OMB83C Change Memo

MEMORANDUM OMB # 1850-0911 v.17

DATE: November 30, 2017

TO: Robert Sivinski

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) Main Study Base Year (MS1) and Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2) 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 year two of the national data collection, referred to as the Main Study, the data collection instruments and procedures must be further 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 could be developed for the Main Study. An Operational Field Test (OFT) was conducted between January and May 2017 to test the near-final instruments and the recruitment and data collection processes and procedures in preparation for year one of the Main Study. District and school recruitment for the Main Study began in April 2017. OMB approved the Main Study Base Year (MS1), Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2), and Tracking and Recruitment for Main Study First Follow-up (MS2) in October 2017 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.16).

This request is to (1) remove plans to translate the student battery into Spanish; (2) correct the end data of MS2 data collection; (3) extend the OFT2 sample to include grade 8 students, needed to calibrate items for Main Study Second Follow-up (MS3) without conducting an additional costly field test; (4) add an MS1 Abbreviated Parent Survey and a Mini Parent Survey for use in refusal conversion attempts; (5) update website wording to help respondents troubleshoot potential issues with the Chrome browser; (6) revise text in contact materials and add new contact materials; (7) remove an executive function assessment from MS1 and add an executive function assessment for OFT2; and (8) update content of the MS1 and OFT2 surveys to reflect corrections made during preparations for data collection (all survey item revisions and deletions are reflected in Part C and Appendices T-V). The addition of grade 8 students to the OFT2 data collection will result in increased estimated response burden, which has been updated accordingly. The requested changes do not affect the approved total cost to the federal government.

(1) Remove plans to translate the student battery into Spanish. A Spanish-translated version of the student survey and executive function instructions was provided in the OFT1. This option was used by 3 of over 1,200 students. It was determined that it was not cost effective to translate and program changes to the instrument for MS1. As a result, the text referring to the Spanish translation of the student battery was removed from Part B.

(2) Correct end date of MS2 data collection. In error, the MS2 data collection was listed in the last request (OMB #1850-0911 v.16) as ending in May 2019. The date has been corrected in Appendices MS2-F through MS2-H to reflect the accurate end date of July 2019. This date has also been added to the study schedule provided in Part A.16.

(3) Extend OFT2 sample to include grade 8 students. Results from the IVFT suggested that we will need more challenging items on the math and reading assessments for the grade 8 students. In lieu of conducting a second follow-up to the operational field test, we plan to add about 400 grade 8 students from schools participating in the OFT2 to test the item properties of the new advanced math and reading assessment items. These items will be more challenging than the existing items. We will select advanced math classes, preferably algebra 2 or Common Core Math 3 (CCM3) classes, so that students are completing items based on material they have been taught.

Students participating in grade 8 will not be part of the longitudinal sample and no out-of-school data collection will be conducted with them. These students will participate in a 75-minute session in which they will provide demographic information and complete the mathematics assessment, the reading assessment, and one executive function measure. No height and weight data will be collected from this group. Students will be permitted to keep the earbuds that they use during the assessment. No other incentive will be offered. Parent permission materials for grade 7 and grade 8 OFT2 data collection are provided in Appendices OFT2-O.

(4) MS1 Abbreviated and Mini Parent Surveys. Parents will be asked to participate in MS1 online or by computer assisted telephone interviewing between January and July 2018. The parent sample will be released on a flow basis as contact information is provided by the school. Parent survey response rates have declined over the past decade. To increase participation in the parent survey, we have created two shorter versions of the parent survey. These will be implemented in the final weeks of data collection to boost parent response rates.

Abbreviated: The abbreviated survey includes a subset of items from the full parent survey. Items were selected based on their importance to researchers, and cover household composition, parent education level and background, household languages, student health, and employment and income information. The abbreviated survey will be offered to all parents who have not completed the survey by about five weeks prior to the end of the data collection period. It will be offered both via the Web and through telephone interviewers, and is expected to take ten minutes.

