Admin_Data_Request_Memo_Fall2023

OMB Control No.: 1850-0950

Expiration Date:

Mathematica Reference No.:

Appendix A

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Impact Evaluation to Inform the Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program

To: [District Name]

From: [Data Collection Liaison]

Date: XX/XX/2023

Subject: An Impact Evaluation to Inform the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program, Fall 2023 Administrative Data Request (Round 3)

Thank you for participating in the Impact Evaluation to Inform the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program, a study that Mathematica, Decision Information Resources (DIR), and their partners are conducting for the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of this evaluation is to examine the impact of coaching by teacher leaders on student and teacher outcomes.

This memo outlines our request for the final round of student and teacher administrative data. The types of data requested during this final round include (1) teachers’ performance data from the district’s evaluation system; (2) teachers’ background data; (3) teachers’ school, grade, and subject assignments; (4) students’ demographic, school enrollment, and attendance data; and (5) students’ math and English Language Arts (ELA) state assessment data. The following sections of the memo define the individual data elements, the years of data requested, and teacher and student samples for whom the data are needed. At the end of the memo, we provide instructions for uploading the data to the study’s secure file transfer site.

We look forward to coordinating with your district to determine the appropriate timing of data delivery during Fall 2023. In addition, we realize that some data elements listed in this memo might not be collected or available in your district’s data systems. If so, we will work with you to determine if another, similar data element(s) may be submitted instead.

1. List of Study Schools

Table 1 lists the Teacher Leader (“treatment”) and comparison schools. In the memo, we refer to this combined group of schools as “study schools”. As noted below, we will need several years of data for students and teachers who were affiliated with one or more of these study schools at one or more points in time.

Table 1. Study Schools

Teacher Leader (treatment) schools	Comparison schools

2. Teacher and Student Samples and Years of Data Requested

Sample of teachers for whom data are requested. We are requesting performance, background, and assignment data on all teachers who ever led or co-led instruction of any of the four core academic subjects (math, ELA, science, and social studies) for third, fourth, fifth, or sixth grade in a study school as of spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023. Please note that we need all years of data requested for teachers, even if a teacher was at a non-study school or taught a different subject or grade (kindergarten through twelfth grade) during all but one of these timepoints (spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023). For example, to be included in the teacher sample, a teacher can teach sixth grade math at a study school as of spring 2021, but then go on to teach high school art as of fall 2021, fall 2022, and fall 2023 at a non-study school. We would still need all the years of data requested for this teacher.

Sample of students for whom data are requested. We are requesting demographic, school enrollment, attendance, and state math and ELA assessment data on third through sixth grade students enrolled in treatment and comparison schools as of fall 2021 and/or fall 2022; that is the students listed in the teacher rosters we collected during earlier administrative data collection. As with the teacher sample, we need all the years of data requested even if a student is in a study school at only one of the two timepoints (fall 2021 or fall 2022).

Alternate teacher and student samples. To save you the trouble of compiling data on the specific teacher and student samples noted above, you instead may submit data for the following:

• Teachers: You may provide all requested years of data for kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers of any subject (academic and related arts) at all schools in your district. This would include teachers who never taught at a school listed in Table 1.

• Students: You may provide all requested years of data for all kindergarten through seventh grade students at all schools in your district. This would include students who never attended a school in Table 1.

We would then use these data files to extract the sample ourselves and exclude all individuals not in our teacher and student study samples.

Years of data requested. Table 2 provides an overview of the data type, teacher, and student samples for whom data are requested, and years of data requested during each round of data collection. Please note that for teacher assignment data, we are also requesting data for the 2023–2024 school year (as of fall 2023), in addition to 2020–2021 through 2022–2023, as requested for the other teacher data.

