Memorandum United States Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics
DATE: August 7, 2018
TO: Robert Sivinski, OMB
THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela, NCES
FROM: Carolyn Fidelman, NCES
SUBJECT: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Main Study Design Revision, Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2) and Second Follow-up (OFT3), and Main Study Base Year (MS1) and Tracking for First Follow-up (MS2) (OMB# 1850-0911 v.20)
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 focuses on student achievement in mathematics and literacy along with measures of student socioemotional well-being and other outcomes. The study includes students with disabilities for whom descriptive information on their outcomes, educational experiences, and special education services are being collected. Base-year data for MGLS:2017 were collected from a nationally representative sample of sixth-grade students from January through July 2018. An Item Validation Field Test (IVFT) was conducted from January through May 2016 to determine the psychometric properties of items so that valid, reliable, and useful assessment and survey instruments could be developed for the Main Study. An Operational Field Test Base Year (OFT1) was conducted from January through May 2017 to test the near-final instruments and the recruitment and data collection procedures and materials in preparation for the MGLS:2017 Main Study Base Year (MS1). District and school recruitment for MS1 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 with the latest change request approved in April 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.16-19).
The revisions made to the last approved MGLS:2017 clearance documents (OMB# 1850-0911 v.19) are reflected below. Blue text indicates the document and green text the section of the document in which a change was made, followed by notes regarding the edits. Black font demarks the text that remains unchanged from the last approved document, while text in red font reflects the revisions that were made.
Title was revised as follows:
Middle
Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Main Study Base
Year (MS1)
Design Revision,
Operational Field Test
First Follow-up (OFT2)
and Second Follow-up (OFT3), and Main Study Base Year (MS1)
and Tracking and
Recruitment
for Main
Study
First Follow-up (MS2)
Preface was updated to change verb tenses and to reflect study activities that have been completed by the end of July 2017. The following text was added to this section:
OMB also approved the MGLS:2017 MS1 and OFT1 data collections, and MS2 tracking and recruitment in October 2017, with the latest change request approved in April 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 16-19). Originally, NCES planned for MGLS:2017 to conduct annual main study follow-up data collections first beginning in January 2019 and next beginning in January 2020, when most of the students in the sample will be in grades 7 and 8, respectively. However, due to lower than expected response rates experienced in the sixth grade data collection, this request is to: (1) schedule the MS2 data collection for January-July 2020 (when most sample students will be in the eighth grade) instead of January-July 2019 (thus dropping the originally planned seventh grade round of data collection), (2) notify participating districts and schools of this change in data collection schedule, (3) discontinue the procedures designed to oversample students in specific IDEA-defined disability groups, and (4) conduct MS2 and OFT3 tracking activities.
Due to overlap in activities at the time of the initial submission of this request in 2017, the then approved MS1 recruitment and OFT2 tracking activities were being carried over in this submission, and thus this submission includes the procedures, materials, and associated respondent burden for all activities related to MS1 and OFT2, as well as those related to MS2 tracking and recruitment.
Detail of the August 2018 Revision Request
While two annual follow-ups beginning in January 2019 and subsequently in January 2020 were planned for when most of the students in the sample would be in grades 7 and 8, respectively, participation rates in the base year were substantially short of targets. Analyses of the respondent sample sizes indicate that the number of participants is inadequate to meet the precision requirements for several key subgroups of students by the end of the study. This request, with its accompanying 30-day public comment period, is to revise the MGLS:2017 follow-up data collection plan and procedures. The requested changes are needed to meet the overall study goal, given current schedule and budgetary constraints, to obtain data on the progress of students starting in grade 6 and ending in grade 8 in general education schools. A second request will be submitted in October 2018, with another 30-day public comment period, to augment the MGLS:2017 sample by recruiting new schools and students in order to achieve sufficient sample sizes to meet precision requirements. This second request will include the final versions of the respondent materials and procedures to be used during the MS2 recruitment that will begin in January 2019.
