[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 55 (Monday, March 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15231-15233]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06534]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Proposed Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood 
Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection (Part of the 
Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and Cross-site [FaMLE Cross-
site] Project).
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Background: For decades various organizations and agencies have 
been developing and operating programs to strengthen families through 
healthy marriage and relationship education and responsible fatherhood 
programming. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office 
of Family Assistance (OFA), has had administrative responsibility for 
federal funding of such programs since 2006 through the Healthy 
Marriage (HM) and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) Grant Programs. The 
authorizing legislation for the programs may be found in section 
403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act [1]. Responsible Fatherhood 
grantees provide a comprehensive set of services designed to promote 
responsible fatherhood including activities related to promoting 
economic stability, fostering responsible parenting, and promoting 
healthy marriage. Grantees receiving funding for Healthy Marriage offer 
a broad array of services designed to promote healthy marriage.
    The federal government currently collects a set of performance 
measures from HM and RF grantees. The purpose of this previously 
approved information collection is to allow OFA and ACF to carry out 
their responsibilities for program accountability. Descriptions of the 
information collection may be found at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewDocument?ref_nbr=201206-0970-005; all measures may be found 
at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAICList?ref_nbr=201206-0970-005.
    The Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation (FaMLE) Cross-Site 
Project: The Offices of Family Assistance (OFA) and Planning, Research 
and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families 
(ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are proposing 
new data collection activities to replace existing performance measures 
as part of the Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and Cross-site 
(FaMLE Cross-site) Project. The purpose of the FaMLE Cross-site Project 
is to support high quality data collection, strengthen local 
evaluations, and conduct cross-site analysis for the Responsible 
Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage grantees.
    The FaMLE Cross-site project will answer three main research 
questions: (1) What strategies did grantees use to design well-
conceived programs? (2) What strategies did grantees use to 
successfully implement well-conceived programs? (3) What were the 
reported outcomes for participants in the programs? In order to answer 
these questions, we are considering a new set of data collection 
activities.
    Current request: ACF is engaged in a learning agenda to increase 
our understanding of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood 
programs. This means that we incorporate multiple opportunities and 
options for learning throughout a program's implementation that provide 
a range of insights and perspectives. These opportunities help 
programming constantly develop and advance. For example, data provide 
the opportunity to feed information back to decision-makers and 
leaders--both those on the ground and those in management--to inform 
program design, operation, and oversight.
    On November 6, 2014, ACF published a Federal Register Notice (79 FR 
65973) requesting public comment on the following:
    Performance measures. ACF is proposing a new set of performance 
measures to be collected by all grantees, beginning with the next round 
of HMRF grants. These measures will collect standardized information in 
the following areas:
     Applicant characteristics;
     Program operations (including program characteristics and 
service delivery); and
     Participant outcomes (will be measured both at initiation 
of program

[[Page 15232]]

services (pre-test) and completion (post-test)).
    These draft measures were developed per extensive review of the 
research literature and grantees' past measures.
    The next set of grantees will be required to submit data on a set 
of standardized measures covering these areas on a regular basis (e.g., 
quarterly). In addition to the performance measures mention above, ACF 
seeks comment on draft instruments for these data submissions:
     Quarterly Performance Report (QPR), and
     Semi-annual Performance Progress Report (PPR).
    A new management information system is being developed which will 
improve efficiency and the quality of data, and make reporting easier.
    Standardized measures and reporting in these areas will enable ACF 
to track programming outputs and outcomes across programs, and will 
allow grantees to self-monitor progress.
    Additional data collection. As an additional component of the 
learning agenda, the FaMLE Cross-Site contractor will collect 
information from a sub-set of grantees on how they designed and 
implemented their programs (information on outcomes associated with 
programs will also be assessed). This sub-set of grantees will be 
required to participate in the additional data collection noted below. 
The following protocols have been developed:
     Staff interview protocol on program design (will be 
collected from about half of all grantees);
     Staff interview protocols on program implementation (will 
be collected from about 10 grantees); and
     Program participant focus group protocol (will be 
conducted with about 10 grantees).
    In response to the previous request, ACF received 57 requests for 
the proposed measures and 28 emails with comments during the 60-day 
comment period. Comments were received in eight categories:
     Literacy levels
     Length
     Appropriateness of questions
     Youth Survey
     Case management expectations
     Mode of administration
     Quarterly reporting
     Miscellaneous
    A summary of the comments received in these areas and ACF's 
responses is included in the OMB package and is available upon request 
(see contact information below). Revised versions of the data 
collection instruments are also included in the OMB package and 
available upon request.
    Respondents: The respondents to the data collection instruments 
include Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage Program grantees 
(e.g., grantee staff) and program participants. In some cases, grantees 
will conduct evaluations that include a control or comparison group. In 
those cases, individuals in the control or comparison group will be 
asked to respond to the data collection instruments as well.
    Updated Annual Burden Estimates: The table below is required by law 
for Federal Register notices like this one. The federal government's 
Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies, including 
ACF, to estimate how many hours it will take respondents to complete 
data collection, and to publish these estimates in the Federal 
Register. The following table provides our estimates.
    These estimates are greater than those included in the 60-day 
Federal Register Notice. We have maintained the same number of data 
collection instruments, but we have increased the number of respondents 
as priorities and plans have been further developed and refined.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  Annual  number     Number of        Average
           Instrument              Total number         of         responses per   burden hours    Annual burden
                                  of respondents    respondents     respondent     per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       DCI (Data collection by contractor)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DCI 1: Topic Guide on Program                 60              20               1               1              20
 Design.........................
DCI 2: Topic Guide on Program                300             100               1               1             100
 Implementation.................
DCI 3: Focus Group Protocol.....             801             267               1            1.50             400
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        DCS (Data collection by grantees)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DCS 1: Applicant
 Characteristics:
    Program applicants..........         411,375         137,125               1            0.25          34,281
    Program staff...............           1,080             360             381            0.10          13,716
DCS 2: Grantee Program                       260             120               1            0.75              90
 Operations.....................
DCS 3: Service Receipt in MIS...             360             120             931            0.50          55,860
DCS 4: Self-administered
 Questionnaire Pre-Test and Post-
 Test
    Program participants (pre-           335,025         111,675               1            0.42          46,904
     test)......................
    Program participants (post-          270,390          90,130               1            0.42          37,855
     test)......................
    Program staff (entry from                 36              12           1,412            0.30           5,084
     paper).....................
DCS 5: Semi-annual Progress                  360             120               2               3             720
 Report.........................
DCS 6: Quarterly Performance                 360             120               2               1             240
 Report.........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 195,270.
    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, 
SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. All 
requests should be identified by the title of the information 
collection. Email address: [email protected].
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Email: 
[email protected], Attn:

[[Page 15233]]

Desk Officer for the Administration, for Children and Families.

Karl Koerper,
OPRE Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-06534 Filed 3-20-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-73-P