OMB 83 C Change Memo

U.S. Department of Education

Agency Information Collection: Evaluation of the REL West Supporting Early Reading Comprehension Through Teacher Study Groups Toolkit

AGENCY: Department of Education (ED), Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

OMB Control Number: 1850-0982

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SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is submitting a simple change request to the existing information collection for the following changes outlined in this memo. The Department has assessed the upcoming changes and believes based on previously executed change requests that these changes fall under that guise.

1. Increase incentive amount for teacher logs

The study team proposed to conduct teacher logs to measure perceptions of teachers’ use of the recommended teaching practices. OMB approved the plan to conduct two rounds of logs, 10 logs in each round, with each log expected to take 5 minutes. We had proposed to provide teachers completing the logs a gift card for $75 for completing each of two rounds of practice logs.

The study team would like to increase the incentives for the spring round of the teacher practice logs and change the payment structure. The study team is asking teachers to complete 10 logs over the course of up to three weeks. Each log should take no more than five minutes to complete. Based on questions from district leadership about compensation for teachers, we are concerned that the incentives for teacher logs are insufficient. While the total originally proposed is consistent with IES guidance (IES, 2022), when the incentives are totaled ($75 for 50 minutes), the incentive per log is too low ($7.50 per log) to motivate a response every day for 10 days. Teachers would complete the fall logs before OMB could approve an increase and change in the structure of the incentive. However, the study team would like to apply the change to the incentives for the spring teacher practice logs. From prior experience with similar instruments, we have been advised that the following payment schedule is beneficial to keeping study participation high: $10 each for the first five logs, and $25 each for the next five logs. This would increase the incentive up to $175 for the spring round of logs per teacher. Instead of one gift card at the end of the log submission period, teachers would receive a gift card for each log immediately after submitting the log. The study team believes this will motivate log completion as teachers will get immediate and additional incentives to complete each log.

This request does not affect the estimated annual hour or cost burden on respondents.