21st Century Community Learning Centers Study

Contract # ED-CFO-10-A-0110-0001

21^st Century Community Learning Centers: Lessons Learned Guides

Deliverable 7.3: Final CTE Interview Protocols

January 16, 2012

Revised January 31, 2012

Revised February 6, 2012

Revised April 27, 2012

Prepared for

Prepared by

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Project Director

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to your CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to your funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although your program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Project Director Background

Let’s start by talking about your role in this 21^st CCLC program.

1. Please tell me about your role and experience with the 21^st CCLC program. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Responsibilities

• Programs and activities supervised or led

• Duration of tenure with 21^st CCLC

• Other positions held

• How many sites supervised

2. What is your professional background? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Previous teaching or youth work experience, including prior experience with 21^st CCLC programming

• Educational background

• Training specific to CTE

• Teaching credential or credential related to CTE, youth development, or child and youth care

2. Program Overview

Now let’s talk about the 21^st CCLC program at this site in general. (Note: if this is a multi-site program, then be specific that you want the project director to talk about the site selected for this study, unless specifically asked otherwise.)

3. What are the most important objectives of this site? How were those objectives developed? How do academics and academic goals fit within these overall objectives?

4. How do you see your role in a 21^st CCLC program as contributing to student learning? How does that fit with the school’s or parents’ roles?

5. If this is a multi-site program, how is this site different from other sites that you oversee? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Location

• Staffing

• Time frame

• Duration

• Student population

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about your program in general at this site, but now I want to turn to your CTE program in particular.

3. Staffing and Professional Development

We are interested in learning about the kinds of staff you have at your program and how they are trained to support the CTE program.

6. Please describe the staffing arrangements and staff backgrounds. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Roles for paid staff

• Roles for volunteers

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your paid staff

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your volunteers

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your community partners

7. What kind of industry requirements do you have for CTE teachers? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

   • Certification type

   • Degree

   • Number of hours of industry experience

8. What kind of support do you provide your staff so that they are able to implement the CTE programs properly?

9. Do you have staff who cross over between the program and the school day? If so, can you please describe their roles in both settings?

10. If you have a blended staffing model, how does it support the CTE program?

11. Do you have professional development sessions geared toward the CTE staff in the program? If so, can you describe them?

4. Alignment With the School Day

Let’s talk about alignment with the school day.

12. Does the school have a CTE program? If so, how does the site coordinate and communicate with the CTE teachers? If not, which teachers or school staff does the site coordinate with? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Logistics/space negotiations

• Sharing information about CTE students

• Sharing about the progress of CTE students

• Sharing curriculum and other resources

13. Does your program align your curricula with any content standards? If so, how? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• State standards

• Local standards

14. What kind of collaborative planning takes place between the program and the school day?

5. Program Monitoring and Assessment

Now let’s talk about how your program uses data to monitor student progress and ensure that the activities your program is providing best support their learning needs.

15. How do you assess CTE students’ learning needs? What kind of data/information do you collect on CTE student progress? How do you collect the data/information? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Externally validated data

• College credits

• Certificates

16. To what extent are students given any form of competency-based assessments or aptitude tests to determine potential career paths?

17. What structures are in place to enable you and your staff to examine and discuss CTE student data? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

    • Weekly team meetings

    • Written summaries of student progress

18. What challenges have you encountered in using data to target skills and outcomes?

6. Community Partnerships

19. Does the execution of your CTE program require community partners? If so, who are they and how do they support the program?

20. If you run a multi-site program, please reflect on how, if at all, partners at this site differ from those at other sites.

21. What challenges have you encountered in developing community partnerships?

7. Family Relationships

22. In what ways do you engage or involve the families in your program?

23. What role, if any, does the program play in helping families support their children’s education and career exploration? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Co-sponsor family nights at school

• Participate in family-teacher conferences

• Help families understand homework

• Provide a family liaison

8. Funding

24. How, if at all, is your CTE program affected by your funding?

25. Are there CTE-specific sources of non-21^st CCLC funds that you use? (Probe for Perkins or WIA funds in particular.)

26. If you run a multi-site program, is there a difference in the funding of this site as opposed to other sites? If so, please explain.

