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2015-16

NATIONAL TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL SURVEY (NTPS)

PRELIMINARY FIELD ACTIVITIES

SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS PRE-CONTACT MATERIALS

OMB# 1850-0598 v.10

September 2014

National Center For Education Statistics (NCES)
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Special District Contact Call Script

2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS)

Label Information

A. Special District Research Application - Contact Person’s Information

Contact Name: Contact Title:

Contact Phone Number: Contact E-mail:

Notes

A. INTRODUCTION and CONTACT INFORMATION

A1. Hello, this is _____ from the U.S. Census Bureau. Have I reached (district name)?d

_ Yes  GO TO item A2.

_ Different district name  Probe for district name if necessary and correct the district name in the address 

area above. If the difference is significant, record the change in the Notes section. Try to confirm the name 

change (e.g., respondent says, “We used to be Jefferson District but are now Washington District.”). GO TO 

item A2.

_ No  Verify that you dialed correctly.

_ Correct number dialed  Probe for the respondent’s name, location, and whether the person or 

organization reached is related to the district in any way. Record information in the Notes section.

Thank respondent and end call.

_ Wrong number dialed  Dial correct number. GO TO item A1 above.

_ District closed  Probe for the respondent’s name, former position, the closing date, and any other 

information to confirm that it is a closure rather than change in status. Record information in the Notes 

section. Thank respondent and end call.

_ District merged  Probe for the name of the merged districts, location and the date of the merge. Record 

information in the Notes section. GO TO item A2. Refer case to supervisor following the call.

A2. This call may be monitored to evaluate my performance and should only take a few minutes.

During the upcoming school year we will be conducting the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) 

for the U.S. Department of Education.
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The NTPS is a series of integrated questionnaires that provide data on education to Federal, state, and 

local policymakers as well as education researchers.

This voluntary survey is authorized by law (20 U.S. Code §9543 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 

2002 (ESRA)). The Office of Management and Budget approval number for this study is 1850-0598. The 

data provided by the school and staff may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, 

or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S. Code §9573).

A3. I would like to verify your mailing address for the purposes of delivering a research application. Is the 

following address correct?

Read address from label on cover page. Make any necessary corrections on the label. Then GO TO item A4.

A4. Can you tell me the name of the person most appropriate to receive this request (for research approval)?

_ Yes  Record contact name and title in the appropriate spaces of the Contact Information section on the 

cover page. Probe for the contact person’s direct phone line and email address and record it in the Contact 

Information section. GO TO item A5.

_ No  Try to probe for a contact name. If unsuccessful, set appointment and record on the call record. GO 

TO item A5.

A4. Can you tell me about how long the district spends reviewing research applications?

_ Yes  Record information in the Notes section. Thank respondent and end call.

_ No  Thank respondent and end call.
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District Cover Letter

[Name] December 15, 2014

[Position, Department]

[School District]

[Street Address]

[City, State, Zip]

[Name]

The National Center for Education Statistics is requesting approval for the administration of the 2015-16 National 

Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) in some of the schools within the [School District Name] School District during 

the 2015-16 school year. The NTPS is a redesigned successor to the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Like SASS, 

the NTPS is designed to measure critical aspects of schools and teaching, the composition of the principal and 

teacher workforce, and conditions in schools. The National Teacher and Principal Survey is administered once 

every 2 years to a sample of schools, principals, and teachers. No student or classroom time is involved.

With the results from the NTPS, the National Center for Education Statistics produces estimates of public school 

characteristics and comparisons among elementary and secondary schools at the national level. The information 

provided by the principals, schools, and teachers in your area will represent the uniqueness and diversity of your 

school district and will contribute to a robust portrait of education in the United States. By participating in the 

NTPS, schools in your district will provide important information that will improve the primary source of official 

statistics on characteristics of schools, teachers, and principals in the U.S. Further information can be found on the 

NTPS website at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/. Any of our publications can be ordered without charge from 

the website.

The enclosed materials describe the purpose, survey topics, sample sizes, and respondent burden for the survey. 

Draft versions of the 2015-16 NTPS questionnaires are included for your review.

In addition to these application materials, a District Administration Form is enclosed that, when filled out, will 

indicate whether or not your district has approved the participation of sampled school(s). This form will facilitate 

participation in NTPS. Please return this form at your earliest convenience. This form may be returned by fax to 

Aniekan Okon at (301) 763-6192 or by email to aniekan.a.okon@census.gov.

If you require further information, please let me know, and I will be happy to provide it.