This request is to: (1) eliminate the data collection planned for January through July 2019, when most of the MGLS:2017 sample students will be in grade 7, and conduct one follow-up collection (MS2) from January through July 2020, when most students will be in grade 8; (2) notify participating districts and schools of this change in data collection schedule; (3) discontinue further oversampling of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) by disability categories; and (4) conduct MS2 and OFT3 tracking activities with MS and OFT sample schools and parents, respectively, during the 2018-19 school year. The requested changes will reduce the overall estimated respondent burden by eliminating one round of data collection but, due to higher-than-expected costs associated with recruiting, do not reduce the total cost to the federal government. More detail for each requested change follows below.
Eliminate the data collection planned for January through July 2019, when most of the MGLS:2017 sample students will be in grade 7, and conduct one follow-up collection (MS2) from January through July 2020, when most students will be in grade 8. Despite many strategies designed to maximize MS1 response rates, as described in section B.2 of the OMB# 1850-0911 v.19 Supporting Statement Part B, the MS1 school response rate fell substantially short of targets, at about 40 percent. The currently achieved sample of approximately 570 schools and about 14,000 students is not sufficient to meet precision requirements by the end of the study for the standard reporting groups typically studied with NCES longitudinal studies, including by key race/ethnicity subgroups, Census regions, and school locale. It also does not support analyses of students with specific disabilities, a feature NCES tried to add for the first time in MGLS:2017. Sample augmentation, that is, adding new schools and students to the study who did not participate in the base-year data collection, is needed to meet end-of-study sample size requirements for certain subgroups of students, including Black non-Hispanic students, students living in the Northeast, students attending schools in towns, and several others. Without sample augmentation, NCES will not be able to report national-level estimates for students in these groups. In order to have adequate time to develop a sound sample augmentation plan, recruit new schools and students into the study, and conduct this work within current budget constraints, we request approval to drop the planned grade 7 data collection and instead to conduct the first, and only, MGLS:2017 follow-up data collection during the 2019-20 school year when most students will be in grade 8.
Regarding sample augmentation, preliminary analyses indicate that in order to achieve acceptable sample sizes for MGLS:2017, approximately 200 to 250 new schools will need to be added to the study. These schools may be drawn from the existing reserve sample selected for the study. However, it may also be necessary to select an additional set of schools that educate students beginning in grade 8. Final details of this additional sample will be provided in the subsequent, October 2018 request (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21).
Notify participating districts and schools of this change in data collection schedule. Participating MS1 school districts and schools expect study staff to begin contacting them in the fall of 2018 to plan for a January-July 2019 data collection. Therefore, we need to communicate to districts and schools as soon as possible that MGLS will not be conducted in their school in the first half of 2019. This request provides the additional letters required for such notification (see revised Appendices A-S). All other types of communication and recruitment materials (including notification of this change to parents) will be provided in the subsequent, October 2018 request (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21).
Discontinue further oversampling of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) by disability categories. MGLS:2017 was designed to include oversamples of students with IEPs in two IDEA-defined categories, Autism and Emotional Disturbance. The purpose of these oversamples was to obtain enough cases for students in these groups to generate reliable estimates for each. MGLS:2017 is the first NCES study to include this feature as part of its sample design. As is the case in some of the other NCES studies, NCES expected to provide, without oversampling, reliable estimates for students in a third disability category, Specific Learning Disability. However, the low sixth-grade school participation rate resulted in significantly smaller numbers of cases in these groups than necessary to meet precision requirements. Reliable estimates for students with emotional disturbance cannot be produced for sixth grade. In addition, given available time and budget, sample augmentation cannot be used to increase sample sizes to necessary levels in a grade 8 collection for any of these three groups.
Because information about students’ specific disability was needed at the sampling stage of the study to select the oversamples, this information was requested from schools for all students in sixth grade at the time student enrollment lists were collected. This contrasted with other NCES studies, which collect disability information only for students selected for the study sample. Asking for this information for all enrolled students harmed school participation. Many schools expressed concern about the legal implications of providing this level of information about all students, even though the law allows the information to be provided for the purposes of this study. Approximately 90 schools that had initially agreed to participate opted out after learning of this requirement, and many schools never agreed to participate in the first place for this reason. Another difficulty in recruiting a sufficient sample of students with IEPs was that the numbers of students listed as having IEPs in participating schools were far below those expected based on the information about public schools in the U.S. Department of Education’s EDFacts datasets.
