YCC Supplemental Supporting Statement

OMB Approval No.: 1205-0436

Expiration Date: January 31, 2017

ABBREVIATED SUPPORTING STATEMENT

A. SUPPLEMENTAL SUPPORTING STATEMENT

A.1. Title: Site Selection for Evaluation of Youth CareerConnect (YCC)
A.2. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.5: Yes X No __	A.3. Assurances of Confidentiality: No
A.4. Federal Cost: $305,113	A.5. Requested Expiration Date (Month/Year): January, 2017
A.6. a. Number of Respondents: 48 a.1. % Received Electronically: 0% b. Frequency: See Table 1 c. Average Response Time: See Table 1 d. Total Annual Burden 320 Hours.	A7. Does the Collection Of Information Employ Statistical Methods? X No __ Yes (Complete Section B and attach BLS review sheet).
A.8. Abstract: The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is undertaking the Evaluation of Youth CareerConnect (YCC). In spring 2014, DOL awarded a total of $107 million to 24 grantees to implement the YCC program, which is a high-school based initiative aimed at improving students’ college and career readiness in particular employment sectors. The programs are redesigning the high school experience through partnerships with colleges and employers to provide skill-developing and work-based learning opportunities to help students prepare for jobs in high-demand occupations. The overall aim of the evaluation is to determine the extent to which the YCC program improves high school students’ educational and employment outcomes, and to assess whether program effectiveness varies by student and grantee characteristics. The evaluation will be based on a rigorous random assignment design where program applicants will be randomly assigned to a treatment group (who will be able to receive YCC program services) or a control group (who will not). Random assignment designs have been broadly accepted as the gold standard for providing reliable impact estimates of interventions. Recognizing the inherent challenges of implementing a random assignment study, our first step in planning the evaluation will be to clarify information in the 24 YCC grant applications to identify sites that appear to be suitable for the study based on their program models and enrollment processes. For our next step, we plan to conduct site visits to suitable programs. The purpose of these visits will be to recruit sites for the proposed random assignment study and to start the process of tailoring random assignment procedures to each site. This request for clearance is limited to data collection necessary for site recruitment across the YCC grant programs. The data collection includes on-site, one-day visits to up to 16 promising grantees. We plan to speak with eight respondents per site visit (Table 1). The respondents will be executive grantee directors and other key staff of the grant programs and partner organizations (such as high school leaders, community college administrators, workforce investment board members, and employers). As shown in the Recruitment Visit Protocol in Appendix A, the topics for data collection will include (1) updating information in the grantee applications on the program design and enrollment processes; (2) identifying potential points of random assignment; (3) developing specific plans to conduct random assignment (including the staff who will be involved and available data systems for random assignment); (4) obtaining information on what career-focused services will be available to the control group; and (5) clarifying formal procedures for obtaining site approval for study participation (such as developing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the sites). All applicants for grant funds have been advised that receipt of grant funds is contingent upon participation in the evaluation. Thus, ETA anticipates a 100% response rate to the site visit protocols and does not expect to incorporate any statistical approach for non-response or sampling. This data collection will not duplicate any information currently collected. Although program identifiers will be used to link the information collected with other data collected about the program, identities of individual respondents will not be included in published reports nor otherwise be revealed to anyone not directly involved in the information collection (i.e., contractor personnel).

Table 1 Burden Associated with Site Selection Activities

Activity	Respondents	Responses per Respondent	Total Number of Responses	Response Time (Hours)	Total Burden Hours	Time Value*	Monetized Burden Hours (Rounded to nearest $)
Senior Grantee Staff	16	6	96	3	288	$43.60	$12,557
Partner Organizations	32	1	32	1	32	$43.60	$1,395
Total	48	NA	128	NA	320	NA	$13,952
aThe hourly wage of $43.60 is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly and weekly earnings of “Education Administrators: Elementary and Secondary" (see: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119032.htm)

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