Part A HSLS 2009 Panel Maintenance 2018-2021

The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education. The primary contractor for this study is RTI International (a trade name of the Research Triangle Institute). Subcontractors include HR Directions; Research Support Services; and Strategic Communications, Inc.

This request is to conduct the HSLS:09 panel maintenance to keep sample members’ contact information up-to-date for future follow-up activities. The enclosed here panel maintenance materials are based upon those approved in November 2017 (OMB# 1850-0852 v.27) and in November 2018 (v.28) for use in 2018. This request is to update the contact materials and adjust plans to conduct panel maintenance with both students and their parent.

The HSLS:09 base-year data collection took place in the 2009–10 school year, with a randomly selected sample of fall-term 9th-graders in more than 900 public and private high schools with both 9th and 11th grades.^¹ This fall 2009 cohort of 9th graders has been followed over time, with follow-up interviews in spring 2012, summer-fall 2013, spring 2016-January 2017 and a collection of administrative records (such as high school transcripts and postsecondary transcripts). The basic components and key design features of HSLS:09 are summarized in exhibit A-1, by wave of data collection.

Exhibit A-1. HSLS:09 data collection components, by wave of data collection

	Base Year	1st Follow-up	2013 Update	2nd Follow-up
Sample Member Survey	◊	◊	◊	◊
Sample Member Math Assessment	◊	◊
Parent Survey	◊	◊
School Counselor Survey	◊	◊
School Administrator Survey	◊	◊
Math Teacher Survey	◊
Science Teacher Survey	◊
High School Transcripts			◊
Postsecondary Transcripts				◊
Postsecondary Student Financial Aid Records Data				◊
Administrative Data (e.g., SAT, ACT, GED, CPS, NSLDS, NSC^²,)			◊	◊

HSLS:09 data will allow researchers, educators, and policymakers to examine motivation, achievement, and persistence in STEM (as well as non-STEM) coursetaking and careers. More generally, HSLS:09 data will allow researchers from a variety of disciplines to examine issues of college entry, persistence, and success, and how changes in young people’s lives and their connections with communities, schools, teachers, families, parents, and friends affect these decisions, including:

academic (especially in mathematics), social, and interpersonal growth;
transitions from high school to postsecondary education, and from school to work;
students’ choices about, access to, and persistence in math and science courses, majors, and careers;
the characteristics of high schools and postsecondary institutions and their impact on student outcomes;
family formation, including marriage and family development, and how prior experiences in and out of school correlate with these decisions; and
the contexts of education, including how minority and at-risk status is associated with education and labor market outcomes.

A.1.b Legislative Authorization

HSLS:09 is authorized under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C. §9543).

A.1.c Prior and Related Studies

In 1970, NCES initiated a program of longitudinal high school studies, the Secondary Longitudinal Studies series. Its purpose was to gather time-series panel data on nationally representative samples of high school students that would be pertinent to the formulation and evaluation of education polices. Starting in 1972, with the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS:72), NCES began providing education policymakers and researchers with longitudinal data that linked education experiences with later outcomes, such as early labor market experiences and postsecondary education enrollment and attainment. The NLS:72 cohort of high school seniors was surveyed five times (in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1979, and 1986). A wide variety of interview data were collected in the follow-up surveys, including data on students’ family background, schools attended, labor force participation, family formation, and job satisfaction. In addition, postsecondary transcripts were collected.

