[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76477-76478]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21210]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; 2024 
National Survey of Early Care and Education Longitudinal Follow-ups 
(OMB #: 0970-0391)

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 Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is proposing a data 
collection activity to be conducted January 2025 through December 2025 
as a follow-up of the 2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education 
(NSECE). The objectives of the 2024 NSECE Longitudinal Follow-ups are 
to build on the design and implementation of the 2024 NSECE to collect 
urgently needed information on the following two topics relevant to 
early care and education (ECE) policy: (1) how households learn about 
and make use of financial assistance in seeking and selecting ECE, with 
additional focus on paid individual care arrangements; and (2) patterns 
of retention and attrition among individuals in the center-based ECE 
workforce.

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 requests by the 
title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The 2024 NSECE Longitudinal Follow-ups will consist of 
two nationally representative surveys drawing from 2024 NSECE 
respondents:
    1. a survey of households (1) with incomes under 300 percent of the 
federal poverty level (FPL) and/or (2) who had used paid care by an 
individual in 2024 (2024 NSECE Household Follow-up)
    2. a survey of individuals who were employed in 2024 in center-
based ECE programs working directly with children in classrooms serving 
children age 5 years and under, not yet in kindergarten (2024 NSECE 
Workforce Follow-up).
    Participants will be drawn from respondents to the 2024 NSECE 
Household and Workforce surveys.
    The 2024 NSECE Longitudinal Follow-up data collection efforts will 
provide urgently needed information that will expand the potential of 
the 2024 NSECE data to describe: (1) households' search for and use of 
financial assistance for ECE (including assistance for paid individual 
care arrangements); and (2) employment experiences of individuals who 
have recently worked in center-based ECE classrooms.
    The household follow-up in early 2025 will re-interview households 
participating in the 2024 NSECE who (1) report using paid individual 
ECE or (2) report incomes below 300 percent of the FPL. The workforce 
follow-up in late 2025 will re-interview individuals who participated 
in the 2024 NSECE workforce survey (i.e., served as center-based 
classroom-assigned instructional staff between January and November 
2024). Both follow-up surveys are designed to collect in-depth 
information that was not feasible to collect in the 2024 NSECE and 
which can be uniquely collected through re-interviews of selected 2024 
NSECE participants. The household follow-up will include information 
about households' awareness of and experience with publicly funded ECE 
programs, how households selected ECE arrangements for Fall 2024, and 
who provided paid individual care to the households' children in 2024. 
The workforce follow-up will include information about the experiences 
of ECE instructional staff over time, where workers who leave ECE 
employers or the ECE sector go and why they leave, and workers' 
experiences in various ECE settings throughout their ECE careers. 
Accurate data on families with young children and the experiences of 
ECE workers are essential to assess the current landscape of ECE, and 
to provide insights to advance ECE policy and initiatives. The 
household follow-up will be fielded using multi-mode survey 
methodologies in early 2025, and the workforce follow-up will be 
fielded using multi-mode survey methodologies in the last half of 2025. 
Both follow-ups will enhance the value of the 2024 NSECE by expanding 
the potential utility of those data to describe household and worker 
experiences over time and to address additional information needs.
    Respondents: 1. Households participating in the 2024 NSECE and 
reported either a. a paid individual ECE arrangement in 2024, or b. 
income under the 300 percent Federal poverty level in 2024. 2. 
Individuals who participated in the 2024 NSECE survey of center-based 
classroom-assigned instructional staff (workforce).

Annual Burden Estimates

[[Page 76478]]



                     2024 NSECE Longitudinal Follow-ups (New Request Under This OMB Number)
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                                                                     Number of
                                                     Number of     responses per
                                                    respondents     respondent    Average burden   Total/annual
                   Instrument                       (total over     (total over    per response     burden (in
                                                      request         request       (in hours)        hours)
                                                      period)         period)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024 NSECE Household Follow-up Questionnaire....           3,750               1             .36           1,350
2024 NSECE Workforce Follow-up Questionnaire               5,550               1             .33           1,832
 (Classroom Staff)..............................
2024 NSECE Household Longitudinal Follow-up                   38               1             .05             1.9
 Quality Assurance Questionnaire................
2024 NSECE Workforce Longitudinal Follow-up                   56               1             .05             2.8
 Quality Assurance Questionnaire................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,187.

                              Currently Approved and Ongoing Under This OMB Number
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                                                                     Number of
                                                     Number of     responses per
                                                    respondents     respondent    Average burden   Total/annual
                   Instrument                       (total over     (total over    per response     burden (in
                                                      request         request       (in hours)        hours)
                                                      period)         period)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024 NSECE Household Screener...................          17,187               1              .1           1,719
2024 NSECE Household Questionnaire..............           4,231               1               1           4,231
2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener (listed              264               1             .03               8
 home-based providers)..........................
2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and                  946               1             .67             634
 Questionnaire (listed home-based providers)....
2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and                  175               1             .33              58
 Questionnaire (unlisted home-based providers)..
2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener.......           4,401               1              .1             440
2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and              3,602               1             .75           2,702
 Questionnaire..................................
2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff)                     3,794               1             .33           1,252
 Questionnaire..................................
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 11,044.
    Authority: Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, as 
amended by the CCDBG Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-186). Social Security 
Act, section 418 as extended by the Continuing Appropriations Act of 
2017 and the TANF Extension Act of 2019. Section 3507 of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35.

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-21210 Filed 9-17-24; 8:45 am]
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