9. Challenges

27. In addition to the challenges previously identified, what barriers or challenges have you encountered in trying to implement the CTE program and how have you overcome them?

10. Advice for Others

28. What suggestions do you have for other 21^st CCLC grantees or potential applicants to the 21^st CCLC program interested in implementing a CTE program?

11. Final Thoughts

29. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about this site’s CTE program?

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Site Director

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to your CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to your funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although your program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Site Director Background

Let’s start by talking about your role in this 21^st CCLC program.

1. Please tell me about your role and experience at this site (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Responsibilities

• Programs and activities supervised or led

• Hours per week worked here

• Duration of tenure with 21^st CCLC

• Other positions held here

• How many sites supervised

2. What is your professional background? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Previous teaching or youth work experience, including prior experience with 21^st CCLC programming

• Educational background

• Teaching credential or credential related to CTE, youth development, or child and youth care

2. Program Overview

Now let’s talk about the 21^st CCLC program at this site.

3. What are the most important objectives of this site? How were those objectives developed? How do academics and academic goals fit within these overall objectives?

4. How do you see your role in a 21^st CCLC program as contributing to student learning? How does that fit with the school’s or parents’ roles?

5. Let’s look over a typical weekly schedule. How did/do you decide on which programs and activities to offer? How often, if at all, do you change the schedule or activities (e.g., seasonal changes, session changes)?

3. Student Attendance

Now let’s talk a little bit about the students who attend the program at this site.

6. What are your CTE student recruitment and enrollment processes? How do you ensure retention of students in the CTE program? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following area.)

• Written attendance policies

7. Are students enrolled in the program also involved in the school day CTE program?

8. How do you monitor attendance? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Activity

• Daily

• Weekly

• Do you keep track of CTE student attendance specifically? What do you do with that information?

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about your program in general at this site, but now I want to turn to your CTE program in particular.

4. Instructional Practices

We are interested in learning about the instructional practices aimed at supporting CTE.

9. For which industries are students receiving education or training? Please describe the programming specific to these areas.

10. Are students exposed to existing Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)? If so, please describe.

5. Student Engagement

Please describe the ways you ensure that your CTE students are actively engaged and interested in your program’s CTE activities.

11. How do you sustain student engagement? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Project-based learning

• Guest speakers

• Industry site visits

• Apprenticeships/job shadowing

• Long-term mentoring

• Youth leadership opportunities

12. What opportunities exist for CTE students to work with one another? What efforts exist to build youth-adult relationships between CTE program participants, staff, and other adults?

13. What, if any, opportunities exist for students to take responsibility for their own learning?

14. How, if at all, is student choice built into programming options?

15. How, if at all, does your program communicate with families about the importance of participation?

6. Staffing and Professional Development

We are interested in learning about the kinds of staff you have at your program and how they are trained to support the CTE program.

16. Please describe the staffing arrangements and staff backgrounds. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Roles for paid staff

• Roles for volunteers

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your paid staff

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your volunteers

• Educational and professional backgrounds of your community partners

17. What kind of requirements do you have for CTE teachers? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Certification type

• Degree

• Number of hours of industry experience

18. What kind of support do you provide your staff so that they are able to implement the CTE programs properly? (If not mentioned, probe for who is providing the support.)

19. Do you have staff who cross over between the program and the school day? If so, can you please describe their roles in both settings?

20. If you have a blended staffing model, how does it support the CTE program?

7. Alignment With the School Day

Let’s talk about alignment with the school day.

21. Does the school have a CTE program? If so, how regularly do you or your staff communicate with the CTE teachers at the school (daily, weekly, or monthly) and what is the nature of those communications? If not, which teachers or school staff do you or your staff communicate with and what is the nature of those communications? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Logistics/space negotiations

• Sharing information about students

• Sharing about the progress of students

• Sharing CTE curricula and other resources

22. Do you use input from the school day teachers to modify your instructional approaches? If so, how?

23. How, if at all, does your program support grade-level transitions from one year to the next?

24. Does your program align your curricula with any content standards? If so, how? (If not mentioned, probe for the following kinds of standards.)

• State standards

• Local standards

8. Program Monitoring and Assessment

Now let’s talk about how your program uses data to monitor student progress and ensure that the activities your program is providing best support their learning needs.