Almost 10 years later, in 1980, the second in the series of NCES longitudinal surveys was launched, this time starting with two high school cohorts. High School and Beyond (HS&B) included one cohort of high school seniors comparable to the seniors in NLS:72. The second cohort within HS&B extended the age span and analytical range of NCES’s longitudinal studies by surveying a sample of high school sophomores. With the sophomore cohort, information became available to study the relationship between early high school experiences and students’ subsequent education experiences in high school. For the first time, national data were available showing students’ academic growth over time and how family, community, school, and classroom factors promoted or inhibited student learning. In a leap forward for education studies, researchers, using data from the extensive battery of cognitive tests within HS&B, were also able to assess the growth of cognitive abilities over time. Moreover, data were now available to analyze the school experiences of students who later dropped out of high school. These data became a rich resource for policymakers and researchers over the next decade and provided an empirical base to inform the debates of the education reform movement that began in the early 1980s. Both cohorts of HS&B participants were resurveyed in 1982, 1984, and 1986. The sophomore cohort was also resurveyed in 1992. Postsecondary transcripts were collected for both cohorts.

The third longitudinal study of students conducted by NCES was the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). NELS:88 further extended the age and grade span of NCES longitudinal studies by beginning the data collection with a cohort of 8th-graders. Along with the student survey, it included surveys of parents, teachers, and school administrators. It was designed not only to follow a single cohort of students over time (as had NCES’s earlier longitudinal studies, NLS:72 and HS&B), but also, by “freshening” the sample at each of the first two follow-ups, to follow three nationally representative grade cohorts over time (8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade cohorts). This provided not only comparability of NELS:88 to existing cohorts, but it also enabled researchers to conduct both cross-sectional inter-cohort and longitudinal intra-cohort analyses of the data. In 1993, high school transcripts were collected. Students were interviewed again in 1994 and 2000, and in 2000-01 their postsecondary education transcripts were collected.

The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) was the fourth longitudinal high school cohort study conducted by NCES. ELS:2002 started with a sophomore cohort and was designed to provide trend data about the critical transitions experienced by students as they proceeded through high school and into postsecondary education or their careers. Student interviews and assessments in reading and mathematics were collected along with surveys of parents, teachers, and school administrators. In addition, a facilities component and school library/media studies component were added for this study series. Freshening occurred at the first follow-up in 2004 to allow for a nationally representative cohort of high school seniors, which was followed by the collection of high school transcripts. A second follow-up was conducted in 2006, a third follow-up in 2012, with a postsecondary education transcript component in 2013.

These studies have investigated the education, personal, and vocational development of students, and the school, familial, community, personal, and cultural factors that affect this development. Each of these studies has provided rich information about the critical transition from high school to postsecondary education and the workforce. HSLS:09 will continue on the path of its predecessors while also focusing on the factors associated with choosing, persisting in, and succeeding in STEM course-taking and careers.

A.2 Purpose and Uses of the Data

This section provides information on the purposes of HSLS:09 and an overview of the primary research issues it addresses.

A.2.a HSLS:09 Purposes

HSLS:09 has had important affinities to its predecessor longitudinal studies by addressing many of the same issues of transition from high school to postsecondary education and the labor force. At the same time, HSLS:09 has brought a new and special emphasis to the study of youth transition by exploring the paths that lead students to pursue and persist in courses and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with particular focus on mathematics and science as critical domains of the high school curriculum. There is precedent for giving special emphasis to science and math—as was done in NELS:88, for example, which included science and mathematics teacher surveys in grades 8, 10, and 12; a cognitive test battery that measured both science and math achievement at grades 8, 10, and 12; in addition to special items on the student questionnaire. However, HSLS:09 has gone more deeply into the choice factors and social-psychological mechanisms associated with science and math coursetaking in high school and later choice of postsecondary institutions and majors.

HSLS:09 was designed to measure math achievement gains in the first 3 years of high school, but also to relate tested achievement to students’ choice, access, and persistence of courses, college, and careers, especially in STEM pipelines. The HSLS:09 assessment has served not just as an outcome measure, but also as a predictor of readiness to proceed into college and, in particular, STEM courses and careers, while tested achievement in mathematics has also been used as a baseline covariate in multivariate longitudinal analyses. Interviews have focused on factors that shaped students’ decision-making about courses and postsecondary options, including what factors, from parental input to considerations of financial aid for postsecondary education, entered into these decisions.

