80 FR 55120 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 177 (September 14, 2015)

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55120-55121]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23017]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Study of Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in 
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded 275 Early 
Head Start expansion and Early Head Start-child care partnership grants 
in 50 states; Washington, DC; Puerto Rico; and the Northern Mariana 
Islands. These grants will allow new or existing Early Head Start 
programs to partner with local child care centers and family child care 
providers to expand high-quality early learning opportunities for 
infants and toddlers from low-income families.
    ACF is proposing to conduct a descriptive study of the new 
partnership grantees to document the characteristics and features of 
partnerships and the activities that aim to improve professional 
development and quality of services and better meet the needs of 
families. The study will focus on the grantees that have received funds 
for Early Head Start-child care partnership grants.
    The proposed data collection for the descriptive Study of Early 
Head Start-Child Care Partnerships will include two components: (1) 
Surveys of 311 partnership grantee and delegate agency directors and a 
randomly selected sample of 933 child care partners, and (2) in-depth 
follow-up case studies of 12 purposively selected partnerships.
    The goal of this work is to collect descriptive information about 
partnership grantees and delegate agencies, child care partners, and 
services and quality improvement activities implemented as part of the 
partnerships and explore how particular partnership models operate. 
These data will be used to describe the national landscape of 
partnerships, fill a knowledge gap about partnership models implemented 
in the field, lay the groundwork for future research, and provide 
information to inform technical assistance and actions aimed at 
informing the Early Head Start-child care partnerships grant 
initiative.
    Respondents: Partnership grantee and delegate agency directors; 
child care partner managers/owners; partnership staff who focus on 
coordinating activities among partners, monitoring compliance with the 
Head Start Program Performance Standards, and providing technical 
assistance and training; frontline staff; parents; and other state and 
local stakeholders (such as staff from child care resource and referral 
agencies or child care subsidy administrators).

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
           Instrument              Total number    Annual number   responses per     hours per     Annual burden
                                  of respondents  of respondents    respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Partnership grantee and                   311             156               1               1             156
 delegate agency director survey
2. Child care partner survey....             933             467               1            0.50             234
3. Interview topic guide:
    Partnership grantee and                   12               6               1             1.5               9
     delegate agency directors..
    Partnership staff...........              36              18               1               1              18
    State and local stakeholders              48              24               1               1              24
4. Parent focus group guide.....              96              48               1             1.5              72
5. Child care center director                 96              48               1             1.5              72
 focus group guide..............
6. Child care center teacher                  96              48               1             1.5              72
 focus group guide..............
7. Family child care provider                 48              24               1             1.5              36
 focus group guide..............
8. Partnership grantee and                    12               6               1               2              12
 delegate agency director
 questionnaire..................
9. Child care partner                        180              90               1            0.33              30
 questionnaire..................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 55121]]

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 735.
    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade 
SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. All 
requests should be identified by the title of the information 
collection. Email address: [email protected].
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Email: 
[email protected], Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration 
for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,
ACF Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-23017 Filed 9-11-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P