### 2015 **- 16** 

**NATIONAL TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL SURVEY (NT**  **PS)**

**PRELIMINARY FIELD AC TIVITIES** 

OMB SUPPORTI

NG STATE MENT PART A

OMB# 1850 - 0598 v .10

September 2014 **National Center for**  **Education Statistics (NCES)**1 **TABLE OF CONTENTS** A. **Justification** 1. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary 2 2. Purposes and Uses of SASS 4 3. Appropriate Use of In formation Technology 4 4. Efforts to Identify

Duplication 4 5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Entities 4 6. Frequency

of Data Collection 4 7. Special Circumstances of Data Collection 4 8. Consultation s outside the Agency 5 9. Provision of pay

ments or Gifts to Respondents 6 10. Assurance of Confidentiality 6 11. Sensitive Questions 6 12. Estimates of Hour Burden for Information Collection 6 13. Estimates of Cost Burden 7 14. Costs to the Federal Government 7 15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs 7 16. Time Schedule for Field Tests and Full - Scale SASS 8 17. Approval to not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval 8 18. Exception to the Certification Statement 72

**A. J** **USTIFICATION 1.**  **Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary**  This request is to conduct the first phase of field activities for the 201 5 - 16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) , namel y contacting and obtaining research approvals from school districts with an establish ed re search approval process and sending pre - contact letters to schools selected for NTPS 2015 - 2016 . A separate request will be submitted for the remainder of the 2015 - 16 NTPS full - s cale data collection activities in early 2015 , which will include the final ver sion of the NTPS 2015 - 16 questionnaires (please note that the draft questionnaire s included in this submission are those that were used in the 2014 NTPS Pilot Test (OMB#1850 - 0803) and not the 2015 - 16 main study final versions ) . NTPS is c onducted by

the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Itis a redesign of the Sch ools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which has been conducted seven times previously in 1987 - 88, 1990 - 91, 1993 - 94, 1999 - 2000, 2003 - 2004, 2007 - 08, and 2011 - 12. The redesign is aimed at developing a study that is :  highl y flexible

– utilizing rotating modules with core surveys of teachers and principals to provide ED and researchers with trend data on key topics, and the ability

to quickl y co llect information on pressing topics;  timely

– administered and providing new data every two years instead of every 4 years, and d esigned from the ground up to allow for quick turnaround of datasets and reports with release of data within 12 m onths of end of data collection; and  integrated with other ED data

– either linked with other collections such as EDFacts and CRDC, or maintaining variables that allow researchers to make these links. NTPS has been designed to meet these objectives while also maintain SASS’s longstanding role as the primary source of data on teacher and principal labor market s, and on the state of K- 12 school staff ing . By utilizing core content that is included in each round , along with rotating modules that allow deeper investigation of key

topics, NTPS will cover a similar breadth of topics as did SASS but in more depth across two study administrations. Some of the key design changes from the 2011 - 12 SASS include:  Nati onally

instead of state representative estimates;  Data collection every

two instead of every

four years ; and  Removed district and library questionnaires to reduce burden , and use of extant data to replace items in the remaining forms . Due to the low response rates achieved on the 2011 - 12 Private School SASS and currentl y being experienced on the 2013 - 14 Private School Survey (PSS), N CES has decided to postpone the collection of private school data in the 2015 - 16 NTPS, and instead to utilize the 2015 - 16 PSS to test approaches to enhance response rates among private school s. **Justification for the 2015 -**  **16 NTPS**  Preparations for the 2014 - 2015 NTPS Pilot Test and other design and development activities have led to changes in NTPS field procedures, sampling design, and content compared with previous SASS studies . This package provides partial information about the planned new approach. The OMB clearance package for the remainder of the full - scale 2015 - 16 NTPS data collection , which will b e submitted to OMB in earl y 2015, will incorporate the full set of changes resulting from the 2014 - 15 Pilot Test.3

