NonSub Change - Race/Ethnicity Q Follow up minor change

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Jesse Escobar

Office of Head Start

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: January 21, 2025

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Program Information Report (OMB #0970-0427)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Program Information Report (OMB #0970-0427).

Background

Since the inception of the Program Information Report (PIR) in 1978, the PIR continues to be the principal source of basic information about the operating characteristics of Head Start programs and the services they provide. The PIR is used by various audiences including federal and state officials, researchers, early childhood national and state associations, technical assistance providers, and local early childhood programs.

The Office of Head Start (OHS) periodically makes updates to the PIR, typically, with the following goals:

• Continue to collect key and relevant data about children and their families served, staff employed, and services offered by Head Start programs;

• Align with Head Start policy;

• Promote integrity and quality of program data; and

• Consider and balance the burden and benefits of the data collection.

The current PIR (OMB #0970-0427) is approved by OMB through June 30, 2025 and an extension request will go out for public comment in the upcoming months. In the meantime, OHS has identified minor changes to the PIR that are intended to improve the information collection and do not impact the current burden estimates.

Overview of Requested Changes

The following are proposed non-substantive changes to the currently approved version of the PIR:

• Revising the recently approved race/ethnicity questions, A.26 and B.13, to remove the word “alone” to make the question less confusing. For example: American Indian or Alaska Native alone

• Additionally, there are minor formatting edits to bold certain words across the race/ethnicity questions, (A.26, A.27, B.13, and B.14) to improve clarity of the questions.

Time Sensitivities

These updates are proposed for incorporation prior to the 2025-2026 program year. Timely approval is requested to release the final advanced copy of the PIR before Spring.