Dear Teacher Letter

Dear Teacher,

Greetings. I am writing to ask for your participation in the evaluation of the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) Program. As you may know, Berkeley Policy Associates (BPA)* is working with districts in San Diego County to evaluate the implementation of WestEd’s QTEL Program. This study has been contracted by the U.S. Department of Education through the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL West) Program at WestEd.

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of the QTEL professional development program. Please consider this as your opportunity to provide input to improve this program and programs like it in the future.

At this stage in the study, we need you to complete the Teacher Survey within the next seven days to give us information about your professional background and previous teaching experience. To complete the survey, please go to (weblink) and follow the step-by-step instructions. If you prefer to complete a paper version of the survey, we can send you a hardcopy and an addressed, stamped envelope in which to return the survey to BPA. Please contact Ms. Dina DeVeer, BPA Research Assistant, at dina@bpacal.com or 510-465-7884 x281 to request a paper version of the survey.

Upon completing the survey, a $20 gift card will be provided to you as our way of showing our appreciation for your time and efforts.

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 information collection in this study is xxxx-xxx. We estimate that completing the survey will take less than 30 minutes. We want you to answer the questions as best you can.

Your responses will be kept strictly confidential and will be used only for research purposes. We will keep your information private to the extent permitted by law.

If you have any questions regarding the QTEL Program itself, please contact WestEd’s QTEL Program Director Dr. Aida Walqui at awalqui@wested.org or 415-615-3262. For questions regarding this study please contact Jacklyn Altuna at jacklyn@bpacal.com or 510-465-7884 x224.

Thank you in advance for your assistance and participation!

Sincerely,

Raquel Sanchez, Ph.D.

BPA Project Director

*Berkeley Policy Associates is an employee-owned, woman-owned, independent firm providing public policy research and consulting services. Founded in 1972, BPA has a longstanding and nationwide reputation for the high quality of its work in program evaluation. If you would like more information about BPA, please visit our website at http://www.berkekleypolicyassociates.com.