The basic components and key design features of the full - scale NTPS will respond to the need for comparative data on teachers, school administrators, and school policies and programs to fulfill the ongoing requirement for NCES to meet its legislative mandate to report on the “condition of education in the United States.” NTPS is the Department of Education’s primary source of information about the composition of the school workforce and policies affecting the recruitment, retention, and retirement of teachers and principals . It is unique among education studies in that it allows linkage between school, principal , and teacher responses. NTPS will replace SASS as one of the key sources of nationally representative data on a range of important education topics including out of field teaching, school decision making, professional development, teacher and principal evaluation, and career path of educators and administrators. The cross - sectional repeated design of NTPS allows tracking of trends on these topics over time. **Legislative Authorization** NCES i s authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA; 2 0 U.S. Code §9543) . **Prior and Related Studies** The studies prior to the Schools and Staffing Survey were separate surveys of public and private schools, principals, teachers, and school districts under the Elementary and Secondary

General Information System. The Nation al Research Council report, “Creating a Center for Education Statistics: A Time for Action,” in 1986, noted: “It is essential that any system of collecting education data recognize, reflect and react to the issue of timeliness ( ... ) An example of such a lack is the case of teaching and teachers. With the publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), these topics emerged as fundamental issues of concern, and the need for data was sudden and immediate. Unfortunately, information on the number of teachers and other professional staff

– which we would think would be an essential element of any continuing data system

– was last collected at the elementary and secondary level in 1979 - 80. Data on minority teachers is even more archaic, having last been collected in 1968.” This report caused a number of fundamental changes at NCES (formerly , the Center for Education Statistics). Among them was the establishment of the Schools and Staffing Survey, to collect data on a periodic b asis about schools, principals, teachers, districts, and school libraries, all in the same survey ye ar. The survey

was designed to provide the data at the state level for public schools and at the “affiliation” level for private schools. The General Education Provisions Act, as amended [20 U.S.C. §1211(e)(1)], specified that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) design an integrated survey s ys tem called the Schools and Staffing Survey

(SASS). Legislative authority for NCES to collect data through surveys was reauthorized under the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 , and has most recently been authorized b y the provisions of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 cited above. SASS was first fielded in school ye ar 1987 - 88, collected every 3 year s through 1993 - 94, and then underwent a 6 - year pause for major survey design revisions, which resulted in the 1999 - 2000 data collection. Since then, SASS has been on a 4 - ye ar data collection cycle, with each SASS data collection followed one year later by the Teacher Follow - up Survey (TFS) & Principal Follow - up Survey (PFS ) data collection s . The most recent administration was in 2011 - 12. At the conclusion of the 2011 - 12 collection, NCES began to redesign SASS and named it the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) to reflect the redesigned study’s narrowed focus on the teacher and principal labor market and on the state of K- 12 school staff.4

**2. Purposes and Uses of NTPS**  In the past, some of the most published analyses based on SASS have included average class size, the number of new teachers, out - of - field teaching, professional development, teacher attrition and retention, and teacher qualifications. NCES plan s to keep items on these topics in NTPS. Based on previous administrations of SASS, the NTPS data will be used to develop nationall y representative statistics on :  t eacher qualifications, teacher career paths, professional development needs and activities, and support for these aspects of teachers' careers by the school and the district;  s chool organization and decision - making, management of curriculum and instruction, school safety, and parental involvement; and  p olicies pertaining to the recruitment and retention of teachers and principals . **3. Appropriate**  **Use of Information Technology** This request is to contact and obtain research approvals from school districts (also referred to as LEA’s) that require approval b y their research board or a similar body before their schools can be asked to participate in a s tudy , and to send pre - contact letters to schools selected for NTPS 2015 - 2016. We will use computer software to track communications with districts and schools and the status of NTPS application to districts for conducting re s earch in their schools . Additio nally, to the extent possible, communication s with districts and schools will utilize email, fax , and other electronic means. **4. Efforts to Identify Duplication**  A key element of the NTPS design principl e was to leverage trusted data sources instead of asking schools or districts to report items on NTPS that they or their state have already provided through other collections. At the start of the SASS redesign, all SASS items were crosswalked against a vari ety of ED’s and external data sources. From this review, a number of duplicate or near duplicate items were identified. As a result, NCES plan s to append data from the Common Core Data (CCD), Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), and other sources to the NT PS files in order to enrich and not duplicate data collection on these topics . Insome cases a duplicate item was kept on NTPS because the extant variable was not suitable for NTPS (e.g. due to an issue with periodicity , availability , item wording, reliabi lity , or the item being needed for confirmation purposes ) . **5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Entities**  The burden on small schools is minimized during the NTPS through the sample design that specifies the selection of schools as a function of size defined by the number of teachers. Small schools and districts, therefore, will be sampled at lower rates because they comprise a smaller proportion of the teacher population per school. Additionally, a large component of this redesign is specificall y to imp rove the data collected and minimize the burden imposed on respondents. **6. Frequency of Data Collection**  NCES plans for the NTPS to be collected on a two year cycle . **7. Special Circumstances of Data Collection**  There are no circumstances that will require special data collection efforts.5

