Part A NTPS 2023-24 Data Collection v45

The National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), conducted every two to three years by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), 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.

SASS, the predecessor to NTPS, was conducted by NCES seven times between 1987 and 2011. SASS was an integrated study of public school districts, public and private schools, principals, teachers, and library media centers, designed to provide descriptive data on a wide range of topics including teacher demand, teacher and principal characteristics, general conditions in schools, principals' and teachers' perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools, teacher compensation, and district hiring and retention practices. After 2011-12, NCES redesigned SASS and named it the NTPS to reflect the redesigned study’s focus on the teacher and principal labor market and on the state of K-12 school staff. NCES first conducted NTPS during the 2015-16 school year, and then again during the 2017-18 and 2020-21 school years. The next collection will take place during the 2023-24 school year.

NTPS recruitment and data collection are administered for NCES by the U.S. Census Bureau. As with prior NTPS administrations, OMB approval for NTPS 2023-24 is being requested in two parts: 1) a clearance for preliminary field activities including contacting and obtaining research approvals from public school districts with an established research approval process (“special contact districts”), where applicable, notifying sampled schools of their selection for the NTPS and inviting them to complete a short screener survey to verify eligibility for the NTPS and establish a point of contact at their school, and contacting key public and private school associations to seek their endorsement for the NTPS (OMB# 1850-0598 v.41); and 2) a clearance for main study data collection activities with schools and school staffs (this request). Cognitive interviews to test new or revise existing NTPS 2023-24 survey content (OMB #1850-0803 v.311) and focus groups and usability testing for the NTPS 2023-24 Respondent Portal Instrument (OMB #1850-0803 v.311, 315, and 319) were conducted earlier in 2022.

This request is to conduct NTPS 2023-24 data collection activities. Any subsequent non-substantive changes to questionnaire wording will be included in a change request. OMB approval for the follow-up surveys to NTPS 2023-24 – the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) and the Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS) – will be requested in an additional package in winter 2023-24.

This submission includes Supporting Statement Part A, Part B, and Part C (item justification); Appendix A (communication materials); Appendix B (questionnaires); Appendix C (online respondent portal); and Appendix D (tests influencing the design).

A.1.2 Legislative Authorization

NCES conducts NTPS in close consultation with other offices and organizations within and outside the U.S. Department of Education. NCES is authorized to conduct NTPS by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C. §9543).

A.1.3 Prior and Related Studies

NTPS 2023-24 is the latest in a 30-year series of NCES studies on our nation’s schools and staffing. SASS was first fielded in school year 1987-88, collected every 3 years through 1993-94, and then underwent a 6-year pause for major survey design revisions, which resulted in the 1999-2000 data collection. After that, SASS was on a 4-year data collection cycle, with each SASS data collection followed one year later by the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) and, beginning in 2008-09, the Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS). The most recent administration of SASS was in 2011-12. At the conclusion of the 2011-12 collection, NCES redesigned SASS and named it NTPS.

NCES first conducted NTPS in 2015-16, and then again in 2017-18. In 2016-17, NCES conducted the PFS as a follow-up to NTPS 2015-16, and NCES conducted both PFS and TFS in 2021-22 as a follow-up to NTPS 2020-21.

The school years during which SASS, NTPS and the Follow-up Surveys were administered are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. SASS, NTPS and Follow-up Survey administrations: 1987–2024

Survey Administration School Year	Survey
Survey Administration School Year	SASS	NTPS	TFS	PFS
1987-88	X
1988-89			X
1990-91	X
1991-92			X
1993-94	X
1994-95			X
1999-2000	X
2000-01			X
2003-04	X
2004-05			X
2007-08	X
2008-09			X	X
2011-12	X
2012-13			X	X
2015-16		X
2016-17				X
2017-18		X
2020-21		X
2021-22			X	X
2023-24		X

A.1.4 NTPS Study Design

The sample for NTPS 2023-24 will include approximately 9,920 public schools and principals and approximately 49,250 public school teachers, as well as approximately 3,000 private schools and principals and approximately 6,300 private school teachers. The respondent universe for public and private schools will continue to consist of all schools in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (DC) that offer instruction in any of grades 1-12.

Data collection will begin with the sampled schools. A precontact notification, a two-sided, full-color postcard intended to introduce the NTPS survey to the school and verify the school’s mailing address, will be sent to sampled schools in the summer of 2023. About a month later, the principal will be contacted by mail and asked to complete a short Screener Survey online, which will confirm the school’s eligibility for the NTPS and will establish a survey coordinator at the school to whom contacts will be made throughout data collection. Both the precontact notification and Screener operation were included in the OMB package for preliminary field activities (OMB# 1850-0598 v.41).

Teachers will be randomly sampled from rosters obtained either through a Teacher Listing Form (TLF) submitted to the Census Bureau by sampled schools, purchased from a vendor and verified by sampled schools, directly from the vendor information, or from information collected from school websites (see the Teacher Listing Form (NTPS-1) subsection in this section). Teachers are ineligible for NTPS if they are short-term substitutes, student teachers, teacher’s aides, or do not teach any of grades K-12 or comparable ungraded levels.

NTPS collects information from schools, principals, and teachers in four data collection instruments: the TLF, the School Questionnaire, the Principal Questionnaire, and the Teacher Questionnaire. The School, Principal, and Teacher Questionnaire instruments have separate question paths for public and private schools. The final versions of the NTPS 2023-24 questionnaires are provided in Appendix B.

Teacher Listing Form (NTPS-1). The TLF is designed to produce a roster of the teachers in each sampled school who are eligible for NTPS. At the start of data collection, an invitation to complete the TLF electronically using the NTPS Respondent Portal internet instrument is sent to schools in both a mailed package and by email when a survey coordinator or principal’s email address is available. A paper version of the TLF will be sent to nonresponding schools in later mailings. For each teacher, the TLF requests first and last name, subject taught (in ten categories: Special education, General elementary, Math, Science, English/language arts, Social studies, Vocational/technical, World language, Music or Art, and other), and teacher primary work email address. For schools for which a teacher roster is publicly available, the TLF (both the electronic version in the NTPS Respondent Portal and the paper TLF used in follow-up mailings) will be pre-populated with publicly available teacher data, and the schools will be asked to verify the teacher information rather than provide it from scratch. For schools for which teacher data are not publicly available, the schools will be asked to provide their teacher roster information using the TLF application in the NTPS Respondent Portal or a blank paper TLF.

