View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 0970-0582	ICR Reference No: 202205-0970-013
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 202202-0970-004
Agency/Subagency: HHS/ACF	Agency Tracking No: OPRE
Title: OPRE Study: Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS) Descriptive Study
Type of Information Collection: No material or nonsubstantive change to a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 05/24/2022
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 05/19/2022
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	12/31/2023	12/31/2023	12/31/2023
Responses	1,302	0	1,302
Time Burden (Hours)	1,010	0	1,010
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with Mathematica and its subcontractor, the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston, to conduct the Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS). The purpose of ExCELS is to learn about leadership in center-based early care and education (ECE) settings, and better understand how leadership might improve the quality of care and education centers provide and outcomes for staff, children, and families. The ExCELS descriptive study was launched in March 2022 with a plan to recruit 120 center-based ECE settings. These centers need to have at least one primary site leader (e.g., center director) in the building, receive funding from Head Start or the Child Care and Development Fund, and serve children whose ages range from birth to age 5 (but who are not yet in kindergarten). Data collection includes interviews with each center’s primary site leader and surveys for select center managers and all teaching staff. Data from the descriptive study will help develop a psychometrically sound measure of leadership. The study design includes a purposive sample of 120 center-based ECE settings from four states, selected to achieve variation that is critical for assessing the theory of change for ECE leadership and for psychometric analyses to develop a measure of leadership. The statistical precision of the planned analysis rests primarily on the number of staff respondents to surveys. The team has based assumptions of survey completes on the number of participating centers, the average number of staff in center-based settings, and a high response rate. A sample of 120 centers will support the ability to achieve sample targets for survey respondents that are needed to support the planned analysis. Since launching recruitment, the study team has had to conduct recruitment calls with a larger number of centers to engage one in the study. We are seeing that 30% of centers with which the team has conducted a recruitment call are agreeing to participate in the study. Centers are reporting being short-staffed, having many demands on their time, and continued staff stress and fatigue, due in part to the ongoing pandemic. We are also finding that larger numbers of centers are being found ineligible than anticipated (30% of those agreeing to participate after the recruitment call). This has required conducting engagement interviews with a larger number of centers than planned to successfully identify eligible centers for the study. We are requesting an increase to the burden estimates to allow for outreach to a larger number of centers and to account for potential attrition at different stages of engagement. These increases will help us complete data collection with 120 centers to support the study goals. The team has also made three adjustments to the sampling selection and recruitment targets to be more flexible in bringing centers into the study and determining eligibility.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 42 USC 9835 Name of Law: Head Start Act § 640
   US Code: 42 USC 9858 Name of Law: Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 § 658O
   PL: Pub.L. 113 - 186 9 Name of Law: Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 as amended by the CCDBG Act of 2014
   US Code: 42 USC 9844 Name of Law: Head Start Act § 649

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	86 FR 24626	05/07/2021
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	86 FR 44375	08/12/2021
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved
Annual Number of Responses	1,302	1,302
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	1,010	1,010
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: This is a new information collection request.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $1,429,000

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. Yes

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Molly Buck 202 205-4724 mary.buck@acf.hhs.gov

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