Supporting Statement Part A - revised 11-14-2011

Evaluation of the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum

Supporting Statement for OMB Clearance Request

Part A

Revised November 2011

Part A

Justification

A1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval for the data collection activities described in this request in order to support an evaluation of the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum. There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection; the evaluation is authorized under Section 649 of the Head Start Act, as amended by the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, codified at 42 United States Code (U.S.C.) 9844. This section provides an overview of the evaluation and discusses its objectives and the need for the proposed information collection.

The Office of Head Start (OHS) and the Division of Family Violence Prevention of the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) are partnering to help Head Start/Early Head Start programs and their community partners address and mitigate the effects of domestic violence in the lives of young children and families. Five states were selected to participate in the Safe Families-Safe Homes project. This training, or workshop, curriculum was developed for Head Start/Early Head Start programs and is used for domestic violence training and coordination amongst early childhood, domestic violence, child welfare, and substance abuse treatment and prevention partners. In the five-state project, each state has a training team led by the Head Start Collaboration Director and Domestic Violence Coalition Director; other members include representatives from relevant state agencies (e.g., child welfare, substance abuse). Each of the five states has received funding to lead Safe Families-Safe Homes training sessions for 50 participants, who may be Head Start Family Service Workers but may also include home visitors and other staff who provide direct services to Head Start children and families. The training teams have attended a training-of-trainers event. The purpose of this information collection is to evaluate how the Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum is implemented in each of the states.

Six primary research questions guide the evaluation:

1. What are the key characteristics of the Safe Families-Safe Homes training, as perceived by the state teams and participants in the local trainings?

2. How has the Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum been adapted by the state teams to meet the needs of their states?

3. What are the characteristics of the Head Start staff who participate in the local trainings?

4. What are the characteristics of the communities in which the Head Start staff work?

5. Do the participants in the local trainings know what they are supposed to do or accomplish as a result of the training?

6. What has been learned about implementation of the Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum that might inform similar efforts elsewhere?

To address these questions, all 250 participants in the local trainings will be asked to complete a brief survey, either online or via phone, and two members of the training team from each of the five states will be asked to complete a semi-structured phone interview. The survey data will be collected from the participants six months after the training, timed to the specific local trainings. The semi-structured interviews with the trainers will take place six months after all training sessions are complete. A copy of the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Implementation Evaluation Questionnaire is attached as Appendix A, and a copy of the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Implementation Evaluation Interview is attached as Appendix B.

A2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The Office of Head Start will use the information gathered to inform future efforts to improve the ability of Head Start/Early Head Start programs to address and mitigate the effects of domestic violence in the lives of young children and families. For example, the results of this data collection would inform OHS’ training and technical assistance providers about implementation of this training, and as such states and programs would be more informed consumers of this training option for mitigating domestic violence effects.

A3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

Survey data will be collected using a web-based survey tool. Training participants will be notified in advance regarding the survey. They will then be notified by e-mail when the survey is ready for them to complete and will be provided instructions for linking to the survey. The survey itself will be easy to use, fully accessible, and 508-compliant. Although the survey is straightforward, skip patterns can be automated and responses can be checked to further simplify survey navigation. By using the web-based survey tool, participants are saved the additional step of returning the survey through the mail. If participants prefer, the survey will be administered via telephone. In this case, the items will be read verbatim by a telephone interviewer.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

The curriculum developer has collected information from training participants, including Head Start staff who have participated in trainings. However, the information collected does not address the questions of current interest to the Office of Head Start. (As described above, the Office of Head Start is interested in how the program is implemented across states.) Rather, the previous information collections addressed such questions as whether training participants reported improved confidence in working with families that are experiencing domestic violence or whether participants reported an increased likelihood of future collaborations with other community service providers.

A5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

Not applicable. No small businesses are expected to be involved.

A6. Consequences of Collecting Information Less Frequently

This is a one-time collection.

A7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection.

A8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-12) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection activity. This notice was published on January 13, 2011 (76 FR 2394) and provided a 60-day period for public comment. A copy of this notice is attached as Appendix C.

The burden table published in the Federal Register (76 FR 2394) for public comment differs from the one included in this submission. Based on discussions within ACF, the surveys were combined and shortened. The total annual burden hours in this submission is 60% less than the total that was published in the Federal Register.

During the notice and comment period, the government received two requests for copies of the instrument. Both requests were fulfilled, and no public comments were received.