Sincerely,

Andrew Zukerberg

Project Director, National Teacher and Principal Survey

National Center for Education Statistics

1990 K St. NW, Suite # 9046

Washington, D.C. 20006
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2015-16 NTPS Generic Research Application

CONTACT

Applicant: Andy Zukerberg

Title: Statistician

Affiliation: National Center for Education Statistics

United States Department of Education

Address: 1990 K Street NW, Suite # 9046

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 219-7056

Fax: (202) 502-7475

E-mail: andrew.zukerberg@ed.gov

U.S. Census Bureau Contact:

Aniekan Okon

301.763.6192

aniekan.a.okon@census.gov

TITLE

National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), 2015-16 

PURPOSE

The need for contextual data on teachers, school principals, and school policies and programs has been 

well established. In response to concerns about the status of teaching and education, state and local 

education policymakers have sought more information about the school environment, the composition of 

the school workforce, and policies affecting the recruitment, retention, and retirement of teachers.

The National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) is sponsored by the National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES), the statistical agency for the United States Department of Education, to gather data on 

the teaching and working conditions in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. 

NTPS is authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, 20 U.S. Code §9543. NTPS provides 

data on the characteristics and qualifications of teachers and principals, teacher hiring practices, class size, 

and other conditions in schools across the nation.

NTPS is a redesigned successor to the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). NTPS will maintain the role 

SASS served as the Department of Education’s primary source of information on the teacher labor market 

and what is happening in K-12 schools from the teacher’s and administrator’s perspectives. NTPS is 

integrated with other ED data collections to reduce requests for redundant information from schools and 

districts.

NTPS, which is conducted on a 2-year cycle, is a large survey of K-12 schools, teachers, and principals in 

the United States today. Its data will be used by a wide variety of people interested in K-12 education, 

including teacher professional organizations, education advocacy groups, legislators, researchers, and 

journalists. NTPS provides a unique resource for information on elementary and secondary education by

linking data provided by schools with their respective principals and teachers. Data can be analyzed not 

only within each component (i.e., the school, principal, and teacher data files), but also across components 

or data files. This linkage across the different respondent groups makes NTPS data unique among school 

surveys and allows researchers to study the complexities of the American education system from multiple 

perspectives. For example, researchers can study teacher attrition using information from not only teachers 

but also from their schools and principals. The integrated survey design also allows NCES to collect 

information from the school personnel who can best supply it, causing less inconvenience to respondents 

and providing more accurate information.
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HYPOTHESES

Congress, the Department of Education, and other Federal agencies, State Departments of Education, 

education associations, and the education research community will use data from the 2015-16 NTPS to 

conduct research on a range of issues. In the past, some of the most frequently published topics have 

included class size, new teachers, out-of-field teaching, professional development, teacher 

attrition/retention, and teacher qualifications. Based on previous administrations of NTPS, the data will be 

used to produce national statistics on:

 Teacher capacity as defined by teacher qualifications, career paths, professional development 

activities, and support for these aspects of teachers’ careers by schools and district; and

 School capacity as defined by school organization and decision-making, management of 

curriculum and instruction, school programs, and school safety. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The primary purpose of the National Teacher and Principal Survey is to provide valuable information 

about schools and school staff, and the teaching and working conditions in the nation’s schools. With the 

help of survey participants, the National Center for Education Statistics is able to produce national 

estimates of public school characteristics and facilitate comparisons among elementary, middle, high, and 

combined elementary/secondary schools at the national level. The ability of NCES to provide this 

beneficial service is contingent upon the voluntary participation of schools, principals, and teachers whose 

inclusion is dependent upon their districts’ approval. The National Teacher and Principal Survey provides 

respondents with the opportunity to participate in a unique national survey and thereby contribute to data 

that are used by researchers interested in improving the education system in the United States.

The [District Name] benefits from being a sampled district by representing itself and also the state of 

[State]. Consequently, your district’s participation will improve the estimates, which will result in higher 

quality data. By choosing to participate, the policies and characteristics of the [District Name] will be 

reflected in the 2015-16 NTPS. The important information provided by your district’s schools, principals, 

and teachers will better inform and shape future education policies.

MEASUREMENT

Each topic is briefly described below in terms of the broad education issues in need of measurement.

