ED Response to OMB Passback

OMB Comments and Responses

1. There are 4 main topic areas included. How were the topic areas determined? English Learners is one topic area; was SPED considered as a topic area as well?   

ED: Before PPSS drafted the statement of work for this contract, staff members from the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (21^st CCLC) program office, Budget Service, and the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development discussed what topic areas would be most beneficial to 21^st CCLC grantees. ED staff determined that these four topic areas would provide the most useful technical assistance to grantees and were aligned with ED’s priorities.

2. Will the completed study include supporting data (student achievement data, demographics, etc.) to give a more complete picture of the sites?

ED: Where appropriate, the study will include supporting data such as student achievement data and demographic data from the sites themselves or from the 21^st CCLC program’s Profile and Performance Information Collection System (PPICS). The supporting data will be included in the short descriptions of each site that will be in each guide. However, as 21^st CCLC sites do not serve an entire school, reliable achievement data can be difficult for sites to collect. It is more likely that the sites will be able to provide demographic data. This contract does not include the collection of any new data.

3. Is there a way to get the cost breakout for the study? I see the total cost in the Supporting Statement, but I don’t see any other details.

ED: The budget for each task is as follows:

Task 1, Meet with ED, $27,606

Task 2, Establish Performance Measurement System, $31,292

Task 3, Study Design and OMB Package, $100,107

Task 4, Establish and Convene Technical Working Group, $141,445

Task 5, Lessons from the Field Guide on Teaching STEM in 21^st CCLCs, $465,142

Task 6, Lessons from the Field Guide on Teaching ELs in 21^st CCLCs, $437,725

Task 7, Lessons from the Field Guide on Teaching CTE in 21^st CCLCs, $471,384

Task 8, Lessons from the Field Guide on Structures to Increase Learning Time in 21^st CCLCs, $446,956

4. Topic area interview protocols:

• In the projector director interview script,

  • Please switch the order of the Staffing and Professional Development section and the Alignment with the School Day section to be consistent with the other interview protocols.

ED: Upon reviewing the protocols, we determined that the “Staffing and Professional Development” and “Alignment with the School Day” sections are in the same order (first staffing, then alignment) in every interview protocol across STEM, EL, and CTE; there are no instances in these protocols where it is in a different order in the project director interview script. We acknowledge that there is a difference across all of the interview scripts in ILT. In these interviews, “Alignment with the School Day” comes before both “Instructional Practices” and “Staffing and Professional Development” in every interview script, not just the project director. This comes from the unique nature of ILT as a topic. The primary practice identified by our Technical Working Group as essential to ILT is alignment with the school day. Therefore, we want to lead with questions on that practice as we think it will help set the stage for the rest of the interview, when we discuss the other practices.

• Principal interview (edits in blue):

  • Question #16 in EL Interview Protocol: “Are there differences in how you work with the program in the summer, as compared to during the school year, to support English language learning and socio-emotional support? If so, what are they? “

    • A variation of this question appears in the Principal interview for each focus area and would be updated in each script.

ED: Done.

• Project Director Interview (edits in blue):

  • Question #37 in EL Interview Protocol: “If you run a multi-site program, is there a difference in the funding of this site as opposed to other sites? If so, please elaborate.”

  • This question appears in all Project Director scripts and would be updated in each script.

ED: Done.

• Attendance: The interview protocols include questions for both the project director and site director about how they monitor attendance. Do these questions need to be asked in both sets of interviews, since this seems straightforward?

ED: We agree that the questions do not need to be in both sets of protocols. We removed attendance questions from the project director interview protocols.