NonSub Change Request - FACE 2019 Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 Recruitment Materials

To: Jordan Cohen

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Nina Philipsen

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 21, 2021

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2019) (OMB #0970-0151)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2019) (OMB #0970-0151).

Background

The Administration for Children and Families’ FACES study periodically collects nationally representative information about Head Start programs, their staff, and the children and families they serve to inform program planning and technical assistance and enable research. The study team added a special study in the fall of 2021 to understand how children, families, and staff are faring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fall 2021 data collection activities for FACES and AIAN FACES were approved on July 30, 2021. As had been described in prior approvals for FACES, the next regularly scheduled data collection for FACES is in the spring of 2022. A full request package specific to the spring 2022 data collection is currently in process, with the 60-day comment period currently underway (86 FR 48151).

Overview of Requested Changes

We request two types of changes: those related to spring recruitment activities, and those related to parent and teacher consent materials, which will be used for both the fall 2021 and the spring 2022 collections. The proposed revisions fit within the general purpose of the FACES data collection and the intended uses of FACES data overall.

Changes related to spring 2022 program recruitment activities

With the addition of a special fall 2021 data collection for the 60 FACES child-level programs, we created new versions of the FACES fall 2021 recruitment scripts, which were included in the recently approved request for the special fall 2021 data collection. Recruitment for the remaining 120 FACES programs (classroom- and program-level spring 2022 data collection only) will begin in October 2021.

We have revised the following program recruitment scripts to include conditional text for the programs participating in the FACES classroom- and program-level spring 2022 data collection only:

• Telephone script and recruitment information collection for program directors, Regions I-X (Attachment 23)

• Telephone script and recruitment information collection for on-site coordinators, Regions I-X (Attachment 25)

We have also updated the following materials to include more specific information about the upcoming spring 2022 information collection and include materials for programs only participating in the spring data collection:

• Program Information Package (Appendix R)

• Supporting Statement A.

  • Note: We have updated the burden table to reflect the current timeframe for approval (through July 2022). The prior request was written and submitted as a three year request, but through discussions with the Office of Management and Budget, approval was given for one year. The burden table was not updated to reflect that change at the time of final approval.

• Supporting Statement B

Changes related to parent and teacher consent materials

We revised consent language for FACES and AIAN FACES parents and teachers. For parents, we added the sentence, “There are no risks or direct benefits from taking part in the study.” We also added a quick response (QR) code for ease in accessing the consent form electronically. For the teachers, we revised the consent language to describe the contents of the surveys more accurately. The proposed revisions fit within the general purpose of the FACES and AIAN FACES data collection and the intended uses of FACES and AIAN FACES data overall. The following instruments have been updated:

• FACES 2019 fall 2021 special parent consent form for fall 2021 and spring 2022 data collection (Attachment 29)

• FACES 2019 fall 2021 special Head Start teacher survey (Attachment 32)

• AIAN FACES 2019 fall 2021 special parent consent form for fall 2021 and spring 2022 data collection (Attachment 35)

• AIAN FACES 2019 fall 2021 special Head Start teacher survey (Attachment 38)

Time Sensitivities

Fall 2021 consent activities for parents are scheduled to begin on September 27, 2021. Fall 2021 consent activities for teachers are scheduled to begin on October 14, 2021. Recruitment of programs participating in spring data collection only is scheduled to begin in late October 2021.