[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 24, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 14165]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-6437]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

    Periodically, the Health Resources and Services Administration 
(HRSA) publishes abstracts of information collection requests under 
review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in compliance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request 
a copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, call the 
HRSA Reports Clearance Office on (301) 443-1129.
    The following request has been submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995:

Proposed Project: Evaluation of the State Early Childhood Comprehensive 
Systems Grant (ECCS) Program: New

    HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is conducting an 
assessment of MCHB's State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant 
(ECCS) Program. The purpose of the ECCS Program is to assist States and 
Territories in their efforts to build and implement statewide Early 
Childhood Comprehensive Systems that support families and communities 
in their development of children that are healthy and ready to learn at 
school entry. These systems must be multi-agency and be comprised of 
the key public and private agencies that provide services and resources 
to support families and communities in providing for the healthy 
physical, social, and emotional development of all young children. 
Grantees are also charged with addressing seven key elements of early 
childhood comprehensive systems: (1) Governance, (2) financing, (3) 
communications, (4) family leadership development, (5) provider/
practitioner support, (6) standards, and (7) monitoring/accountability. 
ECCS funding is offered to 52 States and Jurisdictions.
    An evaluation will be conducted to: (1) Identify and analyze the 
strategies that grantees and partners are using to build comprehensive 
early childhood systems, (2) measure the level of progress grantees 
have made in meeting both the overarching Federal goals and objectives 
for ECCS grantees and those of their statewide plans, and (3) assess 
the effectiveness of grantees' early childhood systems development 
activities. The information from the evaluation will supplement and 
enhance MCHB's current data collection efforts by providing a 
quantifiable, standardized, systematic mechanism for collecting 
information across the funded implementation grantees. The results will 
also provide MCHB with timely feedback on the achievements of the ECCS 
Program and identify potential areas for improvement which will inform 
program planning and operational decisions.
    Data collection tools for which OMB approval is being requested 
include Web-based surveys, telephone interviews, and a Web-based 
indicator reporting system. Web-based surveys are intended to collect 
information from all grantees regarding the structure and functioning 
of the State Team, the nature of activities, and perceptions of 
progress made in achieving outcomes. One survey will be directed at 
ECCS Coordinators while a second similar, but shorter survey will be 
directed at selected State Team members (5 State Team members from each 
State). The telephone interviews will be conducted with ECCS 
Coordinators to collect more detailed information on how early 
childhood services have been integrated, challenges and successes of 
implementation, and how the activities are designed to improve the 
lives of children and families. ECCS Coordinators will also be asked to 
enter information on three early child and family outcome indicators 
and provide a theory of change, or rationale, on how a specific ECCS 
activity or set of related activities will produce a measurable change 
in each outcome indicator.
    Respondents: ECCS Coordinators and State Team members from the 52 
grantees will be the primary respondents for the instruments. The 
estimated response burden is as follows:

                                                            Estimate Annualized Burden Table
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden
                     Forms                                  Type of respondent               Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                                                            respondents     respondent       response          hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web-based Survey...............................  ECCS Coordinators......................              52               1            0.75              39
Web-based Survey...............................  State Team Members.....................             260               1             0.3              78
Telephone Interview............................  ECCS Coordinators......................              52               1            1.75              91
Indicator Reporting System.....................  ECCS Coordinators......................              52               1             1.5              78
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................  .......................................             416  ..............  ..............             286
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to 
the desk officer for HRSA, either by e-mail to OIRA 
[email protected] or by fax to 202-395-6974. Please direct all 
correspondence to the ``attention of the desk officer for HRSA.''

    Dated: March 15, 2010.
Sahira Rafiullah,
Director, Division of Policy and Information and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2010-6437 Filed 3-23-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P