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## KEA Case Studies 

# District Version Interview Protocol **Introduction and Purpose of Interview** Thank you for your willingness to participate in this interview. We are talking with you and other administrators and teachers in your state and district about the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (or KEA), how it is implemented, and how you are using the res ults. We’d like to learn about what is working well in addition to the challenges and how you’re working to overcome them. We believe information about your experiences will be valuable for the many other states and districts interested in implementing KEAs. It also has the potential to inform federal policy and to help the U.S. Department of Education develop technical assistance that is useful for all states tackling this important effort. This interview will take approximately 60 minutes.
After intervi ewing people who have been involved in decisionmaking and administration of the KEA at the state level, we now want to learn more from you about on

-the

-ground implementation and use of data. We’ll also be conducting site visits to two of your schools where we will interview a range of staff
— including principals, kindergarten teachers, and preschool teachers. **Consent Process** Email the consent form to the respondent before the interview so he or she can read it, sign it, and send it back to you. Ask verbal permission to audio

-record the conversation.

______________________________________________________________________________ **We understand that your state has [selected or modified XX measure or developed its own measure XX] as your KEA. First, we want to le** **arn a few details about the [measure] itself and the nuts and bolts of administering it.**  1. When is the [ measure ] administered (i.e., during what time frame of the school year)? How frequently is it administered? **(Q6a)**
a. Is the measure used only to assess status at kindergarten entry or is it administered repeatedly throughout the school year to assess change? 2. Describe how the KEA is implemented in your schools. **(Q6)** Probe: a. What types of evidence are collected as part of the assessment? For example, are knowledge, skills, and abilities assessed through observation, direct assessments, and/or parent reports? **(Q2b)** b. Who administers or provides information about the student for t he [measure ]? **(Q6b)** c. How, if at all, are families involved in providing information? **(Q6d)** d. To what degree is technology used to support the administration or scoring of the [ measure ]? **(Q6e)**09000064816fc32b 2

3. What general information is provided to parents, teachers, and adm inistrators about the [ KEA ] administration? **(Q5)** ✪ Can you provide me with a copy of the information shared? 4. What training or support do district staff receive from the state on the administration of KEAs? **(Q5)** 5. What training or support do teachers and sc hool administrators receive on the administration of the KEA? Please describe the various types of training. **(Q5, 6b)**
a. So, would you say your training mode uses [read the following list]? ( Mark all that apply.) **(Q5a)**  Workshops  Webinars  Coaching  Online mod ules  Other (specify): ________________________________________ b. Who provides the training (the state, the district, a contractor)? c. Do individuals need to be certified before administering the assessment? **(Q5b)** d. What are the qualifications of the trainers? **(Q5b)** i. Are trainers local (in

- state or in
- district) staff or outside contractors? ii. Does the state or vendor train the trainers? e. What other supports would have been helpful? **(Q5b)** f. What, if any plans, are there to continue training after the initial introduction (e.g., booster training, coaching, PLC)? **(Q5b)** 6. When your district administers the [ measure ], is it a standard process across all participating districts in the state? Or can your district adapt administrati on or implementation procedures? If so, what varies? **(Q6g)** 6a. Similarly, within your district, do all schools need to administer the [measure] in a standard way? Or can schools adapt administration or implementation procedures? If so, what varies **? (Q6g)** Probe : For example, can a school choose which measure(s) to administer? Can it sample children (versus universally assess all children in the district/school)? Can it change administration procedures (e.g., opt in or out of parent reports, home observatio ns)? 7. How, if at all, does the district monitor and evaluate the implementation of KEAs? **(Q8)**
a. What, if any, issues have been uncovered? How have they been addressed? 8. Can you describe how your district submits the resulting data from the KEA to the state? **(Q7)** Probe: a. How are the initial results entered or recorded?09000064816fc32b 3 b. In what form are data submitted from the school to the district? How about from the district to the state? c. How does the data eventually get to the state? d. Where are the data entered (e.g., statewide longitudinal data system, student permanent record)? e. Do the data become part of the students’ cumulative file? f. What is the data submission timeline? g. Who is involved in submitting the data? 9. What is the approximate amount of time spent by your district on implementing the KEA? **(Q6c)** 9a. What other costs are there to implement the KEA (e.g., materials, substitutes to release teachers)? **(Q4) Finding one assessment tha** **t can accurately identify young children’s development status across multiple learning domains is challenging. Ensuring that the measure is also linguistically appropriate**  **for children whose primary language is not English adds another layer of complicatio n, as does the**  **need to accurately assess the strengths and needs of young children with developmental delays or disabilities.**  **Within this context, we’d like to ask about your thoughts concerning the use of the KEA with these particular populations.**  10. How does implementation of the KEA differ for students who are English leaners (e.g., children are assessed in their home language, use of nonverbal stimuli, observations conducted by bilingual staff or adults)? **(Q6f)**

a. In what ways are those who administe r the KEA prepared/trained to use the [ KEA measure ] with English learners? b. In what ways are expectations or interpretations of the findings adapted for English learners (who are learning their home language while also acquiring a second language such as in dual language programs)? 11. How does implementation of the KEA differ for students with developmental delays or disabilities? **(Q6f)**
a. In what ways are those who administer the KEA prepared/trained to use the [ KEA measure ] with children with developmental de lays or disabilities? b. What accommodations are made and for whom? (For example, children may be given additional time to perform skills, or children with physical limitations might be able to demonstrate a skill verbally.) c. Are there particular disability c ategories for which the [ KEA measure ] is not appropriate? i. Are alternate assessments used with these children? d. In what ways are the results used for screening and referral or IEP purposes? e. In what ways are expectations or interpretations of the findings mo dified or adapted for children with developmental delays or disabilities?09000064816fc32b 4