Mini: The mini survey is designed to be a one-page (front and back) paper-and-pencil survey. It will be mailed in the final three weeks of data collection to all parents who have not completed the full or abbreviated surveys. The mini survey includes only the most critical items from the parent survey, including items covering household composition, household income, and education level and employment status of parents. As noted in Part C, items were reworded or adapted to better fit the paper and pencil format. The mini parent survey is expected to take about five minutes.

Prior OMB submissions have discussed the inclusion of the abbreviated parent questionnaires (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 15-16). This submission indicates the addition of the mini survey and provides: (a) the details of how they will be implemented, (b) the content of the abbreviated and the mini survey (see parts B and C and Appendix MS1-U2 b & c), and (c) the associated contacting materials (Appendix MS1-G2 and MS1-G3) plus conditional language to be included in an email reminder (Appendix MS1-W.3.c).

(5) Update website wording related to Chrome browser issues. We have found during recent data collections that institutions experience issues when attempting to upload information to our secure website using the Chrome browser. This error occurs because Chrome has disabled the Flash capability. The following text will be added to the study website to display conditionally if the site detects the absence of the necessary plug-in to resolve this issue.

(6) Changes to other contact materials. The following text was removed from Appendix OFT2-M1: “If you prefer, you may also consent by logging in to the website listed above and entering the parent study ID and parent password.” This change was necessary because there is no portal for the parents to use to provide permission online for OFT2. We plan to have such capability for MS2 as part of the parent survey login process. In addition, email reminders were added in Appendices OFT2-W.2.a – OFT2-W.2.c to remind parents to ask their OFT2 student to participate outside of school (the out-of-school data collection applies only to the students in the OFT1 sample and does not apply to the grade 8 convenience sample that will be used to calibrate the high level assessment items).

(7) Changes to executive function administration. The Two-back executive function (EF) assessment has been removed from the MS1 student session because OFT1 results suggest it needs further modification. It is being added to the OFT2 student assessment battery to evaluate modifications, in anticipation of including it in the MS2 battery. Specifically, instructions have been modified and practice items reduced. In addition, we are testing giving a reduced total number of items from the 120 items administered in OFT1 to either 60 or 90. OFT2 students will be randomly assigned to receive either 60 items or 90 items during the two-back executive function assessment. Appendix MS1-M was modified to reflect the single EF measure for grade 6 students. Appendices OFT2-P through OFT2-S were added to reflect the OFT2 instruments.

(8) Content of the MS1 and OFT2 assessments and surveys. Final refinements of the MS1 student assessments and all survey instruments were made during preparation of the instrument programs, primarily related to improving flow and clarity. Changes did not impact content or burden, except where wording improvements may have reduced response burden, e.g., asking for number of students in a category versus percent of students, which requires tallying the number and calculating the percentage. In the Parent Survey, the household roster section was reordered so that demographic information is only collected for key household members.

Edits Made to the Last Approved MGLS Package Documents

Part A

A.9 Payments or Gifts to Respondents, Table 2. (page 10)

Clarified grades (added the text shown in red font):

Instrument/Activity	Administration Time*	MS1 and OFT2** Incentives
Student Assessments and Survey (Mathematics, Reading, Executive Function, & Survey) In-school administration (grade 7 & 8) Out-of-school administration (grade 7 only)	75 minutes 75 minutes		Earbuds used during assessment (no additional token incentive) $20

A.9 Payments or Gifts to Respondents, Students (pages 10-11)

Revisions shown in tracked changes:

Operational Field Test Follow-Up (OFT2) and Main Study First Follow-up (MS2): Students in the OFT1 sample who are participating in school for OFT2 (most of whom will be in grade 7) will be allowed to keep the earbuds used during the assessment. Students who have left their Base Year school and are unable to participate in school (e.g., if the number of MGLS:2017 sampled students at the new school in which they are enrolled, meaning the school to which they transferred, is less than 4, see Part B.2 for additional detail) will be invited to participate via web outside of school and will be offered $20 for their participation. These students will not receive earbuds but instead will be offered $20 for their participation. The out-of-school data collection is planned to minimize sample attrition for the longitudinal study so that students in the base-year sample may still participate regardless of their educational situation in subsequent rounds. These students are critical as they may be different from students who participate in school. The monetary incentive offered to these students is designed to encourage them to incur the burden of participating in the study on their out-of-school time (additional. A $20 incentive is less than that offered for out-of-school data collection for HSLS (which offered an incentive between $25 and $50 in the First Follow-up). We will assess whether this incentive amount is effective to gain participation from students in the middle grades before determining the incentives for MS2. (Additional information is provided in Part B.3).