25. How do you assess CTE students’ learning needs? What kind of data/information do you collect on CTE student progress? How do you collect it?

26. How do you and your staff communicate with school day teachers about data/information on student progress?

27. To what extent are students given any form of competency-based assessments or aptitude tests to determine potential career paths?

28. What structures are in place to enable staff to examine and discuss CTE student data? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Weekly team meetings

• Written summaries of student progress

9. Community Partnerships

29. Does the execution of your CTE program require community partners? If so, who are they and how do they support the program?

30. What challenges have you encountered in developing community partnerships?

10. Family Relationships

31. What role, if any, does the program play in helping families support students in their CTE activities? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Including families on field trips

• Providing information about current CTE activities

11. Relationship Between the School Year and Summer Program (if applicable)¹

Let’s talk about the relationship between your school year program and your summer program with regard to your CTE program.

32. How do the summer program activities differ from school year activities for the CTE program?

33. How do you ensure continuity for students who participate in both the school year and summer programs?

12. Funding

34. How, if at all, is your CTE program affected by your funding?

35. Are there CTE-specific sources of non-21^st CCLC funds that you use? (Probe for the use of Perkins and WIA funds in particular.)

13. Challenges

In addition to the challenges previously identified, what barriers or challenges have you encountered in trying to implement your CTE program and how have you overcome them?

14. Advice for Others

36. What suggestions do you have for other 21^st CCLC grantees or potential applicants to the 21^st CCLC program interested in implementing a CTE program?

15. Final Thoughts

37. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about this site’s CTE program?

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Afterschool Staff

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to your CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to your funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although your program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Afterschool Staff Background

Let’s start by talking about your role in the 21^st CCLC program.

1. Please tell me about your role and experience at this program. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Responsibilities

• Programs and activities supervised or led

• Hours per week worked here

• Duration of tenure at the site and in the organization

• Other positions held here

2. What is your professional background? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Previous teaching or youth work experience, including prior experience with 21^st CCLC programming

• Educational background

• Teaching credential or credential related to CTE, youth development, or child and youth care

• Certifications or hours of industry experience

2. Program Overview

Now let’s talk about the 21^st CCLC program in general.

3. Let’s look over a typical weekly schedule. Tell me about these programs. How did/do you decide on which programs and activities to offer? How often, if at all do you change the schedule or activities (e.g., seasonal changes, session changes)?

3. Student Attendance

Now let’s talk a little bit about the students who attend the program. How do you encourage participation to ensure that students attend a sufficient amount of time to maximize the benefit of participating in your program?

4. What do you do if you notice that students who are enrolled in the program are chronically absent from it?

5. How, if at all, do you communicate with parents about the importance of attendance?

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about your program in general at this site, but now I want to turn to your CTE program in particular.

4. Instructional Practices

We are interested in learning about the instructional practices aimed at promoting CTE.

6. How does your staff decide what activities they’ll use (e.g., a curriculum, lesson plans from classroom teachers, instructors’ lesson plans)?

7. What kinds of instructional arrangements do you use and how do you decide to use them? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• One-on-one instruction

• Small group activities

• Large group activities

• Peer-to-peer learning

8. For which industries are students receiving education or training? Please describe the programming specific to these areas.

9. How does the program implement specific career-readiness training? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills

• Attitude

• General employability skills

• Technical skills

• Occupation-specific skills

• Leadership and teamwork skills

10. What kinds of instructional settings do you have access to for CTE (e.g., classrooms, labs, computer labs)?

11. How does the facility support the program’s ability to offer CTE experiences for participants (e.g., a fully stocked kitchen for culinary class)?

12. What type of enrichment activities do you offer that build on CTE concepts (e.g., media, computer-based learning, applied tech activities, field trips)?

13. Are students exposed to existing Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)? If so, please describe.

14. Are older students exposed to goal setting or plans for postsecondary education or training?

15. Are students expected to make progress toward completing their CTE program within a program cycle? If so, please describe.

5. Student Engagement

Please describe the ways you ensure that your CTE students are actively engaged and interested in your program’s CTE activities.

16. How do you sustain student engagement? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Project-based learning

• Guest speakers

• Industry site visits

• Apprenticeships/job shadowing

• Long-term mentoring

• Youth leadership opportunities

17. What opportunities exist for CTE students to work with one another? What opportunities exist to build relationships between CTE program participants and staff?

