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INTERVIEW INSTRUMENTS FOR GRANTEE

TARGETED RESPONDENT: These interview questions are intended for grantees. All grantees would be expected to 

participate. The interview will be administered to the grantee’s executive director and/or local site director(s).

CONTENT: This document contains draft interview questions to be asked of grantees. We suggest the timing for 

each question; these suggestions could be extracted to yield two types of interviews for grantees: 

(1) An interview for grantees that would be administered at the beginning of the school year [PRE];

(2) An interview for grantees that would be administered at the end of the school year [POST].

We use [PP] to suggest that an interview question should be administered both at the beginning of the school year 

[PRE] and at the end of the school year [POST].

Note: Questions 1-4 are for the full evaluation and should not be asked during pilot testing.

1. [PRE] Can you describe the activities implemented by your organization’s School Turnaround AmeriCorps 

members last school year? 

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2. [PRE] What worked well last year and why?

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3. [POST] For each of the following, elaborate on how your School Turnaround AmeriCorps members are 

providing services to students and/or families and how do those services differ across schools:

a. Whole school intervention:

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b. Grade specific intervention:

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c. Student specific intervention:

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4. [PRE] What did not work so well last year and why? What changes have you made to your program for this 

school year?
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5. [POST] One central objective of School Turnaround AmeriCorps is to increase the school’s capacity to 

implement school turnaround goals. In what ways did your programming directly or indirectly address that 

objective? How could programming be changed to better address school capacity building?

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6. [PRE] Were you working in the same schools last year and if not, what changes were made and why?

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7. [PP] Can you describe the activities that will be/were implemented by your organization’s School 

Turnaround AmeriCorps members this school year?

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8. [POST] What are the commonalities and/or differences in how your organization uses School Turnaround 

AmeriCorps members across different schools? 

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9. [PP] How are you and your staff monitoring the implementation of your School Turnaround AmeriCorps 

program? What tools do you use?

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10. [POST] Who serves as the primary point of contact between the school(s) and your organization?

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11. [PP]. Can you please describe your collaboration with the schools and school districts taking part in the 

School Turnaround AmeriCorps implementation? 

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12. [PRE] Why were these particular schools/ this school selected to be a School Turnaround AmeriCorps 

partner school(s) this year? 

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13. [PRE] What are the primary roles and responsibilities of your organization and the school(s) as outlined in 

your partnership agreement? 

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14. [PP] What challenges arose in forming and implementing the partnership with the school(s) you are working 

with? How did you address them?

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15. [POST] Have there been any changes in the partnership over time?

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16. [POST] What can your organization do to improve your relationship with your school partners? What can 

the school(s) do to create a better relationship between school staff and your organization?

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17. [PRE] Has the school district and/or school(s) previously hosted AmeriCorps members? If so, what activities 

were the AmeriCorps members engaged in?

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18. [PRE] Can you elaborate on the extent and type of data your organization uses for tracking program 

activities and monitoring program progress and outcomes, and how?

Probes: 

a. Program activities and interim progress toward goals?

b. Individual student data (e.g. grades, performance on standardized tests, student engagement/behavior)? 

c. School-level data (e.g., attendance, graduation rates, achievement)? 

d. Demographic and other descriptive data about students, families, or schools? 

e. Other types of data?

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19. [POST] Can you please describe how your organization and your School Turnaround AmeriCorps members 

used data for tracking program activities and monitoring program progress and outcomes throughout the 

year?

Probes: 

a. Program activities and interim progress toward goals?

b. Individual student data (e.g. grades, performance on standardized tests, student engagement/behavior)? 

c. School-level data (e.g., attendance, graduation rates, achievement)? 

d. Teacher data (e.g., the approximate number or percentage of teachers who are new to the school this 

year)? 

e. Demographic and other descriptive data about students, families or schools? 

f. Other types of data?

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20. [POST] If we were to return a year from now, what indicators would tell us whether the School Turnaround 

AmeriCorps program is working well? What indicators would signal loss of momentum?

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21. [POST] What else should we discuss that is important for understanding how your organization interacts 

with school(s) engaged in this turnaround effort?

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