OMB83 C Memo

U NITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

National Center for Education Statistics

August 27, 2015

MEMORANDUM

To: Shelly Martinez, OMB

From: Chelsea Owens, NCES

Through: Kashka Kubzdela, NCES

Re: National Teacher and Principal Surveys (NTPS) 2015-16 Communication Materials Change Request (OMB# 1850-0598 v.12)

The 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) was approved in June 2015 (1850-0598 v.11). The collection for this study is scheduled to begin on September 4, 2015. This submission updates the approved respondent communication materials in Attachment B – NTPS 2015-16 Respondent Contact Materials.docx as follows:

1. Per Part A, page 7 of the approved package¹ and Part B, page 9², language for six emails (three for principals and three for teachers) have been added to end of Attachment B.

2. The approved back-page school coordinator check-list (intended to help coordinators track the completion of their school’s questionnaires) that was included in school coordinator letters: 11L(C), 12L(C/CI), and 20L(C/CI), has been also added to the school coordinator letter 13L(C/CI).

3. The approved list of FAQs has been added to the back of the 15L letter.

4. The draft version of the NTPS Flier – City Schools has been replaced with the final version.

5. Phone numbers, OMB#s, expiration dates, and signatures have been updated throughout, and non-substantive wording edits were made to a few letters to improve language clarity and consistency across the recruitment materials.

1 “Once the teacher listing forms are received, processed, and the sample is selected, invitations to complete the teacher questionnaires will be sent out to teachers on a flow basis by either email and/or paper. Teachers for whom email addresses have been obtained will be invited to complete the Teacher Questionnaire by Internet response. When a teacher’s email address is not provided, attempts will be made to locate it through internet searches of school and district websites and through commercial vendor lists. When no address can be obtained, the teacher will be mailed a paper questionnaire. Teachers with email addresses who do not provide an Internet response will be invited to complete the paper questionnaire.”

2 “Increased use of email and internet for collection of teacher lists and survey reminders. The 2014 NTPS pilot test demonstrated that email was an effective tool to drive participation in the NTPS teacher survey. The pilot test also showed that email addresses and teacher lists could be collected from school websites. The 2015-16 NTPS includes clerical operations to look up principal email addresses and lists of teachers as well as their email addresses during data collection. The teacher lists will be collected for schools that do not return a completed Teacher Listing Form or do not include teacher email addresses on the returned form. Depending on results of the experiment conducted during the NTPS pilot test, commercial vendor lists may also be used to identify and sample teachers at schools that did not complete a TLF. Emails will be sent to sampled teachers with links to the NTPS teacher survey. Additionally, principals of schools in the internet experiment will receive email invitations and reminders to complete the survey.”

1990 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006-5650

Our mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the Nation.