Instrument 1 - Center recruitment call

instrument 1.1

recruitment call script for centers

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.

CENTER DIRECTOR CALL SCRIPT FOR CENTER RECRUITMENT

Goals of the call:

A. Introduce yourself

B. Describe the purpose of the study

C. Provide an overview of the study activities and invite director to participate

D. If director agrees to participate, collect additional information about the center

E. Summarize next steps

A. INTRODUCTION

Hello Mr./Ms. [CENTER DIRECTOR’S LAST NAME], my name is [RECRUITER’S NAME] and I am calling from Mathematica about your center’s participation in an early care and education study for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We recently sent you an email and letter informing you that your center was selected to be part of this study. We included a set of frequently asked questions with information about the study. Did you receive these materials from us? And have you had a chance to go over them? [HAVE LETTER AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IF PERSON IF NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE STUDY].

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0499 and the expiration date is 11/30/2022. This call should take about 20 minutes.

Mathematica has been contracted by ACF to conduct a project called “Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education,” an important study that will create a tool to measure implementation and a center’s costs of providing services for early care and education programs serving children from birth to age 5. The study focuses on measuring what a center is doing to support quality and how much the center costs to operate.

Is now a good time to talk? I would like to answer any questions you have and give you a brief overview of the study.

[IF NOT A GOOD TIME TO TALK, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK]

B. STUDY PURPOSE

First, I would like to quickly review some of the details about the purpose and design of the study that we included in the email and letter. This study is interested in learning about how centers choose to invest their resources to provide high quality early care and education (ECE). We will collect information on center activities and their costs. This information will be used to create a tool to help centers and policy makers with decisions about how to make the most of their resources to support children’s healthy development. The only purpose of this study is to develop this tool. It is not an evaluation of the center.

C. OVERVIEW OF STUDY ACTIVITIES

• This study will include online surveys, telephone interviews, and visits to assist staff with completing a short survey, and to conduct classroom observations. Participating centers will receive a $500 gift card.

• We will conduct telephone interviews with the center director, and other staff who are knowledgeable about the center’s finances and educational programming such as a finance manager and an education specialist. We may need to speak with more than one staff person, depending on who is most knowledgeable about each topic. [IF HEAD START CENTER/MULTI-SITE ORGANIZATION/CENTER PART OF LARGER ORGANIZATION] The staff members most knowledgeable about our topics of interest may be at the center or at the program office. We will schedule interviews at a time that is convenient for you and your staff, and we will collect information in a way that is easiest for you.

• We will ask the person most knowledgeable about the center’s finances to complete an electronic workbook about the center’s costs.

• We will ask staff members at the center to complete a time-use survey online. The survey will help us learn how staff spend their time. Each person who completes a survey will receive a $10 gift card as a thank you. They will have the option of completing the survey on paper, if they prefer.

• Finally, the study team will visit your center for three to four days. We will work with you and your staff to limit any disruption that might be caused by our visit.

  • During the visit, we will collect teacher and classroom information and invite some staff to complete the time-use survey.

  • We will conduct observations of up to three classrooms in your center. Classrooms will be randomly selected from the list of classrooms provided during the visit. We will observe the classroom(s) for about four hours to get an idea of classroom activities and children’s interactions. We will provide a small gift to each classroom that we observe.

• To supplement the information we will gather from staff and from direct observations of classrooms, we may also obtain state administrative data (for example, QRIS data) about your center.

Taking part in this study is voluntary. The information in this study will be used only for research purposes and in ways that will not reveal who you are or identify your center. Federal or state laws may require us to show information to government officials (or sponsors) who are responsible for monitoring the safety of this study. Neither you or your center will be identified in any publication from this study. To ensure the safety of our field staff and study participants, Mathematica hiring policy requires all newly hired and rehired field staff to pass a criminal background check. We will provide you with documentation of field staff clearances if you request them.

We greatly value your time and the center staff’s time and will appreciate any help you can give us to complete this important study. We will be flexible in working with center staff to make efficient use of their time.

Do you have any questions about the study purpose or your center’s involvement?