There are several reasons the transition into adulthood is of special interest to federal policy and programs. Adolescence is a time of physical and psychological changes. Attitudes, aspirations, and expectations are sensitive to the stimuli that adolescents experience, and environments influence the process of choosing among opportunities. Parents, educators, and those involved in education policy decisions all share the need to understand the effects that the presence or absence of good guidance from the school, in combination with that from the home, can have on the educational, occupational, and social success of youth.

These patterns of transition cover individual and institutional characteristics. At the individual level, the study has examined education attainment and personal development. In response to policy and scientific issues, data have been gathered on the demographic and background correlates of education outcomes. By collecting extensive information from students, parents, school staff, and school records, it is possible to investigate the relationship between home and school factors and academic achievement, interests, and social development at this critical juncture. Resources to assist in guiding parents and students through the college decision process, from information-seeking behaviors to filing financial aid forms, can be explored in terms of how they relate to college entry. Additionally, because the initial survey focused on 9th-graders, it also permits the identification and study of high school (and later, college) dropouts.

HSLS:09 is intended to be a general-purpose dataset; that is, it has been designed to serve multiple policy objectives. Policy issues studied through HSLS:09 include the identification of school attributes and processes associated with mathematics achievement, college entry, and career choice; postsecondary access, choice, persistence, and attainment; the factors associated with dropping out of the education system; and the transition of different groups (e.g., racial and ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic status groups) from high school to postsecondary institutions and the labor market, and especially into STEM curricula and careers. HSLS:09 provides a strong basis for investigators to inquire into students’ attitudes, beliefs, expectancies, values, and goals. Researchers can investigate factors affecting risk and resiliency, gather information about the social capital available to sample members, inquire into the nature of student interests and decision-making, and delineate students’ curricular and extracurricular experiences in both high school and higher education. HSLS:09 included measures of school climate; each student’s native language and language use; student and parental education expectations; attendance at school; course and program selection; college plans, preparation, and information-seeking behavior; interactions with teachers and peers; as well as parental resources and support. The HSLS:09 data elements have been designed to support research that speaks to the underlying dynamics and education processes that influence student achievement, growth, and personal development over time.

HSLS:09 is first and foremost a longitudinal study; hence survey items were chosen for their usefulness in predicting or explaining future outcomes as measured in later survey waves. Compared to its earlier counterparts, there are considerable changes to the design of HSLS:09 that will limit the ability to produce trend comparisons. There are two such limiting factors in particular. One is that there was no sample freshening in HSLS:09. In consequence, there is no representative spring senior cohort (or sophomore cohort), but rather a fall 9th-grade cohort, unrepresentative of any other grade, followed over time. The second reason, closely related to the first, is that none of the data collection points in HSLS:09 correspond with the collection points in the prior secondary longitudinal studies (e.g., NELS:88 at grades 8, 10, 12, and two years after modal high school completion). At the same time, HSLS:09 and the prior studies alike have dealt with the same basic issues: the transition through high school and into the postsecondary world, represented primarily by education and work. Comparisons between HSLS:09 and the four earlier studies may be made at this higher level of generality. Comparisons cannot be made on the basis of data collections at the precise same grades (e.g., senior trends) and post-high-school time-points, since different collection points were used. The fact that precise grade/time-point comparisons cannot be made is of consequence for HSLS:09 in that HSLS:09 has had greater latitude in incorporating new interview items, given that the trend measurement requirement of asking the same thing in the same way as in previous studies is no longer of strict relevance.

In the second follow-up main study, in addition to sample member interviews, transcripts and financial aid student records were be collected from the postsecondary institutions attended by those HSLS:09 sample members who had enrolled in postsecondary education. The two data sources address a range of issues concerning students’ enrollment and coursetaking patterns, progress and attainment in postsecondary education, and the types, sources, and amounts of student aid received across years of attendance.

