O.2-State Agency Director Protocol

ATTACHMENT O.2-STATE AGENCY DIRECTOR PROTOCOL

State agency director Protocol 40030.xxx

State: _____________________ Contact: ______________________ Tel: ____________

Hello, my name is __________________and I am calling from Mathematica regarding the APEC II study for the USDA. Is ______________________available?

I am calling to confirm you have received the letter from [USDA OFFICIAL] along with a study overview and a list of data items being requested from your state agency. The letter explained the purpose of the data collection (enhance and validate models FNS will use to produce estimates of certification errors/amounts of erroneous payments in the NSLP/SBP to meet federal reporting requirements to Congress in future years), the specific items we wish to acquire (meal program data for each school district in your state/territory), and Mathematica’s preference to obtain these data in electronic format.

IF STATE IN CEO SAMPLE: We will also need to match student records collected from sampled CEO schools in your state with existing state records.

I was asked to emphasize that all data being requested are from the 2012-2013 school year, except where a different reference year is specified. Do you have any questions about the study that were not answered by the Study Overview?

I’d like to review key aspects of our request:

Information We Are Requesting. We want to acquire selected data items on districts’ participation in the NSLP and SBP for SY 2012 – 2013 from state/territory agencies. These data elements (separately for each district and total for the state) are:

• Number of reimbursable lunches (free, reduced-price, paid/full price, and total);

• Number of reimbursable breakfasts (free, reduced-price, paid-full-price and total);

• Number of schools (P2/3 total, P2/3 SBP only, P2/3 NSLP only, P2/3 both NSLP and SBP; non-P23; and total);

• Number of students in schools (P2/3 total, P2/3 SBP only, P2/3 NSLP only, P2/3 both NSLP and SBP; non-P23; and total)

IN CEO STATES:

• Number of CEO schools (total, participating individually, participating jointly as groups and number of schools in each group); and

• Number of students in CEO schools (total, participating individually, and participating jointly as groups; by enrollment and direct certification; and for CEO reference year).

• Participant lists in assistance programs (SNAP, FDPIR, TANF, MEP, runaway and homeless student programs)

If the state is unable to provide any of these participant lists, we will provide the study’s list of sampled students and the state will need to conduct the matching with program participant lists.

District Identification Information. In order to be able to combine the data from the state agency with other study data on districts we have collected for the study, it is critical that we obtain as much identifying information as possible on the districts in our state so that we can match this information with at least three other district-level data sets: (1) the FNS-742 district-level file that we are acquiring from FNS; (2) the Common Core Data public use data file; and (3) the data we collected from study districts in SY 2012 – 13.

In particular, we are requesting that if possible, your state agency includes on the file:

• The full name of the district

• The district’s address/telephone number (e.g., city, county, street address, number)

• Any identification numbers associated with the district including:

• The LEAID# used in the CCD

• Any state–specific ID number used for tracking districts within the state (in particular, if there is a state-specific ID number the district used in reporting the FNS-742 form data to FNS)

• Anything else that might help us match the district to other district-level data sources

Note: States may not be able to give us all of this information for each district, and it’s not worth holding out for all of it if it’s going to be a huge inconvenience. The most important items are the district name and address, the LEAID, and (especially if LEAID is not available) a state-specific ID number. Even if LEAID is available, if the state agency can give us the specific ID without much trouble, we should request it.

Data Format. What format can the state provide the data?

Note: Our preference is to acquire the data in electronic format. We would like a format that is PC-friendly, such as Excel, Access, text file (need file layout).

Will you be directing me to your MIS person or will you be my contact for this portion of the study?

Name ____________________________Title ___________________ Tele ________________

Email: _________________________

What is the best time to call? __________________________ Could you please let him/her know I will be calling to obtain this information?

Thank you for your time.

After completing the call:

Add the information to the tracking spreadsheet:

• Whether the letter was received / needs to be resent

• When our next contact with the site should be

• A

  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 control number. The valid OMB control number for this collection is 0584-0530. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 8 hours per response, including the time to review instructions, searching existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected.

  .

  ny additional relevant information

4