Table 2. Administrative Data Requested by Round

Data Type Requested	Sample for Whom Data are Requested	School Year(s) of Data Requested by Round
		Round 1, Fall 2021 (Completed)	Round 2, Fall 2022 (Completed)	Round 3, Fall 2023 (Current request)
Class rosters (students taught by teachers)	Third through sixth grade teachers of record in math and/or English language arts in treatment and comparison schools as of fall 2021 and/or fall 2022	Rosters as of the beginning of the 2021–2022 school year	Rosters as of the beginning of the 2022–2023 school year	n.a.
Teacher performance data	Teachers who led or co-led instruction of any of the four core academic subjects (math, ELA, science, and social studies) for third, fourth, fifth, or sixth grade in a study school as of spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023	n.a.	n.a.	2020–2021 2021–2022 2022-2023
Teacher background data	Teachers who led or co-led instruction of any of the four core academic subjects (math, ELA, science, and social studies) for third, fourth, fifth, or sixth grade in a study school as of spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023	n.a.	n.a.	2020–2021 2021–2022 2022-2023
Teacher assignment data	Teachers who led or co-led instruction of any of the four core academic subjects (math, ELA, science, and social studies) for third, fourth, fifth, or sixth grade in a study school as of spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023	n.a.	n.a.	2020–2021 2021–2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Student demographic, attendance, and assessment data	Third through sixth grade students enrolled in a study school as of fall 2021 or fall 2022	n.a.	n.a.	2020–2021 2021–2022 2022-2023

n.a. = not applicable. We are not requesting this type of data during this round of data collection.

3. Teacher Performance Data Requested

Table 3 lists the performance data we are requesting for teachers. These data are requested for the , 2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022-2023 school years, even if a teacher was at a non-study school or taught a different subject or grade (kindergarten through twelfth grade) during all but one of these timepoints (spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023).

Table 3. Teacher Performance Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
School year	School year to which the record pertains (2020–2021, 2021–2022, or 2022-2023)
Employee ID	Number that uniquely identifies the teacher across multiple files and years. Please do not provide personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number. This ID must be the same ID used in other data provided on teachers, so that we can link data across files and years.
Teacher first and last name	First and last name of each teacher. In addition to Employee ID, teacher name is critical for linking administrative data on teachers across files and years, as well as linking the administrative data to other teacher data collected by the study (such as surveys). Teacher employee ID and name will never be disclosed in any reports, maintaining teacher privacy and confidentiality.
School ID (performance)	Number that uniquely identifies the school of record for the performance measures, such as a state or district ID. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools. This may include a school other than a treatment or comparison school.
School name (performance)	Name of school corresponding to School ID and is the school of record for performance measures.
Teacher employment category or job type (performance)	Text or code indicating the teacher’s employment category or job type, such as lead classroom teacher, for which the teacher was evaluated. Please indicate if the teacher taught only special education students or only in a language other than English.
Grade(s) taught (performance)	Grade(s) taught (if teacher) on record for performance, if available
Subject(s) taught (performance)	Subject(s) taught (if applicable) on record for performance, if available
Measure(s) of teacher practice	Each measure of teacher practice, such as an observation score. Please provide underlying score and associated categorization or rating (such as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective), if applicable.
Measure(s) of student achievement growth	Each measure of student achievement growth, such as teacher and school value-added measures (VAMs), student growth percentile (SGP), and scores on student learning objectives (SLOs). Please provide underlying score and associated categorization or rating (such as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective), if applicable.
Other measure(s)	Other performance scores or measures, if applicable, aside from teacher observation and student achievement growth scores. Please provide underlying score and associated categorization or rating (such as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective), if applicable.
Composite evaluation score	Composite evaluation score, if applicable (often created by combining observation scores, measures of student achievement growth, and other scores or measures). Please provide underlying score and associated categorization or rating (such as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective), if applicable.

^aThe notes column will be completed by study staff using information provided during calls to discuss the data request.

4. Teacher Background and Assignment Data Requested

Table 4 lists the background data we are requesting for teachers in the sample described above. These data are requested for the 2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022-2023 school years, even if a teacher was at a non-study school or taught a different subject or grade (kindergarten through twelfth grade) during all but one of these timepoints (spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023.

Table 4. Teacher Background Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
School year	School year to which the record pertains (2020–2021, 2021–2022, or 2022-2023)
Employee ID	Number that uniquely identifies the teacher across multiple files and years. Please do not provide personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number. This ID must be the same ID used in other data provided on teachers, so that we can link data across files and years.
Teacher first and last name	First and last name of each teacher. In addition to Employee ID, teacher name is critical for linking administrative data on teachers across files and years, as well as linking the administrative data to other teacher data collected by the study (such as surveys). Teacher employee ID and name will never be disclosed in any reports, maintaining teacher privacy and confidentiality.
Years of service as teacher in the district (ever)	Number of years (including the current school year) as a teacher in the school district. Please count only years the teacher led or co-led instruction of any subject. Please do not count years spent as a teacher’s assistant, aide, or in non-teaching post.
Years of experience as teacher (ever)	Number of years as a teacher in any school or district. Please count only years the teacher led or co-led instruction of any subject. Please do not count years spent as a teacher’s assistant, aide, or in non-teaching post.
Highest degree held	Highest degree held by teacher.
Certification and licensure held	Name or type of each certification and licensure held by teacher
Year of birth	Year of birth of teacher
Gender	Gender of teacher
Race	Race of teacher
Ethnicity	Hispanic or Latino indicator for teacher

^aThe notes column will be completed by study staff using information provided during calls to discuss the data request.