Postsecondary Transcript Collection. The HSLS:09 PETS is the sixth in a series of postsecondary education transcript studies of high school cohorts; the first (NLS:72) took place in 1984, and was followed by HS&B sophomore cohort (1993), HS&B senior cohort (1986), NELS:88 (2000), and ELS:2002 (2013). Postsecondary education transcript studies have also been undertaken in connection with the BPS and Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) longitudinal studies. A fundamental difference is that BPS and B&B are grounded in a nationally-representative sample of postsecondary institutions (NPSAS) while the high school studies are based on a grade-cohort-based secondary school sample. In addition, BPS captures all students entering postsecondary education, while the high school studies miss late entrants. Likewise, B&B is representative of baccalaureate recipients, while studies such as HSLS:09 and ELS:2002 (which lack both late entrants and late completers) are not.

As an official institution record, the postsecondary transcript is a more reliable source of data regarding academic performance than is a student’s self-report. The transcript collection for HSLS:09, designed similarly to that conducted for ELS:2002 and BPS:04/09, will provide much-needed information on the course of study of today’s college students as they begin, leave, and re-enter postsecondary study and transfer between institutions. The combination of transcripts and other study data collected through interviews, file matching, and record abstraction will afford researchers the opportunity to analyze paths taken by cohort members as they begin undergraduate education. Postsecondary transcripts provide a wealth of data on enrollment, including degree or certificate program, terms enrolled, course intensity when enrolled, and fields of study. Furthermore, transcripts provide coursetaking details including subjects taken and credits and grades earned. These data provide important links among secondary academic performance, plans and expectations, and pathways into the workforce of the sample members.

Financial Aid Records Collection. Despite access to federal aid databases, a complete picture of all non-federal inputs into student financial aid has been lacking in the secondary longitudinal studies, constituting a severe limitation in the postsecondary years of the survey. Availability of financial aid is important at all points in the postsecondary process (initial access and choice, persistence, transfer, and ultimate educational attainment). The financial aid data records collected from the institutions attended by HSLS:09 sample members greatly increase the analytic power of HSLS:09 – cumulative aid and debt, generally at a midpoint through postsecondary education, can be calculated with the availability of scholarship, fellowship, grant, and loan amount. The financial aid record collection also yields detailed information about students’ enrollment patterns, degree or program of study and progress toward degree, and costs of attendance.

A.2.b HSLS:09 Research and Policy Issues

The second follow-up survey items served to support the overall purposes of HSLS:09, which were to understand the factors (e.g., experiences, behaviors, attitudes, interactions with people) that influence students’ decision-making processes about postsecondary enrollment and coursetaking, and occupation goals, and to understand how these decisions evolve in the years after secondary school, ultimately marking the transition to adult status (as seen in education attainment, career, family formation, etc.).

For those who had completed high school at the time of the second follow-up, the prime foci of the interviews were be labor market status of those who are working part- or full-time, and postsecondary entry, transfer, persistence, and sub-baccalaureate attainment. The second follow-up interview also updated information on high school attainment for students who, as of the 2013 Update survey, had dropped out or were held back a grade or more in their secondary schooling. At the time of the second follow-up, the HSLS:09 cohort will be similar to members of the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/14) first follow-up. BPS covers all postsecondary entrants, early and late, while HSLS:09 does not include late entrants but provides a comparison group that is not in postsecondary education. Such comparison draws on the fact that those HSLS:09 cohort members who started postsecondary education in the fall after modal high school graduation had the same time spread between that time point and the HSLS:09 second follow-up survey as did BPS cohort members who started postsecondary education immediately after high school completion. In other words, both the BPS and the HSLS:09 immediate entrants were followed 3 years after first enrollment.

A.3 Use of Information Technology

The website for panel maintenance data collection will reside on NCES’ SSL-encrypted servers. HSLS:09 will use web-based panel maintenance across two modes of data collection—self-administered updates and updates administered by telephone—and will be made mobile-friendly to allow participants to complete the contact information update on a tablet or smartphone. On a nightly basis, the data collection contractor will download contact information update data, in batches, to its Enhanced Security Network (ESN) via a secure web service. Once in the ESN, data will be cleaned and undergo quality analysis.