**8. Consultants outside the Agency**  Since its inception, the development of SASS has relied on the substantive and technical review and comment of people both inside and outside the Department of Education. Outside experts who were convened to offer comments on proposed revisions for the NTP S and their affiliation at the start of the project include: Dale Ballou Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN Mark Berends University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN Rolf Blank Council of Chief State School Officers Washington, D.C. Sean Corcoran New York University New York, NY Betheny Gross Center on Reinventing Public Education University of Washington Seattle, WA Richard Ingersoll University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Philadelphia, PA Joe McTighe Council for American Private Education Germantown, MD Anna Nicotera National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Washington, DC Gary Sykes Understanding Teaching Quality Research Center Education Testing Services Princeton, NJ The following experts serve d as part of the SASS team in previous rounds of administration : Mr. Aref Dajani Chief, Longitudinal Surveys Branch Demographi c Statistical Methods Division U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 Ms. Jill Dever Senior Research Statistician, RTI International Statistics and Epidemiology Unit (RTI - DC) 701 13 th Street N.W. Suite 750 Washington, D.C. 20005 - 3967 Mr. Steve Tourkin Chief, Education Surveys Branch Demographic Surveys Division U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 The current NTPS design has benefited from consultation with the following federal experts: Mr. Steph en Broughman Statistician, Cross - Sectional Surveys Branch Sam ple Surveys Division, NCES 1990 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 Ms. Kathryn Chandler Statistician, Cross - Sectional Surveys Branch Sam ple Surveys Division , NCES 1990 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 Dr. Cleo Redline Senior Research Scientist, Statistical Standards and Data Confidentiality , NCES 1990 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 Ms. Shawna Graham Assistant Survey Director, Education Surveys Branch U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 Mr. Mark Masterton Survey Statistician U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 Ms. Teresa Thomas Survey Statistician U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 202336

**9. Provision of payments or Gifts to Respondents**  NCES will not provide a cash in c entive to survey respondents. Some Districts charge a fee to process research application requests , which w e will pay as necessary . **10. Assurance of Confidentiality**  The NTPS data collection agent, the Census Bureau , shall comply with ED’s IT security

requirements as set forth in the Handbook for Inform ation Assurance Security Policy ; with related procedures and guidance , including the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NI ST) standards and guidance ; and with the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002; 20 U.S.C., § 9573) . These requirements include the successful certification and accreditation of the syst em before it can be implemented . Appropriate memoranda of understanding and interconnection security agreements will be documented as part of the certification and accreditation process. From the initial contact with the participants in this survey through all of the follow - up efforts, potential survey respondents will be informed that all of the information they provide may

only be used for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purp ose except as required b y law [Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002 ; 20 U.S.C., § 9573 ) . The following language will be included on all survey instruments : Your responses are protected from disclosure by federal statute (20 U.S.C., §9573). All responses that relate to or describe identifiable characteristics of individuals may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose, unless otherwise compelled by law. According to the P aperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this voluntary information collection is 1850 -XXXX. The time required to compl ete this information collection is estimated to average XX minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this collection, or comments or concerns about the contents or the status of your individual submission of this questionnaire, please e - mail: addp.education.surveys@census.gov , or write directly to: National Teacher and Principal Survey, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 K Street, N.W., #9046, Washington, DC 20006. **11. Sensitive Questions**  There are no sensitive questions administered during the district and school pre - contact operation. We will only be responding to questions from the districts . **12. Estimates of Hour Burden for Information Collection**  This submission is to request clearance to contact and seek research approval from what are known as “Special Contact Districts” and to send pre - contact letters to schools selected for the 2015 - 2016 NTPS sample. The special contact districts are those known to require completion of a research application before they

