SUPPORTING STATEMENT B
APPLICATION FOR TRAINING
OMB Control No. 0920-0017
Submitted July 31, 2025
Project Officer
Britney Johnson, MPH
Evaluation Lead
Education and Training Services Branch
Division of Workforce Development (DWD)
Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce (PHIC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
1600 Clifton Road Northeast, Mailstop V24-5
Phone: 404-718-5604
Email: mwq4@cdc.gov
Contents
1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 3
2. Procedures for the Collection of Information 3
3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with No Response 4
4. Tests of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken 5
5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data 5
The respondent universe consists of all nonfederal CDC-funded partner organizations (educational developers) that develop and submit educational activities to apply for accreditation, and nonfederal public health and healthcare professionals (learners) who may be employees of hospitals, universities, medical centers, laboratories, or state and local health departments who participate in educational activities to learn. This universe includes those that use the Continuing Education (CE) Proposal to request accreditation of learning activities, those that use CDC TRAIN to take accredited trainings and earn the continuing education credit (CE) they need to maintain professional licensures and certifications, and those that access CDC TRAIN for other non-accredited public health online training. Respondents voluntarily populate their required information in data fields using a secure web-based format. No sampling methods are used.
For the CE Proposal and CDC TRAIN, data are collected though secure, online portals embedded within each system.
CE Proposal
In the currently approved CE Proposal (Attachment 3), course developers are required to submit their educational activities one time for each application for continuing education accreditation using the secure, web-based platform. Once in the platform and approved for accreditation, the educational activity is added to CDC TRAIN for public health professionals to earn continuing education. No interviews or surveys are used to collect this information.
CDC TRAIN
In the proposed revision, learners taking accredited trainings must complete the CDC TRAIN Post-Course Evaluation (Attachment 4) in order to receive continuing education credit. For accredited courses, learners are prompted to complete the evaluation after completion of learning content. Information gathered in the evaluation is required by accrediting organizations, and is also used by course providers to improve courses.
All learners of a given accredited educational activity who complete the content, pass the post-test, and complete the post-course evaluation to earn CE and will receive an invitation email (Attachment 10) with a link back to CDC TRAIN to complete an optional Follow-up Evaluation (Attachment 5) 21 days after earning CE.
The CDC TRAIN Post-Course Evaluation will also be available to course providers offering non-accredited trainings within CDC TRAIN. Completion of the tool will not be required for all courses but may be required for the learner to get credit for completing the course. A course completion adds the course to the learner’s CDC TRAIN transcript and he or she can receive a certificate of completion, if offered.
The modular approach of the instrument will allow non-accredited course providers to ask questions pertinent to their data collection needs to ensure learners are only providing actionable and relevant feedback. Learners who complete the CDC TRAIN Post-Course Evaluation (Attachment 4) in CDC TRAIN will be sent an email (Attachment 11) directly from the system 21 days later with a link to complete the optional CDC TRAIN Delayed Follow-Up Evaluation Tool (Attachment 5) in the system.
Response rate is pertinent to the implementation of post-course evaluation tools in CDC TRAIN. Several tools are used to help maximize response rates to the evaluation tools and deal with no response. In CDC TRAIN, if learners encounter technical difficulties or challenges with the tools, they can refer to the TRAIN User Tips and CDC TRAIN FAQs or contact the relevant helpdesk for support. Email invitations are also sent from CDC TRAIN to encourage learners to complete their follow-up evaluations.
CDC TRAIN
Accredited educational activities in CDC TRAIN have an expiration date and a registered learner must complete the Post-course Evaluation prior to the expiration date in order to earn CE. A reminder email is automatically sent to all registered learners for a particular educational activity, notifying them one week before the expiration date. The desire to earn CE credit motivates learners to complete the evaluation. Learners who have earned CE receive an email 21 days later prompting them to complete the Follow-up Evaluation. Learners will also receive a notification (Attachment 10) when they log into the CDC TRAIN platform about any steps they still need to complete, including any evaluations.
For non-accredited courses, a learner may be required to complete the evaluation for the course to be considered completed. A course completion adds the course to the learner’s CDC TRAIN transcript and he or she can receive a certificate of completion, if offered. The transcript and certificate can serve as motivation for some learners to fill out the evaluation tool. Learners who have completed the CDC TRAIN Post-course Evaluation (Attachment 4) will receive an email 21 days later prompting them to complete the CDC TRAIN Delayed Follow-up Evaluation (Attachment 5), if enabled for a given training. Learners will also receive a notification (Attachment 10) when they log into the CDC TRAIN platform about any steps they still need to complete, including any evaluations.
Several procedures were and continue to be used to help refine questions, minimize the burden on learners, and improve utility. Pilot testing with fewer than 10 respondents was done for data collection tools in CDC TRAIN. Helpdesk support offered by both systems also serves to monitor any challenges and consider refinements to improve learner experience with the data collection tools.
CE Proposal
The CE Proposal asks for information that is required by accreditation organizations to determine whether a particular training meets accreditation requirements. Pilot tests with fewer than 10 respondents from the target population were conducted previously to ensure usability and determine response times for the CE proposal burden tables.
CDC TRAIN
Psychometric analyses were conducted for both the CDC TRAIN Post-Course Evaluation and the Delayed Follow-Up Evaluation, based on real-world evaluation data from FY2024. Changes were made to the tools based on the feedback provided from this testing to remove duplicative questions that address similar constructs (shortening the evaluation instrument) and regroup questions based on topic area to better support a modular question structure that can be used with both accredited and non-accredited trainings. Once revised, the CDC TRAIN evaluation tools were then pilot tested with fewer than 10 respondents to determine response times, which were similar to previous estimates. CDC TRAIN’s helpdesk will serve as an informal feedback loop for the data collection tools. An unusual number of requests for help around a certain issue will lead to investigation, problem-solving, and possible future updates to the data collection tools.
Psychometric analyses used to evaluate the structure and design of the evaluation instruments were completed in consultation with Laura Colman, PhD. For specific data collected through the CE Proposal and CDC TRAIN, no advanced statistical analyses are conducted, only basic descriptive analyses. The following CDC staff and contractors will be involved in collecting or analyzing the data, for the responsibilities indicated:
Lutrisha King, 404-906-8014, llq7@cdc.gov: data design and analysis (CE Proposal)
Ann Wells, 404-324-8105, qup3@cdc.gov: collection, analysis, reporting (CE Proposal, CDC TRAIN)
Rhonda Willis, 404-498-6479, eve1@cdc.gov: collection and analysis (CDC TRAIN)
Britney Johnson, 404-718-5604, mwq4@cdc.gov: analysis and reporting (CDC TRAIN)
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Application for Training OMB No. 0920-0017
Supporting
Statement B
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Greene, Elinor (CDC/OPHSS/CSELS/DSEPD) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-09-19 |