The Census Bureau will follow up with nonresponding schools by mail, email, telephone, and in-person visits, as needed, throughout the collection period. If collection efforts with the school are unsuccessful, NTPS staff will use the publicly available teacher data to serve as a replacement for a completed TLF.

Principal Questionnaire (NTPS-2). The Principal Questionnaire (PQ) is targeted towards the principals of sampled schools and consists of the following core modules and rotating modules:

Core Modules

Principal Experience and Training. Asks principals about their experience prior to becoming a principal and as a principal, participation in a development program for aspiring school principals, highest degree earned, license or certification in school administration, and current teaching status.
Goals and Decision Making. Asks principals to rate their three most important educational goals and to indicate how much influence they think they have as principals on decisions concerning school policies and processes.
School Climate and Safety. Asks principals to indicate to the best of their knowledge how often various types of problems occur at the school; to report on measures of parent involvement in school; whether teachers are required to help students with academic, social, and emotional needs outside of regular school hours; and whether the school has a formal teacher induction program for beginning teachers.
Principal Demographic Information. Asks principals about gender, race, ethnicity, year of birth, and current annual salary for the principal’s position at the sampled school.
Contact Information. Asks principals for name; home address; work, cell, and home telephone numbers; work and home e-mail addresses; the date of questionnaire completion; and how many minutes it took to complete the questionnaire. This information will be used during the Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS).

Rotating Modules

Working Conditions and Principal Perceptions. Asks principals to report the number of hours they spend on all school-related activities during a typical full week, the percentage of time spent on various tasks including administration, teaching, and student/parent interaction, the number of days they are required to work under contract, whether they are represented under a meet-and-confer or collective bargaining agreement, the principals’ agreement with measures of job satisfaction, and how long they plan to remain a principal.
Teacher Evaluation. Asks about principals’ general knowledge and perceptions of teacher evaluations, formal evaluations of tenured and non-tenured teachers, the impact of student achievement on evaluations, and the influence of evaluations on the teaching practice within the school.
Teacher Professional Development. Asks about principals’ knowledge and perceptions of teacher professional development.
Principal Evaluation. Asks about principals’ knowledge and perceptions of principal evaluations, whether they received feedback, and the impact of student achievement on their evaluations.
Principal Professional Development. Asks about principals’ knowledge about and participation in various principal professional development activities.
Principal Engagement. Asks about principals’ engagement and connection with the school and with colleagues.

In addition to the core modules, the following rotating module will be included in the NTPS 2023-24 Principal Questionnaire: Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Professional Development, Principal Evaluation, Principal Professional Development, and Principal Engagement.

School Questionnaire (NTPS-3). The School Questionnaire (SQ) is targeted towards an administrator or administrative assistant in sampled schools and consists of the following core and rotating modules:

Core Modules

General Information about This School. Asks about grade levels served, enrollment, average daily attendance, length of school year, whether the school is a regular or special program/emphasis school, whether the school is a charter school, kindergarten programs, library media centers, courses taught entirely online, presence of before- or after-school programs, and instruction for English-language learners. For private schools, this module includes the Private School Universe Survey (PSS).
Community Service Requirements. Asks whether the school grants high school diplomas and has a community service requirement for a standard diploma. If so, the section asks for the number of community service hours required for high school graduation.
Special Programs and Services. Asks about Individual Education Plans and services for students with disabilities, prekindergarten, participation in the National School Lunch Program, and participation in Title 1.
Contact Information. Asks for contact information for the person who completed most of the questionnaire including name, job title, email address, phone number, the date the form was completed and how many minutes it took to complete the form. This information may be used to follow-up with the school if there are any questions about the school’s responses.

Rotating Modules

School Staffing. Defines the types of teachers sought in NTPS reporting and then asks for the total number of teachers by full- and part-time teaching status; full- and part-time staffing counts for various categories, including principals, librarians, student support staff, and aides; whether any of the teachers or staff at the school have special assignments or coaching responsibilities in academic subjects; teaching vacancies in the school in various subject fields and whether the vacancies were easy or difficult to fill; and the number of newly-hired and first-year teachers at the school.
Instructional Time. Asks about how much instruction students receive in certain subjects, such as reading and math, in a typical week.
Classroom Organization. Asks about the method in which the school organizes classes or students.

In addition to the core modules, the following rotating modules will be included in the NTPS 2023-24 School Questionnaire: Instructional Time and Student and Classroom Organization.

Teacher Questionnaire (NTPS-4). The Teacher Questionnaire (TQ) is targeted towards teachers sampled for NTPS based on school-level teacher rosters. It consists of the following core and rotating modules:

Core Modules

General Information. Asks teachers about their position at the school and whether they are teaching in any of grades K-12 or comparable ungraded levels; these items confirm eligibility for the teacher sample. It also asks teachers about the year they began teaching (for the first time and at the sampled school), number of schools they have taught in, and number of years they have been teaching.
Class Organization. Asks teachers to report grades taught, number of students with an IEP and of limited-English proficiency, main teaching assignment subject field, looping, use of instructional software, how classes are organized, number of students taught and class size, hours spent teaching various academic subjects (for self-contained classroom teachers), and details on each class period or section taught (for subject-matter teachers).
Education and Training. Asks teachers details about major and, if applicable, minor fields of study for all levels of educational attainment from vocational certificates through doctorate degrees; courses taken on teaching methods, including classroom management and using student performance data; and student teaching including number of classrooms and number of weeks.
Certification. Asks teachers detailed information about the content area(s) and grade range(s) in which they are certified to teach, and whether they entered teaching through an alternative route to certification program.
General Employment and Background Information. Asks teachers about earnings, student loans, union membership, and tenure.
Teacher Demographic Information. Asks teachers about their race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and year of birth.
Contact Information. Asks teachers for their contact information, including home address, phone numbers, and email addresses. This information is used during the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS).

