NonSub Change - HSConnects Sampling Plan

To: Jamie Wilson

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Sarah Blankenship and Paula Daneri

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 16, 2022

Subject: Non-Substantive Change Request – Head Start Connects: A Study of Family Support Services (OMB #0970-0538)

This memo requests approval of non-substantive changes to the approved information collection, Head Start Connects: A Study of Family Support Services (Head Start Connects; OMB #0970-0538).

Background

The Head Start Connects: A Study of Family Support Services study is the final phase of the Head Start (HS) Connects Study. The study will collect data through web-based surveys of Head Start program directors, Head Start family and community partnerships managers/coordinators, and Head Start family support services staff members. In this phase, data collection is expected to take place over a 10-month period in the program year of 2022-2023.

OMB most recently approved data collection activities for the HS Connects study on 9/2/22 (OMB #0970-0538). Since approval, the study team identified minor edits to one data collection instrument to be fielded in Fall 2022 (Instrument 1: Survey of Program Directors). Additionally, the team anticipates that two Head Start agency types – that is, tribal governments or consortiums (AI/AN) and school systems – likely will have additional tribal- or school district-level approval processes that must completed before fielding Instrument 1 to program directors. Based on experiences with these program-specific approval processes in other studies and input from other stakeholders, the study team anticipates that the approval processes may be lengthy and may not be completed in a timeframe that aligns with the study timeline for HS Connects. Because this would result in fewer programs being able to participate in the study, the now study proposes to oversample AI/AN and school-based programs to help ensure representation.

Time Sensitivities

Because this study follows a “school year” schedule, the team would like to begin data collection starting September 27, 2022. This includes the use of Instrument 1.

Overview of Requested Changes

The specific revisions being requested as non-substantive changes to the Head Start Connects project’s approved OMB package (0970-0538) are as follows:

1. to finalize the item wording in the director survey to ensure that the response options align with the item stem and for clarification purposes.

2. to adjust the sampling plan to include oversampling AI/AN and school programs to obtain the target number of AI/AN and school programs.

The proposed changes do not impact burden estimates for respondents. The specific revisions to each instrument are outlined in the table below.

Document/Instrument	Overview of Changes
Instrument 1: Survey of Program Directors	Updated the response options to have required responses for every row in items with multiple response option rows, specifically D2, D4, and D10. Updated item D3 to cause selecting the response option “We do not share staff” to automatically deselect the other options. Included a phone number format check to items D10 and D11. Updated items D12 and D13 to appear on the same screen. Removed the scroll bar for the grid in item D14. Updated email address to be a required response, but not phone number since that information is required for data collection outreach. If the scroll bar cannot be removed, the study team will request that the survey programmers place the email field to come before the staff title.
Supporting Statement B	Updated section B2 to include that AI/AN programs and school systems will likely have additional approval processes, and due to this they may not be completed in the timeframe that aligns with the study timeline for HS Connects. This led the study team to decide on a sampling adjustment since this would result in fewer programs being able to participate in the study, so the study will initially oversample AI/AN and school-based programs to help ensure representation. Specified that the study team will now reach out to a random sample of 55 AI/AN programs and 124 school-based programs. The study team then assumes that approval processes will be completed for 42 AI/AN programs and 92 school-based programs. There will be no change in burden for the Director Survey.

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