information collected will not be published for statistical use. NPS program managers will use the information as a summary of the programs offered at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area for planning purposes only.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

We will display the OMB control number and expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the topics of the certification statement identified in "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions."

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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