Topics to be Covered in Recruitment Phone Calls and Site Visits

APPENDIX E

recruiting protocol with district administrator
(DISTRICTS IN THE RACE TO THE TOP [RTT] sample)

OMB No. XXXX-XXXX

Approval Expires: XX/XX/20XX

RECRUITING PROTOCOL WITH DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR

(DISTRICTS IN THE RACE TO THE TOP (RTT) SAMPLE)

IMPACT EVALUATION OF RACE TO THE TOP AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GRANTS

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 number. The valid OMB control number of this information collection is XXXX-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 90 minutes per interview. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimates(s) or suggestion for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, 20202-4651. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20208.

RECRUITING PROTOCOL WITH DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR

(DISTRICTS IN THE RACE TO THE TOP (RTT) SAMPLE)

INTRODUCTION AND REACHING THE PROPER PERSON

[Point of first contact:

• If the district is in a state that received an RTT grant, use the RTT district application contact as the first point of contact.

• If district is in a state that did not receive an RTT grant but the district received a SIG award, use the SIG district application contact as the first point of contact.

• If district is in a state that did not receive an RTT grant and the district did not receive a SIG award but was a ‘participating’ district in the state’s RTT application, use the RTT contact for the district if there is one, or you could probably call the contact on the state RTT application and ask who they coordinated with at the district.

• If district is not in any of above categories, use the district superintendent as first contact.

Text that is customized based on whether the district is in a state that did or did not receive an RTT grant is highlighted in yellow.]

IF YOU REACH THE GATEKEEPER:

Hello, my name is ___________________ from ____________________. I am calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education which recently sent a letter about the evaluation it is conducting of the School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top programs. The evaluation will involve all states and selected districts that were awarded grants and is a critical part of your state’s and district’s participation in these programs.

May I speak with __________________ about this evaluation?

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE AN RTT GRANT OR A SIG GRANT and GATEKEEPER MENTIONS THIS] We understand your district is not participating in these programs. However, to fully understand the effect of these programs, we also need to understand what is going on in districts that are not participating in these programs.

[Before you are transferred, get the gatekeeper’s name. If contact is not available, ask to leave voicemail on direct line.]

IF YOU REACH THE CONTACT DIRECTLY:

Hello, my name is ___________________ from ____________________. I am calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education which recently sent a letter about the evaluation it is conducting of the School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top programs. The evaluation will involve all states and selected districts that were awarded grants and is a critical part of your state’s and district’s participation in these programs.

[[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE AN RTT GRANT AND DISTRICT DID NOT RECEIVE A SIG GRANT] We understand your district is not participating in these programs. However, to fully understand the effect of these programs, we also need to understand what is going on in districts that are not participating in these programs. Your district’s participation is a very important part of this evaluation and will require limited effort.

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE AN RTT GRANT]: According to our records, you are the main contact person for the School Improvement Grants. Is that correct?

[If not correct person for SIG, get name, title, phone number of correct person. Say thank you and goodbye. Contact the proper person and start again with above.]

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT RECEIVED AN RTT GRANT OR WAS A “PARTICIPATING DISTRICT” IN STATE’S RTT APPLICATION]: According to a review of your state’s Race to the Top application, you are the main contact person for Race to the Top. Is that correct?

[If not correct person for RTT, get name, title, phone number of correct person. Say thank you and goodbye. Contact the proper person and start again with above.]

As you know, the School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top funds are designed to help states, districts, and schools implement educational reforms to turn around struggling schools and improve the academic performance of students. This evaluation will help the Department of Education and other policymakers, including Congress, understand the implementation and impact of the programs.

I would like to first briefly describe the evaluation and then discuss your district’s participation in the evaluation.

BACKGROUND, PURPOSE, AND STUDY OVERVIEW

[Provide sufficient details about the study to proceed with call. Do not get bogged down in design issues.]

The goal of the evaluation is to understand whether and how the Race to the Top and School Improvement Grant programs achieve their goals. In order to study the implementation of school turnaround models funded by School Improvement Grants and the reform efforts funded by Race to the Top, we’ll be conducting telephone interviews with state and district officials and administering a web survey to school principals. We will also collect student-level and school-level data to examine student outcomes.