Table 5 lists the assignment data we are requesting for teachers in the sample described above. These data are requested for the 2020–2021, 2021–2022, 2022–2023, and 2023-2024 school years for teacher assignment data, even if a teacher was at a non-study school or taught a different subject or grade (kindergarten through twelfth grade) during all but one of these timepoints (spring 2021, fall 2021, fall 2022, or fall 2023). Please note that for teacher assignment data, we are also requesting data for the 2023–2024 school year (as of fall 2023), in addition to 2019–2020 through 2022–2023 requested for the other teacher data.

Table 5. Teacher Assignment Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
School year	School year to which the record pertains (2020–2021, 2021–2022, 2022–2023, or 2023-2024)
Employee ID	Number that uniquely identifies the teacher across multiple files and years. Please do not provide personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number. This ID must be the same ID used in other data provided on teachers, so that we can link data across files and years.
Teacher first and last name	First and last name of each teacher. In addition to Employee ID, teacher name is critical for linking administrative data on teachers across files and years, as well as linking the administrative data to other teacher data collected by the study (such as surveys). Teacher employee ID and name will never be disclosed in any reports, maintaining teacher privacy and confidentiality.
Teacher employment category or job type	Text or code indicating the teacher’s employment category or job type, such as lead classroom teacher. Please indicate if the teacher taught only special education students or only in a language other than English. Please provide all employment categories or types, if more than one.
School ID	Number, such as a state or district ID, which uniquely identifies the school at which the teacher taught as of the beginning of the requested school year. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools.
School name	Name of school corresponding to School ID
Grade(s) taught	Grade(s) taught (if in teaching role) as of the beginning of the requested school year
Subject(s) taught	Subject(s) taught (if in teaching role) as of the beginning of the requested school year

^aThe notes column will be completed by study staff using information provided during calls to discuss the data request.

5. Student Data Requested

Table 6 lists the demographic, school enrollment, and attendance data we are requesting for the sample of students described above. Table 7 lists the math and ELA state assessment data we are requesting for students when they were in tested grades. We are requesting four years of these student data (2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022-2023), even if a student was at a school other than a treatment or comparison school for fall 2021 or fall 2022.

Table 6. Student Demographic, School Enrollment, and Attendance Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
School year	School year to which the record pertains (for example, 2020–2021, 2021–2022, or 2022-2023)
Student ID	Number that uniquely identifies the student across multiple files and years. Please do not provide personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number. This ID must be the same ID used in other data provided on students, so that we can link data across files and years.
School ID: beginning of the school year	Number that uniquely identifies the school in which the student was enrolled at the beginning of the school year. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools.
School name: beginning of the school year	Name of school corresponding to School ID for beginning of school year
School ID: end of the school year	Number that uniquely identifies the school in which the student was enrolled at the end of the school year. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools.
School name: end of the school year	Name of school corresponding to School ID for end of school year
Gender	Gender of student
Year of birth	Year of birth of student
Race	Race of student
Ethnicity	Hispanic or Latino indicator for student
Grade level	Grade level of student as of the beginning of the school year
Free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) status	Student’s eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch as of the beginning of the school year.
English learner status	English learner (EL) status of student as of the beginning of the school year. Please do not indicate a student as EL if they have exited the EL program and are in follow-up monitoring.
Special education status	Special education status of student, such as having an Individualized Education Program (IEP), as of the beginning of the school year
Gifted status	Gifted status of student, such as participation in gifted classes or programs, as of the beginning of the school year
Days attended (district-wide)b	Total number of days the student attended any and all schools in the district during the school year requested. If days present is not available, days absent (excused and unexcused) may be provided instead.
Days enrolled (district-wide)b	Total number of days the student was enrolled in any and all schools in the district during the school year requested (sometimes referred to as “membership days”).
Days in school year	Total number of days students were expected to attend during each school year of data requested. This information may be provided separately from the student-level data files.

