NonSub Change - Pretesting Results

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Ivelisse Martinez-Beck and Ann Rivera, Project Officers

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 28, 2023

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – 2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (OMB #0970-0391)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, 2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE; OMB #0970-0391).

Background

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the 2024 NSECE data collection on June 7, 2023, and the study team is scheduled to begin data collection outreach activities in late October 2023. The 2024 NSECE, a set of four coordinated nationally representative surveys, is preceded by the 2019 NSECE (OMB #0970-0391) and the 2012 NSECE (OMB #0970-0391), which assembled the first national portrait of the demand for and supply of early care and education (ECE) since the 1990’s. Through a set of four inter-related surveys, the 2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) will collect information on (1) home- and center-based ECE services available (supply) to families with children ages birth through 5 years, not yet in kindergarten; (2) characteristics of the center-based ECE workforce providing these services; and (3) households with children under age 13 years. These surveys of center- and home-based providers, center-based workforce, and households will gather nationally-representative information on the supply of ECE available to families across all income levels; the demand for ECE; the factors influencing parents’ choices and utilization of ECE for their children; and the interaction of supply and demand - specifically the extent to which families’ needs and preferences coordinate well with providers’ offerings and constraints.

Our preparations for data collection for the 2024 NSECE have included review of selected state ECE program rules for licensing and public pre-kindergarten, cognitive testing of the Spanish Household Survey instrument during the public comment period, and testing of programmed questionnaires. Through these activities, we have identified a small number of edits to the questionnaires that would 1) better reflect current state policies, 2) improve consistency within questionnaires and between the English and Spanish versions, and 3) improve data quality through clarified instructions for data entry.

Time Sensitivities

We request approval of this non-substantive change by October 13^th, 2023, so that timely data collection can take place during the academic year. To provide representative data on households’ need for and use of care and the supply of ECE services, this data collection will survey households with children under age 13 and ECE providers of different types throughout the U.S. The 2024 NSECE must begin outreach, screening, and recruitment of households and providers as early as possible in order to ensure sufficient time to complete survey data collection with households and ECE providers throughout all 50 states and D.C., and, consequently, with workforce members, before the end of the typical program (academic) year in June of 2024.

Overview of Requested Changes

Table 1: Edits to English questionnaires (with accompanying Spanish edits as needed)
Edit	Affected items
1. Revise questions to include California transitional kindergarten as a type of ECE, given state program definitions for 2023-2024 school year	Instrument 1 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire: C8C Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): C8C Instrument 3 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire: Q1 Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): Q1
2. Repeat of text that appears earlier in the instrument to explain how to list time periods	Instrument 3 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire: B1_2 Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): B1_2
3. When discussing access to administrative records replace the word “program” with “employer” or remove the word entirely	Instrument 4 2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff) Questionnaire: F3, Consent to Access Administrative Records (SELF-ADMINISTERED), F3_SA Instrument 4S 2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff) Questionnaire (Spanish): F3, Consent to Access Administrative Records (SELF-ADMINISTERED), F3_SA
4. Edits so that description of databases in self-administered consent-to-link matches description in FI-administered consent-to-link.	Instrument 4 2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff) Questionnaire: F4_SA Instrument 4S 2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff) Questionnaire (Spanish): F4_SA

Table 2. Edits to Spanish questionnaires to better match English
Edit	Affected items
1. Use the phrase, “un hogar” rather than ‘el hogar’ when referencing home-based early care and education (ECE) to indicate that care may be in the provider’s home or another home.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): HH10_Q8, F4, F6A, F6C Instrument 2S 2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): J12b, J23b_M, K5_g, L3, FAQ
2. Use the phrase, “relacion previa” to indicate ‘prior personal relationship’ when referencing caregivers in a home-based setting	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): C5C, HH10_Q8, F6A, F6C Instrument 2S 2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): B7_M, B27, C11_M, C11a_M, C11b, J12b_b, J12b_c
3. Use the phrases “el niño de este hogar” or “los niños de este hogar” instead of “su niño” or “sus niños” when referring to children in the household who may or may not be the respondent’s own child.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): B3, B3b, B3c
4. Use phrase “proveedor de cuidado o cuidador” instead of “proveedor” when referring to providers who may provide less formal care.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): C1A_SA_CHECK
5. Replace “hijo” with “niño” when referring generally to a child (mainly a child in the household) instead of a son/daughter.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): C5E, C1B, HH10_Q4a, HH10_Q4c, J1_E1, J8A_E2A, HH10_Q10, HH10_Q10_2, HH10_Q10_5, G10A, H3, H6
6. Use the phrase “arreglos previos" instead of “previo aviso” to refer to drop-in care.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): C8_4 Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): Q1a_2b, Q7_2b
7. Revise verbs in sentences about children receiving care to always be plural as the article of the sentence has changed from “(hijo/hijos)” to “los niños en este hogar”.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): H3
8. In sentence referring to children having never been cared for by a provider, change the translation of “have been” from “(ha/han) fue” to “han sido”.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): H3
9. When referring to the provider of care in the sentence ensuring the confidentiality of the respondent’s information, replace “de su hijo” with “de ellos” which is plural and more general.	Instrument 1S 2024 NSECE Household Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): H3
10. Move the phrase “para niños” from the end of the sentence to after “tipos de cuidado”.	Instrument 2S 2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): J12b
11. Replace “regulado” with the phrase “regulado estatal” to refer to regulated child care.	Instrument 2S 2024 NSECE Home-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): J12b_d
12. Remove the word “abiertas” when referring to a center being open.	Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): Q1a_2b, Q7_2b
13. Remove the word “o” from the sentence.	Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): A12
14. Add the phrase “si son” to the sentence to specify to include services offered by other organizations.	Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): D11a, D11b, D11c, D11d
15. Replace phrase “años o menores” with “años o menos” to change translation of “X years or less”.	Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): E9
16. Add “/o” to adjectives to reflect both gendered versions of the adjectives.	Instrument 3S 2024 NSECE Center-based Provider Screener and Questionnaire (Spanish): H5e
17. Replace “con” with phrase “con en” to represent the phrase “with in”.	Instrument 4S 2024 NSECE Workforce (Classroom Staff) Questionnaire (Spanish): WF22 New 1_a