Protocol for Telephone Interview

*** DRAFT ***

SEMAA SITE DIRECTOR

Protocol for Telephone Interview

Site: Person Interviewed:

Interviewer: Title:

Interview Date/Time: Telephone #:

1. Background Information

1. Project Director

1. How long have you been project director of the SEMAA project at ________?

2. What are your main responsibilities as project director?

3. Do you hold any other positions?

2. Project Staffing

4. Please list your staff and describe the role of each.

(Note: If this information is provided in the SOP, confirm staff and roles.)*

4. Who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of your project?

3. Host Institution and Locale

Note: Interviewers should obtain demographic information (from the Web or elsewhere) on the host institution, school districts, schools involved in the program as well as the community where program is located.

4. I see that the host institution for your project is______________.

What components of your program are housed at the host institution? Where?*

4. What components of your program are housed elsewhere?

(Probe: Are classes held at school sites? Which school districts and schools?

Where are FCC activities held? Where is the AEL located?)*

2. Administrative, Governance, and Decision-making Structure of Program

4. Where in the administrative structure of the host institution is your project located? Why was the decision made to locate the project there?

4. What is the reporting structure for the project within the host institution?

(Probe: To whom do you report?)

4. Does your project have an advisory board? What constituencies are represented on the board?*

4. What are the roles and responsibilities of the Advisory Board? How often does the Board meet?* After identify role, ask: Was the Board effective or helpful? In what ways?

III. Project Goals and History

4. What would you say are your SEMAA program’s main goals?

(Probe: Have these goals changed over time?)

4. How do these goals align with overall NASA goals for SEMAA?*

4. How do these goals align with the host institution goals?

4. Why did your institution wish to establish a SEMAA project?

(Probe: Can you give me a brief history of what led to the establishment of your SEMAA project? Does this project build on previous institutional initiatives?)

4. Program Components and Functions

1. Program Type

4. What is your main program type?

(Choose one: Saturday program, in-school program, or after-school program)*

4. Has your main program type changed since you began your project?

(Probe: If so, how? Why did you decide to adopt another program type? When?

In your opinion, what program type do you think has the most impact?)

2. Program Components and Activities

4. Does your SEMAA project have any of the following core components?*

___NASA STEM Hands-On curriculum

___Aerospace Education Laboratory (AEL)

___Family Café

4. Which activities do you offer under each of the above components?

Curriculum

1. In addition to the SEMAA curriculum, what additional experiences are provided to meet local needs? (i.e., career exploration and counseling and enrichment activities—field trips, guest speakers, mentoring, peer support groups, etc.)

2. Please describe how the curriculum used in your program aligns with national and state standards.

3. How are parents involved in instructional activities? How are private sector businesses and industries involved?

AEL

1. What activities are offered at your AEL as part of core program activities?

(Probe: What simulations are offered?)*

2. What special outreach programs does your project sponsor at the AEL?

(Probe: What is the target audience? About how many participants do you usually attract per year? Per session?)*

3. Do you offer other outreach activities that do not involve the AEL?

(Probe: If so, please describe the activities, target audience and number attracted.)

Family Café

What are typical Family Café activities?*

(Probe: any activities specific to science or technology)

Note: Grantees report regularly on frequency and length of sessions, numbers of participants, etc. Confirm these data during interview.

4. What scientific topic areas does your project cover? (mark all that apply)*

(Probe: does this vary by grade? Do you offer all topics in all grades?)

(Note: prior to beginning data collection, consider alternate categories)

1. Earth Science____

2. Areospace technology_____

3. Human exploration and development of space____

4. Space science____

5. Other (specify)_____

21. a. Do you offer a summer session?

(Probe: If so, please describe—length, where housed, content)*

b. What percentage of all participants during the regular sessions (generally 3 sessions) typically attend your summer session?

C. Student Recruitment, Selection and Retention

22. Please describe the student population targeted for recruitment?

(Probe: confirm grade levels, get demographic and achievement profile)*

23. How are students recruited for your project? What recruitment strategies have you found to be most successful?*

24. Does the project have an application/selection process? If so, please describe this process.

25. On average, what percentage of students in your project continue to the following year?

(Probe: does it vary by grade level? Is their greater attrition in the upper grades?

Is there less re-enrollment in the upper grades?)

26. How do you try to ensure that students continue in your project?

27. How is student progress monitored?

(Probe: Who is monitored? How often? By whom? What kind of information is used to monitor student progress?)

28. Interviewer: skip this question if don’t monitor student progress (q27).

Do students receive systematic feedback on their progress?

(Probe: How often? Through what mechanism[s]?)

D. Teacher Recruitment, Selection and Training

29. How do you select teachers for your program?

(Probe: What are selection criteria? Selection process? Do you hire both preservice and inservice teachers?)*

30. Please describe the training that teachers in your project receive.

(Probe: How long does the training last? Who provides it? What is covered by the training [content, pedagogy]?)*

31. On average, how long do teachers stay in your project? Why do they leave?

(Probe: interviewer find out if leave the school or the project? Of those who leave, which share do so because they leave the school?)

E. Parent Recruitment and Retention

32. How are parents recruited into the Family Café component of the project?*

33. What steps are taken by the project to ensure continued family participation?*

34. On average, what percentage of parents participate in the Family Café? And what percentage continue participation from year to year?

F. Collaborations/Partnerships and Leveraging of Resources

35. Have you established formal partnerships or collaborative relationships with the following entities? If so, please identify the partner within each category, list the relationship (internal/external or financial/other partner) and give monetary value of contributions:*

Partners: Name I=Internal F=Financial Value

(circle) E=External O=Other ($)

a. school systems/districts?

b. universities?

c. research centers/programs?

d. laboratories?

e. industry/business entities?

f. community groups?

g. other?

G. Sustainability

36. Please describe your plan for sustaining the project beyond the funding period.*

H. Evaluation and Reporting

37. Are you conducting an evaluation of your project? If so, please describe it.

38. Does your project use the data that you are required to report to NASA for planning or other purposes? If so, please describe how these data are used.

39. Does your project track participants? If so, can you describe the process?*

V. Project Outcomes

40. What do you see as your project’s main outcomes?

41. What percentage of participants in your project do you estimate have majored in a STEM degree in college? What percentage may be working in a STEM field?

VI. Lessons Learned

42. What have been the main lessons that you have learned in implementing your project?

43. What have been the main factors that have helped you implement your project successfully?

44. What have been your biggest challenges in implementing your project?

*Asterisk alerts the interviewer (I) that the information requested may be found in NASA reports.

In these cases, I is instructed to record the information from the report and confirm it with the

interviewee or record it and ask question…as discussed during the training prior to conducting interviews.

Page 5 of 4