In sum, it is not possible to achieve the necessary sample sizes to meet study precision requirements for students in the three study focal disability groups in grade 8, and asking for specific disability information at the time of sampling depresses participation rates for schools, which could jeopardize the planned sample augmentation. For these reasons, we request approval to discontinue further oversampling of students in these groups. MGLS will continue to include information about students with IEPs as is standard in many NCES longitudinal studies. Current participants will be retained in the study and followed into grade 8 at 100%. Additional students with these specific disabilities, as well as students with an IEP for any disability, may still become part of the study through the augmentation sample planned for grade 8. The study will continue to collect information on educational experiences of all students, including of students in special education, and information will continue to be collected from sampled students’ special education teachers. It is anticipated that NCES will be able to generate reliable estimates for all students with an IEP, as has been done in other NCES studies.
Conduct MS2 and OFT3 tracking activities with MS and OFT sample schools and parents, respectively, during the 2018-19 school year. The period of OFT student tracking was envisioned to take place for the OFT First Follow-up (OFT2) from August 2017 through May 2018, and for the OFT Second Follow-up (OFT3) from August 2018 through May 2019. OFT tracking is important for understanding patterns in MGLS:2017 sample students’ transfers from one school to another and our ability to locate sample students for the next follow-up data collection (from grade 7 to grade 8 in OFT3). Given that MGLS:2017 Main Study will not collect data in grade 7, tracking information will become even more important for designing the final materials and procedures for MS2. As with all OFT recruiting and tracking activities, the OFT dates need to mirror and precede by one year those planned for the Main Study. This request provides the additional letters required for OFT3 tracking (see revised Appendices A-S) and, due to the current clearance schedule, indicates that OFT3 tracking will take place from September 2018 through May 2019.
MS2 tracking will take place from September 2018 through May 2020 and will be carried out in multiple rounds. The final details of the MS2 tracking plan, particularly the activities to take place in 2019 and 2020, will be provided in the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21). MS2 data collection will occur from January through July of 2020.
Part A of this submission presents information on the basic design of MS1, MS2 tracking, OFT2, and OFT3 tracking. Part B discusses the statistical methods employed, and Part C provides content and item justifications for the MGLS:2017 student, parent, math teacher, special education teacher, and school administrator questionnaires, as well as the facilities observation checklist. Appendices MS1-A through S provide the MS1 communication materials; Appendices OFT2-A through L the OFT2 communication materials; Appendices MS2-A through L the MS2 tracking materials (with MS2A through B1, district and school notification letters, having been revised in August 2018, for this request); and newly added, in August 2018, Appendices OFT3-A through H which provide the OFT3 tracking materials. Appendices T-W provide the already approved MS1 and OFT2 data collection instruments and the communication materials used during the data collection window.
A.1 Importance of Information was updated to change verb tenses and to reflect study activities up to the present. Mentions two rounds of data collection rather than three. Removed reference to autism and emotional disturbance oversamples:
MGLS:2017 will rely on a set of
longitudinal and complementary instruments to collect data across
several types of respondents to provide information on the outcomes,
experiences, and perspectives of students acrossfor
grades 6,
7, and
through 8; their families
and home lives; their teachers, classrooms, and instruction; and the
school settings, programs, and services available to them.
(…)
With data
collection occurring in three
two rounds beginning in the
winter/spring 2018 and finishing in 2020, MGLS:2017 will provide rich
descriptive data on academic experiences, development, and learning
that occur during these critical, middle grade years (grades 6–8),
and on the individual, social, and contextual factors that are
related to development and future success, thereby allowing
researchers to examine associations between various factors and
student outcomes. A wealth of research highlights the importance of
mathematics and literacy skills for success in high school and
subsequent associations with later education and career
opportunities. Thus, MGLS:2017 will focus on student achievement in
these areas, along with measures of student socioemotional well-being
and other outcomes. The study will also collect data on educational
experiences, outcomes, and special education services of students
with different
types of
disabilities as
a group,
with a particular focus on students with a specific learning
disability, autism, and/or emotional disturbance.
Due to insufficient participation by schools, in MS1 in 2018, MGLS:2017 must undergo design changes including two significant changes – discontinuation of targeted (for oversample) recruitment of students in the autism and emotional disturbance subgroups and the elimination of the grade 7 data collection.
