48820 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Notices 

programs participating in classroomlevel data collection will be contacted. 

All programs will be contacted a second 

time in fall 2021 to confirm their 

continued participation in the Core 

spring 2022 data collection. The 

programs from Region XI would be 

recruited a year earlier (i.e., spring 2018) 

given the increased amount of time to 

recruit programs in tribal communities 

and to obtain tribal council and/or tribal 

leadership approval. 

The method of data collection for 

recruitment of all programs will include 

telephone conversations with program 

directors and on-site coordinators who 

serve as liaisons between the FACES 

study team and the Head Start centers. 

In Region XI, an additional recruitment 

telephone call with tribal leadership/ 

tribal council will be required. All of 

these calls will inform program staff 

about the purpose of the study and will 

gather lists of centers in each program 

in order to compile the center sampling 

frame. The purpose of this data 

collection is to support the 2007 

reauthorization of the Head Start 

program (Pub. L.110–134), which calls 

for periodic assessments of Head Start’s 

quality and effectiveness. 

Respondents: Head Start Program 

Directors and Staff, as well as tribal 

leadership. 

ANNUAL BURDEN ESTIMATES

Instrument Total number 

of respondents 

Annual 

number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden hours 

per response 

Annual burden 

hours 

Telephone script and recruitment information collection for 

program directors, Regions I–X ....................................... 230 77 3 1 231 

Telephone script and recruitment information collection for 

program directors, Region XI ........................................... 30 10 2 1 20 

Telephone script and recruitment information collection for 

on-site coordinators, Regions I–X .................................... 230 77 3 .75 173 

Telephone script and recruitment information collection for 

on-site coordinators, Regions XI ...................................... 30 10 2 .75 15 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 439. 

In compliance with the requirements 

of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Administration for Children and 

Families is soliciting public comment 

on the specific aspects of the 

information collection described above. 

Copies of the proposed collection of 

information can be obtained and 

comments may be forwarded by writing 

to the Administration for Children and 

Families, Office of Planning, Research, 

and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20201, Attn: OPRE 

Reports Clearance Officer. Email 

address: OPREinfocollection@

acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be 

identified by the title of the information 

collection. 

The Department specifically requests 

comments on (a) whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information; (c) 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (d) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to 

comments and suggestions submitted 

within 60 days of this publication. 

Mary Jones, 

ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22713 Filed 10–19–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Proposed Information Collection 

Activity; Comment Request 

Title: Pre-testing of Evaluation Data 

Collection Activities. 

OMB No.: 0970–0355. 

Description: The Office of Planning, 

Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in the 

Administration for Children and 

Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS) 

intends to request approval from the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) to renew a generic clearance to 

pre-test data collection instruments with 

more than nine participants to identify 

and resolve any question or procedural 

problems in survey administration. 

OPRE studies ACF programs, and the 

populations they serve, through rigorous 

research and evaluation projects. These 

include evaluations of existing 

programs, evaluations of innovative 

approaches to helping low-income 

children and families, research 

syntheses and descriptive and 

exploratory studies. To improve the 

development of its research and 

evaluation surveys, OPRE uses the pretesting of evaluation surveys generic 

clearance to employ a variety of 

techniques including cognitive and 

usability laboratory and field 

techniques, behavior coding, 

exploratory interviews, respondent 

debriefing questionnaires, split sample 

experiments, focus groups, and pilot 

studies/pre-tests. These activities allow 

OPRE to identify if and when a survey 

may be simplified for respondents, 

respondent burden may be reduced, and 

other possible improvements. 

Following standard OMB 

requirements, OPRE will submit a 

change request for each individual data 

collection activity under this generic 

clearance. Each request will include the 

individual instrument(s), a justification 

specific to the individual information 

collection, and any supplementary 

documents. OMB should review within 

10 days of receiving each change 

request. 

The information collected in this 

effort will not be the primary subject of 

any published ACF reports; however, 

information may be made public 

through methodological appendices or 

footnotes, reports on instrument 

development, instrument user guides, 

descriptions of respondent behavior, 

and other publications or presentations 

describing findings of methodological 

interest. When necessary, results will be 

labeled as exploratory in nature. The 

results of this pre-testing research may 

be prepared for presentation at 


srobinson on DSKBC5CHB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Notices 48821 

professional meetings or publication in 

professional journals. 

