Memorandum United States Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics
DATE: September 26, 2022
TO: Robert Sivinski, OMB
THROUGH: Carrie Clarady, NCES
FROM: Maura Spiegelman, NCES
SUBJECT: 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS 2020-21) Thank You E-mail Change Request (OMB# 1850-0598 v.42)
The National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), conducted every two to three years by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a system of related questionnaires that provides descriptive data on the context of elementary and secondary education. Redesigned from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) with a focus on flexibility, timeliness, and integration with other ED data, the NTPS system allows for school, principal, and teacher characteristics to be analyzed in relation to one another. NTPS is an in-depth, nationally representative survey of first through twelfth grade public and private school teachers, principals, and schools. Kindergarten teachers in schools with at least a first grade are also surveyed. NTPS utilizes core content and a series of rotating modules to allow timely collection of important education trends as well as trend analysis. Topics covered include characteristics of teachers, principals, schools, teacher training opportunities, retention, retirement, hiring, and shortages.
The NTPS 2019-20 preliminary activities were approved in July 2019, with a change request approved in November 2019 (OMB# 1850-0598 v.26-27). OMB approved the main study for 2020-21 in March 2020 (OMB# 1850-0598 v.28-30). In December 2019, NCES received OMB approval (OMB#1850-0803 v. 259) for cognitive interviews to test new and revised items about virtual schools and online course offerings in the NTPS School Questionnaire. Questions about virtual schools and online course offerings were revised, based on the results of this cognitive testing. This testing occurred in the winter and spring of 2020. During the end of this testing window, in March 2020, it became clear that questions needed to distinguish between typical practices (the intent of these questions) and changes implemented by schools due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Questions on virtual schools and online course offerings were added to all NTPS questionnaires (OMB# 1850-0598 v.31-33).
NCES has made multiple modifications to address the challenges of reaching schools, principals, and teachers during a pandemic (OMB# 1850-0598 v.34-39). References to the coronavirus pandemic were added to previously-approved contact materials (OMB# 1850-0598 v.34-35). NCES added additional e-mails to our data collection plan (OMB# 1850-0598 v.36-37, 39) due to concerns that staff may not be physical present at their schools on a regular basis to receive and process paper mailings. Operational challenges due to COVID-19 led to additional changes in data collection strategies and the distribution of incentive (OMB# 1850-0598 v.38, 40).
This change request requests approval an e-mail to participating districts, principals, and teachers to thank them for their participation in the 2020-21 NTPS and follow-up studies.
All changes in the attached materials are shown in full in the pages to follow. Black font demarks the text that remains unchanged from the last approved package, while text in red font shows the revisions that were made. This requested change does not affect the approved total cost to the federal government for conducting this study nor the estimated respondent burden.
Subject line: Thank You from the U.S. Department of Education!
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education would like to thank you for approving our application for the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) and its 2021-22 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) and Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS) to conduct research with schools, principals, and teachers within <District Name>.
Schools, principals, and teachers who responded to these surveys helped us learn that:
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 77 percent of public schools reported moving classes to online distance learning that could include self-paced or real-time learning.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 32 percent of public school teachers reported that they had real-time interactions with over three-quarters of their students, and 13 percent reported having no real-time interactions with their students.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 74 percent of public school principals and 61 percent of public school teachers agreed they had the support and resources they needed to be effective.
Your approval was crucial in helping the Department better understand this important information. Since the NTPS, TFS, and PFS are the only nationally representative surveys that collect data on the condition of education in our K-12 schools directly from principals’ and teachers’ perspectives, policymakers and other education leaders would not have access to these and other critical findings without your approval.
These and other findings were recently published in the report “Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States (Preliminary Data): Results from the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS).” Other tables and reports based on data from the 2020-21 NTPS and 2021-22 TFS and PFS, as well as earlier NTPS administrations, are available on the NCES website at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/ upon release. Please visit https://ies.ed.gov/newsflash/#nces and sign up to receive up-to-date alerts about a number of education topics, including the NTPS and its follow-up surveys.
Again, thank you for your time and participation.
Sincerely,
Chris Chapman
Associate Commissioner
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
Subject line: Thank You from the U.S. Department of Education!
Dear <Principal Name>,
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education would like to thank you for participating in the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) and its 2021-22 Principal Follow-up survey (PFS).
Principals or schools who responded to these surveys helped us learn that:
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 74 percent of public school principals and 78 of private school principals somewhat or strongly agreed that they had the support and resources they needed to be effective.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 45 percent of public school principals and 20 percent of private school principals reported assigning computers or digital devices to all students to take home.
Your participation was crucial in helping the Department better understand this important information, and we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to represent <School Name> in this important effort. Since the NTPS and PFS are the only nationally representative surveys that collect data on the condition of education in our K-12 schools directly from principals’ perspectives, policymakers and other education leaders would not have access to these and other critical findings without your responses.
These and other findings were recently published in the report “Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States (Preliminary Data): Results from the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS).” Other tables and reports based on data from the 2020-21 NTPS and 2021-22 PFS, as well as earlier NTPS administrations, are available on the NCES website at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/ upon release.
Again, thank you for your time and participation.
Sincerely,
Chris Chapman
Associate Commissioner
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
Subject line: Thank You from the U.S. Department of Education!
Dear <Teacher Name>,
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education would like to thank you for participating in the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) and its 2021-22 Teacher Follow-up survey (TFS).
Teachers who responded to these surveys helped us learn that:
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 61 percent of public school teachers and 76 percent of private school teachers somewhat or strongly agreed that they had the support and resources they needed to be effective.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, 13 percent of public school teachers and 9 percent of private school teachers reported having no real-time interactions with their students.
Your participation was crucial in helping make this survey a success by measuring this important information, and we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to represent yourself and your colleagues in this important effort. Since the NTPS and TFS are the only nationally representative surveys that collect data on the condition of education in our K-12 schools directly from teachers’ perspectives, policymakers and other education leaders would not have access to these and other critical findings without your responses.
These and other findings were recently published in the report “Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States (Preliminary Data): Results from the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS).” Other tables and reports based on data from the 2020-21 NTPS and 2021-22 TFS, as well as earlier NTPS administrations, are available on the NCES website at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/ upon release.
Again, thank you for your time and participation.
Sincerely,
Chris Chapman
Associate Commissioner
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Clarady, Carrie (Contractor) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-09-27 |