The Administration for Children and Families consulted with Tracy Cooley, of T Cooley & Associates. Ms. Cooley had led the task of preparing modifications of the existing Safe Families-Safe Homes curriculum for the present Head Start five-state project and led the training of trainers event; she is currently providing support to the training teams and has been involved with the efforts of the curriculum developer to evaluate the program. Her minimal editorial comments were incorporated into the instruments.

A9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payments to respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

The privacy of the respondents will be ensured to the fullest extent of the law. All survey respondents will be assured that the information they provide will not be used to evaluate their own or the Head Start grantee’s performance and will not be released in a form that identifies them.

All persons interviewed by telephone will be assured that the information they provide will not be released in a form that identifies them. Participants will be told that their conversations are not confidential, but that identifying information will not be attached to any public reports.

A11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

Although domestic violence is a sensitive topic, the information collection is related to implementation of a training program and does not include personally sensitive questions.

A12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

This proposed information collection does not impose a financial burden on respondents. Respondents will not incur any expenses other than the time spent answering the questions contained in the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes survey or semi-structured interview.

Exhibit A12.1 summarizes the reporting burden on respondents to the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum survey and semi-structured interview submitted for OMB clearance. Response times were estimated based on pre-tests and experience with similar instruments. The annual burden is estimated from the average total minutes taken to complete the survey and semi-structured interview. Thus, the total burden is expected to be 68 hours.

Exhibit A12.1: Burden and Cost of Survey

Instrument	Annual Number of Respondents	Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Burden Hours	Total Annual Cost
Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Survey	250	1	.25	$15.89	63	$993
Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Semi-Structured Interview	10	1	.5	$31.57	5	$158
Annual Estimate:					68	$1151

Respondents to the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Survey will be Head Start Family Service Workers or other Head Staff who provide direct services to families. To compute the total estimated annual cost, the total burden hours were multiplied by the average hourly wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009 ($15.89/hour)¹.

Respondents to the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Semi-Structured Interview will be Head Start Collaboration Directors, Domestic Violence Coalition Directors, or representatives from other relevant state agencies (e.g., child welfare, substance abuse). To compute the total estimated annual cost, the total burden hours were multiplied by the average hourly wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009 ($31.57/hour)².

The total estimated annual cost is $1151.

A13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers

Not applicable. The information collection activities do not place any capital cost or cost of maintaining capital requirements on respondents.

A14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The information collection activity and associated instruments have been created by staff from the Administration for Children and Families. The estimated costs are calculated by multiplying the hourly wage by the number of hours spent creating the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Survey and Semi-Structured Interview and the OMB package and then adding the total for each individual. The total hours spent on these activities is 104 and the total cost is approximately $4452.

The subscription for the web-based survey tool is expected to cost approximately $300.

Data collection, data analysis, and report preparation will be conducted by one or more consultants at the Head Start Resource Center, a project of Paltech. The cost for preparing the survey for posting on the web-based survey tool, conducting the semi-structured interview, cleaning and analyzing the survey data, summarizing and analyzing the qualitative data, and preparing reports is estimated at 72 hours of consultant time. For a consultant paid a loaded rate of $100/hour, the total cost for 72 hours of consultant time is $7200.

In total the information collection activities for the evaluation of the Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes training curriculum will cost the government $11,952. This is a one-time data collection.

A15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This submission to OMB is a new request for approval.

A16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

A16.1 Analysis Plan

The information collected will be summarized primarily at a descriptive level, using basic statistical techniques such as frequencies, percentages, and averages. To better understand some of the questions regarding the training, data on the training will be combined into cross-tabulations with the data on the characteristics of the Head Start staff and their communities. An example of such a table shell is below:

The Safe Families-Safe Homes training helps participants understand the causes, characteristics and impacts of domestic violence on families.

	Strongly Disagree	Somewhat Disagree	Somewhat Agree	Strongly Agree
No, no prior domestic violence training
Yes, prior domestic violence training

A16.2 Time Schedule and Publications

The first training sessions were held in April 2011; states may hold their training sessions any time before October 2011. The Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Survey will be administered to training participants six months after they have completed their training. The Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Semi-Structured Interview will be administered to members of the state training teams six months after their final training sessions. Thus, the first surveys will be administered in October 2011, and all data collection will be complete by April 2012. Data cleaning is expected to be complete by May 2012, and data analysis and reporting to the Office of Head Start is expected to be complete by June 2012. It is not expected that the report will be made available to the public, given the small sample sizes.

A17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

The Head Start Safe Families-Safe Homes Training Curriculum Survey will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

1 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009. Average hourly wage of child, family, and school social workers within the child day care services industry.

2 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009. Average hourly wage of social and community service managers within state governments.