Teacher Quality and Career Paths 

Teacher quality and the factors that influence it have become the focus of many educational researchers 

and the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. The movement of teachers in and out of 

the teaching workforce has been a central concern of NTPS/SASS since 1987 when data describing these 

phenomena were first collected. Building upon this base, more detailed indicators of teachers’ career paths 

may help explain entry into teaching and teacher attrition. Teachers’ experiences during the recruitment 

process and their first year of teaching can greatly influence decisions to continue teaching. Teacher 

quality items help inform NCES about the characteristics of training, which can be related to teaching 

assignments. Quality is defined as the match between teacher preparation (degrees, certification, and 

endorsements) and teaching assignment fields. These topics are measured in fine detail in the NTPS.

Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Evaluation

Recruiting and retention methods for teachers are a major topic of interest as schools and districts 

investigate ways to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. Questions in the School Questionnaire explore 

teacher vacancies and the ease with which positions are filled. Teachers are asked about their plans to 

remain in the teaching profession in the Teacher Questionnaire. Recent additions to the Principal 

Questionnaire explore the evaluation of teachers. 
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School Reform 

An important role of NTPS is to document the evolution of major reforms, especially as they affect 

schools and teaching practices. Topics continued from the 1999-2000, 2003-04, 2007-08, and 2011-12 

SASS questionnaires to the NTPS questionnaires include the amount of influence principals and teachers 

have in setting school policies.

School Safety 

School safety is frequently reported as a major problem in public schools in the United States. Violence 

and drug abuse in schools put huge constraints on teachers, students, administrators, and schools. 

Increased attention to school safety has led policy makers to begin examining school safety at the national 

level. The school safety items include the principal’s knowledge of violence and other school problems as 

well as incidents of teachers being threatened or physically attacked.

Basic Descriptive Information 

Each of the NTPS surveys contains questions that provide basic descriptive information on the 

respondent:

▪ The Principal and Teacher Questionnaires include items on gender, age, and race/ethnicity;

▪ The Principal Questionnaire includes items on principals’ licensure, highest degree earned, years 

of teaching experience, and salary;

▪ The Teacher Questionnaire contains items on years of teaching experience, education degrees and 

fields, certification, salary, and main teaching assignment; and

▪ The School Questionnaire contains items on enrollment, programs and services in the school, and 

counts of various types of school staff. 

CONTENT DESIGN

As mentioned previously, the NTPS will replace the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which the 

Department of Education has conducted since 1987. The revision process involved an analysis of items on 

the SASS surveys. Items that were gathered on other NCES surveys (such as EDFacts and the Civil Rights 

Data Collection) were removed from the NTPS questionnaires. These items will instead be pulled from 

these extant data sources and included on the NTPS data files. Items that had low response rates, were 

difficult to answer, or had other grammatical and clarity issues were revised or deleted. Before the surveys 

were finalized, new and revised items underwent cognitive lab testing with teachers, principals and school 

staff to determine whether items were likely to be understood correctly and uniformly across the survey 

population. 

Three of the five core components of the 2011-12 SASS remain: the School Questionnaire, Principal 

Questionnaire, and Teacher Questionnaire. These surveys are linked so that researchers may analyze 

school-level phenomenon at the national level.

In the 2015-16 administration, NTPS will retain or expand many of the topics covered in previous SASS 

administrations, maintaining the capability for trend analysis. At the same time, new items developed for 

the NTPS will collect additional information on a number of topics crucial to education reform. 

QUESTIONNAIRES

We have enclosed a draft version of the questionnaires intended for public schools for the 2015-16

administration of NTPS. The 2011-12 SASS questionnaires, as well as those from earlier administrations, 

are available on our website: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/SASS/questionnaire.asp.
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METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLING

The U.S. Census Bureau is the collection agent for NTPS data on behalf of the National Center for 

Education Statistics (NCES). NTPS is a self-administered survey that is mailed to sampled participants 

(some participants will be offered an online survey option). The survey does not require the use of any

school personnel to administer it, other than the direct time it takes for the sampled person to complete the 

questionnaire, and does not involve students. Sampled principals, teachers, and the most appropriate 

school staff are requested to record their answers either (a) on the printed questionnaire and return the 

questionnaire as directed (by mail to the U.S. Census Bureau) or (b) using the online survey option to send 

in their responses via a secure server link. There is no use of classroom time required for the completion 

of these questionnaires.

The 2015-16 NTPS samples will include fewer than 9,000 public schools and school principals, and less 

than 70,000 public school teachers.

