REL Director Interview

Appendix C: Primary Data Collection Instruments

Exhibit C-5 Regional Educational Laboratory Director Interview Protocol

Notes for reviewers: This interview protocol will be administered to Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Directors in each of the 10 RELs. Each interview will take up to 30 minutes and will focus on details of projects the Centers conducted, services provided, capacity developed, and collaborations with other Centers and RELs. Interviewers will ask the questions in an open-ended manner, and note-takers will code responses into pre-specified categories to the extent possible.

• Blue font indicates the mapping to research questions.

• Green font indicates where interview questions are informed by ASPs or survey results.

• Purple font indicates instructions to the interviewer.

• Red font indicates skip patterns / programming notes.

• Blue boxes are instructions or transitions that the interviewer will read to respondents.

• Radio buttons indicate only one answer should be selected.

• Checkboxes indicate the interviewer should check all that apply.

Introduction

Thank you for making time to speak with us today – My name is [say your NAME] and I’m joined by my colleague [say note taker’s name]. Our organization, [Abt Associates/AnLar], was contracted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to conduct a study of the Comprehensive Centers. We are very interested in learning more about how the Comprehensive Centers are developing partnerships, building capacity, and providing training and technical support to state and local education agencies, including successes and challenges. The results of this study will be summarized in a report to Congress and are also expected to inform the next Comprehensive Center cycle, beginning in 2024. The call should take no longer than 60 minutes.

Prior to our call, we reviewed your responses to the pre-interview survey, as well as Annual Service Plans and Annual Evaluation Reports that you shared with the Department of Education. We also reviewed initial analyses of responses to a survey intended to capture TA recipients’ experiences working with the Comprehensive Centers. I am following up to gather additional information. During our conversation, I may ask a question that you may have already addressed in other existing documentation. Should this be the case, just let me know. At the end of our conversation, we will review a list of these documents to determine the easiest way for me to access them.

It’s important that you know your responses today will be used only for research purposes. None of our study reports will name you as an individual. 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).

With your permission, we would like to record this call to ensure that our notes are as accurate as possible. The recording will only be used for notetaking purposes and will not be shared with anyone outside of the study team. The recording will be destroyed after the interview notes are finalized. Do you consent to being recorded? [if not, don’t record the interview].

All answers should be recorded verbatim. To avoid signaling to respondents that they should be doing a particular activity, do not use response categories as follow-up prompts. If respondents answer a question prior to its appearance on the protocol, record their answer when given and skip the question when you come to it on the protocol.

Collaboration Successes and Challenges

We would like to discuss the experiences you’ve had with the Comprehensive Center program since the most recent cycle began in 2019.

RQ4.3 To what extent, and in what ways, do Comprehensive Centers collaborate with the RELs? In what areas do Comprehensive Center and REL activities overlap with each other, if at all?

1. Has the joint needs sensing helped you avoid duplication of effort or resulted in collaboration?

• Reduced duplication of effort

• Increased collaboration

• Other: _____________________________

• Has not been successful

2. Has your REL collaborated with Centers beyond the joint needs sensing work to co-develop presentations, co-develop resources or tools, or provide joint service delivery?

• Co-develop presentations (such as webinars, expert panels, or events)

• Co-develop resources or tools

• Joint service delivery

• Other: _____________________________

RQ4.3 To what extent, and in what ways, do Comprehensive Centers collaborate with the RELs? In what areas do Comprehensive Center and REL activities overlap with each other, if at all?

3. Are there some types of Center services that would benefit from more collaboration between your REL and the Centers?

• No (GO TO Q4)

• Yes

1. Which services would benefit the most from such collaboration?

• Conduct a needs assessment

• Develop a logic model

• Select evidence-based practices (EBPs), interventions, or state-wide efforts

• Plan implementation of EBPs, interventions, or state-wide efforts

• Support implementation of EBPs, interventions, or state-wide efforts

• Evaluate results

• Other: ______________________

RQ4.3 To what extent, and in what ways, do Comprehensive Centers collaborate with the RELs? In what areas do Comprehensive Center and REL activities overlap with each other, if at all?

4. What challenges do you experience in collaborating with the Centers?

• Center is part of a competitor organization

• Overlap / duplication of services

• Work with different stakeholders or offices

• Insufficient resources / time to collaborate

• Misalignment of priorities

• Other: ____________________________

• None

RQ4.1 What are the perceived benefits and challenges of changes to the structure of the Comprehensive Center program?

5. Did your REL collaborate with the Comprehensive Centers between 2012 and 2019?

   • No (GO TO closing statement)

   • Yes

1. Were you involved in this collaboration?

• No (GO TO closing statement)

• Yes

RQ4.3 To what extent, and in what ways, do Comprehensive Centers collaborate with the RELs? In what areas do Comprehensive Center and REL activities overlap with each other, if at all? ASP field 112 Other Partners

6. Has collaboration between Centers and RELs changed since the last cycle?

• No change

• Increased

• Decreased

1. In what ways?

• More coordination and information sharing

• More co-planning of projects

• More jointly provided services, such as needs assessments or logic models

• More co-development of tools or resources, webinars, expert panels, or events

• More co-facilitation of webinars, expert panels, or events

• Less coordination and information sharing

• Less co-planning of projects

• Less jointly provided services, such as needs assessments or logic models

• Less co-development of tools or resources, webinars, expert panels, or events

• Less co-facilitation of webinars, expert panels, or events

• Other: _____________________________

7. Can you think of new ways for the RELs and Centers to improve the quality or efficiency of their collaborative efforts?

• More resources for collaborative efforts

• Greater collaboration with the NC / RCs outside of REL’s region

• Increase co-planning of projects

• Co-develop more tools or resources

• Co-develop more webinars, expert panels, or events

• Co-facilitate more webinars, expert panels, or events

• Jointly provided services, such as needs assessments or logic models

• Other: _____________________________

8. What are the challenges remaining in collaboration between RELs and Centers?

• Reduced access to in-depth content expertise

• Too many meetings

• Duplication of effort

• Logistics / scheduling difficulties

• Lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities

• Other: _____________________________

Closing Statement

Thank you so much for providing all this information. We really enjoyed learning more about your Comprehensive Center and appreciate your time!

If any documents were mentioned that we need to gather: Earlier you mentioned [documents], which would be helpful for me to have to better understand your Center. What would be the easiest way for me to access these documents?

Abt Associates Inc. Appendix C: Primary Data Collection Instruments  ▌pg. C-43