(…)
MS1 and OFT2
provides
were conducted from January through July 2018. OFT2 provided an
opportunity to do further refinement of surveys and assessments as
well as gain experience
and test out the procedures for
recruiting schools, tracking students, and collecting student data in
and out of the school setting
a
year in advance of MS2.
A.2 Purposes and Uses of Data contains minor non-substantive clarifying wording changes, including:
Reading. The MGLS:2017 reading assessment will provide valuable information about the reading achievement of students in grades 6-8 with a focus on reading comprehension. The reading assessment will provide valuable information on the development of middle grades students’ reading comprehension and ability to integrate information from different sources. It is anticipated that these skills will be essential in various content areas as students move into high school.
(…)
Special Education Teacher Survey. The purpose of the special education teacher survey is to gather information on the teaching and classroom context for students with disabilities during the middle grades and to learn more about services offered in schools.
A.3 Use of Improved Information Technology (Reduction of Burden) contains minor non-substantive clarifying wording changes, including:
The parent and school staff questionnaires will be fielded as web surveys. Web surveys will also be used for MS1 students in schools that only allow an “out-of-school” data collection and for OFT2 students that require “out-of-school” data collection because they attend schools with fewer than 4 sample members. Out-of- school data collection will also be conducted with MS2 students (a) who left their MS1 school and do not attend a school with 4 or more student sample members and (b) those who missed the in-school session.
A.6 Frequency of Data Collection has changed as follows:
The
MGLS:2017 MS1 data collection will take place from January through
July of 2018. Tracking activities for OFT2 will occur from August
2017 through May 2018, and data collection from January through May
July of 2018. The
MS2 recruitment and tracking
Tracking activities are
planned
for OFT3
will occur from September
2018 through May 2019.,
with the Main Study first and second follow-up data collections
planned for 2019 and 2020, respectively
MS2 tracking will take place from September 2018 through May 2020 and
will be carried out in multiple rounds. The final details of the MS2
tracking plan, particularly the activities to take place in 2019 and
2020, will be provided in the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911
v.21). MS2 data collection will occur from January through July of
2020.
A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality was updated as follows:
A
list of sixth-grade students with IEPs will be requested from school
districts and/or schools under the FERPA exception to the general
consent requirement that permits disclosures to authorized
representatives of the Secretary for the purpose of evaluating
Federally supported education programs (34 CFR §§
99.31(a)(3)(iii) and 99.35). This
information
In turn, for the follow-ups, schools will be asked to confirm the
enrollment of student sample members. This information will be
securely destroyed when no longer needed for the purposes specified
in 34 CFR §99.35. Both the sixth grade enrollment list and the
enrollment update lists
will be securely destroyed when no longer needed for the purposes
specified in 34 CFR §99.35.
A.11 Sensitive Questions was updated as follows:
Schools.
A In
MS1, a roster of all
students in grade 6 will be requested from each school or its school
district, including the collection of IEP and disability
information.1
In the OFT2, the 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). The
same procedure will be used in the OFT3 with the OFT2 schools (OFT3-A
and OFT3-B). Similar procedures will be proposed for MS2 in the
October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21). Schools
may have concerns about providing this information without first
obtaining permission from the parents to do so. The disclosure is
permitted under FERPA’s exception to the general consent
requirement that permits disclosures to authorized representatives of
the Secretary for purposes of evaluating Federally supported
education programs (34 CFR §§ 99.31(a)(3)(iii) and 99.35).
This information will be securely destroyed when no longer needed for
the purposes specified in 34 CFR §99.35. All district and school
personnel facilitating the conduct of the study and developing the
sampling frame will be informed of the privacy and confidentiality
protocols required for the study, including those having to do with
the sample lists of schools and students.
The
collection of these data is necessary to facilitate the oversampling
of students in two of the three focal disability groups: autism and
emotional disturbance. Schools that opt not to provide IEP and
disability information may still participate and disability
information will be requested as part of the parent and teacher
surveys.
(…)
Student. (…)
The in-school session for MS1 and MS2 will also include a height/weight measurement of participating students. Care will be taken to ensure the privacy of this information, and as with all components of the study, participation in the height/weight measurement is voluntary.
