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Appendix F- Details for Question B1

Recruiting

This study is being proposed as part of the activities of a REL Southeast sponsored research 

alliance which includes education policymakers from the Georgia and South Carolina. Once the 

study has received OMB clearance, districts which have expressed interest will be contacted by

state Alliance members and the study team. Districts will be provided with the approved 

proposal, MOUs, and consent forms. In-person meetings will be held with LEAs. The plan is to 

begin contacting districts in January of 2014 (if OMB clearance is complete, or to begin as soon 

as it is completed) and to have all signed MOUs in place by June 2014.

Six districts will be recruited across the two states: three in each. One district comprised 

primarily of rural schools will be recruited from each state, one district comprised primarily of 

schools in small/medium towns, and one district comprised primarily of schools in an urban 

context, to maximize the type of schools sampled within each state. The number of elementary

schools in each state is provided in the urbanicity table below (Table F.1). Alliance members in 

both states will provide contacts for districts that would likely be interested in participating in the 

study. Districts that show interest in participating in the study and have at least 6 elementary

schools that are performing below the median on the state math assessment will be selected for 

participation. It is expected that recruited districts will vary in size, with an average of 

approximately 14 participating elementary schools in six districts to total 84. A minimum 

number of schools was established to eliminate the need to recruit and manage relationships with 

more than six districts. Because rural districts are required in the plan, it may be necessary to 

include districts with as low as six eligible schools. It is anticipated that some of the urban and 

county or suburban districts will have more than six eligible schools. Limiting the study to six 

districts also serves to control the number of different DMI training groups (of up to 20 teachers 

each) that would need to be formed. A number of smaller districts scattered over a larger area 

would likely necessitate more DMI groups and more trainers.

Once the district leadership has committed to participate in the study, school leaders within the 

district (from schools performing below the median on state assessments) will be invited to a 

face-to-face informational meeting. All eligible schools will be invited to participate. 

Subsequently, all schools which sign an MOU will be included in the study. Allowance has been 

made in the budget for some over-enrollment above the 84 schools targeted for recruitment. The 

study, school MOUs, and their roles given possible assignment to either the DMI or control 

conditions will be carefully explained. School leaders will be asked to commit prior to random 

assignment only if they are willing to accept the 50% probability of receiving additional

professional development. The study team has successfully used this approach in the past to 

recruit for two large-scale RCTs with 62 and 76 schools respectively (Gersten, Dimino, Jayanthi, 

& Haymond, forthcoming; Rolfhus et al., 2012). Both studies exhibited very low school and 

teacher-level attrition (<5%).
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Once individual school leaders have signed an MOU, information regarding the study, along 

with informed consent forms will be shared with individual teachers in those schools via a 

webinar. Informed consent from teachers will be acquired prior to pairing and random 

assignment of schools.

Table F.1 Summary of urban-centric locale designation of schools

State Urban-Centric Locale 

Designation

Total Number of 

Schools

Number of Schools 

Below Median

Georgia City 707 353

Town 136 68

Rural 480 240

South Carolina City 264 132

Town 107 53

Rural 295 147
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References

Gersten, R., Dimino, J., Jayanthi, M., & Haymond, K. (Manuscript in preparation). The Impact of 

Participation in Teacher Study Groups: A Replication in First Grade Classrooms. 

Rolfhus, E., Gersten, R., Clarke, B., Decker, L., Wilkins, C., and Dimino, J. (2012). An 

evaluation of Number Rockets: A Tier 2 intervention for grade 1 students at risk for 

difficulties in mathematics. (NCEE 2012-4007). Washington, DC: National Center for 

Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. 

Department of Education.