A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication

Since the inception of its secondary education longitudinal studies program in 1970, NCES has consulted with other federal offices to ensure that the data collected in this important series of longitudinal studies do not duplicate the information from any other national data sources within the U.S. Department of Education or other government agencies. In addition, NCES staff members regularly consult with nonfederal associations such as the College Board, American Educational Research Association, the American Association of Community Colleges, and other groups to confirm that the data to be collected through this study series are not available from any other sources. Furthermore, consultations are also provided through the HSLS:09 Technical Review Panel (TRP), which continues to provide methodological insights from the results of other studies of secondary and postsecondary students and labor force members. In addition, these consultations ensure that the data collected through HSLS:09 will meet the needs of the federal government and other interested agencies and organizations. Other longitudinal studies of secondary and postsecondary students (e.g., NELS:88, ELS:2002, BPS, B&B) have been conducted by NCES in the past. HSLS:09 builds on, extends, or complements these studies rather than duplicating them.

First, current efforts explicitly complement the redesign of NPSAS and BPS with the instrumentation and design of HSLS:09. Second, design articulation with prior NCES secondary longitudinal studies (though more limited for HSLS:09 than for prior secondary longitudinal studies) also show coordination, not duplication. These earlier studies were conducted during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s and represent education, employment, and social experiences and environments different from those experienced by the HSLS:09 student sample. In addition to extending prior studies temporally as a time series, HSLS:09 extends them conceptually. Unlike preceding secondary longitudinal studies, HSLS:09 provides data that are necessary to understand the role of different factors in the development of student commitment to attend higher education and then to take the steps necessary to succeed in college (taking the right courses, taking courses in specific sequences, etc.). Also, HSLS:09 focuses on the factors associated with choosing and persisting in mathematics and science coursetaking and STEM careers. These focal points present a marked difference between HSLS:09 and its predecessor studies.

While National Science Foundation studies such as the Survey of Recent College Graduates cover some of the same ground as the postsecondary rounds of HSLS:09, the NSF effort is more narrowly focused, does not follow a nationally representative sample of secondary school students, and thereby does not provide measures of outcomes of secondary education experiences. Additionally, NSF was actively involved in the design stage of HSLS:09 and provided financial assistance for augmentations of certain state public high school samples so as to provide a robust and representative basis for analyses with a subset of states.

The only other dataset that offers so large an opportunity to understand the key transitions into postsecondary institutions or the world of work are the Department of Labor’s (Bureau of Labor Statistics) National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts (NLSY79, NLSY97). However, the NLSY youth cohorts represent temporally earlier cohorts than HSLS:09. There are also important design differences between NLSY79/ NLSY97 and HSLS:09 that render them more complementary to each other rather than duplicative. NLSY is a household-based longitudinal survey, while HSLS:09 is school-based. For both NLSY cohorts, Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test data are available, but there is no longitudinal high school achievement measure. Although NLSY97 also gathers information from schools (including principal and teacher reports and high school and postsecondary transcripts), given its household sampling basis, it cannot study school processes in the same way as HSLS:09. Any given school contains only one to a few NLSY97 sample members, a number that constitutes neither a representative sample of students in the school nor a sufficient number to provide within-school estimates. Thus, although both studies provide important information for understanding the transition from high school to the labor market, HSLS:09 is uniquely able to provide information about education processes and within-school dynamics and how these affect both school achievement and ultimate labor market outcomes, including outcomes in STEM education and occupations, whereas NLSY:97 is uniquely able to construct continuous labor market event histories for decades past high school graduation.

A.5 Method Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

Target respondents for HSLS:09 panel maintenance are individuals and the data collection activities will not involve burden to small businesses or entities.

