Routine Customer Feedback Gen Clearance 1880-0542

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1880-0542)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION

Defining Minority Group Isolation in Federally Funded Magnet Schools Interview

PURPOSE

The purpose of the data collection interview is to understand how local education agencies (LEAs) that receive Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grants define minority group isolation and to learn the strategies they use to address it. In addition to analyzing information from the grant applications of the 2010 and 2013 MSAP cohort, researchers will interview project directors. The results of the data collection will provide knowledge about the ways in which federally funded magnet schools are navigating the contemporary legal landscape, to help shape and develop technical assistance products for current and future MSAP grantees.

The Defining Minority Group Isolation in Federally Funded Magnet Schools Interview will be conducted with project directors from 24 MSAP projects representing the 2010 and 2013 MSAP cohorts by ED-OII-13-C-0073 subcontractor—University of California Los Angeles, Civil Rights Project (CRP)— to collect data. Data collection using this interview protocol will be completed one time within the 3-year MSAP grant cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS

MSAP project directors are essential to magnet programs success; they implement and manage the MSAP grant projects and are responsible for project monitoring and accountability. Project directors are experienced administrators who are completely informed about their project components as well as district and school contexts that can affect program success. These administrators drive program implementation across the project schools, including recruiting designated numbers and groups of students to reduce minority group isolation and implementing program systems to improve student academic achievement. Understanding project directors’ opinions, needs, challenges, and successes associated with reducing minority group isolation will help MSAP tailor technical assistance products and services to grantees as well as the larger magnet schools community. The subcontractor will conduct a 30-minute semi-structured interview with individual project directors from 24 grant projects representing the 2010 and 2013 MSAP cohorts.

See the attached The Defining Minority Group Isolation in Federally Funded Magnet Schools Interview Protocol.

TYPE OF COLLECTION (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Telephone Interview

CERTIFICATION

I certify the following to be true.

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:________________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals: MSAP Project Directors	24	30 minutes	12 hours
Totals	24	30 minutes	12 hours

FEDERAL COST

The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is approximately _$97,800. This is a one-time cost under ED-OII-13-C-0073

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [] Yes [X ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Additional Information

Interviewees were selected through a review of their MSAP applications, as well as quantitative data on diversity in MSAP-funded schools for each district. For each grant cycle, CRP aimed to get a roughly proportional representation of grantees with court-ordered versus voluntary desegregation plans. The CRP also sought variation across regions of the country; type of district(s) (central city, countywide, consortium of districts); and minority isolated groups. CRP deliberately sought to include districts whose proposed plans were more ambitious in terms of the numbers of schools affected, types of changes proposed, or magnitude of reducing minority group isolation. CRP also included districts with intriguing definitions of minority group isolation. The process was to first separately construct a list of 2010 and 2013 grantees who might be appealing to interview based on the criteria described above. Two other team members reviewed these initial lists, adding additional information based on a review of demographic data in the districts. All three members jointly reached consensus on the proposed list of interviewees.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media (Please see attached instrument)

[X] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X ] Yes [ ] No

Yes, one of two assigned interviewers will conduct each interview with one of two assigned recorders documenting each participant’s responses. No recording device will be used.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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