### 2015 **- 16** 

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

**FULL -**  **SCALE DATA COLLECTIO N** 

OMB SUPPORTI

NG STATEMENT PART A

OMB# 1850 - 0 598 v . 11

February 201 5 Rev. April 27, 2015 **National Center for**  **Education Statistics (NCES)**1 **A. JUSTIFICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS**  1. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 2 2. Purposes and Uses of NTPS ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................... 4 3. Appropriate Use of Information Technology ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 4 4. Efforts to Identify Duplication ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 4 5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Entities ................................ ................................ ................................ ............... 5 6. Frequency of Data Collection ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................... 5 7. Special Circumstances of Data Collection ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 5 8. Consultants outside the Agency ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 5 9. Provision of payments or Gifts to Respondents ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 6 10. Assurance of Confidentiality ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................... 6 11. Sensitive Questions ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 7 12. Es timates of Hour Burden for Information Collection ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 7 13. Estimates of Cost Burden ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 8 14. Costs to the Federal Government ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 8 15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs ................................ ................................ ................................ ............... 8 16. Time Schedule for NTPS ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 9 17 . Approval to not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval ................................ ................................ ................................ . 9 18. Exception to the Certification Statement ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 9 Attachment A - Questionnaires Attachment B - Respondent Contact Materials Attachment C - NTPS Content for the First T wo Cycles (2015 - 16 and 2017 - 18) and Changes from 2011 - 12 SASS Content2

**A. J** **USTIFICATION 1.**  **Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary** This request is to conduct data collection for the 201 5 - 16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) . The NTPS preliminary

activities, including contacting school districts and sending pre - contact letters to schools selected for NTPS 2015 - 2016 , were approved in January 2015 (OMB# 1850 - 0598 v.10) . NTPS is c onducted b y the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). It is a redesign of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which has been conducted seven times previou sly 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

– administering and providing new data every two years instead of every 4 years, and designed from the ground up to allow for quick turnaround of datasets and reports with release of data within 12 months 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 maintaining 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 ;  Removed district and library questionnaires to reduce burden ; and  Exploration of the use of extant data to replace subsets of items in the remaining forms . Due to the low response rates achieved in the 2011 - 12 Private School SASS and the 2013 - 14 Private School Survey

(PSS), N CES will not collect private school data in the 2015 - 16 NTPS, but instead will utilize the 2015 - 16 PSS to test approaches to enhance response rates among private school s. Attachment C shows NTPS content for its first two cycles (2015 - 16 and 2017 - 18) and changes from 2011 - 12 SASS . **Justification for the 2015 -**  **16 NTPS**  The 2014 - 2015 NTPS Pilot Test and other design and development activities have led to changes in NTPS procedures, sampling design, and content as compared to previous SASS studies . The basic components and key

design features of this full - scale NTPS 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 of3

important education topics including out of field teaching, school decision making, professional development, teacher and principal evaluation, and career path s 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 National 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 basis 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 “affil iation” 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 years 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. The TFS and PFS will remain part of the NTPS and will be collected every four years beginning in 20 16 - 17 . These two follow up surveys will go back to NTPS Teacher and Principal Survey respondents to determine whether they

are still working at the same school or in the field of education . Th ese data will be anal yzed in the context of their responses to the prior year NTPS. The TFS and PFS allow researchers to look at dy namics of the teacher and principal labor market , as well as attrition. Since it follows NTPS respondents, the current status of teachers and principals can be looked at in the context of the working conditions, sense of autonomy, and other self - reported v ariables from the prior year.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 S ASS, the NTPS data will be used to develop nationall y representative statistics on :  teacher qualifications, teacher career paths, professional development needs and activities, and support for these aspects of teachers' careers b y the school and the distri ct;  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 Technolog** **y** As in the 2014 - 15 NTPS Pilot Test and all prior administrations of SASS, the Census Bureau will collect data under an interagency agreement with NCES. Technology will be applied appropriatel y to keep respondent burden to a minimum. To lessen the response burden on public schools, speed up the teacher sample selection , and reduce data processing costs , schools will be asked to send a list of all of their teachers via electronic files , with the alternative option of filling out a paper questionnaire . Schools will be assured that all teacher data will be stored on secure online servers controlled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Additionally, questionnaires within each sampled school will be tracked using an electronic tool which the Census Bureau has used in the 2014 - 15 NTPS Pilot Test, economic surveys, and other ty pes of establishment surveys. V oluntary school based coordinators will be invited to access this web -based tool at the outset of data collection activities. In addition, following success ful implementation in the NTPS pilot test, schools will be asked to provide teacher email addresses on the Teacher Listing form. Teachers with email addresses will be invited to respond to the Teacher Questionnaire through an Internet response opti on. If they do not respond, they will also be given the option to respond by p aper. Independentl y, as part of the questionnaire, we will ask all teachers and principal for their email addresses to be used in the subsequent 2016 - 17 Teacher Follow up Survey (TFS) and the Principal Follow -up Survey (PFS), respectivel y . Lastl y, a small test using non -production cases will be implemented to determine whether school staff and principals are more likely to respond to an Internet response option than the traditional paper questionnaires with the use of a coordinator . The Internet response option reduces processing costs and editing errors. A similar test was conducted as part of the 2014 - 15 NTPS Pilot Test , but that design did not include the use of a coordinator. **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 cross - walked against a variety 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 to the NTPS files data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and C ivil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) in order to enrich and not duplicate data collection on these topics . In some cases a duplicate item was kept on NTPS because the extant variable was not suitable for NTPS5