To calibrate items for the Main Study Second Follow-up (MS3) without conducting an additional costly field test, the OFT2 data collection will include about 400 students in grade 8 to test more challenging items on the math and reading assessments than were available in the prior field tests. These students will not be part of the longitudinal sample, will only be eligible to participate in school, and will be allowed to keep their earbuds.

A.11 Sensitive Questions, Schools. (p.15)

Added the following text: “In the OFT2, OFT1 schools will be asked to verify the enrollment status of each student sampled for OFT1 and provide new school information for those no longer enrolled (see Part B.2 and Appendices OFT2-C and OFT2-D).”

A.12 Estimates of Burden

Revisions shown in tracked changes:

Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2) (page 17)

The student session, which includes student assessments and a brief survey for students in both grades 7 and 8, will be approximately 75 minutes. Within the 75 minutes, the student survey portion will take approximately 5 minutes.

Table 6. MS1, MS2, and OFT2 Burden Estimates (page 18)

MGLS:2017 Activity	Sample Size	Expected Response Rate	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses	Average Burden Time (minutes)	Total Burden (hours)	Estimated Respondent Average Hourly Wage		Estimated Respondent Burden Time Cost
Students (Grade 7)
Student Survey	1,120	64%	717	717	5	60		$7.25	$435
Student Assessment3	1,120	64%	717	717	70	837		-	-
Students (Grade 8)
Student Survey	625	64%	400	400	5	33		$7.25	$239
Student Assessment3	625	64%	400	400	70	467		-	-
School administrators and coordinators
Students' school administrators	72	80%	58	58	40	39	$45.86		$1,789
School coordinator	72	100%	72	72	720	864	$27.70		$23,933
OFT2 Total	-	-	1,143543	1,143543	-	1,006039	-		$27,711950
Total Requested	-	-	60,735 61,135	119,799 120,199	-	61,253 61,286	-		$1,744,117 $1,744,356

A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication

Added to Table 8 the text shown in red font:

Table 8. Schedule for OFT1, MS1, OFT2, and MS2

Activity	Start date	End date
OFT1 recruitment of schools and districts	April 2016	March 2017
OFT1 recruitment of students and parents through requesting parent consent	January 2017	May 2017
OFT1 Data Collection	January 2017	May 2017
OFT1 & IVFT Report	June 2017	December 2017
MS1 recruitment of schools and districts	February 2017	April 2018
MS1 recruitment of students and parents through requesting parent consent	January 2018	May 2018
MS1 Data Collection	January 2018	July 2018
OFT2 tracking and recruitment	August 2017	May 2018
OFT2 Data Collection	January 2018	May 2018
MS2 tracking and recruitment	September 2018	February 2019
MS2 Data Collection	January 2019	July 2019

Part B

Revisions shown in tracked changes:

B.1 Universe, Sample Design, and Estimation (page 2)

The school sample will be was freshened in the third quarter of 2017, before the start of Base Year data collection, because schools were initially selected about a year before the start of data collection to allow sufficient time for recruitment. New schools will be were identified through review of more recent preliminary versions of the 2015-2016 CCD and PSS files, if available, or through web searches and talking with school, district, and diocesan contacts. Newly identified schools will be were inserted into the sorted sampling frame in such a fashion as to preserve the original sort ordering. Using a half-open interval rule, we will identify schools to be added to the initial school sample. Any such new schools will be required to exist within school districts and dioceses represented by identified schools to be added to the initial school sample.