18. What, if any, opportunities exist for students to take responsibility for their own learning?

19. How, if at all, is student choice built into programming options?

VI. Staffing and Professional Development

We are interested in learning about the kinds of staff who work at the program and how they are trained to support the CTE program.

20. Are you also in the school during the school day? If so, what do you do there?

21. What kind of support do you receive so that you are able to implement the program to effectively implement the CTE program?

22. If you are also a teacher during the school day, how is your teaching the same or different between the classroom and program settings?

23. If you are a teacher during the school day, what do you think are the benefits of working in both settings?

7. Alignment With the School Day

Let’s talk about alignment with the school day.

24. Does the school have a CTE program? If so, how do you communicate with the CTE teachers? If not, which teachers or school staff do you communicate with at the school (daily, weekly, or monthly)? What is the nature of those communications (logistics/space negotiations, sharing information about students, sharing about the progress of students, or sharing CTE curriculum and other resources)?

25. Do you use input from the school day teachers to modify your instructional approaches? If so, how?

26. Does your program align your curricula with any content standards? If so, how? (If not mentioned, probe for the following kinds of standards.)

• State standards

• Local standards

27. What barriers have you encountered in collaborating with the school day?

7. Program Monitoring and Assessment

Now let’s talk about how your program uses data to monitor student progress and ensure that the activities your program is providing best support their learning needs.

28. How do you assess students’ learning needs? What kind of data/information do you collect on student progress? How do you collect it?

29. To what extent are students given any form of competency-based assessments or aptitude tests to determine potential career paths?

30. How do you and your staff communicate with school day teachers about data/information on student progress?

31. What structures are in place to enable you and your colleagues to examine and discuss student data? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Weekly team meetings

• Written summaries of student progress

7. Community Partnerships

32. Does the execution of your CTE program require community partners? If so, who are they and how do they support the program?

33. What challenges have you encountered in developing community partnerships?

7. Family Relationships

34. In what ways do you engage or involve the families in your program?

35. What is the nature of your interactions with family members? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Frequency of interaction

• Content of interaction (e.g., behavior, learning objectives, helping them support their children’s education and career exploration)

• Family nights

• Providing resources/information relevant to CTE student needs

7. Relationship Between the School Year and Summer Program (if applicable)²

Let’s talk about the relationship between your school year program and your summer program with regard to the CTE program.

34. Do you work in the summer program? If so, how do the summer program activities that you provide differ from school year activities in terms of providing structures to support CTE?

35. How do you ensure continuity for students who participate in the school year and/or summer program?

36. What summer internships, jobs, or apprenticeships do the community partners provide?

7. Challenges

34. In addition to the challenges previously identified, what barriers or challenges have you encountered in trying to create structures to implement the CTE program and how have you overcome them?

7. Advice for Others

34. What suggestions do you have for other 21^st CCLC program staff who are interested in implementing a CTE program?

7. Final Thoughts

34. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the program’s CTE activities?

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Principal

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to your CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to your funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although your program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Program Overview

Let’s start by talking about the 21^st CCLC program in general.

1. How long have you had a 21^st CCLC program at your school?

2. What are the advantages you see to having a 21^st CCLC program at your school? (

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about the program in general at this site, but now I want to turn to the CTE activities in particular.

2. Alignment With the School Day

Let’s start by talking about alignment with the school day. What mechanisms are in place to align afterschool programming with what happens during the school day?

3. Do you have a CTE program at your school? If so, how does the 21^st CCLC CTE program complement or enhance it?

4. What kind of collaborative planning takes place between the program and the school day?

5. Do you and the program have a shared vision for student success in CTE? If so, what is it and how did you develop that?

6. Do school day teachers or other school staff coordinate targeted instruction with program staff to reinforce concepts that individual students may be struggling with? If so, how?

7. How would you characterize your relationship with the site director and afterschool staff?

8. Is there someone at the school whose job it is to ensure effective alignment between your program and the CTE instruction during the school day? If so, please describe that role and who performs it.

