Quality Measures Follow Up Interview: Program Directors (E)

OMB Control No.: 0970-xxxx

Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx

Appendix E: Quality Measures Follow-Up Interview: Program Directors

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 66 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing the instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. This information collection is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Reports Clearance Officer (Attn: OMB/PRA 0970-XXXX), Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20447.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR Data collectors

Please read all instructions before beginning data collection. Conduct data collection in the order indicated.

1. Complete NON-INTERview portions of the PAS

• Program Administration Scale (PAS)

The PAS consists of a mix of interviews with a program administrator, observation and document review.

2. Complete INTERVIEW PORTIONS OF THE PAS AND the Technical assistance AND Training interview

The level at which certain questions are asked will depend upon the management structure of the organization and responsibilities of particular management staff.

• Technical Assistance and Training Interview - see below

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 1 of 7

INTRODUCTION:

Thank you for your willingness to participate in the research study titled the Evaluation of the Head Start Designation Renewal System. The study is being conducted for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by researchers at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Urban Institute, . The purpose of the evaluation is to understand if the Head Start Designation Renewal System is working as intended, as a valid, reliable, and transparent method for identifying high-quality programs that can receive continuing five-year grants without competition, and as a system that encourages overall quality improvements over time. We are going to do some observation and then ask you some questions about administration and training and technical assistance. The training and technical assistance questions are designed to help us understand the types of professional development and technical assistance supports that your program used to help in preparing for the monitoring visit you just had. You should include all types of professional development and technical assistance even if it was paid for with funds other than your Head Start allocation or if the services are freely available in your community. There are no right or wrong answers. We know that all programs handle their professional development and technical assistance needs differently, and we are just trying to understand how your program does it. Do you have any questions about the study before we get started? Ok, let’s begin.

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 2 of 7

1. We know that each Head Start agency conducts professional development (PD) and technical assistance (TA). Please describe the types of PD and TA your programs received during the past year (Interviewer will check all that apply.)

1. Type of PD/TA

• Workshops

• Seminars or classes on site

• Coursework toward obtaining a degree

• Coaching/consultation with a professional coach

• Other – please specify ________________

2. Which centers participated

• All centers

• Centers opted in

• Centers identified due to ongoing concerns

3. Who participated

• Teaching staff

• Family support staff

• Directors and coordinators

• Other staff______________

4. Content of PD/TA

• Child health and safety

• PD on curriculum being implemented. If yes, please indicate curriculum:

• Creative Curriculum

• High Scope

• OWLS

• Other – please list ____________________

• PD to improve teacher-child interactions. If yes, please indicate content:

• MyTeachingPartner

• Partners for Inclusion or other models linked to Environmental Rating Scales

• Other – please list ____________________

• Family engagement

• Family referral

• Enrollment

• Other PD/TA – please list_______________________

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 3 of 7

2. We know that professional development and technical assistance is part of a regular routine in Head Start centers, regardless of the year you receive a Head Start monitoring visit. Did your program do anything differently in regard to professional development or technical assistance in the 12 months leading up to this monitoring visit?

• Yes, we focused differently on professional development

• Yes, we focused differently on technical assistance

• Yes, we focused differently on both professional development and technical assistance

• No, we did not focus our professional development or technical assistance efforts any differently

3. Please tell me a little bit about how your professional development and technical assistance decisions are made in your Head Start program.

• Decisions are made centrally by the Head Start Program Director.

• Each delegate agency decides on what is needed for the sites that they operate.

• Each center makes decisions about what they need.

• Another approach, please explain: _______________________________________________

4. Please tell me a little bit about the professional development that your staff engaged in during the last 12 months. I am going to read some statements. After each statement, please tell me if this describes one of the strategies that your program used.

Teaching Staff

I will begin with questions related to teaching staff.

• Each teaching staff member has an individual plan to meet his/her training and educational needs. Each teaching staff member took some classes based on his/her current skill level to improve.

Additional Notes:_______________________________________________________________

• We brought in someone to perform a mock-CLASS assessment so that we could see what areas we needed to improve on.

Additional Notes: _______________________________________________________________

• A workshop was offered on improving the quality of teacher-child interactions.

Additional Notes: _______________________________________________________________

• A workshop was offered on improving health and safety practices in the classroom and on the playground.

Additional Notes: _______________________________________________________________

• Teachers were coached with the goal of improving the quality of teacher-child interactions.

Additional Notes: _______________________________________________________________

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 4 of 7

4a. I’m going to ask about particular kinds of training you might have arranged for teaching and supervision staff. Please tell me whether or not your program conducted these kinds of training, and whether or not you held the training for groups of teaching staff or if you sent individual staff to existing workshops.

[interviewer: please mark appropriate boxes]

	Teaching Staff		Supervisory Staff, Coordinators, Managers
Types of Training	Internal Group Training	External Individual Training	Internal Group Training	External Individual Training
Organized training on one or more topics to help improve CLASS scores?
Organized training on one or more topics where we have had previous noncompliance in a monitoring visit? Types of topics:__________________________________________
Types of teaching topics where supervisors have identified staff weaknesses, but not necessarily related to monitoring visits?
Sent members of our staff to get the official CLASS certification at Teachstone?
Coursework toward obtaining a degree?
Other types of training:

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 5 of 7

Financial Staff

Now I will ask some questions related to financial staff.

	Financial Staff
Types of Training	Internal Group Training	External Individual Training
Training to better understand general accounting procedures?
Training to better understand federal grants management and reporting procedures?
Training to improve practices cited as problematic in previous monitoring review or other interactions with Office of Head Start?
Other types of training:

Governance and Policy Council

Now I will ask some questions related to the governing board and policy council members.

	Policy Council Members		Governing Board Members
Types of Training	Internal Group Training	External Individual Training	Internal Group Training	External Individual Training
Training to better understand Head Start responsibilities?
Training to understand new requirements of the DRS, and what the DRS means for our organization?
Training to understand the CLASS?
Training to understand the new Head Start School Readiness Goals requirements?
Other types of training:

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 6 of 7

4b. Were there other kinds of training that you wanted to obtain for your staff, but could not?

 Yes  No

If yes, why couldn’t you provide the training?

 We could not afford all of the training we wanted to provide.

 We could not find all of the training we wanted to provide.

5. Please tell me a little bit about the technical assistance your program sought and used during the last 12 months. I am going to read some statements. After each statement, please tell me if your program used any of the following strategies: phone TA, on-site TA, mentoring, or coaching.

We sought and used the following types of technical assistance:

Technical Assistance Topics	Phone TA	On-Site TA	Mentoring	Coaching
Preparing for the CLASS	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No
Improving health and safety practices	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No
Improving school readiness goal-setting and use for planning	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No
Improving family engagement practices	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No
Improving family referral and follow up practices	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No
Improving enrollment and tracking practices	 None  1 time  Ongoing	 None  1 time  2-4 times  5+ times	 Yes  No	 Yes  No

Technical Assistance and Training Interview

Page 7 of 7

Other types of technical assistance:	Phone TA	On-Site TA	Mentoring	Coaching

6. Were there other types of technical assistance that you wanted but you could not obtain for your program?

___ Yes, we could not afford all of the technical assistance we felt like we needed

___ Yes, but we could not find all of the kinds of technical assistance that we felt like we needed

___ No, we got all of the technical assistance that we thought we needed.

7. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the kind of PD and TA that you obtained or tried to obtain for your program?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THANK YOU!

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