A.6 Frequency of Data Collection

Exhibit A-2 documents the periodicity of HSLS:09 at the within-study level.

Exhibit A-2. Longitudinal design for the HSLS:09 ninth-grade cohort: 2009–25

Data collection frequency has two dimensions. One is the frequency of launch for each multi-year longitudinal study, including both the predecessor and successor studies to HSLS:09. The second is the number and temporal distance of the data collection rounds within a given longitudinal study, hence placement of the data collection rounds in HSLS:09 (as illustrated in Exhibit A-2).

Since NLS-72 in 1972, periodicity at the study level has been basically one secondary longitudinal study per decade. Since the inception of ECLS-K in 1998-99, an early childhood panel has been added at a similar level of frequency. A new addition, the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-18 (MGLS:2017) has recently been launched. MGLS:2017 will fill a critical gap in information on middle grades experiences. Regardless of whether it is practical at this time to implement an integrated comprehensive multi-cohort sequence for its longitudinal studies series, the decennial frequency of the secondary series would likely need to be similar to the historical experience that has worked so well in the past.

The 2016 student post high school graduation follow-up of HSLS:09 took place a year later than the 2-year interval employed with HS&B, NELS:88, and ELS:2002. The three-year gap, however, offered better articulation with BPS, and facilitated getting sub-baccalaureate attainment data collected in a timely fashion and in greater detail. Since final outcomes will not be available until the (tentatively planned) 2025 round—including baccalaureate attainment—it is very much of interest to maximize the data that are available early on, which include, in addition to broad postsecondary access and choice data, early sub-baccalaureate outcomes and early community college to 4-year college transition. The additional year extends the richness of the available postsecondary outcomes data released in 2018, and does so in a manner that provides a basis for postsecondary education transcript data collection and use of the postsecondary transcript and financial aid data in analysis.

Despite the changes in data collection points in HSLS:09, compared to predecessor secondary longitudinal studies, and despite the fact that HSLS:09 represents only a single (and unique) cohort (there was no freshening to achieve nationally representative samples in later rounds), HSLS:09 supports comparisons at a higher level of generality (modeling the transition to adult status). The same key transitions, albeit with slightly different data collection points and content, are captured with the HSLS:09 data, as have been captured through the prior studies.

A.7 Special Circumstances of Data Collection

No special circumstances of data collection are anticipated.

A.8 Consultations outside NCES

A panel of highly qualified substantive and methodological experts was invited to provide advice about the design and conduct of the HSLS:09 second follow-up. The first meeting with the HSLS:09 TRP was held on October 15-16, 2014, and included ten non-federal panelists as well as members of NCES and other offices within the U.S. Department of Education and the federal government. A second TRP meeting took place on August 18-19, 2015. Feedback from this convening has been used as part of the planning for the main study design. TRP meeting invitees are listed in Appendix A.

In addition, suggestions on specific items for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) domain were provided by content experts from members of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the Fenway Institute, and the Gender Identity in US Surveillance (GeniUSS) group. Items proposed for the LGBTQ domain came from a variety of sources, including the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Youth Health Survey, and the NICHD's National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, among others. Further consultation on these questions was also sought with the CDC.

A.9 Provision of Payment or Gift to Respondents

Incentives are part of the panel maintenance data collection plan for two purposes - to encourage response and to minimize the need for costly sample tracing and locating prior to the next round of data collection. The 2021 panel maintenance will consist of a mailing to each sample member and his or her parent/guardian asking them to log onto the survey website to update contact information or to complete a hardcopy address update (see appendix D). As in 2018, sample members and their parents/guardians will be offered a $10 incentive for updating their contact information. Our experience has shown that offering such an incentive is an effective means of increasing panel maintenance and survey response.

A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality

NCES assures participating individuals that all information collected under HSLS:09 may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. §9573 and 6 U.S.C. §151).