Rotating Modules

Early Career Experiences. Asks teachers in their first five years of teaching about their main activity prior to teaching, how well prepared they felt for various teaching-related tasks, whether they participated in a formal teacher induction program, and whether they received various kinds of support during their first year of teaching (including whether and how a master or mentor teacher supported them that year).
Teacher Working Conditions. Asks teachers to report the number of hours they are required to work under contract per week; how many of those hours are spent on delivering instruction; how many total hours (paid and unpaid) are spent each week on all teaching and school-related activities; whether the teacher serves as a coach, club sponsor, or in other department- or school-wide roles; and how much the teacher spent of his or her own money on school supplies in the last school year.
School Climate and Teacher Attitudes. Asks teachers a series of questions about how much influence they think they have over school policies, how much control they have in their classroom, whether they agree with various measures of job satisfaction, the extent to which various conditions are a problem at the school, how long they plan to remain in teaching, and whether they have ever been threatened or physically attacked by a student from the school.
Teacher Evaluations. Asks teachers about their knowledge and perceptions of teacher evaluations, the type of feedback they received, and the influence of evaluations on their teaching.
Teacher Professional Development. Asks teachers about the current methods/modes of teacher professional development and other opportunities to learn, and their implications on teachers’ approaches to teaching.
Teacher Engagement. Asks teachers about their engagement and connection with the school and with colleagues.

In addition to the core modules, the following three rotating modules will be included in the NTPS 2023-24 Teacher Questionnaire: Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Professional Development, and Teacher Engagement.

The rotating modules for all NTPS questionnaires, by survey administration, are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2. NTPS rotating modules, by survey administration

	2015-16	2017-18	2020-21	2023-24
Principal Questionnaire
Working Conditions and Principal Perceptions	X		X
Student Growth and Teacher Evaluation	X		X
Teacher Evaluation		X		X
Teacher Professional Development		X		X
Principal Evaluations		X		X
Principal Professional Development		X		X
Principal Engagement		X		X
School Questionnaire
School Staffing	X		X
Instructional Time		X		X
Student and Classroom Organization		X		X
Teacher Questionnaire
Early Career Experiences	X		X
Teacher Working Conditions	X		X
School Climate and Teacher Attitudes	X		X
Teacher Evaluations		X		X
Teacher Professional Development		X		X
Teacher Engagement		X		X

A.2 Purposes and Uses of the Data

NTPS 2023-24 will provide rich data that are generally designed to serve two purposes: descriptive and exploratory. The overall objective of NTPS is to collect the information necessary for a comprehensive picture of elementary and secondary education in the United States. The data collected permit detailed analyses of the characteristics of schools, principals, and teachers. The linkages among the NTPS questionnaires enable researchers to examine the relationships among these elements of education. Collection of these data provides critical information to policymakers and researchers on a variety of topics including school organization, decision making, and recruitment and retention of teachers and principals.

A.2.1 Research Issues Addressed in the NTPS

NTPS builds upon and extends the series of SASS data collections that occurred seven times over the period between 1987 and 2012. Many questions from SASS continue to be asked in the NTPS questionnaires, allowing researchers to examine trends on these topics over time. In addition, the linkages of NTPS/SASS with TFS and PFS create a small longitudinal component. A subset of teachers who respond to NTPS are surveyed during the following school year, as part of TFS, including teachers who changed schools, left the teaching profession, and teachers who stayed at the same school over the two school years. TFS allows researchers to study the antecedents of teacher attrition. TFS was most recently conducted in 2021-22 and will be conducted again in 2024-25, following the 2023-24 NTPS.

In turn, PFS, conducted in 2008-09, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2021-22, and upcoming in 2023-24, provides information about principal attrition. All principal respondents in the base-year NTPS are surveyed during the school year following the NTPS.

The large NTPS sample allows extensive disaggregation of data according to important characteristics of teachers, principals, and schools. For example, researchers can compare urban and rural settings, and the working conditions of teachers and principals of differing demographic backgrounds. The sections below provide examples of how NTPS data have been used to study our nation’s schools, teachers, and principals.

A.2.1.1 Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, School Principals, and Teachers in the United States

The results of each NTPS collection are used to create First Look reports that are released to the public on the NCES website and which introduce new data from each NTPS collection through statistical tables containing descriptive information. The selected findings chosen for these reports demonstrate the range of information available on the NTPS restricted use data files. The most recent First Look reports available for the NTPS are as follows: Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools in the United States: Results From the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2019-140); Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States: Results From the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2019-141); and, Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results From the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2019-142REV). First Look reports from the 2020-21 NTPS are forthcoming.

A.2.1.2 Impact of COVID-19 on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education

NTPS 2020-21 asked schools, principals, and teachers about how the coronavirus pandemic impacted their instruction, real-time interactions with students, support and resources, computer distribution, and internet access provided to their students in the spring of 2020. Selected findings were presented in 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 (NCES 2022-019) using preliminary data in order to present timely findings to policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders. First Look reports that use final data are forthcoming.

A.2.1.3 Teacher Additional Earnings

The NTPS Teacher Questionnaire asks sampled teachers several detailed questions about earnings, including questions about supplemental school year income and their earnings from a summer job. The Outside Jobs Among U.S. Public School Teachers (NCES 2021-007) report examines the supplemental school year income earned at jobs outside the teacher’s school system by public school teachers in the United States. The Summer Jobs for Regular, Full-Time Public School Teachers (NCES 2018-222REV) report describes the findings about the percentage of public school teachers who earn additional income by working during the summer. The findings are broken out by type of summer employment and U.S. region.

A.2.1.4 Teacher Satisfaction

NTPS includes numerous measures of how satisfied teachers are with their jobs and their working conditions. The Teacher Satisfaction with Salary and Current Job (NCES 2018-116) report describes the percentage of teachers who are satisfied with their salary for teaching and compares the job satisfaction of teachers who are satisfied and dissatisfied with their teaching salary.

A.2.1.5 Teacher Spending on Classroom Supplies

The NTPS Teacher Questionnaire asks sampled teachers about how much of their own money, if any, they spent on classroom supplies without reimbursement. In Public School Teacher Spending on Classroom Supplies (NCES 2018-097), NCES examines public school teachers’ personal spending on school supplies and differences in this spending among teachers from different community types and instructional level.

A.2.1.6 Teacher Training to Meet Diverse Student Needs Before Entering the Classroom

The NTPS Teacher Questionnaire asks sampled teachers about teacher preparation and how much preservice coursework they completed before their first year of teaching. In Teacher Training to Meet Diverse Student Needs Before Entering the Classroom: Teacher Preparation in 2017-18 (NCES 2021-046), NCES examines preservice coursework taken by public and private school teachers to meet the needs of diverse student populations before the coronavirus pandemic.