Would you be willing for your center to participate in this important study?

[IF YES, CONTINUE TO THE CENTER ENGAGEMENT CALL SCRIPT]

[IF NEED ADDITIONAL TIME TO CONFIRM PARTICIPATION, SAY]: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. When would be a good time for us to check in about your center’s participation in the study? [OBTAIN MAILING/EMAIL ADDRESS OR CONFIRM IF ALREADY ON FILE]

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [MPR LIAISON PHONE] or by email at [MPR LIAISON EMAIL].

[IF NEED PROGRAM OFFICE PERMISSION TO PARTICIPATE, SAY:] Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Who would be the best person at the program office for us to ask about your center’s participation in the study? [OBTAIN NAME, PHONE, AND EMAIL/MAILING ADDRESS].

[IF CENTER DIRECTOR HESITANT, USE THE FOLLOWING PROBES]

• Is the time involved or number of activities one of your concerns?

• [IF YES]: Reiterate the study’s flexibility in scheduling a convenient time for data collection.

• Do you have concerns about the study’s purpose? Do you have any additional questions about the study?

• [IF YES]: Provide additional explanation about the study’s purpose, that it is not a monitoring or evaluation study, it is about developing a tool and relies on a partnership with centers to ensure that what is developed will benefit ECE programs/centers, and answer any questions they might have.

• Do you have any other concerns that I haven’t yet addressed?

[THANK THE DIRECTOR, END CALL, AND DOCUMENT DISCUSSION]

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.

INSTRUMENT 1.2

recruitment call script for programs

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR CALL SCRIPT FOR CENTER RECRUITMENT

Goals of the call:

A. Introduce yourself

B. Describe the purpose of the study

C. Provide an overview of the study activities and invite director to participate

D. If director agrees to participate, collect additional information about the center

E. Summarize next steps

A. INTRODUCTION

Hello Mr./Ms. [PROGRAM DIRECTOR’S LAST NAME], my name is [RECRUITER’S NAME] and I am calling from Mathematica about your program’s participation in an early care and education study for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We recently sent you an email and letter informing you that a center in your program [CENTER NAME] was selected to be part of this study. We included a set of frequently asked questions with information about the study. Did you receive these materials from us? And have you had a chance to go over them? [HAVE LETTER AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IF PERSON IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE STUDY.]

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0499 and the expiration date is 11/30/2022.

Mathematica has been contracted by ACF to conduct a project called “Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education,” an important study that will create a tool to measure implementation and a center’s costs of providing services for early care and education programs serving children from birth to age 5. The study focuses on measuring what a center is doing to support quality and how much the center costs to operate.

Is now a good time to talk? I would like to answer any questions you have and give you a brief overview of the study.

[IF NOT A GOOD TIME TO TALK, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK]

B. STUDY PURPOSE

First, I would like to quickly review some of the details about the purpose and design of the study that we included in the letter. This study is interested in learning about how centers choose to invest their resources to provide high quality early care and education (ECE). We will collect information on center activities and their costs. This information will be used to create a tool to help center administrators and policy makers with decisions about how to make the most of their resources to support children’s healthy development. The only purpose of this study is to develop this tool. It is not an evaluation of the center.

C. OVERVIEW OF STUDY ACTIVITIES

This study will include online surveys, telephone interviews conducted with center and possibly program staff, and visits to assist center staff with completing a short survey, and to conduct classroom observations. Participating centers will receive a $500 gift card.

We will conduct telephone interviews with the center director, and other staff who are knowledgeable about the center’s finances and educational programming such as a finance manager and an education specialist. We may need to speak with more than one staff person, depending on who is most knowledgeable about each topic. The staff members most knowledgeable about our topics of interest may be at the center or at the program office. We will schedule interviews at a time that is convenient for center and program staff, and we will collect information in a way that is easiest for staff.

We will ask the person most knowledgeable about the center’s finances to complete an electronic workbook about the center’s costs. This person might be part of the center staff, or at the program office.