^a The notes column will be completed by study staff using information provided during the initial call to discuss the data request.

^b Please let us know if there were any differences how this data element was measured due to COVID-19.

Table 7. Student Assessment Data

Data element	Description	Notesa
School year	School year to which the record pertains (for example, 2020–2021, 2021–2022, or 2022-2023)
Student ID	Number that uniquely identifies the student across multiple files and years. Please do not provide personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number. This ID must be the same ID used in other data provided on students, so that we can link data across files and years.
A. Math assessment
Math test name	Name of math test. Please indicate if a modified or alternate form of a state test was taken.
Math score on the state assessment for the school years requested, as available	Student’s score on the math section of the state assessment for each year requested. The scale score is preferred, but other scores, such as a proficiency level, may be provided if a scale score is not available. If a student retook the test, please provide the test score from the first time the student took the test in that year; not the highest score.
Math test date for each state test	Date of each math test taken by student. If no date is available, then first date of the administration window, “spring,” or similar qualifier can be provided.
Math test grade level for each state test	Grade level of math test taken by the student for year requested
School ID as of time of testing (math)	Number that uniquely identifies the school in which the student was enrolled at the time of testing in math. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools.
School name as of time of testing (math)	Name of the school in which the student was enrolled at the time of testing in math
Math test language indicator (if other than English) for each state test	For each state test, an indicator of whether the test was taken in a language other than English, such as Spanish
Math test exemption or invalidation code, as applicable, for each state test	Code or indicator if a student received an exemption from taking a math test (such as a medical exemption) or the test was found to be invalid
B. English language arts (ELA) assessment
ELA test name	Name of ELA test. Please indicate if a modified or alternate form of a state test was taken.
ELA score on the state assessment for the school years requested, as available	Student’s score on the ELA section of the state assessment for each year requested. The scale score is preferred, but other scores, such as a proficiency level, may be provided if a scale score is not available. If a student retook the test, please provide the test score from the first time the student took the test in that year; not the highest score.
ELA test date for each state test	Date of each ELA test taken by student. If no date is available, then first date of the administration window, “spring,” or similar qualifier can be provided.
ELA test grade level for each state test	Grade level of ELA test taken by the student for each state test
School ID as of time of testing (ELA)	Number that uniquely identifies the school in which the student was enrolled at the time of testing in ELA. This ID should be the same ID used in other data provided on schools.
School name as of time of testing (ELA)	Name of the school in which the student was enrolled at the time of testing in ELA
ELA test language indicator (if other than English) for each state test	For each state test, an indicator of whether the test was taken in a language other than English, such as Spanish
ELA test exemption or invalidation code, as applicable, for each state test	Code or indicator if a student received an exemption from taking an ELA test (such as a medical exemption) or the test was found to be invalid

^a The notes column will be completed by Mathematica staff using information provided during the initial call to discuss the data request.

6. Justification for Requested Data

We greatly appreciate your assistance with this data request. We want to assure you that the study team and the U.S. Department of Education carefully considered this request to ensure it includes only the data necessary to conduct a high-quality evaluation. Below we describe how the data requested will be used.

• Teachers’ performance data. We need teachers’ performance scores on evaluations to examine whether the teacher leader roles might have helped schools attract or retain more effective teachers.

• Teachers’ school, grade, and subject assignments. In order to examine the impact on the retention and mobility of effective teachers, teacher leaders, and the teachers on the teacher leader teams, we need to collect information on teachers’ school, grade, and subject assignments.

• Teachers’ background characteristics. To describe the study sample, we need to collect information on teachers’ demographic characteristics (such as age, gender, and race), educational background (such as certifications, degrees, and scores on licensure or certification exams), and years of teaching experience.

• Students’ demographic, school enrollment, attendance, and assessment data. To estimate the impact of teacher leaders on student achievement, the ultimate outcome of interest, we need to collect administrative data on students. To assess the impact of teacher leaders on the achievement of specific teachers’ students (such as teachers selected to receive more coaching), we will obtain student achievement data linked to their teachers. We will use the demographic, socioeconomic, and baseline test score data to describe the students in the study and compare the characteristics of students in treatment and comparison schools. In addition, we will control for students’ baseline characteristics and test scores in our impact models to increase the precision of the estimates.

