Yes, I consent to receive text messages:

Conducting follow-up text surveys with principals and teachers

Maura Spiegelman, National Center for Education Statistics

Allison Zotti, U.S. Census Bureau

2021 FCSM Research and Policy Conference

November 3, 3021

This presentation is intended to promote ideas. The views expressed are part of ongoing research and do not necessarily reflect the position of the 

U.S. Department of Education or the U.S. Census Bureau.
Outline

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• Background on 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey baseline (NTPS)

• Background on 2021-22 Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS) and Teacher Follow-up 

Survey (TFS) to the 2020-21 NTPS

• Planned use of text messaging for PFS and TFS

• Policy considerations

• Experimental design for PFS and TFS messaging

• Preliminary analysis: who consents to receive texts?

• Plans for full text message experimentation and analysis
National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS)

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• Coordinated surveys of public and private schools, principals, and teachers 

– Directed by the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of 

Education’s (ED) Institute of Education Sciences

– Operations and design input from the U.S. Census Bureau

• ED’s primary source of information on K-12 schools from the perspectives of teachers 

and administrators

• Repeated cross-sectional surveys collected every 2 to 3 years

– Follow-up surveys of principals and teachers in selected collections

• Responding principals and teachers are asked for personal contact information, 

including cellphone numbers

• For the 2020-21 NTPS, respondents were asked to indicate whether they agreed to 

receive text message follow-ups
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Sampled School

Teacher Listing 

Form

Teacher 

Questionnaire

Teacher Follow-up 

Survey (TFS)

Principal 

Questionnaire

School 

Questionnaire

Principal Followup Survey (PFS)
2021-22 Principal and Teacher Follow-up Surveys (PFS and TFS)

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PFS TFS

Data 

collected

Status:

• Stayer (principal in SAME school 

as during 2020-21 NTPS)

• Mover (principal in DIFFERENT 

school than 2020-21 NTPS)

• Leaver (left the profession since 

2020-21 NTPS)

Status:

• Stayer (teacher in SAME school as 

during 2020-21 NTPS)

• Mover (teacher in DIFFERENT school 

than 2020-21 NTPS)

• Leaver (left the profession since 2020-21 

NTPS)

Detailed surveys about professional 

experience

Sample All NTPS responding principals 

(about 8,500)

Sample of NTPS responding teachers 

(about 10,300)
2021-22 Principal and Teacher Follow-up Surveys (PFS and TFS) continued

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PFS TFS

Respondent • Sent to school mailing address

• Follow-up using personal contact 

information, if provided and 

needed

• Status form sent to school mailing 

address

• Detailed questionnaire sent directly to 

teachers using personal contact 

information, if provided

Mode • Paper forms only

• Email reminders

• Telephone follow-up

• Paper forms only to collect status from 

schools

• Web push for detailed surveys: 3 web 

invitations and 2 paper questionnaires

• Email reminders

• Telephone follow-up
PFS and TFS status forms

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Why text?

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• PFS and TFS are longitudinal follow-up surveys, so we can collect cellphone numbers 

and consent to text

• PFS collects a single measure, and the TFS has a clear “key estimate.” Job status is 

typically non-sensitive and easy for respondents to answer in a text message survey

• For the longer TFS questionnaires, we can still encourage respondents to complete the 

full survey with texted links to the web survey
PFS text message survey pathway

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Welcome message

Are you still working 

as a principal?

Are you still a 

principal at the same 

school as the 2020-

21 school year?

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Are you working in a 

school with any of 

grades K-12, but not 

as a principal?

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Are you still working 

in K-12 education, 

but NOT in a K-12 

school?

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Are you working 

outside of K-12 

education?

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Thank you so much 

for your time and 

participation!

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

N

N

N

N

N
Policy Approval for Text Messaging

A formal request was sent to the Policy Coordination Office at the US Census Bureau for 

approval, which included:

– Background information for PFS and TFS

– Information about the data collection authority that covers PFS and TFS from the 

Interagency Agreement between Census and NCES

– Screenshots from the NTPS questionnaire that showed the PFS and TFS sample 

members were given the opportunity to opt-in to receiving text messages as a 

follow-up contact method

– Initial research questions that the text messaging experiments aim to answer

– Any potential risks and limitations
Research goals for 2021-22 PFS and TFS texting experiments

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• Can we collect principal status by text?

– If so, do these texts need to be accompanied by mailed paper forms?

• Can we increase TFS response rates by texting web survey links?

– If so, are these texts effective if they’re sent early in data collection? Late in data 

collection?