Sampling for NTPS begins by selecting schools as the primary sampling unit, and then, including the 

principal and a relatively small sample of teachers within each selected school. Public schools selected for 

NTPS are sampled from the Common Core of Data (CCD), the universe of public schools supplied 

annually by state educational agencies to NCES. NCES modifies the list of schools from the CCD to meet 

the definition of a school as used by NTPS. To make sure that the sample contains sufficient numbers for 

estimates, the NTPS uses a stratified probability sample design. The main design objective is to provide 

the following data for public schools:

 National estimates of public schools and public school characteristics;

 National estimates of combined grade public schools (schools with a grade span that overlaps the 

elementary, middle, and/or high school levels); and

 National estimates of public charter schools and selected school characteristics.

After schools are stratified and sampled, teachers within the schools are also stratified and sampled based 

on the broad level of teaching assignment area, full- or part-time teaching status, and years of teaching 

experience. The sample of teachers will be selected from a list of teachers provided by the school. For 

each school in the sample, all teachers who teach students in grades K-12 during the fall of 2015, except 

for short-term substitutes, student teachers, and teacher aides, are eligible for sampling. An average of 10 

teachers will be sampled from each selected school. In order to achieve the desired sample size of new 

teachers, as well as teachers nearing retirement, the teacher sample will be stratified into four teacher 

groups based on years of teaching experience. This stratification will ensure a sufficient number of 

teachers in each group to permit estimates for all beginning and new public school teachers (i.e., teachers 

with 1 to 3 years of teaching experience), and all experienced and highly experienced public school 

teachers (i.e., teachers with 4 or more years of experience). A sufficient number of teachers is defined to 

be at least 2,400 teachers by experience category and school type (i.e., public, public charter, and private). 

Within each selected school, teachers will be classified as belonging in one of the following four 

categories:

1. Beginning (first year in the K-12 teaching profession);

2. New (2 to 3 years of teaching experience);

3. Experienced (4 to 19 years of teaching experience); or

4. Highly experienced (20 or more years of teaching experience).

All experienced teachers, who are more numerous than the beginning, new, or highly experienced groups, 

will be sampled with equal probability and at a lower rate than those in the other groups. To avoid placing 

an undue burden on schools by sampling teachers, NCES intends to survey an average of 10 teachers per 

school.
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For all public schools, the principal will be included in the survey as a result of the school being selected. 

Schools, principals, and teachers will be weighted by the inverse of their probability of selection, 

multiplied by various sampling and nonresponse adjustments. The general purpose of weighting is to scale 

up the sample estimates to represent the target survey population. 

DATA COLLECTION

The U.S. Census Bureau handles the data collection and editing phases. The 2015-16 NTPS is a mixed 

mode survey with paper and internet response options. Follow-up for sampled entities who do not respond 

to the initial mailing will be handled by telephone. U.S. Census Bureau staff who conduct NTPS receive 

training in preparation for the survey.

School principals will be mailed an invitation to participate in the NTPS in September 2015. U.S. Census 

Bureau staff will follow-up on outstanding questionnaires associated with the schools by telephone from 

November 2015 through January 2016. Teachers will be invited to participate in the NTPS on a flow basis 

as the teacher sample is drawn from the lists of teachers provided by the sampled schools.

The data collection schedule is outlined below.

2015-16 NTPS Timetable

Initial mail-out of School, Principal, & TLF Questionnaires September 2015

Mail first reminder letters for School, Principal, & TLF Questionnaires September 2015 

Mail second reminder letters for School, Principal, & TLF Questionnaires October 2015

Second mail-out of School, Principal, & TLF Questionnaires November 2015

Telephone reminder for outstanding school level forms October 2015 – December 2016

Mail Teacher Questionnaires weekly as they are sampled October 2015 – February 2016

Mail first Teacher Reminder letters November 2015 – February 2016

Mail second Teacher Reminder letters December 2015 – March 2016

Mail second Teacher Packages December 2015 – March 2016

Data capture of all questionnaires October 2015 – April 2016

RESPONSE BURDEN

NTPS relies on the voluntary participation of the principal, teacher, and school personnel. The quality of 

national estimates is limited by the level of respondent participation. Every effort is made to create 

questionnaires that collect in-depth data without putting an undue burden on the respondent. The estimated 

average response time for each questionnaire in the 2015-16 NTPS is presented in the following Table 1.

The average length of time necessary to complete each type of questionnaire is estimated from the results 

of the 2011-12 SASS and the number of survey item codes on the 2015-16 NTPS.