A.12 Estimates of Burden was updated as follows to describe the OFT3 Tracking (page 18):
Operational Field Test Second Follow-up (OFT3): The OFT3 Tracking portion of table 6 shows the expected burden for the OFT3 tracking activities. We estimate that it will take 20 minutes on average for school staff to provide enrollment status of sampled students, and 5 minutes on average for parents to provide updated contact information. We project that approximately 95 percent of schools will provide enrollment status, and 20 percent of parents will provide updated contact information. The purpose of the OFT3 is to test tracking procedures. No other data collection will be conducted.
Table 6 was updated to add rows and estimated burden for OFT3 tracking activities and the MS2 district and school notification, and to reflect the revised estimated burden totals:
Table 6. MS1, MS2, OFT2, and OFT3 Burden Estimates1
MGLS:2017 Activity |
Sample Size |
Expected Response Rate |
Number of Respondents |
Number of Responses |
|
Total Burden (hours) |
Estimated Respondent Average Hourly Wage1 |
Estimated Respondent Burden Time Cost |
||
MS1 Recruitment |
||||||||||
Nonparticipating districts |
1,050 |
30% |
315 |
315 |
20 |
105 |
$45.86 |
$4,815 |
||
Participating districts |
70% |
735 |
735 |
260 |
3,185 |
$45.86 |
$146,064 |
|||
District IRB staff study approval |
263 |
100% |
263 |
263 |
120 |
526 |
$45.86 |
$24,122 |
||
District IRB panel study approval |
1,315 |
100% |
1,315 |
1,315 |
120 |
2,630 |
$45.86 |
$120,612 |
||
Nonparticipating eligible schools |
1,500 |
40% |
600 |
600 |
20 |
200 |
$45.86 |
$9,172 |
||
Participating schools |
60% |
900 |
900 |
260 |
3,900 |
$45.86 |
$178,854 |
|||
Students’ parents |
26,100 |
95% |
24,795 |
24,795 |
10 |
4,133 |
$23.86 |
$98,613 |
||
Total for MS1 Recruitment2 |
- |
- |
28,923 |
28,923 |
- |
14,679 |
- |
$582,252 |
||
MS1 Data Collection |
||||||||||
Students and Parents |
||||||||||
Student Survey |
26,100 |
85% |
22,185 |
22,185 |
20 |
7,395 |
$7.25 |
$53,614 |
||
Student Assessment (in-school)3 |
25,520 |
85% |
21,692 |
21,692 |
70 |
25,307 |
‒ |
‒ |
||
Student Assessment (out-of-school)3 |
580 |
85% |
493 |
493 |
35 |
288 |
‒ |
‒ |
||
Students' parents |
26,1004 |
85% |
22,185* |
22,185 |
40 |
14,790 |
$23.86 |
$352,889 |
||
Students’ mathematics teacher |
||||||||||
Teacher survey |
3,600 |
85% |
3,060 |
3,060 |
20 |
1,020 |
$28.75 |
$29,325 |
||
Teacher student report |
26,100* |
85% |
3,060* |
22,1855 |
10 |
3,698 |
$28.75 |
$106,318 |
||
Students' special education teacher |
||||||||||
Teacher survey |
2,025 |
85% |
1,721 |
1,721 |
10 |
287 |
$29.76 |
$8,541 |
||
Teacher student report |
9,460* |
85% |
1,721* |
8,0416 |
25 |
3,350 |
$29.76 |
$99,696 |
||
School administrators and coordinators |
||||||||||
Students' school administrators |
900 |
95% |
855 |
855 |
40 |
570 |
$45.86 |
$26,140 |
||
School coordinator |
900 |
100% |
900 |
900 |
720 |
10,800 |
$27.70 |
$299,160 |
||
School administrators at non-participating schools |
600 |
60% |
360 |
360 |
20 |
120 |
$45.86 |
$5,503 |
||
MS2 Tracking/Recruitment |
||||||||||
Tracking/Recruitment: Enrollment Status Update |
||||||||||
Base Year districts |
735 |
100% |
735* |
735 |
30 |
368 |
$45.86 |
$16,876 |
||
Mover districts |
368 |
100% |
368 |
368 |
120 |
736 |
$45.86 |
$33,753 |
||
District IRB staff study approval |
132 |
100% |
132 |
132 |
120 |
264 |
$45.86 |
$12,107 |
||
District IRB panel study approval |
660 |
100% |
660 |
660 |
120 |
1,320 |
