Feb 29 -- The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of Education (ED), invites comments to OMB by April 1, 2024 regarding the proposed National Teacher & Principal Survey of 2023–2024 (NTPS 2023–24).
The National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), conducted every three years by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a system of related questionnaires that provides descriptive data on the context of elementary and secondary education. Redesigned from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) with a focus on flexibility, timeliness, and integration with other ED data, the NTPS system allows for school, principal, and teacher characteristics to be analyzed in relation to one another. NTPS is an in-depth, nationally representative survey of first through twelfth grade public and private school teachers, principals, and schools. Kindergarten teachers in schools with at least a first grade are also surveyed. NTPS utilizes core content and a series of rotating modules to allow timely collection of important education trends as well as trend analysis. Topics covered include characteristics of teachers, principals, schools, teacher training opportunities, retention, retirement, hiring, and shortages.
The NTPS serves as the base year for two follow-up collections: The Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS) contacts principals who responded to the previous year's NTPS collection to determine whether, one year later, they are working as a principal at the same school as the previous year (“stayers”), have moved to a different school (“movers”), or have left the profession (“leavers”). The Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) contacts a sample of teachers who responded to the previous year's NTPS collection in order to determine whether they are stayers, movers, or leavers, as well as additional questions about their career paths and employment experiences. (TFS and PFS are cleared as part of a separate package under OMB #1850–0617. The package for TFS/PFS 2024–25 will be cleared in 2024.)
For the 2021–22 and earlier TFS collections, our primary source of information on whether a teacher was a stayer, mover, or leaver (before we sampled and directly contacted those teachers) came from the school at which they worked during the previous year. However, not all schools report that information and, among those that do, they may not know the job status of the prior year's teachers. In order to determine whether that information can be collected more accurate and efficiently, we plan to ask NTPS teachers, at the end of the 2023–24 school year, whether they believe they will return to the same school in the 2024–25 school year. If their responses align with the information we later collect from schools and/or teachers who complete the TFS, we may be able to use this information to sample teachers for future administrations of the TFS.
For NTPS teachers who complete the NTPS Teacher Questionnaire web survey, on or after April 15, 2024, we will ask this question as the final item in the survey. For NTPS teachers who complete the survey before April 15, 2024 or who complete a paper questionnaire, we will send them an email invitation asking them to answer this additional question and, if needed, update their contact information. Teachers will only be asked this question once, but we have provided sample questions that reflect the two different ways in which the question may be asked.
NTPS:
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/overview.asp
NCES submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202402-1850-003 Click IC List for data collection instruments, View Supporting Statement. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-04159
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806