OPRE OMB Clearance Manual

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Office of Head Start Training & Technical Assistance Improvement Survey


Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531


Supporting Statement
Part A - Justification
August 2026

Submitted By:
Office of Head Start
Administration for Children and Families 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201







A1. Necessity for the Data Collection
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS), seeks approval to collect formative feedback from Head Start and Early Head Start program staff regarding their experiences locating, accessing, and using federal, state and local training and technical assistance (TTA) resources.

Background 
OHS seeks to better understand how TTA is used to support Head Start and Early Head Start and to better understand how staff find, trust, and use TTA resources. The survey will gather information about barriers to finding TTA resources, usability of HeadStart.gov and other web resources, preferred TTA delivery formats, operational priorities, and overall satisfaction to inform future improvements. The survey addresses how programs find and use TTA resources, what challenges they experience, which resources they trust, preferred delivery methods, and areas where additional support is needed. Information will be used to inform improvements to OHS TTA efforts.

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection 
There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures
Overview of Purpose and Use
The purpose of the proposed survey is to obtain feedback from Head Start and Early Head Start program staff to improve TTA resources, HeadStart.gov, and future OHS TTA planning. The survey aims to identify user needs, barriers, preferred formats, and priority topics in order to inform and improve OHS TTA supports. OHS staff may use this information to develop improvements to TTA resources. 

This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531): 
    • Delivery of TA related to program implementation or the development or refinement of program and grant recipient processes. 
    • Planning for provision of programmatic T/TA.
    • Obtaining feedback about processes and/or practices to inform ACF program development or support.

Processes for Information Collection 
OHS will program the structured survey, containing multiple-choice, ranking, and open-ended questions, in Qualtrics, and will create a link for grant recipients to complete electronically at their convenience. The survey may be completed by the grant recipient Authorizing Official (AO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), policy council chair, and/or director or staff they appoint to complete the survey. OHS plans to administer the survey once—upon Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval.  OHS will compile and analyze the responses received after data collection. 

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden
This survey will use electronic completion. The link to the electronic survey will be shared with grant recipients via the Head Start Enterprise System (HSES).

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
This data collection is designed to obtain current, program-specific feedback that is not available through other information collections. Without this collection, OHS would have less timely information about user needs and barriers to accessing TTA resources.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations
No small businesses will be involved with this information collection.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
This is a one-time data collection.

A7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.

A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation
Federal Register Notice and Comments
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection request to extend approval of the umbrella generic with minor changes. The notice was published on April 28, 2025, (90 FR 17603), and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any comments on the first notice. A second notice was published, allowing a thirty-day period for public comment (90 FR 42248, in conjunction with submission of the request to OMB. ACF did not receive any comments on the second notice.
Consultation with Outside Experts
No consultations have taken place with experts outside of the project team.

A9. Tokens of Appreciation for Respondents
No tokens of appreciation for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private. 

Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.

All responses will be reported in aggregate. Short, general quotes may be shared from open-ended responses, but they will always be anonymous. Quotes will not be associated with any PII. 

A11. Sensitive Questions
There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.

A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden
Burden Estimates
This survey will be sent to a random sample of 10% of all Head Start grant recipients - 187 Head Start grant recipients. We expect a 30-50% response rate and have used 50% to estimate the number of respondents, to provide a buffer. The burden estimate is calculated for 94 respondents.

Respondents will complete the survey upon OMB approval. The estimated time to complete the survey is about 15 minutes and data collection will take place over 3 weeks.

Cost Estimates
The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Preschool and Childcare Center Directors [SOC11-9031] and wage data from May 2025, which is $31.15 per hour. To account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate was multiplied by two which is $62.30.  https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm 

Instrument
Total Number of Respondents
Total Number of Responses Per Respondent
Average Burden Hours Per Response
Total
Burden Hours
Average Hourly Wage
Total Annual Cost
OHS TTA Improvement Survey
94 
1
15 min
23.5 hrs
$62.30
$1,464

A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers
There are no additional costs to respondents.

A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government
The total cost to the Federal government for the data collection activities under this current request will be $2,028.40. 

Federal staff costs are estimated to be about 20 hours of the time of a staff member at the GS-12, Step 2 labor category to oversee the activities of this data collection.  

A15. Change in Burden
This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).

A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication
OHS anticipates launching the survey immediately upon OMB approval. The link to the electronic survey will be shared with grant recipients via the HSES. One reminder will be sent via HSES requesting recipients complete the survey by the deadline. 

A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date
All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.	



Attachments
Office of Head Start Training & Technical Assistance Improvement Survey