### INTERVIEW **GUIDE FOR SCHOOL LEADER** **S**

TARGETED RESPONDENT: These interview question s will target School Principals and Assistant Principals, Site Director, School Superintendents, school leadership council members, and district curriculum chairs in schools/school districts served by the grantees, as well as those in the comparison group of SIG/Priority schools . CONTENT: This document contains draft interview questions to be asked of school leaders. We suggest the timing and target group (grantee o r comparison school) for each question; these suggestions could be extracted to yield four types of interviews for school leaders: (1) an interview for school leaders served by grantees [G] that would be administered at the beginning of the school year [PRE]; (2) an interview for school leaders served by grantees [G] that would be administered at the end of the school year [POST]; (3) an interview for school leaders in comparison schools [C] that would be administered at the beginning of the school year [PRE]; (4) an inte rview for school leaders in comparison schools [C] 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 t he school year [POST]. We use [ GC] to suggest that an interview question should be administered to school leaders both served by grantees and in the comparison group. **1. [PRE]**  **[GC] Please describe**  **the community and student population your school serves (e.g.,**  **demographic composition) ?**  

### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________**  **_________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **2. [PRE] [GC] Please describe your school’s turnaround plan. Also, state the change model (turnaround,**  **transformation, school closure, restart) that your school follows.** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________**  **___________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **3. [PRE]**  **[G] Why was your school selected to participate in the**  **School Turnaround AmeriCorps**  **program?**



### __________________________________ **___________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________**  **__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________** **4. [PRE]**  **Who serves as the primary point of contact between your school and the School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps grantee organization?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 5.**  **[PP] What roles do**  **School Turnaround AmeriCorps members**  **play at your sch**  **ool?**



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________**  **____ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 6.**  **[PP] W**  **hat are/were the 3 -** **5 most important responsibilities of the School Turnarou**  **nd AmeriCorps**  **members ? Did the activities change throughout the year? If so, then why?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **____________________________________________________________________________________ _**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 7.**  **[PP] What are the formal or informal channels among school**  **staff for communicating with each other about school improvement goals**  **(for example, grade -**  **or team meetings, faculty meetings, informal meetings with teachers whose students you support, email c** **ommunication from principal) ?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_ ____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 8.**  **[PP] How is your school monitoring its progress toward meeting its**  **school turnaround**  **goals? How will you know if your school is successful? Who is responsible for monitoring?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________ ________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **______________________________________________________________________ _______________** **9. [PP]**  **Who among the school staff is involved in using and discussing data on the progress of all students? Who supports the use of data by teachers**  **in your school for improvement (**  **e.g. someone**  **from your school staff, from the district, or an external consultant)**  **?**



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________**  **_______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 10.**  **[PP] Please elaborate on othe**  **r school turnaround activities in which your school is participating** **, including...**  a. Teacher evaluation b. Professional development c. Changes to curriculum d. Other? (please describe)



### __________________________________________________________________________________ **___ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________**  **__ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **11. [PP]**  **If CNCS**  **were to conduct**  **a study that required access to individual student level data, would you be willing to share student** **- level data for the purposes of this st**  **udy? Data would be secured and individual student privacy would always be protected. If so,**  a. Would you have to obtain permission from the district to enter into a data sharing agreement with an outside researcher? b. Have you done this before? c. What steps wou ld it take to establish an agreement? d. Are you aware of any major challenges in establishing data sharing agreements with outside researchers (e.g. insufficient staff capacity to provide the data, costs and fees, delays in the process, the lag time in getting current data, or privacy concerns and obtaining informed consent from families)?



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_________________________________________________________________ ____________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **__________________________________________________________________ ___________________**  **12. [POST] In which of the following ways did**  **School Turnaround A meriCorps members contribute to your**  **school’s capacity to implement its school turnaround plan? Specifically, how did AmeriCorps members help the school build capacity throug** **h...** a. fostering staff collaboration? b. fostering respect among students and staff? c. involving families (e.g. in attending events, providing access to information and resources to support their child’s education, helping students complete homework, volunteering in child’s classroom)? d. improving the school environment and climate?e. helping to set school goals and monitor progress?

f. making changes to the curriculum? g. meeting the academic needs of specific groups of students? h. meeting the behavioral and/or socio - emotiona l health needs of specific groups of students? i. filling additional instructional/support staff positions? j. supporting changes in teacher evaluation or professional development practices? k. supporting teachers in the use of data/assessments? l. p roviding before s chool, after school, or extended learning time programming? m. other activities and contributions? (please specify)



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_________________________________________________________ ____________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **__________________________________________________________ ___________________________**  **13. [P** **OST ]**  **Are you satisfied with the effectiveness of interventions provided by School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps members?** (IF YES) what specifically? (IF NO) what needs to be improved? 

### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_ ____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 14.**  **[POST] What kind of feedback have you received about the School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps program**  **from different stakeholders? In each case, what factors do you think contribute to this perception?** a. From teachers? b. From parents? c. From community members? 

### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **__________**

**___________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ___________** 

**__________________________________________________________________________ 15.**  **[ PP** **] What kind of academic and social supports are currently in place to help the students in your**  **school succeed?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_ ____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 16.**  **[ PP** **] How are/w** **ere School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps members involved in providing these s upports?** 

### _____________________________________________________________________________________

**_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________** **________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 17.**  **[POST] Are the supports provided by**  **School Turnaround AmeriCorps members**  **help ful? Why or why**  **not?**



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 18.**  **[POST] What other supports do you believe are missing?** 



### ________ **_____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _________** 

**____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **19. [POST]**  **What do you think is the likelihood that the recently adopted or planned improvement strategies**  **of the school turnaround**  **program will**  **have an impact on**  **your school over the next two**  **years ? Why or Why not? If so, what do you think the impact will be?** 



### ______ **_______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _______**  **______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________** **20. [POST]**  **How well**  **do you think school turnaround**  **strategies have**  **address ed**  **the issues faced**  **by the school?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________**  **_______________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 21.**  **[PRE] Did**  **your school host a School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps program last**  **year ?**  **If so, how is this year’s program similar or different than last year’s?**  **If not, has your school previously hosted any type of AmeriCorps program and if so, what activities were AmeriCorps members engaged in?** 



### ______________________________________ **_______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________**  **______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **22. [PP]. Can you please describe your collaboration with the**  **School Turnaround AmeriCorps**  **grantee organization?** 



### _______________

**______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ ________________** 

**_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **23. [POST]**  **What challenges did your school face in establishing a partnership**  **with the School Turnaround**  **AmeriCorps grantee organization**  **?**



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________**  **______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ 24.**  **[POST] Have there been any changes**  **over time in**  **the partnership between your school and the School**  **Turnaround AmeriCorps grantee organization?** 



### _____________________________________________________________________________________ **___________________________________ __________________________________________________**  **_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________**  **____________________________________ _________________________________________________**