A.2.1.7 Teacher Requirements to Help Students Outside Regular School Hours

In Teacher Requirements to Help Students Outside Regular School Hours in 2017–18 (NCES 2021-054), NCES examines whether teachers were required to help students with their academic or social and emotional needs outside regular school hours in public and private schools in the United States in school year 2017-18, by selected school classification.

A.2.1.8 Race and Ethnicity of Public School Teachers

The NTPS Teacher Questionnaire asks sampled teachers for demographic information as well as details about their teaching experience and levels of educational attainment.

In Race and Ethnicity of Public School Teachers and Their Students (NCES 2020-103), NCES examines the race and ethnicity of public school teachers in the United States and how the race and ethnicity of teachers compares to that of the student body within the schools they teach.

In Teachers of Hispanic or Latino Origin: Background and School Settings (NCES 2022-025), NCES examines the background and school settings of teachers of Hispanic or Latino origin in public and private schools in the United States in school year 2017-18, by school and teacher characteristics.

In Black or African American Teachers: Background and School Settings (NCES 2022-024), NCES examines the background and school settings of Black or African American teachers in public and private schools in the United States in school year 2017-18, by school and teacher characteristics.

A.2.1.9 Parent Involvement in U.S. Public Schools

The NTPS Principal Questionnaire asks sampled principals to review a list of nine different parent engagement opportunities and identify which of those activities was offered by their schools during the previous school year (2016-17). In Parental Involvement in U.S. Public Schools in 2017-18 (NCES 2021-041), NCES examines parent and/or guardian involvement in various school-based engagement opportunities.

A.2.1.10 Principals’ Most Important Education Goals

The NTPS Principal Questionnaire asks sampled principals to review a list of ten educational goals and identify their top three goals. In Public School Principals’ Top Three Most Important Education Goals, by Charter Status and School Level (NCES 2020-201), NCES examines the relationship between various education goals, chosen as important by public school principals, by charter status (traditional public or public charter), and school levels. In A Look at Principals’ Most Important Goals by Community Type and School Level (NCES 2020-202), NCES examines the relationship between various education goals, chosen as important by public school principals, by different community types and school levels.

A.2.1.11 Principal Perception of Influence

The NTPS Principal Questionnaire asks sampled principals about how much actual influence they perceive to have as a principal on a number of decisions and policies within the school. In Principals’ Perceptions of Influence Over Decisions at Their Schools in 2017-18 (NCES 2021-091), NCES examines the relationship between public and private school principals’ perceived influence over various decisions made at their schools before the coronavirus pandemic. In Public School Principals’ Perceptions of Influence by School Level and Community Type (NCES 2018-014), NCES examines public school principals’ perception of their influence on their schools’ curriculum and budget and the differences among principals from different school instructional levels and community types.

A.2.1.12 Role of School Staff

The NTPS School Questionnaire asks schools about the number of full-time and part-times staff who serve in various roles. In School Nurses in U.S. Public Schools (NCES 2020-086) describes the presence of school nurses in public schools for the 2007-08, 2011-12, and 2015-16 school years. Mental Health Staff in Public Schools, by School Racial and Ethnic Composition (NCES 2019-020) describes the level of mental health staffing in majority-minority schools (more than half of the students are racial or ethnic minorities) and other schools (at least half of students are White and non-Hispanic).

A.2.1.13 Teacher and Principal Attrition

The SASS and NTPS, and their longitudinal components, the TFS and the PFS, provide detailed information on the year to year transitions made by teachers and principals.

Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results From the 2012-13 Teacher Follow-up Survey (NCES 2014-077) describes the number and characteristics of teachers who remained at the same school, moved to another school, or left the profession in the year following the SASS administration.

Principal Attrition and Mobility: Results From the 2016-17 Principal Follow-up Survey (NCES 2018-066) explores how many principals in the 2015-16 school year still worked as a principal in the same school in the 2016-17 school year, how many had moved to become a principal in another school, and how many had left principalship.

A.3 Use of Improved Information Technology

Technology will be applied appropriately to keep respondent burden to a minimum. Prior to school data collection, the principal will be asked to complete a short screener interview online using the NTPS Screener internet instrument. During this interview, a survey coordinator will be selected, whose role throughout data collection will be to facilitate the completion of the NTPS questionnaires.

To lessen the response burden on sampled schools, speed up the teacher sample selection, and reduce data processing costs, NTPS will continue to collect TLF information electronically via the TLF application within the NTPS Respondent Portal internet instrument. Whenever possible, schools will be provided TLFs that have been pre-populated with publicly available teacher data, in both the electronic and paper TLFs. This will allow schools to verify the teacher roster information rather than have to provide the requested information for every teacher in their school. Schools will be assured that all teacher data will be stored on secure online servers controlled by the U.S. Census Bureau. The NTPS Respondent Portal internet instrument also allows sampled schools to track the status of the questionnaires assigned to their school, and the usability of this instrument has been significantly improved between each NTPS survey administration. Improvements include the capability to prepopulate electronic TLFs with publicly available teacher data to ease respondent burden, to parse TLF data uploaded using the Excel template onto a review screen for the respondent to review prior to submitting their TLF, and general instrument improvements to enhance the respondents’ experience using the instrument to track their schools’ outstanding forms. Voluntary school-based “survey coordinators” will be invited to access this web-based tool at the onset of data collection activities.

Following successful implementation in NTPS 2015-16, NTPS 2017-18, and NTPS 2020-21, the Internet response option for principals, schools, and teachers will serve as the primary mode of collection in 2023-24. Nonresponding schools, principals, and teachers will eventually be offered the option to respond by paper.

Principal email addresses (purchased from the vendor and/or obtained through school website research) and school-based coordinator email addresses (collected using the Screener survey instrument at the time the coordinator is established) will be utilized during data collection. Invitations to complete the Principal and School Questionnaires via the Internet response option will be sent to the principal and/or school-based coordinator by email. If they do not respond, they will also be given the option to respond by paper.

Finally, following successful implementation in all three NTPS collections, schools will once again be asked to provide (or verify) teacher email addresses on the TLF. Teachers will be invited by mail and by email, if available, to respond to the Teacher Questionnaire through an Internet response option. If they do not respond, they will also be given the option to respond by paper. Independently, as part of the NTPS questionnaires, in addition to asking all teachers and principals whether they want to opt out from receiving text messages for follow-up purposes, we will ask them for their email addresses and cell phone numbers to be used during the 2024-25 school year for the TFS and the PFS.

