[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 241 (Friday, December 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77123-77125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27241]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; 
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, 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

[[Page 77124]]

sustainability of evidence-based practices.

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. You can 
also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by 
emailing [email protected]. Identify all emailed requests 
should be identified 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 thirty six-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.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                    Number of
                                  Number of       responses per     Avg. burden
         Instrument              respondents       respondent      per response    Total burden    Annual burden
                                 (total over       (total over      (in hours)      (in hours)      (in hours)
                               request period)   request period)
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                                         BSC Implementation Instruments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instrument 1: BSC Selection                225                 1             1.5             338             113
 Application Questionnaire..
Instrument 2: Pre-Work                      48                 1               2              96              32
 Assignment: Data Collection
 Planning Worksheet.........
Instrument 3: Plan, Do,                    168                34            0.25           1,428             476
 Study, Act (PDSA)Form &
 Tracker....................
Instrument 4: Monthly                       48                 8             1.5             576             192
 Metrics....................
Instrument 5: Implementation               168                34            0.25           1,428             476
 Discussion Forum Prompts...
Instrument 6: Learning                     168                 4            0.25             168              56
 Session Feedback Form......
Instrument 7: Action                       168                 4            0.25             168              56
 Planning Form..............
Instrument 8: BSC Overall                  168                 1            0.25              42              14
 Feedback Form..............
Instrument 9: Organizational               168                 5             1.5           1,260             420
 Self-Assessment............
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                                           BSC Evaluation Instruments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instrument 10: Key Informant                 9                 1               1               9               3
 Interviews with BSC Faculty
 Members Affiliated with the
 States/Regions Discussion
 Guide......................
Instrument 11: BSC                          30                 2             1.5              90              30
 Implementation Staff and
 Faculty Focus Group
 Discussion Guide...........
Instrument 12: BSC                          30                 1            0.17               5               2
 Implementation Staff and
 Faculty Background Survey..
Instrument 13: Key Informant                24                 2               1              48              16
 Interviews with BSC Center
 Administrators Discussion
 Guide......................

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Instrument 14: BSC Teachers                120                 2             1.5             360             120
 and Support Staff Focus
 Group Discussion Guide.....
Instrument 15: BSC Parent                   24                 2             1.5              72              24
 Focus Group Discussion
 Guide......................
Instrument 16: Individual                  168                 2             1.5             504             168
 BSC Teams Focus Group
 Discussion Guide...........
Instrument 17a:                             24                 3             0.5              36              12
 Administrator Surveys......
Instrument 17b: Teacher                    240                 3             0.5             360             120
 Surveys....................
Instrument 17c: Other Center                96                 3             0.5             144              48
 Staff Surveys..............
Instrument 17di: Non-BSC                  2136                 2            0.25            1068             356
 Parent Surveys.............
Instrument 17dii: BSC Parent                24                 3             0.5              36              12
 Surveys....................
Instrument 18: Classroom                    48                 3            0.33              48              16
 Observations...............
Instrument 19:                              24                 4            0.25              24               8
 Administrative Data Survey.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,770.
    Authority: Head Start Act 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 (Public Law 113186).

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-27241 Filed 12-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-22-P