$45.86 |
$60,535 |
||
School staff at Base Year schools |
900 |
95% |
855* |
855 |
20 |
285 |
$45.86 |
$13,070 |
||
School staff at mover schools |
4507 |
95% |
428 |
428 |
20 |
143 |
$45.86 |
$6,558 |
||
Tracking: Locating Update |
||||||||||
Parents4 |
25,3174 |
20% |
5,063* |
5,063 |
5 |
422 |
$23.86 |
$10,069 |
||
MS1 & Tracking/Recruitment for MS2 Total |
- |
- |
59,592 |
118,656 |
- |
60,247 |
- |
$1,716,406 |
||
OFT2 Tracking/Recruitment |
||||||||||
Tracking: Enrollment Status Update |
||||||||||
School staff at OFT1 schools |
45 |
95% |
43 |
43 |
20 |
14 |
$45.86 |
$642 |
||
School staff at mover schools |
307 |
95% |
29 |
29 |
20 |
10 |
$45.86 |
$459 |
||
Tracking: Locating Update |
||||||||||
Parents |
1,120 |
20% |
224 |
224 |
5 |
19 |
$23.86 |
$453 |
||
Total for OFT2 Tracking2 |
- |
- |
296 |
296 |
- |
43 |
- |
$ 1,554 |
||
OFT2 Data Collection |
||||||||||
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 |
- |
- |
1,543 |
1,543 |
- |
1,039 |
- |
$27,950 |
||
OFT3 Tracking: Enrollment Status Update |
||||||||||
School staff at OFT2 |
45 |
95% |
43 |
43 |
20 |
14 |
$45.86 |
$ 642 |
||
School staff at mover schools |
44 |
95% |
42 |
42 |
20 |
14 |
$45.86 |
$ 642 |
||
Tracking: Locating Update |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Parents |
1,500 |
20% |
300 |
300 |
5 |
25 |
$23.86 |
$ 597 |
||
OFT3 Total |
- |
- |
385 |
385 |
- |
53 |
- |
$ 1,881 |
||
MS 2 School Notification |
||||||||||
Participating districts |
4008 |
100% |
400 |
400 |
10 |
67 |
$45.86 |
$3,073 |
||
Participating schools |
570 |
100% |
570 |
570 |
10 |
95 |
$45.86 |
$4,357 |
||
MS2 Total |
- |
- |
970 |
970 |
- |
162 |
- |
$7,430 |
||
Total Requested |
- |
- |
|
|
- |
61, |
- |
$1, |
||
1 The average hourly earnings of parents derived from May 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupation Employment Statistics is $23.86, of middle school teachers is $28.75, of middle school special education teachers is $29.76, of education administrators is $45.86, and of educational guidance counselors is $27.70. If mean hourly wage was not provided, it was computed assuming 2,080 hours per year. The exception is the student wage, which is based on the federal minimum wage. Source: BLS Occupation Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ datatype: Occupation codes: All employees (00-0000); Middle school teachers (25-2022); Middle school special education teachers (25-2053); Education Administrators (11-9032); and Educational guidance counselors (21-1012); accessed on July 6, 2017.
2
Recruitment activities for the MS1 and OFT2 tracking activities will
were not
be
completed
at the time this request will
be
was initially approved,
and thus the approved burden affiliated with the MS1 recruitment and
OFT2 tracking is being carried over and is included in the total
requested in this submission.
3 Burden associated with student assessments is shown here for informational purposes. It is not included in the total burden calculations because, unlike the other burden presented here, it is not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).
4 The number of parent respondents is already included in the recruitment number of respondents. The number of parents included in the MS2 locating update is based on an estimated 97 percent Base Year student-eligibility rate.
5 Teachers will be asked to complete student-level reports regardless of the students’ participation, so this estimate accounts for 85% of the sampled students.
