Building Administrator Interview (Appendix A)

Appendix A. REL Midwest CLC Study – Building Administrator Interview DRAFT

Improving Adolescent Literacy Across the Curriculum in High Schools

Building Administrator Interview

The Improving Adolescent Literacy Across the Curriculum in High Schools project is an effort to improve students’ performance in high school-level coursework and state tests through the use of the Content Literacy Curriculum (CLC) -- a school-wide, literacy across the curriculum school reform framework.

High schools in the Midwest have been selected to participate in a national study of the CLC program. The US Department of Education has sponsored this study of the CLC to determine if this program has a positive impact on how students read and how well they do in high school.

This interview asks questions about your school’s current literacy improvement efforts and should take about 90 minutes to complete. Your responses will be kept strictly confidential – we are looking at responses overall, not at what specific individuals have to say.

MDRC

New York, NY

www.mdrc.org

For questions, call Jim Kemple at

Jim.Kemple@mdrc.org

The U.S. Department of Education wants to protect the privacy of individuals who participate in surveys. Your answers will be combined with other surveys, and no one will know how you answered the questions. This survey is authorized by law (1) Sections 171(b) and 173 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-279 (2002); and (2) Section 9601 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (Pub. L. 107-110).

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is XXXX-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 90 minutes per respondent, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20208.

Literacy Instruction/Formal Literacy Initiative or Intervention

1. Is improving literacy instruction important at your school?

2. Do you have a role in improving the literacy instruction at your school? If yes, describe your role in improving literacy instruction at your school.

3. Is your school currently participating in a formal initiative or intervention to improve literacy?

If YES, continue to question 4.

If NO, continue to question 12.

4. What is the name of the initiative?

5. Why was the program started at your school?

Probe: Was there a perception of need or failure that prompted the use of this program?

6. Describe the structure of the initiative?

7. What are some of the primary strengths of this literacy instruction?

8. What are some of the primary challenges to this literacy instruction?

9. In the time that you have implemented a formal literacy intervention at your school have you seen any early evidence that it is affecting academic performance in terms of:

1. Test scores?

2. Grades?

3. Attendance?

4. Other outcomes?

Materials

10. Do you currently use any specific literacy based intervention materials (for example: school-wide text sets and/or literacy based intervention materials, including software) for the content areas of social studies, science, and mathematics? Explain.

11. Are you currently using technology in the classroom to support literacy instruction? Explain.

Probe: Technology includes listening centers, computers, printers, handhelds, or intervention

software.

12. Is there anything your school currently needs to better support literacy instruction? Explain.

Assessment

13. Please list the formal and informal assessments your teachers are currently using at this school and describe the ways in which they are using these assessments as screening tools, diagnostic tools, benchmarking tools, progress monitoring tools, and/or as outcome measures. In addition, how frequently is each instrument being implemented?

1. Screening assessments (List assessments; explain how each is being used for screening; frequency)

2. Diagnostic assessments (List assessments; explain how each is being used for diagnosis of problems; frequency)

3. Benchmarking tools (List assessments; explain how each is being used for benchmarking; frequency)

4. Progress Monitoring tools (List assessments; explain how each is being used to monitor progress; frequency)

5. Outcome measures (List assessments; explain how each is being used to monitor progress; frequency)

14. Do teachers use assessment data for instructional planning?

1. If yes, Describe how teachers are currently using assessment data for instructional planning.

15. Is assessment data used to adjust school-based training activities? If so, how?

Data-Driven Instruction

16. Describe the decisions you make as an administrator based on assessment data.

17. Do you currently have a system of grade-level teams or literacy teams in place at your school?

If YES, continue to question 18.

If NO, continue to question 29.

18. Does this team collaborate on instruction?

If YES, continue to question 19. If NO, continue to question 20.

19. Do they collaborate on instruction to support to literacy activities and support struggling readers, generally?

20. Does this team analyze assessment results together?

If YES, continue to question 21. If NO, continue to question 23.

21. Does this analysis lend to better support of literacy activities and supporting struggling readers, generally? If yes, how?

22. How do they use assessment data to support instruction?

23. Do they do anything else to address the needs of struggling readers? What?

24. Who is on the team (by role)?

25. How often do they meet?

26. What do their responsibilities include?

27. Do you attend these meetings?

28. How satisfied are you with the kinds of discussions that take place during these meetings?

Professional Development

29. What types of professional development have you received so far this school year and including last summer? Describe in detail.

Probe: Some examples of professional development are: differentiated instruction, student centered classrooms, integrated curriculum across content areas, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and student ownership.

30. Which other school staff were involved in this professional development?

31. Did you receive any literacy focused professional development?

32. Which other school staff were involved in literacy professional development?

Attitudes/Support

33. How would you say that staff members at your school are feeling about improving literacy instruction right now?

34. How would you say that administrators at the district level are feeling about improving literacy instruction right now?

35. What supports related to improving literacy instruction and/or implementing a formal literacy intervention at your school have you received from your district?

Closing Comments

36. Is there anything else you would like to add regarding literacy activities for struggling readers at your school?