OMB Supporting Statement A_Speak UP FINAL_07-07-14

SUPPORTING STATEMENT – PART A

A.  JUSTIFICATION

1.  Need for the Information Collection

The Speak-Up National Survey is an annual online census created and administered by Project Tomorrow. The census is open for all schools in the United States to participate, there is no contract or funding required. DoDEA will participate in the census in order to gather information from all students and parents of students attending DoDEA schools on the use of technology in education. The census provides data on how these groups are using and would like to use technology for learning in and out of school. Broad areas of information gathered include: the benefits of using technology for learning; attitudes and interest in math and science, as well as career aspirations; how respondents self-assess their 21st century skills competencies. The data are required to meet: 1) President’s charge in the recent technology-focused ConnectED initiative, and 2) the Presidential Study Directive 9: Strengthening Military Families, which states that “The Department of Defense commits to making DOD Education Activity (DODEA) schools a leader in the use of advanced learning technologies that have the potential to significantly improve student perfor­mance.”

2.  Use of the Information

The data resulting from the census will be used by DoDEA as a planning tool and needs assessment. The information from the census, as compared with national trends, will be effective in assisting DoDEA in providing well-planned technology initiatives that meet the needs of our military-connected students and other stakeholders. The data will also be used to plan training and professional development for DoDEA employees, especially teachers, as it will accurately reflect the needs of teachers and other staff members alike.

3.  Use of Information Technology

The information collection will be administered via an online web portal. No paper/hard copy questionnairess will be made available to potential respondents.

4.  Non-duplication

The information gathered via the project does not currently exist, especially in a format that allows comparisons between DoDEA and national trends.

5.  Burden on Small Business

No respondents are small business or other small entities.

6.  Less Frequent Collection

The world of technology, both what is available and the use demonstrated by potential respondents, is a rapidly changing environment. Data regarding student access, learning trends, and parent input changes very quickly. The changing nature of this data, coupled with the mobility of military families, means that collections less frequently than once per year, would eliminate many potential respondents and would also not provide the currency of information that is needed to accurately inform the agency. These factors are also primary in DoDEA’s decision to make this a census of all students and parents; Additionally, Speak Up is given nationwide annually for the same reasons and DoDEA’s inability to give it with the same frequency would limit the ability to compare DoDEA data to the national trend.

7.  Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines

There are no special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8.  Consultation and Public Comments

a.  The Agency's 60-day notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), was published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2013, Volume 78, NO. 13, pages 40728-40729. No comments were received.

b.  Consultation occurred with Julie Evans, CEO, Project Tomorrow, as well as representatives of the Survey and Program Evaluation Division at the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC).

9.  Gifts or Payment

No payment or gifts will be provided to respondents.

10.  Confidentiality

The census does not track or trace respondents via login, cookies, or other methods. The census does not directly collect information that could be classified as personally identifiable information (PII); however, it is possible that data could be combined so as to identify individuals. To protect the identity of individuals, data are only reported as disaggregated on one variable (i.e., various fields are not combined so as to allow for identification). Small cell sizes are also suppressed to protect confidentiality of information. Although the contractor does not have DIACAP accreditation, the contractor limits access to the data stored on the servers only via a secure password protected login. DoDEA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) has reviewed the contractor’s specifications and found them satisfactory from a security standpoint.

11.  Sensitive Questions

The instrument collects the following demographics that could be considered sensitive. However, respondents may elect whether to respond; no responses are mandatory. From Parents: age, educational background, educational goals, gender, profession, household income, and Race/Ethnicity.

Research at a national level has shown that technology access, understanding, and use vary by the demographic questions referenced above. Collecting this information and thus being able to determine if the same patterns exist for DoDEA is critical to implementing technology and in comparing DoDEA to national trends.

12.  Respondent Burden, and its Labor Costs

a.  Estimation of Respondent Burden

Because this is a census, the response burden was calculated by multiplying the total population [(parents =510) + (students = 782)] =1292), x 20 minutes, divided by 60 to arrive at the burden in annual hours. 1292 x 20 /60 =431

b.  Labor Cost of Respondent Burden

Anticipated labor costs are calculated for the parent respondents, as there is no cost burden for students. Labor costs for parents were based on the Basic Military Pay Scale as reported by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) www.dfas.mil/military members. We used the rank of E-7 as the basis for the hourly rate. Labor costs = number of anticipated parent respondents (510) x average hourly wage ($50.41) x number of hours (.333). Labor costs = $8,484.00

13.  Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs

a. There are no capital and start-up costs annualized over the expected useful life of the item(s).

b. There are no operation and maintenance costs.   

14.  Cost to the Federal Government

The following labor costs are incurred by the Federal Government annually to collect and process the information collected:

Title	Approximate Man Hours	Cost per hour	Total Annual Costs
GS13 (DoDEA Program Manager)	25	$50.27	$1256.75
GS14 (DoDEA Chief, Research and Evaluation)	15	$66.19	$992.85
GS15 (DoDEA General Counsel)	8	$75.28	$602.24
SES (DoDEA Senior Leadership)	1	$85.77	$85.77
TOTAL			$2,937.61

15.  Reasons for Change in Burden

There is no change in burden as this is a new collection.

16.  Publication of Results

National aggregate results, to include all participating schools, will be available to the public via the “SpeakUP” website. In addition, all SpeakUp Congressional Briefings and presentations on national results will be available via the SpeakUp website. Individual school districts will be able to access results for their school via a secure login, but each district will only have access to data from their district. This reporting strategy will allow each district as well DoDEA overall, to compare their results against national results. Results will be limited to simple descriptives, i.e. the number and percentage of each response.

17.  Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date

No exception to display the expiration date of OMB approval on the instrument is being sought.

18.  Exceptions to "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions"

No exception is being sought.

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