2022-23761. Proposed Information Collection Activity; The Role of Licensing in Early Care and Education (New Collection)

AGENCY:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION:

Request for Public Comments.

SUMMARY:

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is proposing to collect information for The Role of Licensing in Early Care and Education (TRLECE) project. This data collection aims to examine the child care and early education (CCEE) licensing system through surveys of child care licensing administrators, front-line child care licensing staff, and child care providers.

DATES:

Comments due within 30 days of publication. OMB must make a decision about 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.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function. You can also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by emailing [e-mail]. All emailed requests should be identified by the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Description: The TRLECE project is proposing a new information collection to deepen the field's understanding of the CCEE licensing system. Information will be collected from child care licensing administrators, front-line child care licensing staff, and child care providers. This information collection will include three national surveys:

1. A one-time nationwide survey of the child care licensing administrator in each state, territory, and the District of Columbia (N=56) regarding the licensing system, as well as administrators' characteristics, experiences, and perceptions of the licensing system. Child care licensing administrators oversee critical systems that regulate CCEE settings for young children.

2. A one-time nationwide survey of front-line child care licensing staff from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia about their characteristics, experiences, responsibilities, and perceptions of the CCEE licensing system. By front-line child care licensing staff we mean individuals who routinely conduct licensing inspections of child care programs. They may have other responsibilities as well, as long as one of their jobs is to routinely conduct inspections.

3. A one-time nationwide survey of licensed child care providers from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia about their perceptions of and experiences with the CCEE licensing system. For the purposes of this study, licensed providers are defined as program owners/directors who oversee the day-to-day operations in a licensed center, as well as owners/operators of licensed family child care (FCC) programs (including group and family child care homes).

Respondents: We will invite all child care licensing administrators in each state/territory and the District of Columbia, and all front-line child care licensing staff in each state and the District of Columbia to participate in a comprehensive one-time web-based or telephone survey. For the survey of providers, the goal for the final sample will be a nationally representative sample of 2,000 licensed providers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia (1000 randomly selected licensed child care centers and 1000 randomly selected family child care homes).

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents (total over request period)	Number of responses per respondent (total over request period)	Avg. burden per response (in hours)	Total/annual burden (in hours)
Child care licensing administrator survey	48	1	0.5	24
Front-line child care licensing staff survey	1650	1	0.5	825
Child care provider survey	2000	1	0.5	1000

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,849.

Authority:42 U.S.C. 9858.

Mary B. Jones,

ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.