1120 East Diehl Road , Suite 200 | Naper vill e , IL 6056 3- 1 48 6 | P: 866. 7 3 0. 67 35 F: 630. 6 49. 6 7 00

www. r elm i d w e st. o r g

Month XX, 20XX

Dear [SCHOOL STAFF MEMBER]:

REL Midwest at American Institutes for Research (AIR) is studying the Ramp-Up to Readiness program 

at [SCHOOL]. In [MONTH/YEAR], our research team received approval from your school to conduct 

this study. As part of our study, we are collecting existing, publicly available documents related to 

college-readiness programs and initiatives in your school. We are interested in the programs, services, 

activities, and resources that [SCHOOL] offers to help students prepare for college.

The types of documents that we would like to receive are the following:

 Calendars of events related to college readiness (e.g., college fairs, visits from college 

representatives, financial aid night for families)

 Agendas from professional development activities related to college readiness

 Written descriptions of college readiness programs offered in your school (e.g., Upward Bound)

 Written descriptions of activities or services related to college offered in your school

 A description of how [SCHOOL] calculates a student’s cumulative GPA

 Master schedule showing the availability of advanced courses (e.g., honors, advanced placement, 

dual-enrollment courses)

In the recently conducted focus groups, we heard about several college-readiness supports that we would 

like to request more information about. They are:

[LIST RELEVANT PROGRAMS, SERVICES, ACTIVITIES, AND RESOURCES]

Please do not create any original documents to fulfill this request. Documents can be e-mailed to me at [email address]. To meet our analysis and reporting deadlines, we will need to receive the complete 

collection of documents no later than [DATE].

We have found that an initial phone discussion about the requested documents can help prevent 

misunderstandings. That said, we would like to find a 30-minute window of time next week, [DATES], 

when we can discuss this document request. Please let me know of your availability (or the availability of 

someone else who is familiar with the data), and we will arrange a phone conference.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the phone number below.

Thank you for your cooperation. 

Jim Lindsay, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, REL Midwest

630-649-6591

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 this information collection is XXXX.XXXX, OMB expiration date is XXXX, XX, 2014. The time 

required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 30 minutes per respondent, including the time to review instructions, gather the 

data needed, and complete and review the information collected. Participation in this data collection task is voluntary.

Per the policies and procedures required by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183, response s to this data collection will 

be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a 

specific school, district, or individual. Any willful disclosure of such information for nonstatistical purposes, except as r equired by law, is a class E felony. If 

you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to : U.S. Department of 

Education, Washington, DC 20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: 

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20208.