A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication

A key element of the NTPS design principle was to leverage trusted data sources instead of asking schools or districts to report items on NTPS that they or their state have already provided through other collections. At the start of the SASS redesign to the NTPS, all SASS items were cross-walked against a variety of ED’s and external data sources. From this review, a number of duplicate or near duplicate items were identified. As a result, NCES plans to append to the NTPS files data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) in order to enrich and not duplicate data collection on these topics. In some cases a duplicate item was kept on NTPS because the extant variable from another source was not suitable for NTPS (e.g. due to an issue with periodicity, availability, item wording, reliability, or the item being needed for confirmation purposes).

A.5 Method Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

Burden on small schools is minimized during the NTPS through the sample design that specifies the selection of schools as a function of size defined by the number of teachers. Small schools, therefore, will be sampled at lower rates than larger schools because they comprise a smaller proportion of the teacher population per school. A large component of the NTPS redesign was intended specifically to improve the data collected and minimize burden imposed on respondents. NTPS questionnaires are shorter than their respective SASS questionnaires. In addition, the questionnaires have been designed with a module approach, so as to not cause undue burden on respondents. Some sections are included in every NTPS administration (core modules), while other sections are included during every other cycle (rotating modules).

A.6 Frequency of Data Collection

NCES originally planned for the NTPS to be collected on a two-year cycle but recently shifted to a three-year cycle for resource reasons. A major component of the redesign of SASS into NTPS was revising the collection periodicity. NCES received extensive feedback from experts and researchers in the field that the data collected from SASS every four years were not timely enough to capture more frequent changes in the characteristics of teachers and principals in K-12 education. In response to this feedback, the goal is for NTPS to be conducted every two to three years. If NTPS were fielded less often, there would be a significant delay in the observation of critical changes in trends that address the key research issues affecting the teacher and principal workforces.

A.7 Special Circumstances of Data Collection

No special circumstances for this information collection are anticipated.

A.8 Consultants outside the Agency

Since its inception, the development of SASS has relied on the substantive and technical review and comments of people both inside and outside the Department of Education. Outside experts who were convened to offer comments on proposed revisions for the NTPS at the start of their project and their affiliation at that time:

Kelly Burling, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of the Center for Educator Effectiveness, Pearson

Steve Glazerman, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy Research

Heather Hill, Ph.D., Professor in Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Patricia Hinchey, Ed.D., Professor of Education, Pennsylvania State (Worthington-Scranton)

Richard Ingersoll, Ph.D., Board of Overseers, Professor of Education and Sociology, U. of Pennsylvania

Anthony Milanowski. Ph.D., Senior Study Director, Westat

Angela Minnici, Ph.D., Managing Researcher, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Jennifer Oliver, M.A., TAP Director, U. of Indianapolis, Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning

Eric Camburn, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education

Matthew Clifford, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Laura Desimone, Ph.D., Professor, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

H. Alix Gallagher, Ph.D., Associate Director, SRI International

Stephanie Hirsh, Ph.D., Executive Director, Learning Forward

Kwang Suk Yoon, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

The following experts served as part of the NTPS team in previous rounds of administration:

Laurie Lewis, Statistician, Westat

Jim Green, Statistician, Westat

The following experts served as part of the NTPS team for the current round of administration:

Rebecca Medway, Senior Survey Methodologist, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Jana Kemp, Principal Researcher, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Carol Wan, Survey Methodologist, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Noelle Poirier, Researcher, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

The NTPS design has benefited from consultation with the following federal experts:

Andy Zukerberg, Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics

Maura Spiegelman, Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics

Julia Merlin, Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics

Stephen Broughman, Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics

Shawna Cox, Survey Director, Education Surveys Team, U.S. Census Bureau

Walter Holmes, Assistant Survey Director, Education Surveys Team, U.S. Census Bureau

Allison Zotti, Statistician, Education Surveys Team, U.S. Census Bureau

James Farber, Mathematical Statistician, Demographic Survey Methods Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Aaron Gilary, Mathematical Statistician, Demographic Survey Methods Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Kathleen Kephart, Statistician, Center for Behavioral Science Methods, U.S. Census Bureau

Jonathan Katz, Statistician, Center for Behavioral Science Methods, U.S. Census Bureau

A.9 Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents

Details about the results of the NTPS 2017-18 and NTPS 2020-21 incentive experiments and planned NTPS 2023-24 incentive experiments are summarized below.

The 2017-18 NTPS included an incentive experiment designed to examine the effectiveness of offering teachers a monetary incentive to boost overall teacher response. Teachers in the experimental treatment received a prepaid cash incentive at the first contact by mail; the experimental treatment was assigned at the school level, with all sampled teachers from a school receiving the same treatment. This treatment was evaluated against the control group, which did not receive any incentive. The results indicated that the teacher incentive significantly increased the final response rates for both public and private school Teacher Questionnaires. Within the domains of interest for public school teachers, the incentive significantly increased the response rate in all but two domains (Charter schools and schools with enrollment less than 100); within the domains of interest for private schools, the incentive significantly increased the response rate in roughly half of the domains of interest. In addition to boosting the response rate, the incentivized public school teachers completed their questionnaire in an average of 6 fewer days than those who were not offered an incentive. More information about this experiment is included in Appendix D.

Due to the favorable results from the teacher incentives for the NTPS 2017-18, the NTPS 2020-21 design included the use of incentives, once again, with the goal of maximizing overall teacher response. In the NTPS 2020-21 data collection plan, teachers were randomly assigned two types of incentive treatments – a prepaid cash monetary incentive and a non-monetary incentive. Teachers in the experimental treatment would receive a branded canvas tote bag at the first contact by mail. Much of this experiment was cancelled early in NTPS 2020-21 teacher data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on staff at the Census Bureau’s National Processing Center (NPC) and school staff. More information about this experiment is included in Appendix D.

Due to favorable results from the use of teacher incentives for the NTPS 2017-18, the NTPS 2023-24 will include the use of incentives, once again, with the goal of maximizing overall teacher response. All teachers will receive a cash incentive in their initial mailing. Teachers sampled in the early to mid-collection teacher waves will be offered a prepaid cash ($5) incentive at their first contact by mail.