(e.g. due to an issue with periodicity, availability, item wording, reliability, 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 de sign that specifies the selection of schools as a function of size defined by the number of teachers. Small schools, therefore, will be sampled at lower rates than larger schools because they comprise a smaller proportion of the teacher population per scho ol. Additionally, a large component of this redesign is specificall y to improve the data collected and minimize the burden imposed on respondents. The proposed NTPS questionnaires are shorter than the respective SASS questionnaires. **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. **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 Mr. Howard McGowan Assistant Division Chief Demographic Surveys 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 The current NTPS design has benefited from consultation with the following federal experts:Mr. Stephen 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. Carolyn Pickering Survey Director, Education Surveys Team U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 Ms. Shawna Cox Assistant Survey Director, Education Surveys Team U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 Ms. Teresa Thomas Survey Statistician U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233 **9. Provision of payments or Gifts to**  **Respondents** NCES will not provide a cash inc 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 Information 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 system 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 participa nts 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 purpose 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 (on the log - in page for online versions) : 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 Paperwork 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 - 0 598 . The time required to complete 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, ple ase 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 20006.7

**11. Sensitive Questions**  The teacher and principal questionnaires collect data on salary, crime victimization (teacher onl y), and perceptions of influence in the school. While these items might be considered sensitive, they have been used in the past and response rates for these items are traditionally high , ranging from 94.2% to 99.8% for principals and 92.3% to 98.2% for teachers. **12. Estimates of Hour Burden for Information Collection**  The sample size, projected number of responses, estimated average response time, and the total estimated respondent burden for the 2015 - 16 NTPS data collection activities are provided in Table 12a- c. **Table 12.a .**  **Estimates of respondent burden for the 2015**  **- 16 NTPS**  **data collection activities Activity/Respondent**  **Type Sample**  **Expected response rate**  **Number of**

**respondents Number of** 

**responses Per respondent** 

**(m inutes)**  **Total burden**

**(hours) SCHOOL STAFF**  Teacher listing form 8,300 0.64 5,3 12 5,3 12 30 2, 656 School questionnaire 8,300 0.64 5,3 12 5,3 12 30 2,656 **PRINCIPALS** Screener interview 8,300 0 .64 5 ,3 12 5 ,3 12 5 443 Principal questionnaire 8,300 0. 64 5,312 5,312 22 1,948 **TEACHERS** Teacher Questionnaire 40,000 0. 66 25 26,500 26, 500 40 17,667 **Total 42**  **, 436**  **47,748 25,**  **370** The 2015 - 2016 NTPS data col lection begins with an initial mailout package addressed to the principal of each sampled school that includes a letter to the principal, a letter to the school coordinator (which includes instructions for completing a brief online screener interview using the NTPS Respondent Status Center) , the Teacher Listing Form, the School Questionnaire , and the Principal Questionnaire . The questionnaires are considered to be "complete d " when they are returned to the Census Bureau . The principal is expected to spend the time to read the advance letter and make a determination about the school’s participation in NTPS ( involving the teacher listing form and the two questionnaire s ). The principal is asked to complete the Principal Questionnaire , and anyone in the school knowledgeable about the topics in the Teacher Listing Form or the School Questionnaire may complete those forms. Schools will be provided instructions for tracking the status of their school’s questionnaires through the NTPS Respondent Status Center , with most schools expected to designate this task to a person other than the principal. The person designated for this task is referred to as the S chool C oordinator. Schools that do not respond to the initial survey request will receive up to three additional requests by mail . Schools that do not respond to these mailings will be contacted by phone or personal visit . The se contacts will focus on the completion of the T eacher Li sting Form that is needed to draw a sample for the Teacher Questionnaire . During the call, the school contact person will also be encouraged to complete the NTPS School Questionnaire and Principal Questionnaire , as appropriate . O nce the teacher listing forms are received, processed, and the sample is selected , invitations to complete the teacher questionnaires will be sent out to teachers on a flow basis by either email and/or paper. T eachers for whom email address es have been obtained will be invited to complete the Teacher Questionnaire by Internet response. When a teacher ’s email address is not provided , attempts will be made to locate it through internet searches of school and district websites and through commercial vendor lists. When no address can b e obtained , the8

