[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 18, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28305-28306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12796]


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

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Assessing the 
Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education: Field 
Test (0970-0499)

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration 
for Children and Families, HHS.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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

SUMMARY: This information request 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.

DATES: Comments due within 60 days of publication. In compliance with 
the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and Families is soliciting 
public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection 
described above.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed collection of information can be 
obtained and comments may be forwarded by emailing 
[email protected]. Alternatively, copies can also 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, emailed or written should be identified by the title of the 
information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    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 testing 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-

[[Page 28306]]

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 data collection approach to gather information about 
implementation activities and costs of key functions within ECE centers 
and (2) to develop new measures of implementation and costs for use 
together in understanding ways to support quality. The study has 
completed two phases of data collection to develop the data collection 
tools and measures. The study team collected data through on-site 
visits to 15 centers as part of an initial phase of data collection to 
pre-test information collections (data collected under clearance #0970-
0355). A second phase (OMB #0970-0499) relied on remote data collection 
through an electronic cost workbook, telephone interviews, and web-
based surveys to gather information from 30 centers in three states to 
develop preliminary measures of implementation and cost and further 
reduced and refined the data collection tools.
    This proposed new information collection is focused on a field test 
of the measures to assess the psychometric properties of the 
implementation measures and to examine the associations between 
measures of implementation, cost, and quality. The field test will 
include a mix of remote and on-site data collection.
    Respondents: ECE site administrators or center directors, program 
directors, education specialists, financial managers or accountants, 
teachers, and aides.
    Annual Burden Estimates:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Center recruitment call (to gain participation;
 assumes outreach to 10 centers for every 1
 center needed):
    Center director.............................             800               1             .33             264
    Umbrella organization administrator.........              75               1             .33              25
Center engagement call (to gather basic                      100               1             .50              50
 characteristics and plan steps for
 participation; assumes 20% may withdraw after
 this step).....................................
Implementation interview protocol:
    Center director.............................              80               1               3             240
    Additional center staff.....................              20               1               3              60
Electronic cost workbook........................              80               1               8             640
Staff rosters for time use survey...............              80               1             .25              20
Time-use survey.................................           1,120               1             .25             280
Classroom rosters for observations..............              80               1             .50              40
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Burden................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,619
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Comments: The Department specifically requests comments on (a) 
whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.
    Authority: Social Security Act Sec.  418 as extended by the 
Continuing Appropriations Act of 2017 and the TANF Extension Act of 
2019.

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-12796 Filed 6-17-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-23-P