1 **Appendix F -**  **Details for Question B1 Recruiting**  This study

i s being proposed as part of the activities of a RELS outheast sponsored research alliance which includes education policy makers 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 o f 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 201 4
. Six districts will be recruited across the two states: three in each. One district compri sed primarily o f rural schools will be recruited from each state , one district comprised primarily o f schools in small/medium towns, and one district comprised primarily o f schools in an urban context, to maximize the ty pe 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

. Iti s expected that recruited districts will vary in size, with an average of approximately

1 4 participating elementary s chools 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 b e necessary

to include districts with as low as six eligible schools. Iti s 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 DMItraining 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, & Hay mond, forthcoming; Rolfhus et al., 20 12)

. Both studies exhibited very low school and teacher

- level attrition (<5%).2

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 vi a 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 s chools** 
**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 1473 **References** Gersten, R., Dimino, J., Jayanthi, M., & Hay mond, 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.