Beginning with the wave where teachers are sampled from the publicly available teacher data, and all teacher waves thereafter (referred to as “late sampled teacher waves” from this point forward), all teachers will receive a prepaid, cash monetary incentive at the first contact by mail. Half will receive $10 at the first contact by mail (treatments A and B) while the other half (treatments C and D) will receive $5 at the first contact by mail. A portion of the of the public school teachers and all of the private school teachers in the $5 group will be offered an additional promised monetary incentive ($20) upon questionnaire completion (treatment C). The remaining public school teachers in the $5 group (treatment D) and a portion of the public school teachers in the $10 group (treatment B) will be offered a promised school-level incentive if they complete their questionnaire and help their school achieve an overall response rate of at least 75% in their school. Treatments will be assigned randomly at the time of school sampling at the school-level – that is, all teachers within a sampled school will receive the same treatment.

In summary, teachers sampled from publicly available teacher data TLFs and all teachers sampled thereafter will be eligible for inclusion in a teacher incentive experiment with the following four treatments:

Treatment A: Teachers receive a prepaid cash ($10) incentive at the first contact by mail.
Treatment B: Teachers receive a prepaid cash ($10) incentive, and their school will receive a school-level promised incentive if their school reaches 75% in overall teacher response. This treatment is restricted to public school teachers only.
Treatment C: Teachers receive a prepaid cash ($5) incentive and will receive an additional $20 promised incentive upon completion of their Teacher Questionnaire.
Treatment D: Teachers receive a prepaid cash ($5) incentive, and their school will receive a school-level promised incentive if their school reaches 75% in overall teacher response. This treatment is restricted to public school teachers only.

In addition, for the schools whose teachers are sampled in late waves, survey coordinators identified in the screener interview from vendor-sampled schools and a subsample of principals (as proxy coordinators) from non-screened schools will receive a cash incentive in the first mailed package of teacher materials for distribution. The teachers in the remaining non-screened schools will be mailed their materials directly throughout data collection rather than through a proxy coordinator.

Further details about the use of incentives are provided in sections B.2.3 and B.3.2 of Supporting Statement Part B.

A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality

Data security and confidentiality protection procedures have been put in place for NTPS 2023-24 to ensure that all contractors and agents working on NTPS 2023-24 comply with all privacy requirements including, as applicable:

The Inter-agency agreement with NCES for this study and the statement of work of NTPS contract;
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);
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. §151);
Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Title III, Part B, Confidential Information Protection;
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 inter-agency agreement and contract for this study.

The U.S. Census Bureau will collect data under an interagency agreement with NCES, and maintain the individually identifiable questionnaires per the agreement, including:

Provisions for data collection in the field;
Provisions to protect the data-coding phase required before machine processing;
Provisions to safeguard completed survey documents;
Authorization procedures to access or obtain files containing identifying information; and
Provisions to remove printouts and other outputs that contain identification information from normal operation (such materials will be maintained in secured storage areas and will be securely destroyed as soon as practical).

U.S. Census Bureau and contractors working on NTPS 2023-24 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: https://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. All government or contracted staff working on the NTPS study and having access to the data, including NTPS field staff, are required to sign an NCES Affidavit of Nondisclosure and have received public-trust security clearance. These requirements include the successful certification and accreditation of the system before it can be implemented. Appropriate memoranda of understanding and interconnection security agreements will be documented as part of the certification and accreditation process.

From the initial contact with the participants in this survey through all of the follow-up efforts, potential survey respondents will be informed that (a) the U.S. Census Bureau administers NTPS on behalf of NCES; (b) NCES is authorized to conduct NTPS by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C. §9543); (c) all of the information they provide may only be used 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); and (d) that their participation is voluntary.

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

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education, conducts NTPS as authorized 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).

The following language will be included on data collection instruments:

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 1850-0598. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated at [XX] minutes per response based on the mean and median times in the previous collection, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, 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 collection, or comments or concerns about the contents or the status of your individual submission of this questionnaire, please e-mail: [email protected], or write directly to: National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), National Center for Education Statistics, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12^th Street SW, Washington, DC 20202.

A.11 Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions included on the NTPS Screener.

The NTPS Teacher and Principal Questionnaires collect data on salary. While these items might be considered sensitive, they have been used in the past, and response rates for these items are traditionally high, ranging from 89.9 % to 95.0% for principals and ranging from 84.4% to 87.8% for teachers.

Based on public comments received for NTPS 2017-18, cognitive testing was conducted in 2017, 2018, and 2022 (OMB #1850-0803 v.218 and v. 311) to test new NTPS content, including questions designed to ask public school principals and teachers about their sexual orientation and gender identity. The results indicated that principals and teachers understood these questions but speculated that others may be uncomfortable reporting their sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly when contacted through their school. As a result, these items were included on a field test of teachers using a modified version of the NTPS 2020-21 Teacher Questionnaire during the 2021-22 school year. Results of the 2021-22 field test suggests that the inclusion of these items did not increase unit nonresponse and did not have higher item nonresponse than other demographic questions, and as such, the items will be included on the NTPS 2023-24 Teacher and Principal Questionnaires administered to public school teachers and principals. For more information about this field test, see Appendix D.

A.12 Estimated Response Burden

Preliminary activities for NTPS 2023-24, namely: (a) contacting and seeking research approvals from public school districts with an established research approval process (“special contact districts”), (b) notifying districts that their school(s) have been selected for NTPS 2023-24, and (c) notifying sampled schools of their selection for the survey and inviting them to complete a short Screener Survey to verify eligibility for the survey and establish a point of contact at their school were submitted in the OMB package for NTPS 2023-24 preliminary activities in July 2022 (OMB# 1850-0598 v.41) and are in this submission due to timing overlap.

Based on an initial assessment of previous NTPS data collections, we estimate that roughly 300 special contact districts will be in the sample. The special contact districts are those known to require completion of a research application before they will allow schools under their jurisdiction to participate in a study. Contacting special districts begins with updating district information based on what can be gleaned from online sources and what is known from previous cycles of collection. Individual districts will be contacted as needed to fill in gaps about where and to whom to send the completed required research application forms. The estimated number of such districts represents those with particularly detailed application forms and lengthy processes for approval. This operation will begin in the winter of 2022-23 to allow sufficient time for special districts’ review processes. Special district operations will begin by contacting up to 100 “certainty” special contact districts for which, due to their size, it is certain that at least one school from their jurisdiction will be randomly sampled. Other special contact districts will be contacted after the sample is drawn in the spring of 2023. We will continue to work with the districts until we receive a final response (approval or denial of request) as long as there is sufficient time for sampled schools, principals and teachers to respond to NTPS.