9. How regularly do you or your staff communicate with program staff (daily, weekly, or monthly) and what is the nature of those communications. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Logistics/space negotiations

• Sharing information about students

• Sharing about the progress of students

• Sharing CTE curriculum and other resources

3. Instructional Practices

We are interested in learning how the instructional practices at the program support CTE.

10. Do you play a role in deciding what activities the CTE program offers? If so, what specifically do you do?

11. What kinds of instructional settings does the program have access to for CTE (e.g., classrooms, labs, computer labs)?

4. Staffing and Professional Development

We are interested in learning about the kinds of program staff and how they are trained to support CTE.

12. Do you have CTE teachers who work in the program after school? If so, how do you see their teaching as being the same or different between the classroom and program settings?

13. If there is crossover, what do you think are the benefits of a blended staffing model? (

5. Program Monitoring and Assessment

Now let’s talk about how the program uses data to monitor CTE student progress and ensure that the activities that the program is providing best support their learning and socio-emotional needs.

14. How do school day CTE teachers communicate with the afterschool staff about student progress?

15. What structures are in place to enable teachers and program staff to examine and discuss student data? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Weekly team meetings

• Written summaries of student progress

6. Family Relationships

16. What role, if any, do you think the afterschool program plays in helping families navigate the school day? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Co-sponsor family nights

• Participate in family-teacher conferences

• Help families understand homework

• Provide a family liaison

• Help families understand the social norms of the school day

7. Relationship Between the School Year and Summer Program (if applicable)³

Let’s talk about the relationship between the school year program and the summer program with regard to efforts to support CTE.

17. What is the relationship between your school and the summer afterschool program?

18. Are there differences in how you work with the program in the summer, as compared to during the school year, to support CTE? If so, what are they?

8. Challenges

19. What barriers or challenges have you encountered in working with the program to support CTE and how have you overcome them?

9. Advice for Others

20. What suggestions do you have for other principals who want to work with 21^st CCLC programs to support CTE?

10. Final Thoughts

21. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the program’s efforts to support CTE?

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Teacher (NOT working in the program)

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to your CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to your funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although your program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Program Overview

Let’s start by talking about the 21^st CCLC program in general.

1. How, if at all, do you interact with the 21^st CCLC program at your school?

2. What are the advantages you see to having a 21^st CCLC program at your school?

2. Student Attendance

Now let’s talk a little bit about the students who attend the program.

3. How, if at all, do you help the program with recruitment and enrollment? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Refer/recommend students to program

• Post brochures/flyers in my classroom

• Include information about the program at my back-to-school night for families

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about the 21^st CCLC program in general at this site, but now I want to turn to the efforts to support CTE in particular.

3. Alignment With the School Day

Let’s start by talking about alignment with the school day. What mechanisms are in place to align afterschool programming with what happens during the school day?

4. What kind of collaborative planning takes place between you and the afterschool staff?

5. How regularly do you communicate with teachers at the school (daily, weekly, or monthly) and what is the nature of those communications? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Logistics/space negotiations

• Sharing information about CTE students

• Sharing about the progress of CTE students

• Sharing curriculum and other resources

6. How do you relay information regarding students’ CTE progress?

7. Do you coordinate targeted instruction with program staff to reinforce concepts that individual students may be struggling with? If so, how?

4. Instructional Practices

We are interested in learning how the instructional practices at the program support CTE.

8. Do you play a role in deciding what CTE activities the program offers? If so, what specifically do you do?

5. Program Monitoring and Assessment

Now let’s talk about how the program uses data to monitor student progress and ensure that the activities provided after school support their learning needs.

9. How do you communicate with afterschool staff about student progress?

10. Do you share with the afterschool program? If so, what information do you share? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Grades and report cards

• Testing data

• Informal observations of students

11. What structures are in place to enable you to examine and discuss student data with the afterschool staff? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Weekly team meetings

• Written summaries of student progress

6. Challenges

12. What barriers or challenges have you encountered in working with the afterschool program to providing support for CTE and how have you overcome them?

7. Advice for Others

13. What suggestions do you have for other classroom teachers who might want to work with a 21^st CCLC program to support CTE?

8. Final Thoughts

14. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the program’s efforts to support CTE?

Interview Protocol for Career and Technical Education

Community Partner

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. As you are aware, the purpose of this visit is to learn more about the 21^st CCLC program’s efforts to support Career and Technical Education (CTE).

