Attachment C - Email and Letter to Selected Centers

ATTACHMENT c.1

email to selected centers

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TO: [EMAIL]

FROM: [RECRUITER]

SUBJECT: Study on the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education

ATTACHMENT: Study FAQs

Dear [CENTER DIRECTOR]:

In 2018, your center participated in a study on the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education, also known as ECE-ICHQ. Your center helped us gather important information about how centers use their resources to maximize the quality of early care and education. Since that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone’s lives, but it has had an especially profound impact on the child care industry. Child care centers like yours have had to make many trade-offs in order to maintain health and safety requirements and continue to offer services to young children and their families.

To understand how centers have fared through the COVID-19 pandemic, the study team is conducting a follow-up round of data collection this spring. We are only including select centers that previously participated and are inviting you and your center to take part. As you might remember, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) has partnered with Mathematica, an independent research organization, to conduct the study.

Centers that participate in this follow-up round will receive $500 for completing study activities, an increase of $250 from the prior round. We view you and your center as a valuable partner in this study. For this follow-up effort to be successful, it is critical to have the participation of a range of centers—such as big and small centers, and those that receive different types of support. When the study is complete, we hope the findings will inform the types of supports that could help centers like yours.

Participation in the study is completely voluntary. We hope your center will participate once again. 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 nor your center will be identified in any publication from this study.

We understand that you and your staff are very busy, so we will be flexible in scheduling data collection activities. We will conduct all data collection activities on the phone or on the web this round, without in-person visits. I have attached answers to frequently asked questions about the study. I would like to schedule a time to talk with you by phone about the study in greater detail and discuss your center’s participation.

If you can share some times you would be available to talk with me by phone that would be great. Otherwise, I will call you in the next few days to schedule a time.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to speaking with you soon. If you have any questions prior to our call, please contact me at [RECRUITER PHONE] or by email at [RECRUITER EMAIL].

Sincerely,

[RECRUITER NAME]

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information is voluntary. 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 control number for this collection is 0970-0499 and it expires 11/30/2022.

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ATTACHMENT c.2

LETTER TO SELECTED CENTERS

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[RECRUITER NAME]

ECE-ICHQ Recruiter

[DATE]

Dear [CENTER DIRECTOR]:

In 2018, your center participated in a study on the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education, also known as ECE-ICHQ. Your center helped us gather important information about how centers use their resources to maximize the quality of early care and education. Since that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone’s lives, but it has had an especially profound impact on the child care industry. Child care centers like yours have had to make many trade-offs in order to maintain health and safety requirements and continue to offer services to young children and their families.

The understand how centers have fared through the COVID-19 pandemic, the study team is conducting a follow-up round this spring. We are only including select centers that previously participated and are inviting you and your center to take part. As you might remember, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) has partnered with Mathematica, an independent research organization, to conduct the study.

Centers that participate in this follow-up round will receive $500 for completing study activities, an increase of $250 from the prior round. We view you and your center as a valuable partner in this study. For this follow-up effort to be successful, it is critical to have the participation of a range of centers—such as big and small centers, and those that receive different types of support. When the study is complete, we hope the findings will inform the types of supports that could help centers like yours.

Participation in the study is completely voluntary. We hope your center will participate once again. 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 nor your center will be identified in any publication from this study.

We understand that you and your staff are very busy, so we will be flexible in scheduling data collection activities. We will conduct all data collection activities on the phone or on the web this round, without in-person visits. I have enclosed answers to frequently asked questions about the study. I would like to schedule a time to talk with you by phone about the study in greater detail and discuss your center’s participation.

If you can share some times you would be available to talk with me by phone that would be great. Otherwise, I will call you in the next few days to schedule a time.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to speaking with you soon. If you have any questions prior to our call, please contact me at [RECRUITER PHONE] or by email at [RECRUITER EMAIL].

Sincerely,

[RECRUITER],

[RECRUITER TITLE]

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information is voluntary. 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 control number for this collection is 0970-0499 and it expires 11/30/2022.

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