(page 7)

OFT2 will also include about 400 participating students in grade 8 to calibrate the mathematics and reading assessment items for the Main Study Second Follow-up (MS3) without needing another costly field test. Participating OFT2 schools will be asked to provide high-level grade 8 math classes for this calibration. This will be a convenience sample of classrooms to ensure that a yield of about 400 highest ability grade 8 students is achieved.

B.2 Procedures for the Collection of Information, MS1 School Recruitment Approach

Parent Recruitment (page 10)

Parents will also receive an invitation to participate in the parent questionnaire (appendix MS1-G). Parent data collection will entail web-based self-administration with nonresponse follow-up by computer-assisted telephone interviewing or the option for completing a paper-and-pencil version (CATI). Parents who do not participate between January and mid-June 2018 will be offered an abbreviated version of the online questionnaire which can be completed online or by CATI. As a last attempt at gaining parent participation, about three weeks prior to the end of data collection, a 1-page (front and back) paper-and-pencil mini version of the survey will be mailed to nonresponding parents with a postage-paid envelope to return the completed survey.

Student Survey and Assessments (page 12)

• MS1 students will complete a survey, mathematics assessment, reading assessment, executive function (hearts and flowers, described in Appendix MS1-M), and will have their height and weight collected.

(…)

English Language Learners will be able to participate in certain aspects of the study. English Language Learners who participate in English-language state assessments will be offered the full complement of student instruments. English Language Learners whose primary language is not Spanish and who do not participate in state assessments will be excluded from the sixth-grade student session; however data will be collected from their parents, teachers, and school administrators. English Language Learners whose primary language is Spanish and who do not participate in state assessments will be administered the Spanish-translated version of the student survey and the executive function instrument; data will be collected from their parents, teachers, and school administrators.

Parent Questionnaire (page 12)

• Three About five weeks prior to the end of the data collection period, all parents who have not yet participated will be invited to complete an abbreviated version of the parent survey, approximately 20 10 minutes in length, either on-line or by phone. The abbreviated survey includes a subset of items from the full parent survey. Items were selected based on their importance to researchers, and cover household composition, parent education level and background, household languages, student health, and employment and income information.

• About three weeks prior to the end of the data collection period, all nonresponding parents will receive a mini parent survey, which is designed to be a one-page (front and back) paper-and-pencil survey. It will be mailed in the final three weeks of data collection to all parents who have not completed either the full or the abbreviated survey. The mini survey includes only the most critical items from the parent survey covering household composition, household income, and parents’ education level and employment status. As noted in Part C (Part C.4.2.1), the relevant parent questionnaire items were reworded or otherwise adapted to better fit the paper and pencil format. The mini parent survey is expected to take about five minutes and will come with a postage-paid envelope for returning the completed survey.

B.2 Procedures for the Collection of Information, OFT2 Data Collection.

In-school Sessions. (page 16)

The following text was added:

For the grade 8 students added specifically for OFT2 to test the math and reading assessment items, the SF will work with the SC to identify one or more intact classrooms of students with high math ability, coordinate logistics for the session (date, time, location), and distribute and track parental permission forms.

The SF will visit the school prior to the student session to ensure that the logistics are arranged in preparation for a successful data collection. The student session will take 75 minutes and will include assessments in mathematics, reading, and executive function (two-back, described in Appendix OFT2-M), plus a brief student survey. During OFT2, we will test administering to students a reduced total number of executive function items from the 120 items administered in OFT1 to either 60 or 90 in OFT2. OFT2 students will be randomly assigned to receive either 60 items or 90 items during the two-back executive function assessment.

Out-of-school Sessions. (page 16)

The following text was added: “The OFT2 out-of-school data collection will be conducted only with students who were part of the OFT1 sample and not with the students in grade 8 added specifically for OFT2.”

