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APPENDIX B
2. IMPLEMENTATION‐FOCUSED INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR CENTER STAFF
The OMB Control Number for this information collection is and the expiration date is .
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, persons are not required to respond to this collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number and expiration date. Responding to this
interview is voluntary. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average one
hour per response. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of
information to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX at XXXXXXXXXXXXX@ed.gov.
[NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Below are suggested introductory remarks. While it is not necessary to
follow this as a script, it is important that you cover all of the main points contained here.]
I work for IMPAQ International, and we are researching the Comprehensive Technical Assistance
Centers. The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences contracted with us
to conduct this study. You may recall that we visited last year to learn about the Center.
As part of our study, we will be interviewing directors, managers, and staff at the Centers to
understand the work that you do. The purpose of the study is to gather data to describe the work
of the Centers and how the Centers build the capacities of state departments of education, and
to report that information to the Department of Education. What you have to say is important to
us and we appreciate you helping us understand your work. We want to assure you that
participation in this interview is voluntary. We estimate that this interview will take 60 minutes.
[NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Please read the following to the respondent(s):
“Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection
requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002,
Title I, Part E, Section 183). Responses to this data collection will be used only for research
purposes. Findings from the interview data will be reported in summary form and individuals will
not be identified by name. However, respondents’ roles and the CC they work with may be
identified in the report, which may lead to individuals’ being identified. Other than this situation
that we have made respondents aware of, we will not provide information that identifies you to
anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.”
Before we begin, do you have any questions about the purpose of the evaluation or our
confidentiality policy?
To start, do you mind if we audio record our session for the accuracy of our note taking?
IMPAQ International, LLC 2. Implementation‐Focused Interview Guide for Center Staff
All questions will be asked about the Early Learning priority area first, and then about the Great
Teachers/Leaders priority area. Questions are for staff of both Regional Centers and Content
Centers unless specifically noted otherwise. Interview respondents for the first section (“Overall
Perspective”) should be Center Directors, Content Specialists in the Early Learning or
Great/Teachers Leaders areas, and lead TA providers who work within these priority areas.
Interview respondents for the second section (“Project Background”) should be lead TA
providers who work on the identified projects, but Center Directors and Content Specialists
may also be involved with these projects and should be included as relevant. Prior to
conducting the interview, the interviewer will review relevant extant documents such as
proposals, annual performance review reports, evaluation reports, etc. Some of the answers
to questions asked below may be in those documents. If so, the interviewer will start the
question by referring to information gleaned from the document, and will ask the respondent
to verify the accuracy of the information.
Further introduction from the Interviewer: We are going to ask you questions that focus on
two priority areas. We will begin with the Early Learning priority area; we will first ask about
your overall approach to TA in this area, and then we will ask about specific projects. We will
then ask about the Great Teachers/Leaders priority area, again starting with questions about
your overall approach followed by questions about specific projects.[Note to interviewer; ask
ALL questions, including both overall perspective and project‐specific questions, first about
Early Learning and then repeat all the questions focusing on Great /Teachers Leaders.]
Overall Perspective on the Priority Area
Ask Regional Centers Only:
1. Are there needs for technical assistance within the Early Learning [Great Teachers/ Leaders]
priority area that have been identified by your states? If so, please describe the needs.
2. If there are needs, how did they come to your attention? If this area has not been identified
as a priority need, do you know why not? What do SEA staff say about why this area is or is
not a priority TA need?
PROBE: What evidence have you reviewed that helps you understand the needs?
3. Is there a range of early learning [great teachers/leaders] TA needs across states in your
region? How do states in your region differ in the types and level of these needs?
Ask Content Centers Only:
4. Are there needs (whether state, regional, national needs) in this priority area that have
fallen within the purview of your center, or intersected with the focus of your center? If so
please describe these needs. How did these needs come to your attention?
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PROBES: Have early learning [great teachers/ leaders] needs come up in discussions
with Regional Centers, other Content Centers, SEAs, or other constituents? What
evidence have you reviewed that helps you understand the needs?
5. Have you encountered a range of early learning [great teachers/leaders] needs across states
and regions? If so please describe the differences in level or types of needs.
If no needs have been identified in the Early Learning priority area, skip the remaining
questions for Early Learning and start over with the Great Teachers/Leaders area.
6. Have the needs in this priority area changed since first identified to the Center? If so, please
describe how. How did you learn about any changes?
7. Who (individuals, agencies, groups) has been part of the Center’s discussion of early
learning [great teachers/leaders] needs and any plans to address them?
PROBES:
Chief State School Officers or other SEA leadership
Other SEA staff (such as middle management staff)
Leadership in other Agencies such as Human Services, Family and Children's
Services, etc.
Other staff within these agencies (such as middle management staff)
Others such as governors' offices, task forces, etc.
Advocacy or TA groups
Other Centers, whether Regional or Content Centers
8. Do you have designated staff and partners who work with you on early learning [great
teachers/leaders] projects? [If so], please identify them and their expertise relevant to this
area of work.
9. Do you have a theory of action that is specific to early learning? [If so], please describe it. By
theory of action, we mean how your Center works to build SEA capacity in early learning,
including the chain of causal assumptions linking program resources, activities, intermediate
outcomes and ultimate goals. Specifically, we’d like to know:
9a. What are you trying to help the states achieve in early learning? What are the
expected outcomes? How is this TOA anchored to the needs we discussed above?
9b. Can you identify any overall approaches or strategies (e.g., ones that cut across
specific projects or activities) that you use to help states achieve these outcomes in
early learning [great teachers/leaders]—approaches or strategies that are specific to
this priority area? How do the strategies lead to the outcomes?
