Team Nutrition Educational Technology Environmental Scan

OMB Control #0584-0524 | Expiration Date 6/30/2016

Attachment G: Introduction Email for School Focus Groups

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT:  According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0524. The time to complete this information collection is estimated at 30 minutes, including the time for reviewing instructions and completing the information collection.

Subject: School-Based Research Opportunity

Dear [Insert Teacher’s Name],

I am writing to share an exciting research opportunity for your school. The United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service has contracted with the Michael Cohen Group (MCG), an educational research company, to gather feedback from teachers around the country on their teaching methods.

We are interested in visiting your school and speaking with you and other educators at your school to better understand the availability, best practices, and challenges of using technology in school. We would be holding two focus groups at your school with four to eight teachers in each group. The focus group would last 45 minutes and would take place in your school at a time that is convenient to the school and to the teachers. The school would receive a $150 facility fee for the use of a room at the school to conduct the focus group and each participating educator would receive a hot meal.

The mission of FNS is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through nutrition education for children and their caregivers, and to promote school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity. The information gathered from these focus groups will be vital for understanding how technology can best support this mission in a way that is convenient and useful for teachers.

In order to host the focus group at your school, we will need your help to recruit additional teachers at your school to participate in the focus groups. It should only take about 30 minutes of your time to reach out to the teachers at your school. If you would be interested in learning more about how to do so, or if you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us by email or phone. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

[Insert Researcher’s Name]

Michael Cohen Group, LLC

375 West Broadway, Suite 502

New York, NY 10012

1 (212) 431-2252