B.3 Methods to Secure Cooperation, Maximize Response Rates, and Deal with Nonresponse

MS1 Data Collection, Maximizing Parent Participation. (pages 22-23)

• Three About five weeks prior to the end of the data collection period, all parents who have not yet responded participated will be invited to complete an abbreviated version of the parent survey, approximately 10 minutes in length, either online or by phone. The abbreviated survey includes a subset of items from the full parent survey. Items were selected based on their importance to researchers, and cover household composition, parent education level and background, household languages, student health, and employment and income information.

• About three weeks prior to the end of the data collection period, all nonresponding parents will receive a mini parent survey – a one-page (front and back) paper-and-pencil survey accompanied by a postage-paid return envelope, that is approximately 5 minutes in length and includes only the most critical items from the full parent survey covering household composition and income, and parents’ education level and employment status.

OFT2 Data Collection (page 23)

The following bullet point was added: “Grade 8 students added to test more challenging math and reading assessment items will complete the same in-school session as students sampled for OFT1 but will not be asked to participate outside of school if they miss the in-school session.”

Part C

Revisions shown in tracked changes:

C. MGLS:2017 Assessments and Surveys Intro (page 1)

The OFT2 components will be limited to the an abbreviated student survey, student mathematics, reading, and executive function assessments, and the school administrator survey.

C.1.1. Mathematics Assessment, D. Functions, Depth of Knowledge (page 3)

Added text: “The MGLS:2017 mathematics assessment is a multistage adaptive assessment (MST), where all students take the same form in the first stage (i.e. a “router”) and, based on their performance, are sent or “routed” to the most appropriate second stage assessment form. Students who perform poorly on the router are directed to a lower level for the second stage. Students who are near average in ability are sent to a middle level. Students who perform well on the router are directed to a higher level. The advantage of the MST is that the second stage items should be more appropriate for the student’s ability level than a single linear form that has a wider variety of item difficulty. The ability estimates from a multi-stage test, if properly constructed, will be more accurate (i.e., will have smaller error of the ability estimation) than a linear form comprised of a comparable number of items.”

C.1.2 Reading Assessment, A. First-Stage Content (page 4)

The two-stage assessment design consists of begins with a brief routing block (first stage: that will take approximately 10 minutes) followed by a minutes. Student performance in the first-stage routing block will determine the second-stage skill-based block (second stage: to be administered. Each skill-based block will be designed to take approximately 15 minutes). The combined, two-stage assessment is designed to take approximately 25 minutes for all students.

The routing block includes three item types (with an estimated total of 45 items from the SARA battery) that measure foundational components of reading important for comprehension:

• Vocabulary - A single word is presented and the student decides which of three words goes with the target word. Correct answers are either synonyms (e.g., data - information) or meaning associates (e.g., thermal - heat) (~40(20 items; α =0.86).¹

• Morphological Awareness Variants - The student completes a sentence by choosing from three words derived from the same root word (e.g., She is good at skilled in many sports areas, but her _______ is basketball: specialty, specialize, specialist). strongest in mathematics: expert, expertly, expertise). The target words vary in difficulty based on the frequency of the derived forms ((i.e., lower frequency derivations are more difficult) 32 13 items, α =0.90).

• Sentence Processing - The student completes sentences of increasing length and syntactic complexity by choosing from three choices (e.g., Shouting in a voice louder than her friend Cindy's, Tonya asked Joe to unlock the door, but didn’t respond: he, she, they). In this task, frequent words used in everyday language are used in the sentences to decrease the influence of vocabulary knowledge in this task. Consequently, the focus is on understanding of sentence syntax and meaning (rather than word meaning) (2612 items, α =0.81).

Items within each of the three sections in the router will range in difficulty, based on psychometric results from the IVFT in 2016. Performance on the routing block will route students to one of the second-stage skill-based blocks. All students will be administered the first-stage routing block and then continue into one of the second- stage skill-based blocks. Items in the routing block will be scored automatically in real-time. The first-stage routing block will take approximately 10 minutes or less. Student performance in the first-stage routing block will determine the second-stage skill-based block to be administered. Each skill-based block will be designed to take approximately 15 minutes. The combined, two-stage assessment is designed to take approximately 25 minutes for all students.