Respondents: Participants in ACF 

programs being evaluated; participants 

in ACF demonstrations; recipients of 

ACF Grants and individuals served by 

ACF Grantees; comparison group 

members; and other relevant 

populations, such as individuals at risk 

of needing ACF services. 

ANNUAL BURDEN ESTIMATES

Instrument Total number 

of respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden hours 

per response 

Total burden 

hours 

Survey development field tests, respondent debriefing questionnaires, cognitive interviews, split sample experiments, focus groups ........................... 3,825 1 1 3,825 

In compliance with the requirements 

of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Administration for Children and 

Families is soliciting public comment 

on the specific aspects of the 

information collection described above. 

Copies of the proposed collection of 

information can be obtained and 

comments may be forwarded by writing 

to the Administration for Children and 

Families, Office of Planning, Research, 

and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20201, Attn: OPRE 

Reports Clearance Officer. Email 

address: OPREinfocollection@

acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be 

identified by the title of the information 

collection. 

The Department specifically requests 

comments on (a) whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information; (c) 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (d) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to 

comments and suggestions submitted 

within 60 days of this publication. 

Mary Jones, 

ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22718 Filed 10–19–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–79–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Title: Adoption and Foster Care 

Analysis and Reporting System 

(AFCARS). 

OMB No.: 0970–0422. 

Description: Under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 

3501–3520), federal agencies must 

obtain approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for each 

collection of information they conduct 

or sponsor. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 

PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires 

federal agencies to publish a 30-day 

notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each proposed 

extension or reinstatement of an existing 

collection of information, before 

submitting the collection to OMB for 

approval. To comply with this 

requirement, the Administration for 

Children and Families (ACF) is 

publishing this notice that summarizes 

the following proposed collection of 

information for public comment: 

Title of Collection: Adoption and 

Foster Care Analysis and Reporting 

System (AFCARS). 

OMB Control Number: 0970–0422, 

expiration date February 28, 2018. 

Type of Review: An extension of an 

existing information collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: Title 

IV–E State, Local, and Tribal Child 

Welfare Agencies. 

There have been no revisions to the 

existing AFCARS data collection found 

under federal regulations at 45 CFR 

1355.40. The requirements for AFCARS 

being addressed by this notice are 

scheduled to end on September 30, 

2019. ACF is requesting that OMB 

approve a three-year renewal to cover 

the period when States and IV–E Tribes 

must continue submitting the existing 

requirements. 

On December 14, 2016, a new set of 

requirements (45 CFR 1355.41–44) for 

AFCARS reporting was published as a 

final rule and will go into effect on 

October 1, 2019. At that time, the 

requirements covered by this notice (45 

CFR 1355.40) will be replaced by the 

new regulatory requirements. The 

requirements for the updated AFCARS 

requirements found in federal 

regulations at 45 CFR 1355.41–44 are 

covered by a different OMB control 

number (0970–0457) and are not 

addressed by this Notice. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

addition to this Notice, Section 

3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal agencies 

to provide a 60-day notice in the 

Federal Register concerning each 

proposed collection of information, 

including each proposed extension or 

update of an existing collection of 

information, before submitting the 

collection to OMB for approval. In 

compliance with this requirement, ACF 

published a notice in the Federal 

Register on June 30, 2017 and invited 

comment on: (1) Whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of ACF’s 

functions, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of ACF’s estimate of the 

burden of the proposed collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

when appropriate, and other forms of 

information technology for the existing 

AFCARS reporting that is required by 

States and Tribes. 

ACF received 71 comment letters to 

the first notice. No substantive 

comments were received regarding the 

existing AFCARS data collection in 45 

CFR 1355.40 under OMB Number 0970– 

0457. Instead, commenters provided 

feedback on the new AFCARS data 


srobinson on DSKBC5CHB2PROD with NOTICES