teacher will be mailed a paper questionnaire. Teachers with email addresses who do not provide an Internet response will be invited to complete the paper questionnaire. In addition to the full - scale data collection, an NTPS Schools and Principals Internet Test will be conducted using a supplemental sample. These cases will not be used in the 201 5 - 1 6 NTPS estimate s. **Table 12. b**  **. Estimates of respondent burden for the NTPS**  **Schools and Principals Internet Test Activity/Respondent**  **Type Sample**  **Expected response rate**  **Number of**

**respondents Number of** 

**responses Per respondent** 

**(m inutes)**  **Total burden**

**(hours) SCHOOL STAFF**  Teacher listing form 1 , 0 00 0.64 640 640 30 320 School questionnaire 1 , 0 00 0.64 640 640 30 320 **PRINCIPALS** Screener Intervie w 1 , 0 00 0.50 500 500 5 42 Principal questionnaire 1 , 0 00 0.50 500 500 22 183 **Total 1** **, 7**  **80 2,280**  **865** This test will follow the same data collection procedures and timeline as the full - scale data collection with the following exceptions: mailout packages will not include paper questionnaires with the exception of the third mailout where the schools will be re - invited to participate via a paper questionnaire included in that mailing; there will be two not three follow -up mailing s ; and no teachers will be sampled from the Teacher Listing Forms collected during this test . **Table 12. c**  **. Total Burden Hours for NTPS**  **Activity/Respondent Type Number of**  **respondents Number of**  **responses Total burden** 

**(hours)** 2015 - 16 NTPS data collection 42,436 47, 748 25,370 NTPS School and Principal Internet Test 1 , 7 80 2 , 28 0 865 **Total Response Burden 44**  **,2 16**  **5 0,**  **028 26,**  **235** The standard procedure for estimating burden time response cost is to multiply the estimated average length of time it takes to complete the survey by the average salary . The average hourl y earnings of local government emplo yees who are primary, secondary, or special education teachers in the 201 4 National Compens ation Survey

sponsored by

the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is $40.94 1 , and of an education administrator it is $42.68 2

. Therefore, the total estimated burden time response cost for teacher respondent s is $ 723,287 , and for school administrators $ 365,682 . **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 is $ 8.6 million . The Census Bureau estimates were developed b y the Census Bureau divisions involved in these activities. 1 See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm . 2 Source: BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ datatype: SOC:119030 (Education Administrators); accessed on January 30, 2015.9

**15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs**  This request shows an increase in the estimated response burden because the last approval was for 2015 - 2016 NTPS preliminary

activities while this request is for the data collections . **16. Time Schedule for**  **NTPS** The operational schedule for 2015 - 16 NTPS is as follows: **Activity Date**  Mail questionnaires/internet invitations to schools, request teacher lists August, 2015 Mail second questionnaire package to non -responding schools September, 2015 Mail third package to non -responding schools December, 2015 Mail fourth package to non-responding schools February, 2016 Telephone follow -up with schools to obtain teacher lists September 2015

– October 2015 Clerical research operation to obtain teacher lists October 2015

– November 2015 Mail Teacher Questionnaires as teacher samples are drawn September 2015

– March 2016 Telephone follow -up to obtain school, principal, and teacher questionnaires February 2016

– March 2016 Field follow -up to obtain teacher lists, school, principal, and teacher questionnaires September 2015

– May 2016 Data capture of all questionnaires September 2015

– June 2016 Data processing January 2016

– December 2016 Analysis of the internet experiment September 2015

– December 2016 **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.