C.1.3 Executive Function Assessment, Working Memory (page 8)

We tested both a 2-back and a 3-back task in the IVFT. Based on the IVFT results, we administered a 2-back task using visual-spatial stimuli in the form of line drawings of objects in OFT1, and plan to do so again in MS1. IVFT data for this task showed higher correlations with mathematics scores (r = 0.478 to 0.494), mathematics being a focus of MGLS:2017, than with the other executive function tasks in the IVFT. OFT1 yielded results that suggested additional revisions and testing are needed. The 2-back task will be tested again in OFT2, with revised instructions and two reduced sets of items to help identify the optimal length of the task. The 2-back task will not be fielded as part of MS1, but may be included in MS2 pending OFT2 results.

C.4 Summary of Changes and Item-Level Justification - Item-Level Justification (pages 29-473)

Source information was added where it had been missing. Typos and formatting issues were corrected throughout. Rows were added to document Unique MGLS Item IDs (QIDs) assigned for “other/specify” open-ended response fields that had been included previously. Some rows were reordered to better match administration order. In addition, item modifications were documented, as described in detail in this document under Appendices T-V.

The Abbreviated Parent Survey items were identified in the existing C.4.2 section as denoted with “***” in the MS1 Status column. The Mini Parent Survey was added as section C.4.2.1 (Part C pages 162-168).

Appendices A-S

The following communications materials were added:

1. Appendix MS1-G2. Parent Data Collection Letter – Abbreviated Survey (page 22)

2. Appendix MS1-G3. Parent Data Collection Letter – Mini Survey (page 23)

3. Appendix OFT2-O. Parent Permission Letters (pages 80-87)

4. Appendix OFT2-P. Summary of Mathematics Assessment (page 88)

5. Appendix OFT2-Q. Summary of Reading Assessment (page 89)

6. Appendix OFT2-R. Summary of Executive Function Assessments (page 90)

7. Appendix OFT2-S. Summary of Student Survey (page 91)

Appendix MS1-J1. MGLS:2017 Recruitment Website Text – MGLS:2017- after login - Student Roster Upload (page 41)

The following was added:

Conditional screen for users attempting to upload using the Chrome browser:

Also, the following revisions shown in tracked changes were made:

Appendix MS1-M. Summary of Executive Function Assessments, Direct Executive Function Assessment (page 54)

10 5 minutes, 2 measures 1 measure (part of 90 minute student assessment and survey)

Computerized administration using Chromebooks, tablet-like computers with touchscreen capability and an attached keyboard that will be brought in to the school by the study

Working memory (N-back tasks)

Working memory is considered a strong measure of reasoning ability, and involves keeping information active in primary memory while acting on it in relation to other information, such as keeping a list of words in memory and then ordering the words alphabetically or by categories. The n-back tasks are measures of working memory often used in research, particularly in neuroscience studies that look at the regions of the brain activated by different types of working memory (that is memory for verbal, symbolic, and spatial information).

Appendix OFT2-M1. MGLS: 2017 Out-of-School Data Collection Letter – Parent (page 77)

Please give < STUDENT_FNAME > the enclosed letter, which describes the study and provides log-in information. Giving the enclosed letter to your child indicates that you consent to allow <STUDENT NAME> to participate. If you prefer, you may also consent by logging in to the website listed above and entering the parent study ID and parent password. All of the information your child provides 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).

Appendix MS2-F. MGLS:2017 District Letter: Newly Identified Schools in Study District (page 99)

Appendix MS2-G. MGLS:2017 District Letter: Newly Identified Schools in Non-Study District (page 100)

Appendix MS2-H. MGLS:2017 School Letter: Newly Identified Schools (page 101)

Data collection will occur on a date convenient for the school, anytime between January and May July 2019, and will consist of a 90-minute student session to include assessments in math, reading, executive function and height and weight measurements.

Appendices T-V

Below is a summary of changes to the data collection instruments, followed by a listing of item IDs for items in each instrument where a change was made. In addition, grammatical and formatting corrections and clarifications in programming instructions and help text were made throughout the instruments.

