INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR SCHOOL LEADERS

TARGETED RESPONDENT: These interview questions 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 or 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 interview 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 the 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)?

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2. [PRE] [GC] Please describe your school’s turnaround plan. Also, state the change model (turnaround, 

transformation, school closure, restart) that your school follows. 

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

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4. [PRE] Who serves as the primary point of contact between your school and the School Turnaround 

AmeriCorps grantee organization?

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5. [PP] What roles do School Turnaround AmeriCorps members play at your school?

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6. [PP] What are/were the 3-5 most important responsibilities of the School Turnaround AmeriCorps 

members? Did the activities change throughout the year? If so, then why?

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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 communication from principal)?

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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? 

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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)?

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10. [PP] Please elaborate on other school turnaround activities in which your school is participating, 

including...

a. Teacher evaluation

b. Professional development

c. Changes to curriculum

d. Other? (please describe)

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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 study? 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 would 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)? 

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12. [POST] In which of the following ways did School Turnaround AmeriCorps members contribute to your 

school’s capacity to implement its school turnaround plan? Specifically, how did AmeriCorps members 

help the school build capacity through...

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-emotional 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. providing before school, after school, or extended learning time programming?

m. other activities and contributions? (please specify)

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13. [POST] 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?

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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?

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

school succeed? 

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16. [PP] How are/were School Turnaround AmeriCorps members involved in providing these supports?
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17. [POST] Are the supports provided by School Turnaround AmeriCorps members helpful? Why or why 

not? 

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18. [POST] What other supports do you believe are missing?

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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?

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20. [POST] How well do you think school turnaround strategies have addressed the issues faced by the 

school?

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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?

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22. [PP]. Can you please describe your collaboration with the School Turnaround AmeriCorps grantee 

organization?

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23. [POST] What challenges did your school face in establishing a partnership with the School Turnaround 

AmeriCorps grantee organization?

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24. [POST] Have there been any changes over time in the partnership between your school and the School 

Turnaround AmeriCorps grantee organization?

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