Case Studies of Child Care and Early Education Supply-Building and Sustainability Efforts

OMB Control No.: 0970-0356

Expiration Date: 01/31/2027

Length of time for interview: 30 minutes

INSTRUMENT 1. CCDF LEAD AGENCY RECRUITMENT CALL PROTOCOL

The CCEE Supply Building research team will use this protocol to recruit Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administrators to participate in the study.

This protocol is a guide, not a script. All respondents may not be asked all questions. Interviewers will tailor questions to the specific strategies and roles and responsibilities of the respondents. Interviewers will add probes to further explore the responses provided. Interviewers will tailor the information in brackets.

(Note: In the following section, the interviewer will not read words in parentheses).

Thank you for agreeing to speak with us today. My name is [NAME], and I’m joined by my colleague, [NAME]. We’re from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, DC. I am contacting you today to discuss your state’s participation in a case study to learn about efforts completed or underway to help build supply and sustain child care and early education.

(Who is leading the research and funding it) The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) contracted with the Urban Institute to lead a project called “Understanding Supply-Building and Sustainability Efforts of the Child Care and Early Education Market.”

(Purpose) As part of the larger project, we are meeting with states that planned or are implementing supply-building or sustainability strategies we identified through a web scan or survey. The goal of this call is to ask about your interest in participating in a case study.

(Requirements) During the call today, I will share information with you about the case studies and then ask about your interest and capacity to participate.

(Voluntary) Participation in the case studies is voluntary. There will be no consequences if you decline to participate. If you need to take a break at any time, please let us know.

(Risks and benefits) There are no anticipated personal risks or benefits to participating in this research.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response. This information collection is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Urban Institute, 500 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20037.

(Virtual interview/Zoom statement) For the purposes of our discussion today, we ask that you participate in a private setting away from earshot or viewing by unauthorized persons which includes family members, and we want you to understand that given the technical limitations of Zoom and similar internet platforms, we cannot guarantee the confidentiality of what might be said.

Do you have any questions?

To begin, I would like to tell you about the case study we are hoping to conduct of your state.

First, we know Lead Agencies sometimes implement multiple strategies to build and sustain the supply of child care and early education. If you agree to participate in a case study, we’d like to focus specifically on [NAME/DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED STRATEGY].

Second, the case studies will take place in [MONTHS]. To collect data for the case studies, we will conduct virtual interviews with key individuals you identify as being integral to the design and implementation of [STRATEGY]. We anticipate these individuals will include you or someone on your staff who was involved in planning and decision-making about [STRATEGY], individuals who lead/led implementation of [STRATEGY], and key people involved in collecting and analyzing data about and/or evaluating [STRATEGY]. We also want to conduct a focus group with [PROVIDERS OR OTHERS] who may have experienced [STRATEGY] to learn their perspectives. These focus groups will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Most interviews will be one hour, and no interviews will be longer than one-and-a-half hours.

The information we gather during the case studies will be used to provide useful information to our federal project officers at the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, which is the research arm of the Administration for Children and Families (we will reference the Administration for Children and Families as ACF going forward), as well as staff at the federal Office of Child Care within ACF. Following the case studies, we will prepare and share with ACF written memos describing each strategy and our findings from interviews and focus groups.

Importantly, we will identify your state in our memorandum to ACF. We will not identify you by name, but they will know we spoke with a CCDF administrator and/or other Lead Agency staff from each state. [IF RESPONDENT IS/INCLUDES THE CCDF ADMINISTRATOR:] Because the identities of CCDF administrators are public information, this means they may be able to identify you.

We may also produce a report or brief that will be published online to summarize information from the case studies. In this report or brief, we will discuss findings across the states that participate in case studies. If we produce a report or brief that is available to the public, we will keep your identity and the identify of all individuals from your state that we interview private. In addition, we will name the states that participated in the public report or brief to provide context but none of the information presented will be attributed to a particular state. Rather, we will describe themes across the states and strategies that participated in the case studies.

1. Do you have any questions?

(Depending on response, interviewer may provide additional information about the case studies).

2. Is your agency interested in participating in a case study of [STRATEGY]?

(If no): It’s no problem, we completely understand. Do you mind sharing any concerns you have about participating?

(Depending on response, interviewer may provide additional information about the case studies if it helps to clarify concerns provided).

(If no: Go to closing and end interview)

(If interested in a case study): Great, we’d like to ask just a couple more questions.

3. Is there someone in your agency or a partner agency who can help us with scheduling data collection activities, including identifying individuals to invite to participate?

   1. (If yes): Can you please share their contact information with us so we can reach out and begin planning?

   2. (If no): Will you be the point of contact for scheduling the case study? If so, we can begin discussing the data collection activities during today’s call.

(If recruitment call participant will be the point of contact):

4. Off the top of your head, do you have an idea of who in your agency or another organization would be best suited to talk with us in-depth about:

   1. What the strategy involved.

   2. Level and effort of resources needed to implement it (staff involved, funding, etc).

   3. Decision-making processes involved when selecting it.

   4. Data availability and use.

We don’t need their name, at this stage, just their role and the name of the organization they are affiliated with.

Closing

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us today.

(If agreed to participate in a case study): We will follow up with [you/the person you designated] to begin scheduling the data collection activities.

Understanding the Supply Building and Sustainability Efforts of the Child Care and Early Education Market OMB Instruments: Case Studies of Supply Building and Sustainability Strategies