Summary of MS1 and OFT2 Student Survey Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
4051020	Revised to simplify wording

Summary of MS1 Parent Survey Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
N/A	Added VERIFICATION items to beginning of App MS1-U2a for documentation of how correct respondent is verified in the instrument.
5010302	Deleted response “None of the time” to reduce redundancy with 5010301
5010303	Question text simplified; response "With himself/herself" deleted because minor should not be living alone.
5010601-6	Fill created to account for new wording needed for abbreviated survey.
5020801-3 5020701-3	Question moved from Section B to Section C. This reduces burden by only asking questions of key parents (which are determined at the end of section B). Appropriate introductory text added to account for new question location.
5021701-3	Question moved from Section I to Section C because separating race and specific race made question unclear. Words "Asian heritage" added to make question clearer.
5020901-3	Question moved from Section I to Section C because separating race and specific race made question unclear. Words "Latino/Latina heritage" added to make question clearer.
5050101-5 5050201-2 5050301-6	Question wording changed to broaden the subject to the child's household; this allows for instances where respondent is not key parent.
5071300	Income categories reduced to reduce burden, and revised to better capture income brackets aligning with poverty levels, and categories used in the pencil and paper Mini Parent Survey
5021601-3 5050321-4 5070800	Wording, fill, or response options changed to align with ECLS-K item

Summary of MS1 Math Teacher Survey Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
6040301-3	Revised to clarify wording
6021401-8 6021410-13 6021510 6021520-21 6021530 6021540 6021550 6021560 6021570 6021580 6021590	Added “this year” to ensure respondent reports current information
6020200	Revised for clarity
6020401-6	Added fill to specify class name and period
6020203	Added an other/specify response option
6110101-7 6120101-6 6120201-7 6120301-4 6140101-3	Added fill for student’s name for clarity because teacher is asked to respond regarding multiple students
6030391-5	Revised wording to specify math classes

Summary of MS1 Special Education Teacher Survey Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
7010206	Added for respondent identification
7010801-5	Revised to clarify wording
7080112	Added response option for Don’t Know
7010822	Added response option for N/A
7030400	Added response option for when respondent has never been a math teacher

Summary of MS1 and OFT2 School Administrator Survey Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
N/A	Corrected name of appendix to reflect the instrument is used in both MS1 and OFT2
N/A	Added fills throughout for [sixth/seventh] grade to reflect the instrument is used in both MS1 and OFT2
8020201 8040902-4 8040914-9 8042701	Dropped for MS1 non-responding schools to reduce burden and administer only those items needed for non-response bias analysis
8020703	Dropped to reduce burden
8021308-10	Added to determine student population receiving specific instructional programs
8040808	Added response option for “None of the above”
8042101	Added specify response option for “yes” at 8042100

Summary of MS1 Facilities Checklist Item Changes

MGLS Item ID (QID)	Change Justification
9000102-4 9000106-10 9000113 9000115 9000117-21 9070101-5 9070200	Added response option for “No opportunity to observe” for situations where field staff are not able to access a portion of the school.
9000109 9000113 9060207	Added examples for clarification
9040101-4 9040106-12 9040114-20 9050101 9050103-7 9060301-4	Simplified wording

Appendix W

The following data collection respondent materials were added:

1. Appendix OFT2-W.2a. Email Invitation for Out-of-School Participation (page 19)

2. Appendix OFT2-W.2b. Email Reminder for Out-of-School Participation (page 20)

3. Appendix OFT2-W.2c. Final Email Reminder for Out-of-School Participation (page 20)

Also, the following revisions shown in tracked changes were made:

Appendix MS1-W.3.c Reminder for Participation E-mail, Parent Survey Respondent (page 10)

This is a friendly reminder to complete your survey for the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) by <date>. <To make participating even easier, this survey is now expected to take approximately 10 minutes.> Click the link below to go to your survey begin.

1 The coefficient alphas in this section are based on the full set of items in these constructs in the SARA and GISA. The item numbers reported here are the actual number of items in the reading assessment router (stage 1).

9