The Private School Universe Survey (PSS) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect basic information from the universe of private elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The PSS is designed to gather biennial data on the total number of private schools, teachers, and students, along with a variety of related data, including: religious orientation; grade-levels taught and size of school; length of school year and of school day; total student enrollment by gender (K-12); number of high school graduates; whether a school is single-sexed or coeducational; number of teachers employed; program emphasis; and existence and type of its kindergarten program. The PSS includes all schools that are not supported primarily by public funds, that provide classroom instruction for one or more of grades K-12 or comparable ungraded levels, and that have one or more teachers. No substantive changes have been made to the survey or its procedures since its last approved administration (OMB# 1850-0641 v.6-7). The PSS is also used to create a universe list of private schools for use as a sampling frame for NCES surveys of private schools. This request is to conduct the 2017-18 Private School Universe Survey (PSS) data collection and the 2017-18 and 2019-20 PSS frame-development activities
US Code:
20 USC 9543
Name of Law: NCES is authorized to conduct this survey under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA)
There is no change in the estimated number of respondents or burden per respondent from the last approved PSS administration. The apparent increase in total burden hours is due to the last clearance request listing burden of two data collection years based on a three-year average, while this request list total burden requested from June 2016 through May 2019.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Appendix A-C PSS 2016-19 Communication Materials.doc
Private School Universe Survey 2016-2019