In general, the projected number of respondents is based on the NTPS 2023-24 sample size and takes into account eligibility and response rates from NTPS 2020-21 and NTPS 2017-18. Not all districts initially flagged as special contact districts will respond in the recruitment effort because they may not have a formal research application process and are not actually a special contact district, as such, the estimated number of responding special districts is lower than the estimated sample size for the special district operation.

The total response burden estimate for special district IRB approvals is based on 360 minutes for IRB review by one staff member, and 60 minutes per member for special district IRB panel review, assuming each panel would on average be composed of six panel members. The burden per school for reading the NTPS precontact notification is estimated to average about 1 minute. The burden per school for completing the Screener survey to verify eligibility for NTPS and establish a contact person at the school is estimated to average about 3 minutes. Based on the estimated hourly rates for principals/administrators of $49.35^¹, and based on 3,419 total burden hours for NTPS 2023-24 preliminary activities, the total estimated burden time cost to respondents is $168,728.

This request is for the sample size, expected response rate, projected number of responses, estimated average response time, and the total estimates of respondent burden for the remainder of NTPS 2023-24 recruitment and data collection activities for public and private schools as provided in Table 3.

Main data collection for the 2023-24 NTPS begins in September 2023 with the collection of the school level questionnaires – the TLF, School Questionnaire, and Principal Questionnaire – from sampled schools. Throughout this section, “school” is used to refer to both public and private schools, unless stated otherwise. There are two paths of data collection, and the path that each school will take is dependent upon whether teacher data are publicly available. The majority of sampled schools are expected to have publicly available teacher data. For further details about the data collection procedures for schools without versus with publicly available teacher data, refer to sections B.2.2.1 and B.2.2.2 of Supporting Statement Part B.

All sampled schools will be mailed an initial mailout package. The timing of this mailing is about 2 weeks earlier for schools that do not have publicly available teacher data as to allow the school to receive a mailed package prior to the start of Field Data Collection for the school-level forms. If the principal established a survey coordinator during the Screener Interview, this package will be addressed to the coordinator; otherwise, it will be addressed to the principal. The package contains a letter for the principal or coordinator, along with three separate, sealed envelopes that contain the login information for completing the TLF, Principal Questionnaire, and School Questionnaire online using the corresponding internet instrument. The TLF envelope is intended for the staff member who can best provide information about the school’s teachers. The Principal Questionnaire envelope is intended for the school principal. The School Questionnaire envelope is intended for the school staff member who can best answer questions about school enrollment and programs and services offered at the school. The principal or coordinator is expected to read the letter and distribute these three envelopes to the relevant staff, so that the staff can log into the internet instrument(s) to complete their questionnaire(s) online. The letter also provides staff with instructions for tracking the status of their school’s questionnaires using the NTPS Respondent Portal (web instrument).

Several weeks after the initial mailing, schools without publicly available teacher data will be sent to a Field Data Collection Operation – a targeted operation in which a Field Representative (FR) makes a personal visit to schools with a blank paper TLF and separate sealed envelopes containing login information for the Principal and School Questionnaires. The FR will attempt to obtain a printed teacher roster from the school and will then transcribe the teacher information to complete the school’s paper TLF; otherwise, they will drop off the survey materials and schedule a time to pick-up the completed TLF, following-up by phone as needed. A few weeks later, the same FR that made a personal visit to the school will conduct a telephone follow-up operation with the school to follow-up on the school’s outstanding School and Principal Questionnaires. The goal of this Field Data Collection Operation is for the FR to establish a relationship with and boost response in hard-to-reach schools. The initial personal visit will ensure that the NTPS packages are seen by the school, stress the importance of the survey project, and address any questions that the school contact may have about the survey.

All schools that do not respond to the initial survey request will receive up to four additional requests by both mail and email. Paper questionnaires will be included in the third, fourth, and fifth mailings, as needed. Schools that are not on the Field Data Collection path that do not respond to these mailings will also be contacted during a series of telephone reminder calls, follow-up calls, or personal visit throughout the collection period.

Once TLFs are received, processed, and the sample of teachers is selected, invitations to complete the Teacher Questionnaires will be sent out to teachers on a flow basis by email and mailed paper letters. Teachers who do not respond to the initial survey request will receive up to four additional requests by mail and up to eleven additional reminders by email. Teachers will receive a paper version of the questionnaire in the third, fourth, and fifth mailings, as needed. As with the schools, teachers who do not respond to the mailings and emails will also be contacted by telephone or personal visit throughout the data collection period. Teachers from schools in the Field Data Collection path will be contacted by the same FR who visited the school in the fall.

The standard procedure for estimating burden time response cost is to multiply the estimated average length of time it takes to complete the survey by the average salary. The estimated average hourly earnings of teachers is $32.82², and of principals/administrators is $49.35³ in elementary and secondary schools in the May 2021 National Occupational and Employment Wage Estimates sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Therefore, based on 3,426 total burden hours for preliminary activities, the associated total estimated burden time cost to respondents is $169,085, and based on an additional 48,666 total burden hours for the rest of NTPS 2023-24 activities with an associated annual burden time cost of $1,795,708, the total estimated burden time is 52,757 hours and the associated total estimated burden time cost to respondents for all activities associated with NTPS 2023-24 is $1,986,618.

