OMB83C Change Memo

MEMORANDUM OMB # 1850-0911 v.14

DATE: April 19, 2017

TO: Robert Sivinski and E. Ann Carson

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

FROM: Carolyn Fidelman

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

SUBJECT: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Recruitment for Main Study Base-year Change Request

The Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) is the first study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to follow a nationally representative sample of students as they enter and move through the middle grades (grades 6-8). The data collected through repeated measures of key constructs will provide a rich descriptive picture of the academic experiences and development of students during these critical years and will allow researchers to examine associations between contextual factors and student outcomes. The study will focus on student achievement in mathematics and literacy along with measures of student socioemotional wellbeing and other outcomes. The study will also include students with disabilities for whom descriptive information on their outcomes, educational experiences, and special education services will be collected. Base-year data for MGLS:2017 will be collected from a nationally representative sample of sixth-grade students beginning in January 2018, with annual follow-ups beginning in January 2019 and in January 2020 when most of the students in the sample will be in grades 7 and 8, respectively. In preparation for the national data collection, referred to as the Main Study, the data collection instruments and procedures must be field tested. An Item Validation Field Test (IVFT) was conducted in the winter/spring 2016 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 developed for the Main Study. An Operational Field Test (OFT) began in January 2017 to test the near-final instruments and the recruitment and data collection processes and procedures in preparation for the Main Study. District and school recruitment for the Main Study will begin in April 2017. OMB approved the Main Study recruitment and tracking of OFT students in December 2016 with the latest change request approved in April 2017 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.11-13).

This request is to update the confidentiality pledge cited as part of MGLS:2017 FAQs to account for the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015. These revisions do not affect the estimated burden to respondents or the total cost to the federal government for MGLS:2017 Main Study.

Update to Confidentiality Pledge and Citation of Security and Confidentiality Requirements

In the previous change request, approved in April 2017 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.13), the confidentiality pledge was updated throughout the submission documents (Part A, Appendixes MS1-C through MS1-T, Appendixes OFT2-A through OFT2-L, plus note for Appendixes OFT1-T through OFT1-W) to reflect the addition of the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 provision. The revised pledge reads: “All of the information you provide may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. §9573 and 6 U.S.C. §151).” The OFT base-year (OFT1-A through OFT1-S) materials and Main Study (MS1) Endorsement Request Letter and State Letter and Sample Endorsement Letter do not include the updated confidentiality pledge because they have already been used, given that OFT and MS endorsement and state letters became operational prior to the implementation of the revised pledge. All other aspects of the Main Study (MS1) and recruitment for OFT follow-up (OFT2) included the revised pledge, except, by accident, we omitted 4 documents and this change request remedies this omission, namely in Appendix MS1-D4 (Main Study Student Assent Form) and in the three FAQs that comprise Appendix MS1-I. Now all documents are up to date.

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