VISTA PSO Submission Template

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3045-0137)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

CNCS VISTA PSO Evaluation - Supervisor & Leader Survey

PURPOSE:

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) engages more than five million Americans as community volunteers through core programs such as Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA). Before VISTA members can begin service, they must complete the Pre-Service Orientation (PSO), currently a 3.5 day, in-person, instructor-led training event. Recently, CNCS has introduced a pilot blended approach for the PSO, which is comprised of self-directed and facilitator-led e-learning modules, action-learning tasks in the field, and interactive webinars. In order for CNCS VISTA to better understand members’ PSO experience and outcomes and verify the efficacy of this blended approach, ICF International (ICF) has been contracted to assess the efficiency and impact of participation in the in-person and blended PSO approaches.

The evaluation approach adopted by CNCS VISTA and ICF includes gathering the perspectives of VISTA supervisors and VISTA leaders four (4) months after the VISTA member they supervise and/or lead completes the PSO. VISTA supervisors and leaders can provide valuable assessments of members’ demonstration of VISTA performance competencies expected to be affected by PSO participation, as well as provide input as to those often overlooked contextual and environmental factors that influence the utility of training and thus members’ ability to transfer learning to the job. For example, training evaluation research demonstrates that the extent of supervisor and peer support for new learning is instrumental to a trainee’s ability to apply what they learned in training on-the-job. We hypothesize that VISTA supervisor and leader attitudes, perceptions and assessments provide valuable information regarding member behaviors and outcomes, and the role of the PSO in contributing to those outcomes.

In order to measure these factors, it is necessary to collect behavioral and impact evaluation data from supervisors and leaders of VISTA members during their service. Some examples of areas of interest for data collection are supervisors’ and leaders’ assessments of the degree to which members are embodying VISTA competencies on-the-job, how well the member is achieving their goals of the VAD, to what extent the supervisor and/or leader needs to engage in remediation, the change in the supervisors’ and/or leaders’ workload due to supervising the member, etc. Collecting data from multiple levels, such as from the supervisor and/or leaders, allows us to link orientation participation to members’ readiness and behaviors, and organizational outcomes.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The supervisors and leaders of VISTA members who completed the PSO in February 2016.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: __________________

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:__Michelle Heelan, ICF International Project Manager________________________

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

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) 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	725	10 minutes	121 hours
Totals	725	10 minutes	121 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $12,000 (one time cost for contractor expenses)

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? [X] Yes [ ] 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?

Potential respondents will be identified by VISTA program representatives as all supervisors and leaders of VISTA members participating in the classic PSO and blended PSO during February and March 2016. We will draw a stratified random sample of VISTA members to participate in the blended PSO and will use a census sample of the remaining classic PSO participants to participate in our evaluation data collections. The supervisors and leaders of members in the sample will be asked to participate and respond to the survey four months after the member has completed the PSO.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

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

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