Table 3. Estimates of respondent burden for the 2023-24 NTPS

Activity	Sample Size	Estimated Response Rate	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Number of Responses	Average Burden Time per Respondent (Minutes)	Total Burden Hours
Preliminary Activities*
District IRB Staff Review	300	80%	240	240	360	1,440
District IRB Panel Review	300 x 6	80%	1440	1440	60	1,440
Precontact Notification– public schools	10,100	70%^†	7070	7070	1	118
Precontact Notification– private schools	3,010	70%^†	2107	2107	1	35
Screener interview – public schools	10,100	60%	6060	6060	3	303
Screener interview – private schools	3,010	60%	1806	1806	3	90
Total Preliminary Activities	--	--	18,723	18,723	--	3,426
Main Study Data Collection Activities
Public School Staff
Electronic TLF (blank)	10,100	5%	505	505	30	253
Electronic TLF (pre-populated)	10,100	31%	3131	3131	15	783
Paper TLF (pre-populated)	10,100	25%	2525	2525	15	631
Paper TLF (blank)	10,100	4%	404	404	30	202
Coordinator duties	10,100	60%	6060	6060	22	2222
School Questionnaire	10,100	72%	7272	7272	13	1576
Public School Principals
Principal Questionnaire	10,100	70%	7,070	7,070	25	2946
Public School Teachers
Teacher Questionnaire	59,673	81%	48,335	48,335	40	32223
Total Public Schools	--	--	75,302	75,302	--	40,835
Private School Staff
Electronic TLF (blank)	3,120	20%	624	624	30	312
Electronic TLF (pre-populated)	3,120	13%	405.6	405.6	15	101
Paper TLF (pre-populated)	3,120	11%	343.2	343.2	15	86
Paper TLF (blank)	3,120	16%	499.2	499.2	30	250
Coordinator duties	3,120	60%	1872	1872	22	686
School Questionnaire	3,120	65%	2028	2028	33	1115
Private School Principals
Principal Questionnaire	3,120	65%	2028	2028	25	845
Private School Teachers
Teacher Questionnaire	8,316	80%	6652.8	6652.8	40	4435
Total Private Schools	--	--	14,453	14,453	--	7,831
Teachers’ Intent-to-return**
Teachers who complete the Teacher Questionnaire online on or after April 15, 2024	15,000	90%	13,500	13,500	1	225
Web respondents before April 15, 2024 and paper respondents	22,000	40%	8,800	8,800	3	440
Total Teachers’ Intent-to-return	--	--	22,300	22,300	--	665
TOTAL MAIN STUDY	--	--	89,755	89,755	--	49,331
TOTAL	--	--	108,478	108,478	--	52,757

* Gray font denotes NTPS 2023-24 Preliminary activities for which burden is not being requested in this submission.

** These are counted neither as unique respondents nor unique responses; rather, they are considered part of other responses and are only relevant here as sources of additional respondent burden time.
† In this case, this proportion represents not a response rate but the proportion estimated to read and interact with the contact materials.

A.13 Estimates of Cost to Respondents

There are no costs to respondents beyond their time to participate. No equipment, printing, or postage charges will be incurred by the participants.

A.14 Cost to the Federal Government

The total estimated cost to the federal government for NTPS 2023-24 is $19.0 million. The estimated cost for the preliminary field activities is $647,000 while the estimated cost for the main study collection activities, including data processing and reporting, is $18,353,000.

Table 4. Estimates of Costs to the Federal Government

Activity	Estimated Costs
Survey Development	$4,221,500
Survey Collection	$12,965,000
Data Processing	$1,209,000
Data Reporting	$604,500
TOTAL	$19,000,000

A.15 Reasons for Changes in Response Burden

Estimated respondent burden in this request shows an increase from the previous request because the last request was for the 2023-24 NTPS preliminary activities only, while this request is for all of the main data collection activities for all of the 2023-24 NTPS, including preliminary activities, recruitment, and data collection.

A.16 Publication Plans and Time Schedule

Information relevant to the data collection will be part of the reports resulting from NTPS 2023-24. A data file will be produced and made available to researchers through an online NCES data analysis tool, DataLab, as well as in a restricted-use data file. Researchers who are approved by NCES’s data confidentiality office for a restricted-use license can access restricted-use data files. Codebooks and user’s manuals will be produced for use with the restricted-use data files. All of the NTPS data files will be linked through the sampled school record. NTPS 2023-24 reports and publications will include a detailed methodological report describing all aspects of the data collection effort. The tentative, high-level operational schedule for NTPS 2023-24 is provided in Table 5.

Table 5. Operational schedule for NTPS 2023-24

Activity	Tentative Dates
Preliminary Activities
Begin contacting Special Districts to begin approval process	December 2022
Complete and deliver certainty special district applications and packages	February 2023 – February 2024*
Select the 2023-24 NTPS school sample	April 2023
Complete and deliver applications and packages to newly identified special districts	April 2023 – February 2024*
Mail precontact notifications to sampled schools	June 2023
Mail screener letter to school principals	July 2023
Send initial and reminder email to principals to complete screener	July – August 2023
Screener Telephone Operation to establish survey coordinator	August 2023
Main Data Collection Activities
Begin NTPS 2023-24 Questionnaire Data Collection	September 2023
Mail questionnaires/internet invitations to schools, request teacher lists	September 2023
Send initial and reminder emails to school principals and survey coordinators	September 2023 – January 2024
Field Operation to obtain TLF, and School and Principal Questionnaires (subsample of schools)	October – November 2023
Mail up to 4 reminder packages to non-responding schools	October 2023 – January 2024
Telephone Operation to follow-up on outstanding TLFs (subsample of schools)	December 2023
Mail initial Teacher Questionnaire invitations as teacher samples are drawn	October 2023 – March 2024
Mail up to 4 reminder packages to teachers	November 2023 – June 2024
Send initial and reminder emails to teachers	November 2023 – June 2024
Telephone operations to follow-up on outstanding School, Principal, and Teacher questionnaires	March – May 2024
Field Operation to obtain outstanding Teacher, School, and Principal Questionnaires	March – May 2024
End NTPS 2023-24 Data Collection	July 2024
Data capture of all questionnaires	September 2023 – July 2024
Data processing	March 2024 – January 2025
Release initial reports and data files	July 2025

*Earliest cut-off.

A.17 Approval for Not Displaying the Expiration Date for OMB Approval

No exemption from the requirement to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection is being requested for NTPS 2023-24.

A.18 Exceptions to the Certification Statement

No exceptions to the certification statement apply to NTPS 2023-24.

1 The average hourly earnings of principals/education administrators in the May 2021 National Occupational and Employment Wage Estimates sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is $49.35. Source: BLS Occupation Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ data type: Occupation code: Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary Schools (11-9032); Annual Mean Wage $102,650/2,080 hours. Accessed on May 12, 2022.

2 The average hourly earnings of primary and secondary teachers in the May 2021 National Occupational and Employment Wage Estimates sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is $32.82. Source: BLS Occupation Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ data type: Occupation code: Elementary and Middle School Teachers (25-2020) and Secondary School Teachers (25-2030); Annual Mean Wage $68,260/2,080 hours. Accessed on September 12, 2022.

3 The average hourly earnings of principals/education administrators in the May 2021 National Occupational and Employment Wage Estimates sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is $49.35. Source: BLS Occupation Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ data type: Occupation code: Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary Schools (11-9032); Annual Mean Wage $102,650/2,080 hours. Accessed on September 12, 2022.

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Part A NTPS 2023-24 Data Collection v45