We will ask staff members at the center to complete a time-use survey online. The survey will help us learn how staff spend their time. Each person who completes a survey will receive a $10 gift card as a thank you. They will have the option of completing the survey on paper, if they prefer.

Finally, the study team will visit the center for three to four days. We will work with center staff to limit any disruption that might be caused by our visit.

• During the visit, we will collect teacher and classroom information and invite some staff to complete the time-use survey.

• We will conduct observations of up to three classrooms in your center. Classrooms will be randomly selected from the list of classrooms provided during the visit. We will observe the classroom(s) for about four hours to get an idea of classroom activities and children’s interactions. We will provide a small gift to each classroom that we observe.

To supplement the information we will gather from staff and from direct observations of classrooms, we may also obtain state administrative data (for example, QRIS data) about your center.

Taking part in this study is voluntary. The information in this study will be used only for research purposes and in ways that will not reveal who you are or identify your center. Federal or state laws may require us to show information to government officials (or sponsors) who are responsible for monitoring the safety of this study. Neither you or your center will be identified in any publication from this study. To ensure the safety of our field staff and study participants, Mathematica hiring policy requires all newly hired and rehired field staff to pass a criminal background check. We will provide you with documentation of field staff clearances if you request them.

We greatly value your time and the center staff’s time and will appreciate any help you can give us to complete this important study. We will be flexible in working with center and program staff to make efficient use of time.

Do you have any questions about the study purpose or the center’s involvement?

Would you be willing for us to reach out to [NAME OF CENTER] to participate in this important study? Or would you prefer to reach out to them to confirm their participation?

[IF YES, WE CAN REACH OUT TO CENTER, CONTINUE TO SECTION D (QUESTIONS FOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR)]

[IF PROGRAM WILL REACH OUT TO CENTER OR NEED ADDITIONAL TIME TO CONFIRM PARTICIPATION, SAY]: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. When would be a good time for us to check in about [CENTER NAME]’s participation in the study? [OBTAIN MAILING/EMAIL ADDRESS OR CONFIRM IF ALREADY ON FILE]

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [MPR LIAISON PHONE] or by email at [MPR LIAISON EMAIL].

[IF PROGRAM DIRECTOR IS HESITANT, USE THE FOLLOWING PROBES]:

• Is the time involved or number of activities one of your concerns?

• [IF YES]: Reiterate the study’s flexibility in scheduling a convenient time for data collection.

• Do you have concerns about the study’s purpose? Do you have any additional questions about the study?

• [IF YES]: Provide additional explanation about the study’s purpose, that it is not a monitoring or evaluation study, it is about developing a tool and relies on a partnership with centers to ensure that what is developed will benefit ECE programs/centers, and answer any questions they might have.

• Do you have any other concerns that I haven’t yet addressed?

[THANK THE DIRECTOR, END CALL, AND DOCUMENT DISCUSSION]

[IF WE HAVE NOT ALREADY COLLECTED THIS INFORMATION FROM THE CENTER DIRECTOR, CONTINUE TO SECTION D. OTHERWISE SKIP TO SECTION E]

D. QUESTIONS FOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Next, I want to collect some basic information about [CENTER NAME] and the names and contact information of people in various positions who would help in the data collection.

[CONFIRM CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION]: Please confirm the following information about the center.

• Center name, physical address, mailing address, phone number

• The staff who we expect to be most involved with us for the study would be the center director and the person in charge of maintaining the financial records of the center. [COLLECT NAME, PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL FOR EACH CONTACT BELOW]

• What is the name and contact information (including email address) for the center director?

• What is the name, title, and contact information for the person most knowledgeable about center finances?

• If different than the center director, what is the name, title, and contact information (including email address) for the person who oversees the educational program at the center?

E. NEXT STEPS

I will reach out to the center director to gather some information and schedule the phone interviews.

In case I need to follow up with you for any reason, what is the easiest way to contact you—by phone or email?

Do you have any questions at this point? If questions or concerns come up, please feel free to contact me at [MPR RECRUITER PHONE] or by email at [MPR RECRUITER EMAIL].

Thank you for participating in this important study. We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to working with [CENTER NAME].