**Revised OMB Supporting Statement Promising Strategies in Federal College Access Programs** 

**Abt Associates Inc. Appendix**  **A .**  **Introductory Email to Site Coordinators**  **▌ pg**  **. 1**  

## Ap **pendix A**  **. Introductory**  **Email to Site Coordinators** Date First/Last Name of Site Coordinator School/District Name Street Address City, State, Zip Code Dear (NAME): We received your name from the director of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) in your state
. As you may know, your state is participating in the GEAR UP College Savings Account Research Demonstration
. The purpose of the demonstration is to provide federally
- supported college savings accounts and financial counseling to GEAR UP student in selected states and schools, and to learn whether these additional services improve students’ high school and college outcomes. You were designated as the coordinator for [NAME OF SCHOOL] , which is participating in the demonstration
. A school may be participating either by providing regular GEAR UP services or by providing the special savings account and financial counseling services to 9 th grade students IN ADDIT ION TO regular GEAR UP services. The schools that wi ll provide the additional services were selected at random in each state. One requirement of participating is to provide the Department’s evaluation team with a list of the 9 th grader s who were eligible for GEAR UP at the beginning of the 2013
- 14 school year. In particular, we are asking for the following directory information about each 9 th grade student:
 Name  Date of birth  Parent name  Address and phone number ED’s evaluation team, to whom you will be providing this information, includes Abt Associates and its p artners the Center for Social Development and Survey Research Management. Under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) you may disclose this directory information to Abt Associates , because they are conducting a f ederal evaluation on behalf of the Department. All information will be kept confidential at all times. We will follow strict rules to protect the information provided by and about students. Information will be transferred through secure means and be store d on secure computer networks . Further, we will not provide information that identifies any student to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law. A senior researcher from Abt Associates will be contacting you in the next week to describe the study in greater detail and work with you on what information is needed. Your help is critical to the success of this study and we very much appreciate your involvement. If you have any questions about participating in the study, you may call XXX -XXX -XXXX , or email me at GEAR_UP@abtassociates.com
. Sincerely, Alina Martinez , Ed.D. Study Project Director**Revised OMB Supporting Statement Promising Strategies in Federal College Access Programs** 

**Abt Associates Inc. Appendix**  **A .**  **Introductory Email to Site Coordinators**  **▌ pg**  **. 2**  **Study Contacts**  Alina Martinez Marsha Silverberg Project Director Federal Project Officer Abt Associates Inc. IES/US Department of Education Marsha.Silverberg@ed.gov **Study Website: XXXXXXXXXXXX**  **Study Email: GEAR_UP@abtassoc.com**  **Study Toll**  **- Free Number: XXX**  **- XXX**  **- XXXX**