4184-22-P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Culture of
Continuous Learning Project:

Case Study of a Breakthrough

Series Collaborative for Improving Child Care and Head
Start Quality (New Collection)
AGENCY:

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), Administration for Child and Families (ACF) is
proposing an information collection activity for the
Culture of Continuous Learning Project (CCL).

The goal of

the project is to assess the feasibility of implementing
continuous quality improvement methods in early care and
education (ECE) programs and systems to support the use and
sustainability of evidence-based practices.
DATES:

Comments due within 60 days of publication.

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.
ADDRESSES:

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 CCL project is proposing a new

information collection activity to assess the feasibility
of implementing continuous quality improvement methods in
ECE programs and systems to support the use and
sustainability of evidence-based practices.

Three

Breakthrough Series Collaboratives (BSCs), a specific
quality improvement model designed to support the
implementation of continuous quality improvement methods in
organizations, will be implemented in Head Start and child
care settings.

The BSC methodology has been studied

extensively in health care and other fields but has limited
evidence as an effective quality improvement methodology in
the early childhood field.

The findings will be of broad

interest to ECE programs as well as training and technical
assistance providers and researchers, all of whom are
interested in improving the quality of services young
children receive.
Head Start and child care programs that voluntarily
participate in the BSCs will be asked to complete a number
of tools designed to facilitate implementation of the BSC.
The implementation of the BSCs will be evaluated using a
case study design that will involve focus groups,
interviews, surveys, and classroom observations.

To fully

capture participants’ experiences in the BSCs, the
implementation and evaluation instruments are designed to
engage respondents one to three times during a twelve-month
period, depending on the instrument.

The goal of the case

study is to document the factors that contribute to the
feasibility of BSC implementation within a state quality
improvement system (e.g., a state quality rating and
improvement system) and/or a regional professional
development or technical assistance system (e.g., a region
within a state, or a cross-state region such as Head Start
regional technical assistance areas) such that we can
refine hypotheses and study measures which will be useful
in the design of an evaluation for a future study of BSCs
in ECE systems.

The case study will also help determine

what additional capacity ECE systems may need to adopt the
BSC methodology and offer it within their system at a
larger scale.
Respondents:

Up to 45 ECE programs will be invited to

complete an application to participate in a BSC and up to
five people per program will be involved in completing the
application.

Up to eight programs will be selected to

participate in one of three BSCs, for a total of up to 24
programs.

Within each program, up to seven individuals

(e.g., directors, lead teachers, assistant teachers,
teacher aides, parents, curriculum specialists, etc.) will
participate in the implementation of the BSC, meaning that

up to 168 individuals will participate.

Respondents will

also include additional teachers (up to 114), program staff
(up to 96), and parents (up to 2,136) located at
participating Head Start and child care programs where a
BSC is implemented but who are not members of the BSC Team.
Annual Burden Estimates
Instrument

Instrument 1:
BSC Selection
Application
Questionnaire
Instrument 2:
Pre-Work
Assignment: Data
Collection
Planning
Worksheet
Instrument 3:
Plan, Do, Study,
Act (PDSA)Form &
Tracker
Instrument 4:
Monthly Metrics
Instrument 5:
Implementation
Discussion Forum
Prompts
Instrument 6:
Learning Session
Feedback Form
Instrument 7:
Action Planning
Form
Instrument 8:
BSC Overall
Feedback Form
Instrument 9:
Organizational
Self-Assessment

No. of
Respondents
(total over
request
period)

No. of
Avg.
Responses
Burden per
per
Response
Respondent
(in hours)
(total over
request
period)
BSC Implementation Instruments

Total
Burden
(in
hours)

Annual
Burden
(in
hours)

1

1.5

169

1

96

168

0.25

1,428

48

1.5

288

34

0.25

1,428

168

0.25

84

4

0.25

84

1

0.25

21

5

1.5

1,260

9

BSC Case Study Instruments
Instrument 10:
Key informant
interviews with
BSC faculty
members who are
affiliated with
the state/region

1

Instrument

Instrument 11:
Focus groups
with BSC
implementation
staff and
faculty who are
not affiliated
with the
state/region
Instrument 12:
Surveys with BSC
implementation
staff and
faculty
Instrument 13:
Key informant
interviews with
center
administrators
who are members
of BSC teams
Instrument 14:
Focus groups
with center
teachers/support
staff who are
members of BSC
teams
Instrument 15:
Focus groups
with parents who
are members of
BSC teams
Instrument 16:
Focus groups
with individual
BSC teams
Instrument 17a:
Administrator
surveys
Instrument 17b:
Teacher surveys
Instrument 17c:
Other center
staff surveys
Instrument 17di:
Non-BSC parent
surveys
Instrument
17dii: BSC
parent surveys
Instrument 18:
Classroom
observations

No. of
Respondents
(total over
request
period)

No. of
Responses
per
Respondent
(total over
request
period)

Avg.
Burden per
Response
(in hours)

Total
Burden
(in
hours)

Annual
Burden
(in
hours)

2

1.5

45

1

0.17

3

2

48

120

1.5

180

2

1.5

36

2

1.5

252

3

0.5

18

3

0.5

180

3

0.5

72

2

0.5

1068

3

0.5

18

3

0.33

24

Instrument

No. of
Respondents
(total over
request
period)

No. of
Responses
per
Respondent
(total over
request
period)

Avg.
Burden per
Response
(in hours)

Total
Burden
(in
hours)

Annual
Burden
(in
hours)

4

0.5

24

Instrument 19:
Administrative
data survey

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:
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.
Authority:

Head Start Act § 640 [42 U.S.C. 9835] and 649

[42 U.S.C. 9844]; appropriated by the Continuing
Appropriations Act of 2019.

Child Care and Development

Block Grant Act of 1990 as amended by the CCDBG Act of 2014
(Public Law 113186).

Mary B. Jones, ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.

[FR Doc. 2022-19549 Filed: 9/9/2022 8:45 am; Publication Date: 9/12/2022]