7. Data Confidentiality

Mathematica and its subcontractors follow the confidentiality and data protection requirements of The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183. We will use the data provided in response to this request for research purposes only. The reports prepared for the study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district, school, or individual. We will not provide information that identifies respondents to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

H. File Format

You may provide the data in a single file or multiple files, whichever the district prefers. We can work with almost any file format, including Excel, comma delimited or fixed-width text files, SAS, SPSS, Stata, and Access. Please also provide documentation of the data, including definitions of variables/fields, any codes used, and contact information for someone who can answer questions about the data.

I. Data Sharing using Mathematica’s Secure File Transfer Site

Mathematica has established and manages a secure file transfer site. Mathematica has created a confidential folder for each participating district on this site. Each district can access only its own data that staff have uploaded or data made available by Mathematica for download. No other districts will have access to the data you upload or download.

For each staff who needs access to its district folder, Mathematica will create a user account based on the staff’s unique email address and provide them with a temporary password. Within ten days of Mathematica creating this account, each user must log in to the file transfer site and create their own unique password.

Please review the instructions below for how to request an account, create your unique password, and upload and download data files using the site.

1. Obtaining Access to the File Transfer Site

Mathematica will create a user account for each district staff involved in data sharing through the site. Please follow the steps below to request a user account for yourself and/or district colleagues, create a unique password, and reset the unique password if needed.

1. Request an account. To request an account for yourself and/or district colleagues, please contact [Data liaison name] at [data liaison email address] or Megan Davis at [email protected]. You will be asked to provide an email address for each staff requesting a user account to access the site. Each email address will be used to create a unique user account. Multiple district staff should not share one email address and user account, but rather request a separate user account for each staff who needs access based on their own unique email address.

2. Create a unique password. Each staff for which an account is requested will receive an email with a temporary password. Within 10 days of receiving this email, each staff must click on the link in the email to access the site to create their own unique password.

   • Each staff must enter their email address, which acts as their username, and the temporary password. Then they must follow the instructions to create a new password.

   • Staff must create a new password within 10 days of receiving the email or their account will be frozen.

3. Reset your unique password, if needed. Site users can reset their unique password without contacting an administrator. To do so, they must:

   • Copy or type the file transfer site address https://teacherleaderstudyfx.mathematica.org into their Internet browser (note: there must be an “s” after “http”).

   • Enter their username and select Click Here next to Forgot Password? at the bottom of the page. A verification code will be sent to their email address, which they will enter on the file transfer site page and select OK.

   • Enter their new unique password and select OK. The password will then be reset.

4. Please call [Data liaison name] at [data liaison phone number] or Megan Davis at 609-275-2361 if you have any issues logging in to your unique account.

2. Uploading Data Files using the Secure File Transfer Site

To upload files to the file transfer site, copy or type the file transfer site address https://teacherleaderstudyfx.mathematica.org into your Internet browser (note: there must be an “s” after “http”). Next, enter your username (your email address used to create the user account) and unique password and click on the “Log in” button. You will then be taken to your district’s folder.

• To upload files, select “Choose files” as seen in the picture below.

• Locate the file you wish to upload on your computer or network. A dialog box, pictured below, will appear. Click on “Open” and the dialog box will close. You can select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key as you make your selections.

• Next, click the Upload button, as pictured below, to start the upload process.

• If the upload was successful, a confirmation message appears, and the files are listed in the table to the right of the upload files section. A date/time prefix is added to each file name to make it unique and to prevent users from overwriting a file.

3. Downloading Data Files using the Secure File Transfer Site

To download files from the file transfer site, copy or type the file transfer site address https://teacherleaderstudyfx.mathematica.org into your Internet browser (note: there must be an “s” after “http”). Next, enter your username and password and click on the “Log in” button. You will then be taken to your district’s folder.

1. Select the Download icon next to the file you need to download. The download should start immediately and will be saved in your computer’s Downloads folder. Please note that files for download likely contain identifiable data such as names of teachers and should be saved to a secure location on your computer or network and securely deleted from your Downloads folder.

Thank you very much for your assistance with this data request! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns at [liaison phone number and email].

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 information collection is 1850-0950. The time required to complete this voluntary information collection is estimated to average 16 hours to obtain class roster data and 24 hours for data collected in fall 2022 per district, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences 550 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024.

P.O. Box 2393, Princeton, NJ 08543-2393 • (609) 799-3535 phone (609) 799-0005 fax • mathematica.org

An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer