State of Preschool 2014-2016

Request for approval of a collection of information

Supporting Statement Part A

OMB Paperwork Reduction Act Submission 

OMB# 1850-0895 v.2

Submitted by:

The National Center for Education Statistics

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

February 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

JUSTIFICATION...................................................................................................... 1

A.1 Circumstances Necessitating Collection of Information ....................... 1

A.2 Purposes and Uses of the Data............................................................... 2

A.3 Use of Information Technology............................................................. 2

A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication............................................................... 2

A.5 Collection of Data from Small Businesses ............................................ 2

A.6 Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection................................... 2

A.7 Special Circumstances........................................................................... 3

A.8 Consultations Outside of the Agency .................................................... 3

A.9 Payments to Respondents ...................................................................... 3

A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality ................................................................. 3

A.11 Sensitive Questions................................................................................ 3

A.12 Estimated Response Burden .................................................................. 3

A.13 Annualized Cost to Respondents........................................................... 4

A.14 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government......................................... 4

A.15 Reasons for Program Changes............................................................... 4

A.16 Publication Plans and Project Schedule................................................. 4

A.17 Approval for Not Displaying the Expiration Date for OMB 

Approval ................................................................................................ 4

A.18 Exceptions to the Certification Statement.............................................. 4

List of Tables

Table Page

1 Estimated Response Burden for State of Preschool Data 

Collection .............................................................................................. 4

2 Annual Schedule of Major Activities .................................................... 4
1

PART A. JUSTIFICATION

A.1. Circumstances Necessitating Collection of Information

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of 

the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is seeking clearance for conducting an annual survey focused on 

publicly provided early childhood education in 2014 through 2016. The collection of this information is 

authorized by law under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S. Code Section 9543a) which 

stipulates that The Statistics Center shall collect, report, analyze, and disseminate statistical data related 

to education in the United States and in other nations, including -- (1)(L) access to, and opportunity for, 

early childhood education.

Data collected by NCES through other surveys has helped address the need for information about early 

childhood education, including prekindergarten, through household surveys and through the Common 

Core of Data (CCD). The household surveys focus on the demand side of early childhood education in 

terms of collecting information from families about their experiences finding such education 

opportunities. Information about the supply of such opportunities has primarily been obtained through 

CCD. However, CCD focuses only on programs provided through public schools. The Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS) fields a comprehensive supply study, but the study is done once a 

decade at most and is not state representative. Filling this information void have been the State of

Preschool annual data collections.

Prior to the State of Preschool collections, comprehensive information about publicly supported preschool 

education programs was not readily available in a single source on a regular basis. A range of different 

federal programs, such as Head Start and Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 

(IDEA), support early childhood education opportunities. At the same time, states provide support for 

public early childhood education through numerous state-level programs housed in different state 

agencies. Reporting of information from these disparate programs was not coordinated, making evaluation 

of publicly provided early childhood education difficult. The State of Preschool centralizes data about 

publicly provided educational opportunities from across federal and state sources. Data and annual 

reports from the State of Preschool have been used to provide comparable information from across the 

states since 2003.

The data collection system and related reports were developed by Rutgers University’s National Institute 

for Early Education Research (NIEER), using funds from grants awarded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. 

Pew Charitable Trust grants are awarded for finite time periods and those used to support NIEER’s work 

expired. With the expiration of the grants, NCES worked with NIEER to continue support for the State of 

Preschool data collections and annual reports. More information about the study can be obtained at 

http://nieer.org/yearbook.

The terms of clearance for the State of Preschool Survey 2013-2015 approval (OMB# 1850-0895) are:

“OMB appreciates that NCES is taking over an existing collection rather quickly in order to avoid a lapse in the availability of the data 

deemed useful by many. However, now that this collection is a Federal statistical collection, subject to OMB and NCES statistical 

standards, and given high public and policy interest (as evidenced in part by the number of public comments received), OMB approves 

this collection for only 18 months. Prior to resubmission, OMB appreciates that NCES plans to conduct a thorough content review and 

consult stakeholders including at OMB, to ensure that the survey meets as many data needs as is feasible and appropriate in the future.”

In 2013, NCES held a number of conference calls and meetings with OMB and other offices concerned with 

preschool education, which suggested content areas and item word reviews and revisions. The contract needed to 

support and manage the data collection was awarded after a full review period was possible for 2014, and now that 

the contract is in place, a more comprehensive review of the study content will be conducted. Meetings with the 

data providers are scheduled for the summer of 2014 to discuss instrument changes, which will allow time for items 

to be considered and tested for inclusion in the 2015 State of Preschool data collections.
2

A.2 Purposes and Uses of the Data

Data collected through the State of Preschool system form the basis of the “State of Preschool” annual 

report, which was first released in 2003. These reports are cited widely and provide a regular and 

comprehensive picture of publicly provided early childhood education across the United States. Data 

collected through the system focus on enrollment counts in state-funded early childhood education 

programs, funding provided by the states for these programs, and program monitoring and licensing 

policies. The data collected through the system are reported separately and in combination with extant 

data available from federal agencies supporting early childhood education programs such as the 

Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Census Bureau. Data from the U.S. Census 

Bureau form the basis for some of the rates developed for the “State of Preschool” reports. Apart from 

supporting updates to the “State of Preschool” report series, the data will be used in related NCES reports 

on the subject of early childhood education. The resulting data set will also be made available to policy 

makers and researchers, providing them with data about early childhood education opportunities not 

regularly available elsewhere.

A.3 Use of Information Technology

The collection will be completed using a web-based computer assisted interview (CAI) form. The webbased data collection tool is already developed and has facilitated state respondent cooperation by

minimizing respondent burden. The tool allows respondents to fill in information as it becomes available 

and at their convenience. It also reduces burden by routing respondents around questions that are not 

germane based on answers to prior questions. Edit checks and data verification procedures that prompt 

respondents for clarification during data collection are built into the CAI form. This reduces time used to 

contact respondents to update possibly erroneous entries and improves data quality. Several CAI features 

also automate much of the dataset development. This in turn leads to timelier access to the complete data 

set and, ultimately, release of the related “State of Preschool” reports.

A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication

NCES staff evaluated existing data collections focused on early childhood education and development, 

attended meetings organized by the National Academy of Sciences to develop consistent indicators of 

educational progress, canvassed the literature, and undertook a series of on-line searches to study options 

for alternative sources of information to that provided in the State of Preschool data collections. NCES 

staff also drew on a wealth of experience within the Department of Education more generally to determine 

if extant sources were available. No existing sources of information that were also available on a regular 

basis were discovered.

A.5 Collection of Data from Small Businesses

Small business may support some early childhood program enrollment using publicly provided funds. 

However, the kind of information collected through the State of Preschool data system is information that 

small businesses provide to state and local government entities for reasons other than this data collection. 

Further, the respondents to the data collection are state employees who are gathering data from small 

businesses for internal state reporting purposes. Thus this data collection does not increase burden on 

small businesses. 

A.6 Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

There are a wide range of state and federal policies that, at least in part, provide resources to support early 

childhood education opportunities. Changes in any one of them can significantly affect the number of 

children who can access early childhood education programs. As policies are in regular flux, the loss of 

annual data on the topic would provide incomplete information on this policy issue and could mislead 
3

policy makers and the public about the availability of early childhood education in the states and the 

country as a whole.

A.7 Special Circumstances

None of the special circumstances apply to this data collection.

A.8 Consultations Outside of the Agency

The data collection has been in place since 2003, providing the public with extensive opportunities to 

comment on the content of the collection and on how the data are reported. Likewise, state agencies 

contributed to the development of the content of the data collection and have had over 10 years of 

experience filing the requested information through the State of Preschool data collection system. As 

noted, NCES attended meetings convened by the National Academy of Sciences that, in part, focused on 

early childhood education indicators. In addition, NCES discussed the utility of continuing the data 

collection with staff from components of HHS that also study early childhood development and 

participated in expert review panels on related studies supported by HHS. By December of each year, 

state and federal agencies that provide support for preschool services will be contacted directly to 

determine whether new content or changes to existing content are advisable. Should the content of the 

questionnaires be subject to changes, requests for amendments to clearance will be submitted to OMB.

A.9 Payments to Respondents

There are no payments or gifts offered to respondents.

A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality

Data collected through the State of Preschool data system are public domain data in the reporting states. 

As such, the data collection does not provide a unique disclosure risk and therefore does not provide or 

include a pledge of confidentiality.

A.11 Sensitive Questions

Sensitive data are not collected through the State of Preschool data system. 

A.12 Estimated Response Burden

The time to fill out the form is estimated based on direct questions asked of state officials who have 

provided the data over the previous 10 year period. The reported time needed to gather the information 

from across state offices and to fill out the on-line form varied from 6 hours up to 24 hours, depending on 

the number of programs in the state supporting early childhood education and the capabilities of the state 

data systems. Only one state reported using 24 hours of staff time and most reported using approximately 

10 hours. For purposes of developing the burden level estimate, NCES assumes an average time to 

collect the needed information and to enter it into the data collection system to be 12 hours per state 

report. Including the District of Columbia and one or two states that had multiple reporting agencies, there 

are expected to be 53 respondents for the 2014 through 2016 data collections. The burden in terms of 

hours is estimated to be 636 hours total per annual collection.

The estimated cost per hour for each state is based on a weighted average for state employees in the 

NAICS labor categories 13-1111 available for 2012 (see http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm#13-

0000). Approximately 80 percent of the burden was assumed to be experienced by analysts and the other 

20 percent by managers for a weighted hourly cost, after adjusting for inflation, of $31.04 in 2013. A 1.5

percent cost of living adjustment was applied for the 2014 ($31.51), 2015 ($31.97), and 2016 ($32.45)

burden estimates.
4

Table 1. Estimated Response Burden for State of Preschool Data Collection

Collection year

Number of 

respondents

Average 

burden hours 

per respondent

Estimated total 

burden hours for 

all respondents

Average cost 

per respondent 

hour

Estimated Total time 

(hours)

2014 53 12 636 $31.51 $20,040.36

2015 53 12 636 $31.97 $20,338.13

2016 53 12 636 $32.45 $20,637.91

A.13 Annualized Cost to Respondents 

There are no costs beyond those presented in section A.12. 

A.14 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost to the federal government in 2014 will be $294,000, then $309,000 in 2015, and $324,000 

in 2016.

A.15 Reasons for Change in Burden

This is an extension of an existing collection with no changes.

A.16 Publication Plans and Project Schedule

One objective of the State of Preschool collections is to collect and make available for secondary analyses 

data from state agencies responsible for providing early childhood education. A second objective is to 

release a report summarizing data from the collection in conjunction with data obtained about federal 

programs that support early childhood education and about the number of preschool aged children in the 

country and across the states gleaned from Census Bureau data collections.

Table 2. Annual schedule of major activities

Task Date of Scheduled Conduct/Completion

State respondents are sent answers to previous year’s collection and a 

preview of CAI survey instrument

July

Data collection August through December 

State respondents are sent final data for their state from the current 

collection for review

January

Draft report delivered for review January

Draft full data set delivered for review February 

Final data delivered March

Final report delivered May

Data released May

Annual conference of the National Association of Early Childhood 

Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE)

June

A.17 Approval for Not Displaying the Expiration Date for OMB Approval

The OMB authorization number and expiration date will be displayed on the initial screen of the CAI, 

which program respondents will see when they log in to fill out the State of Preschool on-line forms.

A.18 Exceptions to the Certification Statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.