• If teachers do not respond to our detailed questionnaires, can we still collect their teacher status 

by text?
PFS (principal contacts only)

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Mail E-mail Text Phone

Control 

(standard 

operations)

2 mailings 2 e-mails None Phone follow-up

Mailing and 

texting

2 mailings 2 e-mails Status questions coincide 

with mailings and e-mails

Phone follow-up

Late texting None 2 e-mails Status questions coincide 

with e-mails

Phone follow-up
TFS (teacher contacts only)

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Mail E-mail Text Phone

Control 

(standard 

operations)

5 mailings 7 e-mails None Phone follow-up

Early texting 

(web link)

3 mailings 7 e-mails Survey links between 1st and 

2nd mailings

Phone follow-up

Late texting 

(web link)

4 mailings 7 e-mails Survey links after 4th mailing Phone follow-up

Late texting 

(status)

4 mailings 7 e-mails Status questions after 4th

mailing

Phone follow-up
Who consents to texts?

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• Our research tracks the consent of public and private principals and teachers only

– The preferences and behavior of these groups likely differ from both general 

population research and other specialized populations

• Willingness to provide personal cellphone numbers and text consent likely depends on 

survey context

– NTPS principals and teachers are contacted through their school mailing address, 

e-mail address, and perhaps by telephone number, so providing additional contact 

information could seem superfluous
Cellphone numbers and consent to receive texts (preliminary, unweighted)

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•54% provided cellphone number

•49% (of those who provided #s) consented to texting Public principals

•50% provided cellphone number

•46% (of those who provided #s) consented to texting Private principals

•74% provided cellphone number

•54% (of those who provided #s) consented to texting Public teachers

•73% provided cellphone number

•52% (of those who provided #s) consented to texting Private teachers
Principals: unweighted, prelim predictors of cell and text consent

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Public Private

Provide cell? If provide cell: 

consent to text?

Provide cell? If provide cell: consent 

to text?

Sex No difference

χ2 = 2.9180

p=.0876

No difference

χ2 = 1.7122

p=.1908

No difference

χ2 = .1600

p=.6892

No difference

χ2 = .5507

p=.4582

Race/Ethnicity 

(White, nonHispanic v 

non-White or 

Hispanic)

Non-White or 

Hispanic 

principals 

MORE likely

χ2 = 12.5625

p=.0004

Non-White or 

Hispanic principals 

MORE likely

χ2 = 9.2776

p=.0023

No difference

χ2 = 3.0508

p=.0809

Non-White or Hispanic 

principals MORE likely

χ2 = 5.2355

p=.0024

Age Older principals 

MORE likely

t=2.93 p=.0034

Older principals 

MORE likely

t=4.06 p<.0001

No difference

t=1.04 p=.2973

Older principals MORE

likely

t=2.35 p=.0192
Teachers: unweighted, prelim predictors of cell and text consent

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Public Private

Provide 

cell?

If provide cell: 

consent to text?

Provide cell? If provide cell: consent 

to text?

Sex Female 

teachers LESS

likely

χ2 = 9.5717

p=.0020

Female teachers 

MORE likely

χ2 = 39.9680

p<.0001

No difference

χ2 = 3.4069

p=.0650

No difference

χ2 = .9585

p=.3276

Race/Ethnicity 

(White, nonHispanic v nonWhite or 

Hispanic)

Non-White or 

Hispanic 

teachers 

MORE likely

χ2 = 163.4825

p<.0001

Non-White or 

Hispanic teachers 

MORE likely

χ2 = 3.9421

p=.0471

Non-White or 

Hispanic teachers 

MORE likely

χ2 = 9.4666

p=.0021

No difference

χ2 = 1.7938

p=.1806

Age Older teachers 

MORE likely

t=4.51 p<.0001

Older teachers 

MORE likely

t=17.98 p<.0001

No difference

t=1.38 p=.1681

Older teachers MORE likely

t=5.21 p=<.0001
Summary of findings on cellphones and text consent

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• Willingness to provide cellphone numbers depends on respondent job type

– 50% to 54% for public and private principals

– 73% to 74% for public and private teachers

• Among those who provide cellphone numbers, similar percentages of all types of 

NTPS respondents consent to receive text message

– 46% to 54% for public and private principals and teachers

• Non-White or Hispanic principals and teachers typically MORE likely to provide 

cellphone numbers and MORE likely to consent to receive text messages

• As principals’ and teachers’ age increases, they are typically MORE likely to provide 

cellphone numbers and MORE likely to consent to receive text messages
Plans for the future

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• Text messaging to PFS and TFS principals and teachers to begin in early 2022

• Analysis will include: 

– Engagement with text messages

– How principals and teachers interact with text message surveys

– Web survey logins and completions through text message contacts

– Experimental treatments in which text messaging is most effective

– Mode preferences

– Time to complete
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maura.spiegelman@ed.gov

allison.zotti@census.gov

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/