For this study, CTE includes activities delivered in afterschool programs that can provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to prepare for education and training beyond high school, transitions to the workplace, and long-term career options. CTE activities can be introductory in nature, such as helping students build foundational skills that are required in all workplace settings. They can also be subject-specific, with students pursuing career pathways or clusters and learning industry-specific skills.

We are going to begin with some general questions about the 21^st CCLC program and then get more specific about issues that relate to its CTE program. We understand that you may not be familiar enough with all aspects of the 21^st CCLC program to be able to answer all our questions, so let us know if that occurs. This interview is in no way linked to the program’s funding, and your responses will not be reported individually. We will take every measure possible to protect the privacy of interviewees as well as to ensure the confidentiality of the data collected, to the extent possible. We would like to record this interview for note-taking purposes only. We won’t name you by name in the report, although the program will be featured in it. Is that OK?

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Community Partner Background

Let’s start by talking about your role in the 21^st CCLC program.

1. Please tell me about your role and experience at this program site. (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Responsibilities

• Programs and activities supervised or led

• Hours per week worked here

• Duration of tenure at the site and in the organization

• Other positions held here

2. What is your professional background? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Previous teaching or youth work experience, including prior experience with 21^st CCLC programming

• Educational background

• Teaching credential or credential related to CTE, youth development, or child and youth care

• Certifications or hours of industry experience

3. As a community partner, what specific expertise do you provide to the program?

4. How do you think your presence at the program supports CTE?

Student Attendance

Now let’s talk a little bit about the students who attend the program.

5. How, if at all, does your organization help the program with recruitment and enrollment? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Refer/recommend students to program

• Post brochures/flyers in the community

SECTION 2 PRACTICES SPECIFIC TO CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

We have been talking about your program in general, but now I want to turn to the efforts to support CTE in particular.

2. Instructional Practices⁴

We are interested in learning how the instructional practices at the program support the 21^st CCLC CTE program. Please describe the kinds of instructional settings at the program as you are familiar with them.

6. What kinds of instructional settings do you have access to for CTE activities (e.g., classrooms, labs, computer labs)? And how are you using these settings?

7. How much time do you devote to hands-on CTE investigations? Can you describe one?

8. Are older students exposed to goal setting or plans for postsecondary education or training? If so, how?

9. What type of academic enrichment activities do you offer that build on CTE concepts (media, computer-based learning, applied tech activities, field trips)?

2. Student Engagement

Please describe the ways you ensure that your CTE students are actively engaged and interested in the program’s activities that support CTE.

9. How do you link CTE students’ learning to real-world experiences?

• Guest speakers

• Industry site visits

• Apprenticeships/job shadowing

9. Are you familiar with the term “project-based learning”? Is this a teaching strategy you use? Can you please give an example from the past 10 days of an activity that utilized this approach?

10. What opportunities exist for CTE students to work with one another?

11. What efforts exist to build youth-adult relationships among program CTE participants and staff?

2. Alignment With the School Day

9. Are you or your organization engaged with what happens during the school day? If so, do you assist the program in its efforts to align with the school day? How so?

10. How would you characterize your relationship with classroom teachers?

11. How regularly do you communicate with teachers at the school (daily, weekly, or monthly) and what is the nature of those communications? (If not mentioned, probe for details in the following areas.)

• Logistics/space negotiations

• Sharing information about CTE students

• Sharing about the progress of CTE students

• Sharing curriculum and other resources

2. Challenges

9. What barriers or challenges have you encountered in trying to work with the afterschool CTE program and how have you overcome them?

2. Advice for Others

9. What suggestions do you have for other community partners who want to work in a 21^st CCLC program aimed at supporting CTE?

2. Final Thoughts

9. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the program’s efforts to support CTE?

1 Please note: This section will be included for all summer programs that are visited that also operate school year programs and for all school year programs that are visited that also operate summer programs.

2 Please note: This section will be included for all summer programs that are visited that also operate school year programs and for all school year programs that are visited that also operate summer programs.

3 Please note: This section will be included for all summer programs that are visited that also operate school year programs and for all school year programs that are visited that also operate summer programs.

4 Please note: This section is only to be used with community partners who are directly involved in CTE instruction.