[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 175 (Monday, September 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55819-55820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19549]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Culture of Continuous 
Learning Project: Case Study of a Breakthrough Series Collaborative for 
Improving Child Care and Head Start Quality (New Collection)

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration 
for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), 
Administration for Child and Families (ACF) is proposing an information 
collection activity for the Culture of Continuous Learning Project 
(CCL). The goal of the project is to assess the feasibility of 
implementing continuous quality improvement methods in early care and 
education (ECE) programs and systems to support the use and 
sustainability of evidence-based practices.

DATES: Comments due within 60 days of publication. In compliance with 
the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is 
soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information 
collection described above.

ADDRESSES: You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of 
information and submit comments by emailing 
[email protected]. Identify all requests by the title of 
the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The CCL project is proposing a new information 
collection activity to assess the feasibility of implementing 
continuous quality improvement methods in ECE programs and systems to 
support the use and sustainability of evidence-based practices. Three 
Breakthrough Series Collaboratives (BSCs), a specific quality 
improvement model designed to support the implementation of continuous 
quality improvement methods in organizations, will be implemented in 
Head Start and child care settings. The BSC methodology has been 
studied extensively in health care and other fields but has limited 
evidence as an effective quality improvement methodology in the early 
childhood field. The findings will be of broad interest to ECE programs 
as well as training and technical assistance providers and researchers, 
all of whom are interested in improving the quality of services young 
children receive.
    Head Start and child care programs that voluntarily participate in 
the BSCs will be asked to complete a number of tools designed to 
facilitate implementation of the BSC. The implementation of the BSCs 
will be evaluated using a case study design that will involve focus 
groups, interviews, surveys, and classroom observations. To fully 
capture participants' experiences in the BSCs, the implementation and 
evaluation instruments are designed to engage respondents one to three 
times during a twelve-month period, depending on the instrument. The 
goal of the case study is to document the factors that contribute to 
the feasibility of BSC implementation within a state quality 
improvement system (e.g., a state quality rating and improvement 
system) and/or a regional professional development or technical 
assistance system (e.g., a region within a state, or a cross-state 
region such as Head Start regional technical assistance areas) such 
that we can refine hypotheses and study measures which will be useful 
in the design of an evaluation for a future study of BSCs in ECE 
systems. The case study will also help determine what additional 
capacity ECE systems may need to adopt the BSC methodology and offer it 
within their system at a larger scale.
    Respondents: Up to 45 ECE programs will be invited to complete an 
application to participate in a BSC and up to five people per program 
will be involved in completing the application. Up to eight programs 
will be selected to participate in one of three BSCs, for a total of up 
to 24 programs. Within each program, up to seven individuals (e.g., 
directors, lead teachers, assistant teachers, teacher aides, parents, 
curriculum specialists, etc.) will participate in the implementation of 
the BSC, meaning that up to 168 individuals will participate. 
Respondents will also include additional teachers (up to 114), program 
staff (up to 96), and parents (up to 2,136) located at participating 
Head Start and child care programs where a BSC is implemented but who 
are not members of the BSC Team.

[[Page 55820]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                     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)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         BSC Implementation Instruments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instrument 1: BSC Selection                  225               1             1.5             338             169
 Application Questionnaire......
Instrument 2: Pre-Work                        48               1               2              96              48
 Assignment: Data Collection
 Planning Worksheet.............
Instrument 3: Plan, Do, Study,               168              34            0.25           1,428             714
 Act (PDSA) Form & Tracker......
Instrument 4: Monthly Metrics...              48               8             1.5             576             288
Instrument 5: Implementation                 168              34            0.25           1,428             714
 Discussion Forum Prompts.......
Instrument 6: Learning Session               168               4            0.25             168              84
 Feedback Form..................
Instrument 7: Action Planning                168               4            0.25             168              84
 Form...........................
Instrument 8: BSC Overall                    168               1            0.25              42              21
 Feedback Form..................
Instrument 9: Organizational                 168               5             1.5           1,260             630
 Self-Assessment................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           BSC Case Study Instruments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instrument 10: Key informant                   9               1               1               9               5
 interviews with BSC faculty
 members who are affiliated with
 the state/region...............
Instrument 11: Focus groups with              30               2             1.5              90              45
 BSC implementation staff and
 faculty who are not affiliated
 with the state/region..........
Instrument 12: Surveys with BSC               30               1            0.17               5               3
 implementation staff and
 faculty........................
Instrument 13: Key informant                  24               2               1              48              24
 interviews with center
 administrators who are members
 of BSC teams...................
Instrument 14: Focus groups with             120               2             1.5             360             180
 center teachers/support staff
 who are members of BSC teams...
Instrument 15: Focus groups with              24               2             1.5              72              36
 parents who are members of BSC
 teams..........................
Instrument 16: Focus groups with             168               2             1.5             504             252
 individual BSC teams...........
Instrument 17a: Administrator                 24               3             0.5              36              18
 surveys........................
Instrument 17b: Teacher surveys.             240               3             0.5             360             180
Instrument 17c: Other center                  96               3             0.5             144              72
 staff surveys..................
Instrument 17di: Non-BSC parent            2,136               2             0.5           2,136           1,068
 surveys........................
Instrument 17dii: BSC parent                  24               3             0.5              36              18
 surveys........................
Instrument 18: Classroom                      48               3            0.33              48              24
 observations...................
Instrument 19: Administrative                 24               4             0.5              48              24
 data survey....................
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 4,701.
    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: Head Start Act Sec.  640 [42 U.S.C. 9835] and 649 [42 
U.S.C. 9844]; appropriated by the Continuing Appropriations Act of 
2019. Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 as amended by 
the CCDBG Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-186).

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-19549 Filed 9-9-22; 8:45 am]
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