TRIO OMB rev Appendix B Letter

APPENDIX B

Survey Invite Letter to UB Project Directors

Dear <Name of Project Director>:

Congratulations on your success in the 2012 Upward Bound grant competition! We appreciate and thank you for the important work you are doing as the director of the Upward Bound (UB) project at <HOST INSTITUTION NAME.>. I am writing to urge you to participate in a survey of UB project directors being conducted on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education (ED). This survey is part of a national evaluation of the program that is mandated by Congress. Grantee cooperation in the federal evaluation of Upward Bound is a condition of the grant (34 CFR § 75.591).

The survey will serve two purposes. First, it will help ED obtain current detailed information on how projects across the country are providing core program components and services—such information hasn’t been collected in over 15 years. Second, it will help identify promising practices for future study. We want to share these findings with the TRIO community and others interested in improving college access programs for low-income and first generation students. Your cooperation with this survey and the valuable information you can provide is essential to the success of this effort.

The survey should take approximately 40 minutes. We ask that you complete it by <MM/DD/YYYY>.

The easiest way to fill out the survey is on the web:

• Go to www.(name of website).com.

• Enter the unique username and password we have assigned to you, listed below:

Username:

Password:

If you would prefer a paper version of the survey, please email, sepps@dir-online.com or call 888-xxx-xxxx.

All of your answers are completely confidential. Findings from the survey will only be reported in the aggregate and public reports will not identify you or your Upward Bound project. Under the direction of ED’s Institute of Education Sciences, our contractors Decision Information Resources, Inc. (DIR) and Abt Associates are required by law to uphold all federal laws regarding privacy and confidentiality.

If you have any questions regarding your obligation to complete the survey, please contact me at (202-XXX-XXXX). If you have technical issues with the link, please contact the survey director, Dr. Sylvia Epps, at DIR (phone: 1-888-xxx-xxxx; email: <email address>).

Thank you for cooperation by participating in this important study.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Office of Postsecondary Education