12. What have been the most important factors in supporting the implementation of the KEA and the use of KEA results to improve students’ educational experience? **(Q14)** 13. What have been t he biggest challenges with implementing the KEA? **(Q14)** a. What solutions have you identified for addressing those challenges? **Now we’d like to switch gears and ask you a set of questions about how KEA results are shared and used to inform policy and practice. Let’s begin with the results of the KEAs and how people are**  **informed of them.** 14. Who receives the results of the KEAs (chec k all that apply)? Probe for any groups not mentioned**. (Q9)**   SEA administration  District administration  Principals  Kindergarten teachers  Preschool educators  Parents (If so, are results translated into families’ languages?)  Others (specify): _______________

_________________________ 15. What information does each recipient receive about the results? **(Q9a, b, 10)** Probe : Let’s take it one at a time and describe the different roles and what they receive.
a. What is the schedule for sharing KEA results? In other words, when and how often does [ each recipient checked above ] receive information? **(Q9b)** b. In what format is information shared (e.g., access to database, printed or online reports, parent conferences)? **(Q9b)** c. How is the information broken out (e.g., by student de mographic characteristics, districts, schools, classrooms, or by preschool program)? **(Q9b)** d. What, if any, supporting information does [ each recipient checked above ] receive to interpret results and consider implications for learning supports at school and at home? **(Q10)** e. What, if any, challenges are there with sharing information with [ each recipient checked above ]? **(Q10)** 

### ✪ Do you have sample reports with results you could share with me? **Now let’s move to how KEA results are used to inform policy and practice.**  16. How, if at all, do you as a district administrator use KEA results to inform decisions at the district level? **(Q11d)** After getting a description, probe: Do you use results to make decisions about:  Budget allocations  Curriculum  Professional deve lopment offerings  District
-wide planning for Kindergarten  Identify changes needed across PreK programs throughout the district  Other areas (specify)?09000064816fc32b 5

17. Please describe the training or support you received to help you use KEA results to inform teaching and l earning? Who provides the training or support? **(Q10)**
a. Which training or supports are most useful? b. What other training or supports would have been useful? 18. How do you expect principals to use KEA results to inform decisions at the school level? **(Q11c)** For example, do expect them to use results to [read list]? ( Mark all that apply)  Discuss ways to increase children’s readiness with feeder preschools  Assign individual children to classrooms  Benchmark learning to track progress in Kindergarten throughout the year  Make decisions about  Budget allocations,  Curriculum,  Professional development, or  School

-wide planning?  Other (specify):
a. Please describe the training or support principals receive to help them use KEA results to inform teaching and learning. **(Q10)** 19. How do you expect kindergarten teachers use KEA results? **(Q11b)** For example, do expect them to use results to [read list]? ( Mark all that apply)  Identify children who may need additional supports  Identify specific skills to teach to individual stud ents or groups of students  Incorporate a new instructional strategy to support a commonly needed skills  To engage families in home learning activities  To benchmark learning in order to track progress throughout the year  Other (specify):

___________________

_________________________________________ a. Please describe the training or support kindergarten teachers receive to help them use KEA results to inform teaching and learning. **(Q10)** 20. **Use only if the preschool is part of the district.** Do preschool directors and/or teachers receive the reports? **(Q9)** If yes, a. How do you expect preschool directors and teachers to use KEA results? **(Q11a)** For example, do you expect them to [read list]? ( Mark all that apply)  Inform PreK program’s policies  Inform PreK curriculum  Inform professional development for your PreK teachers  Inform PreK family engagement about specific school readiness areas  Align expectations and/or instruction between PreK and kindergarten teachers  Inform other PreK program compone nts (specify):09000064816fc32b 6 b. Please describe the training or support preschool directors and/or teachers receive to help them use KEA results to inform teaching and learning. **(Q10)** 21. Describe any policies regarding how KEA results are not to be used, if there are any ( e.g., determine promotion or prevent kindergarten entry in any way). **(Q12)**
a. How, if at all, are these policies communicated to districts, schools, and teachers? b. How, if at all, are these policies enforced? Please give me a specific example. 22. What have been the most important factors in supporting the use of KEA results to improve students’ educational experience? **(Q15)** 23. What have been the biggest challenges with using KEA results to improve students’ educational experience? **(Q15)** a. What solution s have you identified for addressing those challenges? **This is our final question! In closing we’d like you to reflect on how your state, district, and schools administered and used KEA data and try to offer lessons learned. (Q14, 15)**  24. Are there lessons learned or recommendations you can share with other districts about KEA selection, implementation, and use of KEA results to inform policy and practice? **Thank you for your time and thoughtful responses.**