Table 1. Number of survey item codes and estimated average response time per respondent for each 

questionnaire in the 2015-16 NTPS

Questionnaire Number of items Estimated average response time per respondent

Teacher Listing Form N/A 30 minutes

School 140 22 minutes

Principal 114 17 minutes

Teacher 410 34 minutes

The National Teacher and Principal Survey does not require any form of student or parent participation. 

All respondents will receive a letter that explains that participation in the survey is voluntary. In addition, 

each questionnaire states on the inside cover, “We hope you will participate in this voluntary survey.”
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SASS has achieved a high response rate in previous administrations. Weighted response rates for the 

components to the public school sector for the 2011-12 SASS are presented in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Sample size and weighted response rate for each survey population for the 2011-12 SASS

Survey population Sample size Weighted response rate (%)

Public School Principal 11,000 72.6

Public School 11,000 72.4

Public School Teacher 51,062 77.7

ANALYSIS

Once the U.S. Census Bureau receives the completed survey forms, staff enter responses from the surveys 

into electronic data files, which are checked against the survey forms for accuracy. Names, addresses, and 

other identifying information for schools, principals, and teachers are removed from the data files to 

protect respondents’ confidentiality. When the respondents’ identifying information is removed from the 

data files, a school identification number is used to link principal and teacher data from the schools in 

which they work.

The data are used in statistical summaries only. NCES issues its own reports and allows researchers to 

access the data through restricted-use licensing for other analyses. Only users who have official clearance 

from NCES may have access to the restricted-use data files. Several reports may be issued once the data 

are finalized. These reports may include: a general report on the methodological findings.

NTPS publications will be provided for download on the NCES publications page 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/). Free printed copies of past SASS reports can be obtained from the Pubs 

Online Ordering System (www.edpubs.org or 1–877–433–7827) or downloaded from the NCES 

publications page (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/). 

CONSENT

The nature of this self-administered, cross-sectional survey is not considered intrusive, and has been ruled 

to be exempt under the protection of human subjects’ provisions in federal research. There is no individual 

student data (such as test scores or Social Security numbers) associated with any of the data acquired in 

this data collection. Since no data is collected about individual students, it is not necessary to obtain 

active, informed consent from students’ parents/guardians. 

Participation in the NTPS is completely voluntary, and individual survey items can be left blank, at the 

discretion of each respondent. On each questionnaire for each respondent, there is a statement clarifying

that participation is voluntary. 

The Department of Education has adopted a common set of regulations known as the Federal Policy for 

the Protection of Human Subjects or "Common Rule." The design of these regulations is based on 

established, internationally recognized ethical principles. The specific regulation is Title 34, Code of 

Federal Regulations, Part 97, Protection of Human Subjects, which includes Subpart A, Basic Policy, and 

Subpart D, Additional Protections for Children. These regulations classify as exempt certain categories of 

research. Research that is nonexempt is covered by the regulations. Research activities in which the only

involvement of human subjects will be in one or more of the following categories are exempt:

(2) Research involving the use of educational tests (cognitive, diagnostic, aptitude, achievement), survey

procedures, interview procedures or observation of public behavior, unless the information identifies the 

subjects and disclosure could reasonably place the subjects at risk of criminal or civil liability or be 

damaging to the subjects' financial standing, employability, or reputation. Subpart D amends this 

exemption, in part: If the subjects are children, research involving interview or survey procedures and 

research involving observations of public behavior in which the researcher(s) participate in the activities 
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being observed are not exempt. However, research involving the use of educational tests and research 

involving observations of public behavior in which the researcher(s) do not participate in the activities 

being observed are exempt.

For more information, please see http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/humansub/overview.html.

CONFIDENTIALITY

A security plan for protecting individual respondent data has been developed by NCES and the U.S. 

Census Bureau. Under this plan, the 2015-16 NTPS will conform to the applicable federal regulations –

specifically, the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), Privacy Act Regulations (34 CFR Part 5b), the 

Computer Security Act of 1987, the Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order of 1997 (an OMB directive), 

the U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-56), the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S. Code 

§9573), the E-Government Act of 2002, Title V, Subtitle A, Confidential Information Protection, NCES 

Restricted-Use Data Procedures Manual, and the NCES Statistical Standards.

The U.S. Census Bureau will collect data under an interagency agreement with NCES, and maintain the 

individually identifiable questionnaires per the security plan, including:

1. Provisions for data collection in the field;

2. Provisions to protect the data-coding phase required before machine processing;

3. Provisions to safeguard completed survey documents;

4. Authorization procedures to access or obtain files containing identifying information; and

5. Provisions to remove printouts and other outputs that contain teacher identification information from 

normal operation. Such materials will be maintained in secured storage areas and will be destroyed 

as soon as practical by burning.

