Proposed Information Collection Activity; Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) Performance Measures
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) request approval fo...
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
ACTION:
Request for public comments.
SUMMARY:
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) request approval for a revision to a currently approved information collection activity as part of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) Performance Measures project (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) #: 0970-0497; expiration date July 31, 2026). The goal of the project is to collect, analyze, and report on performance measures data for the PREP-funded programs. The purpose of the request is to continue the ongoing data collection and submission of the performance measures by PREP grant recipients, with revisions to the current performance measures. We are proposing revisions to the current participant surveys and reporting forms to address feedback from grant recipients to simplify and clarify information collections, and to ensure the measures meet FYSB data needs while reducing burden.
DATES:
Comments due
June 16, 2026.
ADDRESSES:
In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described above. You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of information and submit comments by emailing
opreinfocollection@acf.hhs.gov.
Identify all requests by the title of the information collection.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Description:
The purpose of PREP is to provide grants to states, tribes and tribal communities, and community organizations to support evidence-based programs to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The programs are required to provide education on both abstinence and contraceptive use. The programs also offer information on adulthood preparation subjects such as healthy relationships, adolescent development, financial literacy, parent-child communication, education and employment skills, and healthy life skills.
The PREP project collects performance measures data from PREP grant recipients, program providers, and participants. The data include information on program structure, cost, and support for implementation; program attendance, reach, and dosage; the characteristics of youth involved in programming; youth sexual risk behaviors and behaviors related to adulthood preparation prior to program participation; and youth behavior intentions at program exit. The performance measures help the ACF program office and grant recipients to monitor and report on progress in implementing PREP programs and inform technical assistance. In addition, ACF will use the information to continue fulfilling its reporting requirements to Congress and OMB concerning the PREP initiative.
Some of the performance measures data come from youth participants through surveys PREP grant recipients administer at program entry and exit. There are separate versions of the entry and exit surveys for middle school youth, which exclude some of the more sensitive items that are included in the versions for high school and older youth. There is also a shorter version of the entry survey for participants in the Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies (PREIS) and Tribal PREP (TPREP) programs, to reduce the burden on participants in those programs (who are likely responding to other surveys); youth in these programs complete the same version of the exit survey as other youth.
We are proposing revisions to the current performance measures to address feedback from grant recipients and to ensure the measures meet FYSB data needs. Grant recipients have requested various changes to simplify and clarify the measures, including noting particular questions in the participant surveys that youth have difficulty understanding and responding to. In addition, contractor staff have noted which measures most frequently result in help desk contacts or are prone to data quality issues. Finally, FYSB staff identified measures that are no longer needed or could be obtained from other sources. Types of revisions include re-wording to use simpler language, reducing the number of sub-items or response categories, avoiding patterns in which survey respondents need to skip one or more questions based on their response to an earlier question, and removing some measures entirely. The proposed revisions to the participant surveys were cognitively tested with program participants for clarity and to check burden estimates.
Respondents:
State PREP (SPREP), TPREP, Competitive PREP (CPREP), and PREIS grant recipients, their subrecipients, and program participants.
Annual Burden Estimates:
The changes described above reduced the overall length of the surveys and are expected to reduce the burden for completing the participant entry survey from 8 minutes to 5 minutes per response and the participant exit survey from 7 minutes to 5 minutes per response. Additionally, the estimated number of respondents has been adjusted to reflect the estimated number over the next 3 years, which is reduced compared to previous estimates. Overall, we expect a 40 percent reduction in the annual burden hours under this request compared to the previously approved annual burden.
( printed page 20659)
Instrument
Number of
respondents
(total over
request period)
Number of
responses per respondent
(total over
request period)
Avg. burden per response
(in hours)
Total
burden
(in hours)
Annual
burden
(in hours)
Instrument 1
Participant entry survey (all versions)
235,353
1
0.0833
19,605
6,535
Instrument 2
Participant exit survey (all versions)
195,528
1
0.0833
16,287
5,429
Instrument 3: Performance Reporting System Data Entry Form
State grant recipients
49
6
18
5,292
1,764
TPREP grant recipients
7
6
18
756
252
CPREP grant recipients
27
6
14
2,268
756
PREIS grant recipients
12
6
14
1,008
336
Instrument 4: Subrecipient Data Collection and Reporting Form
State subrecipients
269
6
14
22,596
7,532
TPREP subrecipients
25
6
14
2,100
700
CPREP subrecipients
36
6
12
2,592
864
PREIS subrecipients
16
6
12
1,152
384
Estimated Total and Annual Burden Hours
73,656
24,552
Comments:
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.