The primary contractor for this study is RTI International. Confidentiality and data security protection procedures have been put in place for HSLS:09 to ensure that the contractor and its subcontractors comply with all privacy requirements, including:

The statement of work of this contract;
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (20 U.S.C. §1232(g));
Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. §552a);
Privacy Act Regulations (34 CFR Part 5b);
Computer Security Act of 1987;
U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-56);
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C. §9573);
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002;
E-Government Act of 2002, Title V, Subtitle A;
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. §151);
The U.S. Department of Education General Handbook for Information Technology Security General Support Systems and Major Applications Inventory Procedures (March 2005);
The U.S. Department of Education Incident Handling Procedures (February 2009);
The U.S. Department of Education, ACS Directive OM: 5-101, Contractor Employee Personnel Security Screenings;
NCES Statistical Standards; and
All new legislation that impacts the data collected through the contract for this study.

Furthermore, the contractor will comply with the Department of Education’s IT security policy requirements as set forth in the Handbook for Information Assurance Security Policy and related procedures and guidance, as well as IT security requirements in the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) publications, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and guidance. All data products and publications will also adhere to the revised NCES Statistical Standards, as described at the website: http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2012/.

By law (20 U.S.C. §9573), a violation of the confidentiality restrictions is a felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to $250,000. The HSLS:09 procedures for maintaining confidentiality include notarized nondisclosure affidavits obtained from all personnel who will have access to individual identifiers; personnel training regarding the meaning of confidentiality; controlled and protected access to computer files; built-in safeguards concerning status monitoring and receipt control systems; and a secure, staffed, in-house computing facility. HSLS:09 follows detailed guidelines for securing sensitive project data, including, but not limited to: physical/environment protections, building access controls, system access controls, system login restrictions, user identification and authorization procedures, encryption, and project file storage/archiving/destruction.

Additionally, the contractor will take security measures to protect the web data collection application from unauthorized access. The web server will include an SSL certificate and will be configured to force encrypted data transmission over the Internet. All files uploaded to the website will be stored in a secure project folder that is accessible and visible to authorized project staff only. A number of security procedures are in place for users to access restricted pages containing confidential information:

When a primary coordinator is assigned to the study, the assignment comes from the Chief Administrative Officer (or his or her agent). Once assigned, HSLS:09 staff will confirm the primary coordinator’s employment status through a web search, a public directory, and/or contacting the Human Resources at the institution.
After user’s identity is verified, website users will be required to log in by entering an assigned ID number and password, and using two-factor authentication.
Through the website, the primary coordinators at the institution will be able to use a “Manage Users” link, available only to them, to add and delete user accounts for other staff at the same institution.
HSLS:09 staff will verify the employment status of any new user assigned by the primary coordinator prior to creating the new account and allowing access using two-factor authentication.

Security measures have been put in place to protect data during file matching procedures described in section A.3 of this document. NCES has a secure data transfer system, which uses SSL technology, allowing the transfer of encrypted data over the Internet. The IES File Transfer System will be used for all administrative data sources that do not have their own secure file transfers systems All data transfers will be encrypted.

The Department has established a policy regarding the personnel security screening requirements for all contractor employees and their subcontractors. The contractor must comply with these personnel security screening requirements throughout the life of the contract, including several requirements that the contractor must meet for each employee working on the contract for 30 days or more. Among these requirements are that each person working on the contract must be assigned a position risk level. The risk levels are high, moderate, and low based upon the level of harm that a person in the position can cause to the Department’s interests. Each person working on the contract must complete the requirements for a “Contractor Security Screening.” Depending on the risk level assigned to each person’s position, a follow-up background investigation by the Department will occur.

The following language will be included, as appropriate, in respondent contact materials and on data collection instruments:

NCES is authorized to conduct the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C. §9543).

All of the information you provide may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. §9573 and 6 U.S.C. §151).

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this voluntary information collection is 1850-0852. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average approximately 5 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this information collection, or any comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission, please write directly to: The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), National Center for Education Statistics, PCP, 550 12th St., SW, 4th floor, Washington, DC 20202.