The interviews and surveys will take place in spring 2012, and also possibly in spring 2013 and 2014, if the Department of Education opts to continue the evaluation for two additional years. We will collect administrative data as they become available in the summer or fall of 2012 (and again possibly in 2013 and 2014, if the evaluation is extended).

In total, the evaluation will include all 50 states and the District of Columbia, approximately 220 districts, and approximately 1,200 schools.

This study is being conducted for the Department of Education by Mathematica Policy Research, American Institutes for Research, and Social Policy Research Associates.

Your district has been selected to participate in one specific component of the data collection I just described. In particular, your district’s participation in the evaluation would be limited to participating in the telephone interviews.

Do you have any questions or concerns about the study before I go on to talk about the district interviews? [If so, answer to best of your ability but if you are not sure of the answer, please say ‘This issue has not come up before. I will bring it to the study team and get back to you as soon as I get an answer. Thank them for bringing up such a good question.]

CONTACTS FOR DISTRICT INTERVIEWS

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE AN RTT GRANT BUT RECEIVED A SIG AWARD]: I want to give you some information about what the interviews will cover. The interviews will ask about the implementation of school turnaround reform efforts. We will also be looking at reforms that the district may be implementing in other areas, such as standards and assessments, data systems, efforts to improve the effectiveness of teachers and leaders (and equity in their distribution across schools), state capacity to implement reforms, and charter schools. We are interested in general reforms and whether and how those reforms may specifically target English Language Learners.

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT RECEIVED AN RTT GRANT]: I want to give you some information about what the district interviews will cover. The interviews will ask about the implementation of school reform efforts funded with Race to the Top grants. We will be looking at reforms in the following areas: standards and assessments, data systems, efforts to improve the effectiveness of teachers and leaders (and equity in their distribution across schools), state capacity to implement reforms, charter schools, and school turnaround. We are interested in general reforms and whether and how those reforms may specifically target English Language Learners ..

[IF DISTRICT IS IN A STATE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE AN RTT GRANT AND DISTRICT DID NOT RECEIVE A SIG AWARD]: I. want to give you some information about what the district interviews will cover. The interviews will ask about the implementation of school reform efforts in the following areas: standards and assessments, data systems, efforts to improve the effectiveness of teachers and leaders (and equity in their distribution across schools), state capacity to implement reforms, charter schools, and school turnaround. We are interested in general reforms and whether and how those reforms may specifically target English Language Learners.

1. .In addition to you, are there other district administrators or staff who are involved with reform efforts in these areas with whom we should speak?

[FOR EACH OF THE SIX TOPIC AREAS, GET A NAME, TITLE, PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL FOR A CONTACT WHO CAN SPEAK TO THE AREA BROADLY AND FOR A CONTACT WHO CAN SPEAK TO SPECIFIC REFORMS TARGETING ELLS.]

1a. Standards and assessments (general) : _____________________________

1b. Standards and assessments (ELL) : ________________________________

2a. Data system (general): __________________________________________

2b. Data system (ELL): __________________________________________

3a. Efforts to improve the effectiveness of teachers and leaders (and equity in their distribution across schools) (general) :_______________________________

3b. Efforts to improve the effectiveness of teachers and leaders (and equity in their distribution across schools) (ELL) :_______________________________

4a. State capacity to implement reforms (general): __________________________

4b. State capacity to implement reforms (ELL): __________________________

5a. Charter schools (general): _________________________________________

5b. Charter schools (ELL): _________________________________________

6a. School turnaround (general): _______________________________________

6b. School turnaround (ELL): _______________________________________

[IF DISTRICT ASKS HOW LONG THE INTERVIEWS WILL BE] The length of the interview will vary depending on how many areas of expertise the contact can speak to. We expect that it would take about 30 to 40 minutes to discuss each topic area.

WRAP UP

Thank you for this extremely helpful information. We will contact you about the telephone interviews in early spring 2012. Before we end the call, I just want to check to see if you have any questions? Thank you so much for your time.

AFTER THE CALL

MAKE SURE YOU:

1. SEND AN EMAIL TO THANK THE CONTACT AND CONFIRM ANY NEXT STEPS THAT YOU AGREED TO DURING THE CALL.

2. ENTER INFORMATION FROM YOUR CALL IN THE RECRUITING DATABASE AND UPDATE PROTOCOL DOCUMENTATION TOOL.