Change Memo v7

MEMORANDUM OMB # 1850-0911 v.7

DATE: September 14, 2015

TO: Shelly Martinez

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

FROM: Carolyn Fidelman

National Center for Education Statistics

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela

National Center for Education Statistics

SUBJECT: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017–18 (MGLS:2017) Recruitment for 2016 Item Validation Field Test 2^nd Change Request

The Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) is the first study sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, to follow a nationally representative sample of students as they enter and move through the middle grades (grades 6-8). An Item Validation Field Test (IVFT) will be conducted to determine the psychometric properties of items and the predictive potential of assessment and survey items so that valid, reliable, and useful assessment and survey instruments can be composed for the main study. An OMB package for the recruitment of schools, school districts, and parents to participate in the IVFT was approved on July 20, 2015 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.3) with the understanding that a change memo would be provided upon award of the MGLS contract based on revisions proposed by the contractor. Since the contract has been awarded, a change request was approved by OMB on September 14, 2015, detailing the final recruitment plan and presenting the final versions of the recruitment materials (OMB# 1850-0911 v.3).

In the meantime, while reviewing the MGLS:2017 Operational Field Test (OFT) Recruitment Package for which a 60-day Federal Register notice was requested this morning (the IVFT data collection and the OFT recruitment are both scheduled to begin in January 2016 and clearance processes for both have been begun), the MGLS team realized that an erroneous description of the school recruitment plan was included in the recently revised and approved IVFT Recruitment package (OMB# 1850-0911 v.3).

Namely, the description of recruitment of schools for the IVFT stated that recruitment would cease once the 58 schools needed for data collection agreed to participate. In fact, to support the approved incentive experiment, the plan is to complete the recruitment of all 250 schools in the IVFT sample, to which recruitment letters and materials will be sent on the same date, later this month. If more than 58 of these 250 schools agree to participate in the IVFT, we will select the 58 schools in which data collection will be conducted. All of the 250 schools contacted for recruitment that agree to participate will receive their assigned incentive regardless of whether they will be selected for the IVFT data collection. This will enable us to fully carry out the incentive experiment with all sampled schools regardless of how many agree to participate.

Only a total of two paragraphs have been revised in the MGLS:2017 IVFT Recruitment package approved today. Namely, in the original Change Memo and Part A:

The 250 schools selected for the IVFT will be recruited at the same time. A Of the schools who agree to participate, a selection of the 58 schools representing a diversity among schools of demographics will be included in the IVFT. During this recruitment effort, participating schools will be tracked to ensure heterogeneity of demographics such as state and urbanicity. If, for example, a sufficient number of suburban schools from a particular state agree to participate, recruitment efforts with the remaining schools of that type will cease and focus will remain on the remaining schools in the state that are urban and rural. All schools who agree to participate will receive their assigned incentive regardless of their selection for participation. This will enable us to fully carry out the incentive experiment with all sampled schools regardless of their selection for participation. To provide context for the next section, schools in the sample for the IVFT are considered Tier 1 schools.

and in Part B:

The 250 schools selected for the IVFT will be recruited at the same time. A selection of 58 schools from among those that agree to participate will be included in the IVFT. During this recruitment effort, participating schools will be tracked to ensure heterogeneity of demographics such as state and urbanicity. If, for example, a sufficient number of suburban schools from a particular state agree to participate, recruitment efforts with the remaining schools of that type will cease but will continue with the remaining schools in the state that are urban and rural.

Of the schools who agree to participate, a selection of 58 schools representing a diversity of demographics will be included in the IVFT.

No other changes have been made. This submission requests approval of changes to the two paragraphs as shown above in tracked changes.