will allow schools under their jurisdiction to participate in a study . Based on an initial assessment of previous SASS data collections, we estimate that 3 20 special contact districts will be in the sample. The school pre - contact letter is to verify school mailing addresses and to inform schools about the7

upcoming data collection. About 4% of all school addresses get corrected by the U.S. Post Office in response to the pre - contact letter, saving time and effort during the actual data c ollection period. Contacting special districts begins with updating district information based on what can be gleaned from online sources. Calls are then placed to verify the information about where to send the completed required research application forms, and, if necessary , to collect contact information for this process. During the call, inquiry

is also made about the amount of time the districts spend reviewing similar research applications. The estimated number of such districts represents those with particularl y detailed application forms and lengthy processes for approval. This operation should begin in early 2015 to allow sufficient time for special districts’ review processes. We will begin contacting these districts upon receiving OMB’s approval , and c ontinue to work with them until we receive a final response (approval or denial of request) up until January

20 , 2016 . The projected number of responses for each activity is based on the currently proposed NTPS 2015 - 16 sample size , which takes into account eligibility and response rates from 2011 - 12 SASS. **Table 1 .**  **Estimates of respondent**  **burden for**  **preliminary field activities for the 2015**  **- 2016**  **NTPS Activity**  **Sample Size Estimated**  **Number of Respon**  **dents Average Response** 

**Time per Respondent (Minutes)**  **Total**

**Burden Hours**  Contacting special districts for research approval 403 320 240 1,2 80 School pre - contact letter 7,800 5 , 300 1 88 TOTAL -- 5 , 620 -- 1, 368 Respondents to the preliminary field activities for NTPS will not incur any costs other than their time to respond. Currentl y, the mean hourl y rate of an education administrator is $42.68 (Source: BL S Occupational Emplo ym ent Statistics , http://data.bls.gov/oes/ datatyp e: SOC:119030 (Education Administrators) ; accessed on April 23, 2014) . Thus the estimated respondent dollar cost for these preliminary

field activities is $ 58,38 6. **13. Estimates of Cost**  **Burden** There are no additional costs to respond beyond the time to respond . **14. Costs to the Federal Government**  The cost to the federal government for the 2015 - 16 NTPS preliminary activities is $ 250,000. The Census Bureau estimates were developed b y the Census Bureau divisions involved in these activities. **15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs**  Estimated respondent burden in this request shows a decrease from last approval, because this request covers onl y the special districts’ research approval process activities and pre - contact letter to schools planned for the NTPS 201 5 - 20 1 6 , while the previous clearance w as for the full scale data co llection for 2012 - 13 Teacher Follow - up Survey (TFS:2013) and Principal Follow - up Survey (PFS:2013) to the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) . This request, in turn, will be followed in earl y 2015 b y a request to conduct the full scale NTPS 2015 - 2016 data c ollection activities .8

**16. Time Schedule for**  **NTPS** We will begin to contact special districts for research approval u pon receiving OMB’s clearanc e . The school pre - contact letter will be delivered in June, 2015. The following activities for NTPS data collection are tentative and will be submitted to OMB for approval in the next clearance package: Contact Special Districts to begin approval process January 2015

– August 2015 Complete and deliver special district applications and packages January 2015

– January 20, 2016 Draft special mailing materials for special districts May 2015

– January

20, 201 6 Mail school pre - contact letters where approved or no approval needed June 2015 Begin NTPS 2015 - 16 Data Collection August 2015 **17. Approval to not**  **Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval** We are not seeking approval to not display the expiration date of OMB approval. **18. Exception to the Certification Statement**  No exception to the certification statement is being requested.