[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 153 (Thursday, August 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 44375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-17260]



[[Page 44375]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Early Care and Education Leadership 
Study (ExCELS) Descriptive Study (New Collection)

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

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within 
the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) seeks approval to 
collect information for the Early Care and Education Leadership Study 
(ExCELS) Descriptive Study.

DATES: Comments due within 30 days of publication. OMB must make a 
decision about 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.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Description: The ExCELS Descriptive Study is a new information 
collection to learn about what leadership looks like in center-based 
early care and education settings serving children whose ages range 
from birth to age 5, but not yet in kindergarten, and better understand 
how leadership might improve center quality and outcomes for staff, 
children, and families. The goals of ExCELS are to (1) develop a short-
form measure of early care and education leadership that has strong 
psychometric properties, and (2) examine empirical support for the 
associations among key constructs and outcomes in the study's theory of 
change of early care and education leadership for quality improvement. 
The study will recruit 120 centers that receive funding from Head Start 
or the Child Care and Development Fund, ask the primary site leader at 
the centers to participate in two interviews, and distribute surveys to 
select center managers and all teaching staff to test hypothesized 
associations between leadership constructs and outcomes in the study's 
theory of change.
    Respondents: Management and teaching staff from center-based early 
care and education settings that receive funding from Head Start or the 
Child Care and Development Fund.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of
                                     Number of     responses per
                                    respondents     respondent      Avg. burden    Total burden    Annual burden
           Instrument               (total over     (total over    per response     (in hours)      (in hours)
                                      request         request       (in hours)
                                      period)         period)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Center recruitment call script..             180               1             .33              59              30
Umbrella organization                        113               1             .33              37              19
 recruitment approval call
 script.........................
Engagement interview guide......             150               1             .33              50              25
Staffing structure and                       120               1             .50              60              30
 leadership positions interview
 guide..........................
Teaching staff roster...........             120               1             .25              30              15
Center manager survey...........             240               1             .42             101              51
Teaching staff survey...........           1,680               1               1           1,680             840
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,010.
    Authority: Authorized by the Head Start Act section 640 [42 U.S.C. 
9835] and section 649 [42 U.S.C. 9844]; appropriated by the Continuing 
Appropriations Act of 2019; the Child Care and Development Block Grant 
Act of 1990 section 658O [42 U.S.C. 9858], which also provides 
authority to use this discretionary funding for research; appropriated 
by the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2019; and the Child Care and 
Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 1990 as amended by the CCDBG Act 
of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-186).

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-17260 Filed 8-11-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-22-P