[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 23, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23573-23574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-10525]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early 
Care and Education: Comparative Multi-Case Study.
    OMB No.: New.
    Description: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at 
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval 
to collect new information to use in developing measures of the 
implementation and costs of high quality early care and education. This 
information collection is part of the project, Assessing the 
Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education (ECE-
ICHQ). The project's goal is to create a technically sound and feasible 
instrument that will provide consistent, systematic measures of the 
implementation and costs of education and care in center-based settings 
that serve children from birth to age 5. The resulting measures will 
inform research, policy, and practice by improving understanding of 
variations in what centers do to support quality, their associated 
costs, and how resources for ECE may be better aligned with 
expectations for quality. The goals of the study are (1) to test and 
refine a mixed methods approach to identifying the implementation 
activities and costs of key functions within ECE centers and (2) to 
produce data for creating measures of implementation and costs. The 
study recently collected data through on-site visits to 15 centers as 
part of an initial phase of data collection under clearance, #0970-
0355. In this initial phase, the study team tested data collection 
tools and methods, conducted cognitive interviews to obtain feedback 
from respondents about the tools, and used the information to reduce 
and refine the tools for the next phase of data collection. This 
request is focused on the next phase of data collection which will 
include 50 ECE centers in three states. The next phase will rely on 
remote data collection through electronic data collection tools, 
telephone interviews, and web-based surveys.
    Respondents: ECE site administrators or center directors, program 
directors, education specialists, financial managers or accountants, 
lead teachers, and assistant teachers.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                   Total/annual      Number of        Average
                   Instrument                        number of     responses per   burden  hours  Annual  burden
                                                    respondents     respondent     per  response       hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial email to selected center directors......             400               1             .08              32
Center recruitment call.........................             415               1             .33             137
Center engagement call..........................              50               1             .42              21
Implementation interview: Center director.......              50               1               3             150

[[Page 23574]]

 
Implementation interview: Additional center                   60               1              .5              30
 staff..........................................
Cost workbook...................................              50               1             7.5             375
Time use survey staff roster....................              50               1             .25              13
Time use survey advance letter..................             700               1             .08              56
Time use survey.................................             560               1             .25             140
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 954 hours.
    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, 330 C Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20201, 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: Desk Officer for the Administration 
for Children and Families.

Mary Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-10525 Filed 5-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-23-P