6 The number of student-level reports estimates approximately 10.5 students with IEPs per school.
7 This estimate includes schools that students left after grade 6 because the schools end in grade 6, and other schools from which students moved since their participation in MGLS 2017 Base Year (when they were in grade 6).
8 This is a conservative estimate of district count; actual number may be slightly less, subject to further analysis.
* The same respondent group as above, not double counted in the total number of respondents.
A.14 Annualized Cost to Federal Government has been revised to reflect cost estimates for OFT3 tracking and MS2 district and school notification:
As
shown in table 7, the estimated cost to the federal government for
contractor and subcontractor work to conduct all aspects of MS1,
OFT2, OFT3
Tracking, and MS2 tracking
and recruitment is $13,241371,989.
These figures include costs for planning, instrument development,
recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and reporting. The total
cost for the activities requested in this submission is
$11,623753,041
(not including the previously approved MS1 Sampling and Recruitment
and OFT2 Tracking and Recruitment).
Table 7. Contract Costs for OFT2 and MS1, and for Tracking and Recruitment for MS21
Main Study Base Year (MS1) |
$ 10,865,667 |
Main Study Base Year – Sampling and Recruitment |
$ 1,302,292 |
Main Study Base Year – Other Costs (Data Collection, Reporting) |
$ 9,563,375 |
Main Study First Follow-up – Tracking and Recruitment (MS2) |
$397,437 |
Main Study First Follow-up Notification |
$30,000 |
Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2) |
$ 1,978,885 |
Operational Field Test First Follow-up – Tracking and Recruitment |
316,656 |
Operational Field Test First Follow-up – Other Costs (Data Collection, Reporting) |
$1,662,229 |
Operational Field Test Second Follow-up – Tracking |
100,000 |
Total |
$
13, |
1 Contract costs include 2/5 of cost of management task in MS1; and 1/5 of cost of management task for OFT2 and MS2.
A.15 Program Changes or Adjustments was revised as follows:
The increase in burden from the last approved package is due to the fact that the total burden requested in this submission is a sum of burden estimates for MS1 recruitment, MS1 data collection, MS2 tracking/recruitment, OFT2 tracking/recruitment, and OFT2 data collection, while the last approved burden was for OFT1 recruitment, OFT1 data collection, OFT2 tracking, and MS1 recruitment only. The August 2018 update to this submission further increases the total burden time by 215 hours due to the addition of MS2 district and school notification and OFT3 tracking.
A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication was updated in Table 8 with new dates for OFT3 and MS2:
Table 8. Schedule for OFT1, MS1, OFT2, OFT3, 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 |
|
September 2018 |
|
MS2 District and School Notification |
September 2018 |
November 2018 |
MS2 tracking |
September 2018 |
May 2020 |
MS2 recruitment |
January 2019 |
May 2020 |
MS2 Data Collection |
January
|
July
|
Part B of this submission presents
information on the collection of information employing statistical
methods for the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18
(MGLS:2017) Main Study Base Year (MS1), Operational Field Test (OFT)
First Follow-up (OFT2), as
well as for and OFT Second
Follow-up (OFT3) tracking. Only
preliminary background information and recruitment
design changes for Main Study First Follow-up (MS2)
are provided at this time. More detailed descriptions of MS2 will be
submitted in October 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 21).
The universe and sample design for the OFT Base Year (OFT1) and for MS1 were fully described in previous clearance submissions (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 10-15), which covered all aspects of OFT1 and recruitment for MS1. In this document, sampling universe and design of OFT2 and MS2 are described. The August 2018 update to this submission adds information about OFT3 tracking and about a change in periodicity of the MS2 data collection.
Under MS2 Samples subsection (p.6):
As of the August
2018 update to this submission, MS1 data collection yielded
approximately 570 schools with a student sample size of approximately
14,000 students (a little more than half of the expected number). The
MS2 student sample will consist of those among the estimated 26,100
14,000 students sampled for MS1 who remain eligible for the
study in the 2018-19 school year. Study ineligible sample members
include those MS1 sample members who become deceased prior to MS2 or
MS1 nonrespondents who are found to not have been enrolled in sixth
grade as of fall 2017. As noted in
Table 5, we We estimate
that 97 percent (25,317
13,580) of the planned
MS1 26,100
14,000 student sample members will be eligible for MS2.