A.11 Sensitive Questions

It is critical that respondents can be found at a later date for follow-ups in this longitudinal study; therefore, the panel maintenance collection requests follow-up locating information for sample members, their parents, and another contact.

A.12 Estimates of Response Burden

Estimates of response burden for completing the 2021 panel maintenance will be the same as the burden estimated for the 2018 panel maintenance. Panel maintenance update requests will be pre-populated with previous information to minimize burden. Sample members and their parents or other relevant contacts will be asked to either confirm that this information is correct or make updates. The total estimated burden time cost to individual survey respondents is $21,060 (778 burden hours at a $27.07 hourly rate^³).

Exhibit A-3. Estimated burden for HSLS:09 panel maintenance

Data collection activity	Sample	Expected response rate	Number of respondents	Number of responses	Average burden per response(minutes)	Total burden (hours)
Address data collection from individuals
Panel maintenance 2021
Students	23,316	20%	4,663	4,663	5	389
Parents	23,316	20%	4,663	4,663	5	389
Total Burden			9,326	9,326		778

A.13 Estimates of Cost Burden to Respondents

There are no capital, startup, or operating costs to respondents for participation in the project. No equipment, printing, or postage charges will be incurred.

A.14 Costs to the Federal Government

Estimated costs to the federal government for HSLS:09 panel maintenance activities are shown in Exhibit A-4. Included in the contract estimates are all staff time, reproduction, postage, and telephone costs associated with the management, data collection, analysis, and reporting for which clearance is requested.

Exhibit A-4. Costs to NCES for panel maintenance activities

Costs to NCES	Amount
Total HSLS:09 panel maintenance costs	$462,960
Salaries and expenses	$75,000
Contract costs	$387,960

A.15 Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs

There is no apparent increase in total respondent burden, as we are no longer carrying forward the burden of the 2018 panel maintenance activities. The increase in respondent burden for the 2021 panel maintenance activities is because we are now requesting the full burden for the 2021 panel maintenance activities, which will include contact with both the students and their parent. Otherwise, panel maintenance activities in 2021 are expected to be the same as panel maintenance activities in 2018.

A.16 Publication Plans and Project Schedule

The contract for HSLS:09 requires the following reports, publications, or other public information releases:

First Look reports (descriptive summaries of significant findings for dissemination to a broad audience);
Detailed data file documentation describing all aspects of the main study design and data collection procedures, including an appendix summarizing the methodological findings from the field test; and
Complete data files and documentation for research data users in the form of both restricted-use and public-use data files.

The operational schedule for the 2021 HSLS:09 panel maintenance is shown in Exhibit A‑5. The 2018 HSLS:09 panel maintenance ended in late 2018.

Exhibit A-5. Operational schedule for HSLS:09 second follow-up

HSLS:09 activity	Start date	End date
2021 Panel maintenance
Panel Maintenance	7/1/2021	11/1/2021
Batch tracing	7/1/2021	7/30/2021
Mailings to sample member and contacts	8/1/2021	8/7/2021
Collect contact information update data	8/1/2021	11/1/2021

A.17 Approval to Not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval

The expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection will be displayed on data collection instruments and materials. No special exception to this requirement is requested.

A.18 Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions of OMB Form 83-I.

1 Types of schools that were excluded from the sample based on the HSLS:09 eligibility definitions are described as part of the discussion of the target population in the HSLS:09 Base-Year Data File Documentation (see chapter 3, section 3.2.1), Ingels et al. (2011). See the same source for further information about the study sample design, including state-representative samples and base-year student oversampling.

2National Student Clearinghouse

3 The average hourly earnings derived from May 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupation Employment and Wage Statistics is $27.07. Source: BLS Occupation Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ datatype: Occupation codes: All occupations (00-0000).

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
File Title	Chapter 2
Author	spowell
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2021-05-28