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 purpose except as 

required by 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 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-XXXX. 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, 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.

A violation of the confidentiality restrictions is a felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years 

and/or a fine of up to $250,000.

INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) REVIEW

Under the federal policy for the protection of human subjects, NTPS is exempt from IRB review because 

it utilizes survey procedures and is conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings, 

involving normal educational practices. There is no potential for harm to human subjects. 
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PARTICIPANT INFORMED CONSENT FORM

NATIONAL TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL SURVEY (NTPS), 2015-16

You are being asked to participate in a survey called the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), for the 2015-16 

school year. [District] district has approved your school’s participation in this important study. This form provides you with 

information about the study, and the Project Director, Mr. Andy Zukerberg, who can be reached at 202-219-7056 or 

Andrew.Zukerberg@ed.gov is also available to answer your questions. Please read the information below and feel free to ask 

any questions you might have before deciding whether or not to take part.

The NTPS is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in order to collect important data on public 

elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The NTPS provides data on the characteristics and qualifications of 

teachers and principals, teacher hiring practices, professional development, class size, and other conditions in schools across 

the nation. Participants are asked to complete a paper questionnaire and return it in the pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope 

provided (some respondents are also given an online option). Details about the data collection instrument, respondent type, and 

time required to complete the questionnaire are below.

Data Collection Instrument Respondent Type Estimated Time Required to 

Complete Questionnaire

Teacher Listing Form School Administrator 30 minutes

School Questionnaire Principal 22 minutes

Principal Questionnaire Principal 17 minutes

Teacher Questionnaire Teacher (sample of teachers at school) 34 minutes

Each NTPS Principal or Teacher Questionnaire contains questions that provide basic descriptive information on the 

respondent. Some of these items are: gender, age, race/ethnicity, principals’ licensure, highest degree earned, salary, years 

of teaching experience, education degrees earned and fields, certification, main teaching assignment, teacher salary 

schedules, and hours worked per week.

Once the U.S. Census Bureau receives the completed survey forms, the responses are keyed into electronic data files, which are 

checked against the survey forms for accuracy. A school identification number is used to link principal and teacher data to the 

schools where they work.

The data are used in statistical summaries only. NCES issues its own reports and requires researchers to access the data through 

restricted-use licensing for other analyses. Only users who have official clearance from NCES may have access to the 

restricted-use data files. Several reports are issued once the data are finalized, which may include: a general report that provides 

an overview of the data, a teacher report, a school report, and a principal report, all providing only aggregate statistics. 

Congress and the U.S. Department of Education use these data to critically examine existing educational programs and services 

to plan new programs intended to improve education throughout the nation.

There are no risks involved in participating in this important survey. Your participation is entirely voluntary and you can refuse 

to participate without any penalty or loss of benefits to you or your school. If you decide to participate, you are free to 

withdraw your participation at any time during the study without any adverse consequences from the U.S. Department of 

Commerce or your school.

Please check one of the following:

____ I am willing to participate in the research project. ____ I am not willing to participate in the research project.

I fully understand that my responses may only be used for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable 

form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S. Code, Section 9573), and that my signature gives my consent to 

voluntarily participate in this project.

Signature _________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Participant Printed Name Date 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please return this form to Aniekan Okon via fax at (301) 763-3035 or email to aniekan.a.okon@census.gov or mail to:

U.S. Census Bureau

Aniekan Okon, 6H030D

4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 8400

Washington, DC 20233
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School Pre-contact Letter

[Name] [Date]

[Position, Department]

[School District]

[Street Address]

[City, State, Zip]

Dear Principal:

Your school has been selected to participate in the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), which will be 

conducted this fall by the U.S. Census Bureau for the National Center for Education Statistics, the statistical agency of 

the U.S. Department of Education.

The NTPS is a large-scale, nationwide survey of the teaching and working conditions in American schools, as well as

characteristics of the teachers and principals who staff them. You can find additional information about the NTPS and 

results from prior NTPS administrations at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps.

Please review your school name and address printed above. If it is not correct, please contact the U.S. Census 

Bureau to provide us with corrections at 1-866-208-7437. Someone will be available to take your call Monday 

through Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Thank you for giving this matter your attention. We look forward to your school’s participation in this important survey. 

The Census Bureau will be in contact with your school at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year.

Sincerely,

Chris Chapman

Associate Commissioner for Education Statistics

National Center for Education Statistics