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10. [Note to interviewer: whether the Center being interviewed is a Regional or Content Center,
be sure to ask about how they work with both types of Centers.] Do [other] Regional
Centers work with you on these approaches or strategies? If so, how? Do [other] Content
Centers work with you on these approaches or strategies? If so, how?
11. What has gone particularly well in your work with other Centers—with both Regional and
Content Centers‐‐ in this priority area? What has been challenging in working with other
Centers—with both Regional and Content Centers?
12. [Note to interviewer: ask this of both types of Centers, since Content Centers may receive
training from other Content Centers.] Have you received TA or training in this priority area
from any of the [other] Content Centers (directed to your own center as distinct from or in
addition to SEA staff)? If so, please describe and tell me how you have used this
information.
13. As you think about all of your work in early learning [great teachers/leaders], what do you
consider to be going very well? How do you know? What indicators do you rely on?
14. As you think about all of your work in early learning [great teachers/leaders], what have you
found to be unsuccessful or challenging? How do you know? What indicators do you rely
on?
Project Implementation
We will now discuss up to 2 projects from your center as examples of how the Center works in
this priority area. As we discussed with you earlier when planning this visit, if you have more than
two projects in this priority area, please select the two projects that you consider the best
illustrations of your work in this area in terms of their capacity building potential, or uniqueness
to the work that you do at your center.
15. [Start with one project] What do you call this project?
16. Is this a state, regional, or national project? Please identify the specific states or regions, if
relevant, or describe the scope of the project.
17. Is the project completed or ongoing? What was the start date, and the ending date (or
anticipated end date) if applicable?
18. Why did you select this project as a focal project for discussion?
19. What prompted this project? Who initiated the concept of this project? Who participated in
the early discussions? Who helped plan the project? What needs were identified as having
the greatest priority? How did you decide on priorities?
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PROBES:
Chief State School Officers
SEA staff below leadership level
Other Centers
Other partner organizations
20. Which constituents (SEA representatives or others) do you work with most closely on this
project? Please describe their roles on the project. Can you give us their contact information
so we can contact them for interviews to obtain the TA recipient perspective?
21. Please identify and describe the roles of any organizations serving as partners in this project.
What is their role in implementing the project and how do the partners work together?
PROBES:
Other Regional Centers or Content Centers
RELs
Other TA providers or experts
22. Which Center staff members work on this project? Please describe their respective roles on
the project.
23. What were the elements of the context –political, fiscal, legal, economic, etc.—that were
influential factors during the project’s early development? Did these elements facilitate or
impede the project in any way? If so, how?
PROBES:
How influential do you think these elements of the context were?
How did it impact what your team was thinking and doing in relation to this project?
Did the state(s) have any Federal or state grant money behind this project?
Project Goals
24. What are the broad goals of the project? What areas of SEA capacity are expected to
improve? Which SEA staff are the primary targets of this project?
PROBES:
Human capacity/knowledge/skills
Organizational capacity
Structural capacity/policy change
25. Have the goals of the project changed over time? If so, please describe.
26. What are the key strategies and activities—including training events, products, meetings—
that are part of achieving the goals? Who are the recipients of these strategies and activities?
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27. Have you modified the strategies or activities originally planned for this project? [If so] Please
tell us about how and why these were changed.
Project Communication
28. How often do you meet or talk with SEA representatives, or other key constituents, if
relevant, regarding planning and implementation of the project? With which SEA
representatives do you meet? What do you discuss? How do these discussions inform
implementation of the project?
Project Implementation and Outcomes
29. What is your definition of success in this project? What will we ‘see’ if this project is
successful? What are the milestones for the project?
30. Based on your definitions of a successful project, how have things gone so far? What is your
evidence for making this assessment of progress?
PROBES:
Has the project met its milestones so far? Why/why not?
31. What have been the outcomes so far? Have you seen changes in the capacity of the SEAs or
other targeted constituencies? Please describe any changes in each of these types of
capacity, and the evidence of the change:
Knowledge and skills (e.g., knowledge, expertise, skills, will, understanding
necessary to implement something)
Organizational (e.g., interaction, collaboration, communication among individuals in
a system; evaluation and feedback on processes and structures for continuous
improvement)
Structural/policy change (e.g., policies, procedures, and formalized practices)
PROBE: Has the SEA capacity to work with LEAs improved?
32. What has been the most challenging aspect of this project—including any challenges to
implementation or to building SEA capacity? Please describe. How have you handled the
challenges?
PROBES:
Has there been turnover within the SEA?
Have there been challenges in communicating with the SEA?
Have there been other challenges in working with the SEA
Have there been challenges in working with partners?
What makes it difficult to build capacity?
33. Overall what do you think has been the most successful aspect of this project? Please
describe it. To what do you attribute this success? What have you learned from this?
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34. Are there plans for the Center to build on, replicate, or continue this project?
35. Have the SEAs or other constituents begun to take over or "own" this work in any way?
What are their next steps?
36. Are there upcoming events associated with this project that we may be able to observe to
help us understand project implementation? [If so] Please describe them and provide dates.
37. Are there products/materials associated with this project (in addition to those we’ve received
prior to the interview) that we could collect and read to help us understand project
implementation or outcomes?
Repeat project questions for the 2nd project in the Early Learning area, if applicable. Then repeat
all questions for the Great Teachers/Leaders priority area.
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| File Modified | 2014-12-18 |
| File Created | 2014-12-12 |