The MS2 school sample will consist of the MS1 participating schools
combined with an estimated 285 non-base-year transfer schools at
which one or more sample students will be enrolled as of MS2. Sample
augmentation plans and procedures for MS2 schools will be proposed in
the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21) in order to achieve
the originally envisioned school and student yields by the end of the
study.
The MS2
school sample consists of the planned 900 MS1 participating schools
combined with an estimated 450 non-base-year transfer schools at
which one or more sample students will be enrolled as of MS2.
Under OFT2 Samples subsection (p.7):
The OFT2 student sample will consist of
approximately 1,120 students from among
255 (97 percent) of the 1,294 students
who participated in OFT1 and
remain eligible for the study in the 2018-19 school year (for
cost reasons some OFT1 students will not be followed).
The OFT2 school sample consists of the 45 OFT1 participating
schools combined with an estimated 30 non-base-year transfer schools
at which one or more students from the OFT2 sample will be enrolled
as of OFT2.
The OFT1 school recruitment and data collection approaches, which inform those of MS1, were fully described in the previous clearance submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 10-15). Below, the methodological descriptions focus on all aspects of MS1 and OFT2 (for which tracking and recruitment have been approved in OMB# 1850-0911 v. 10-15), student tracking and school recruitment for MS2, and (added in the August 2018 update) student tracking for OFT3. Any changes to MS2 tracking related to the elimination of data collection for grade 7 will be described in the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v. 21).
OFT3 Tracking
The OFT3 will consist of student tracking, which will mirror the OFT2 tracking procedures described earlier in this document. The period of OFT student tracking was originally envisioned to take place for the OFT Second Follow-up (OFT3) from August 2018 through May 2019. OFT tracking is important for understanding patterns in MGLS:2017 sample students’ transfers from one school to another and our ability to locate sample students for the next follow-up data collection (from grade 7 to grade 8 in OFT3). Given that MGLS:2017 Main Study (MS) will not collect data in grade 7, tracking information will be central for designing the final materials and procedures for MS2. As with all OFT recruiting and tracking activities, the OFT dates need to mirror and precede by one year those planned for MS. Due to the current OMB clearance schedule, OFT3 tracking will take place from September 2018 through May 2019.
In preparation for MS2, we will track the student’s enrollment status and update the parents’ contact/locating data. MS2 tracking will take place from September 2018 through May 2020 and will be carried out in multiple rounds. The final details of the MS2 tracking plan, particularly the activities to take place in 2019 and 2020, will be provided in the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21). MS2 data collection will occur from January through July of 2020.
The OFT3 tracking will mirror the OFT2 tracking procedures described earlier in this section.
Methods for increasing response rates and
dealing with nonresponse in MS2 will be similar to those used in
OFT2. These methods may be
modified based on the OFT2 experience, in which case any modification
will be submitted
to OMB for review as a change request included
in the October 2018 submission (OMB# 1850-0911 v.21), along with the
final plan for MS2 tracking.
This document has not been changed since its OMB approval in January 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.18) under the title: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Main Study Base Year (MS1), Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2), and Tracking and Recruitment for Main Study First Follow-up (MS2)
During the 2017-2018 school year, your school graciously participated in the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017). I am writing to thank you for your school’s continued support and to inform you that we have made a change in our plans for the first follow-up data collection activities. We will still contact you this year to learn where study students are located but will not be conducting any sessions in your school in the 2018-19 school year. We will conduct the first and only planned follow-up for this study in the spring of 2020.
This document has not been changed since its OMB approval in January 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.18) under the title: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Main Study Base Year (MS1), Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2), and Tracking and Recruitment for Main Study First Follow-up (MS2)
This document has not been changed since its OMB approval in April 2018 (OMB# 1850-0911 v.19) under the title: Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) Main Study Base Year (MS1), Operational Field Test First Follow-up (OFT2), and Tracking and Recruitment for Main Study First Follow-up (MS2)
1 The collection of these data in MS1 is necessary to facilitate the oversampling of students in two of the three focal disability groups: autism and emotional disturbance. Schools that opt not to provide IEP and disability information may still participate and disability information will be requested as part of the parent and teacher surveys.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-20 |