[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 140 (Monday, July 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47507-47508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15555]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Building 
and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (New 
Collection)

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

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of 
Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services is proposing to collect information to 
examine a promising strategy to support the child care and early 
education (CCEE) workforce in Colorado as part of the Building and 
Sustaining the CCEE Workforce BASE project. This project aims to build 
evidence about workforce development strategies designed to promote, 
retain, and advance the CCEE workforce by improving the economic well-
being of CCEE workers.

DATES: Comments due within 30 days of publication. Office of Management 
and Budget (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 requests by the 
title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: As part of the BASE project, OPRE is evaluating the 
implementation, impacts, and costs of two initiatives designed to 
improve the wages and economic well-being of the CCEE workforce in 
Colorado. Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) is implementing 
two initiatives to improve the compensation and economic well-being of 
the CCEE workforce: (1) eligible CCEE center-based settings are 
randomly selected through a lottery process, and (2) eligible home-
based CCEE settings receive additional funding and supports. OPRE 
proposes to collect survey, interview, and cost data to understand: (a) 
the implementation and costs of the initiatives, (b) the effects of the 
initiative for teachers in center-based CCEE settings, and (c) the 
experiences of directors and teachers in center-based CCEE settings and 
owners and caregivers in home-based CCEE settings with the initiatives. 
The study will include CCEE workers who are offered the initiatives and 
those who are not, as assigned through CDEC's lottery, and key 
informants who are involved in the design and implementation of CDEC's 
initiatives. The effectiveness of the initiative will be determined by 
differences between members of the intervention and control groups for 
hypothesized outcomes in center-based CCEE settings. The experiences of 
directors/owners, teachers, and caregivers in center-based and home-
based CCEE settings with the initiatives will be explored with 
qualitative and descriptive analyses. OPRE and Colorado are 
collaborating to evaluate the two initiatives. Colorado will collect 
baseline survey data and share it with OPRE. OPRE will collect follow-
up surveys and interviews. Study participants will complete follow-up 
surveys approximately 9 and 18 months after the initiatives begin to 
understand how strategies that aim to improve compensation might 
improve outcomes such as workforce recruitment, retention, and economic 
and psychological well-being, as well as to capture contextual 
information about CCEE settings' working conditions and job demands and 
supports. Interviews will be conducted approximately 6 to 9 months 
after the initiatives began with center-based teachers/home-based 
caregivers and center-based directors/home-based owners to capture 
their experiences with the initiatives, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs 
about the initiatives, and how these experiences may shape the 
viability and implementation of the initiatives. Interviews with key 
informants at state-

[[Page 47508]]

level implementing agencies will collect qualitative data to understand 
contextual factors and the impetus behind the design and implementation 
of the initiatives. Finally, cost workbooks completed by center-based 
CCEE setting administrators will collect cost data to assess the costs 
associated with implementing the initiative. This information 
collection will support ACF and the CCEE field in understanding whether 
workforce support strategies that increase compensation affect the 
retention and well-being of the CCEE workforce. This information will 
help to inform federal, state, and local initiatives to build and 
retain a qualified CCEE workforce.
    Respondents: CCEE center-based directors, administrators, teachers; 
CCEE home-based owners and caregivers; CCEE key informants.

                                             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)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Follow-up center director                  75               2            0.75             113              75
 survey.........................
2. Follow-up lead and assistant            1,000               2            0.75           1,500           1,000
 teacher survey.................
3. Follow-up home-based owner                 95               2            0.75             143              95
 and caregiver survey...........
4. One-on-one center director                 15               1               1              15              10
 interview......................
5. One-on-one lead and assistant              25               1               1              25              17
 teacher interview..............
6. One-on-one home-based owner                25               1             1.5              38              25
 and caregiver interview........
7. One-on-one key informant                    5               1               1               5               3
 interview......................
8. Center-based setting costs                 16               1               5              80              53
 workbook.......................
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,278.
    Authority: Head Start Act 640 [42 U.S.C. 9835] and 649 [42 U.S.C. 
9844]; appropriated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. 
Head Start Act as amended by the Improving Head Start for School 
Readiness Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110 134).

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-15555 Filed 7-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-22-P