District Interviews and Archival Data Request

District Interview Protocols with Consent Script

Opening Script

We’re delighted to be working with you on this project.

We have a few questions that we are asking in each participating district, in order to collect information about what it took to implement the attendance messaging intervention. We will use this information to help document the costs and challenges, which we will summarize in the study report.

In this interview, our focus is on activities led by IT and the Student Information System. In other words, the focus will be on activities conducted centrally, not in individual schools.

If you don’t know the answer to a question, please just say so, and we’ll figure out who is in a position to answer the question. It’s important that you only answer questions to which you know the answer.

Before we ask you to participate, we want to you to know that participation in this interview is voluntary. All your responses will be kept private and will be used only for this study and related research. Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences. All information from this study will be kept confidential as required by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (Title I, Part E, Section 183). Responses to this interview will be used only for statistical purposes. Personally identifiable information about individual respondents will not be reported. The study team will not provide information that identifies you, your school, or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

Do you agree to participate in this interview?

Interviewee agrees to participate in the interview

Interviewee does not agree to participate in the survey.

If interviewee agrees to participate, say: I’d like to record the rest of this call, as a back-up for my notes. Do I have your permission to record the interview?

Yes

No

District Interviews

Fall 2017/Spring 2018

Paperwork Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is XXXX-XXXX. The time required to complete this voluntary information collection is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202–4537. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: 550 12th street, SW, Washington, DC 20202.

To collect cost information for Research Question 5, we will conduct two rounds of interviews per district, first during the early fall of 2017, and second toward the end of the 2017-18 school year. The first interview will collect cost information related to the set-up of the text messaging intervention (e.g., costs related to integrating the districts’ IT and student information systems with the text messaging provider’s system). The second interview will collect cost information related to the districts’ implementation of the text messaging intervention.

Fall 2017 Interview Protocol

Let’s start with the activities conducted during the summer of 2017 related to set-up of the text messaging system.

1. We would like to ask a few questions about the steps that your district took with the text messaging vendor [add name] to get the text messaging system set-up in your district.

1. Did you meet with the text message vendor [add name]? How often did you meet with them?

Please be sure to include both in-person and virtual meetings, and in-person or virtual meetings with district staff troubleshooting integrating the text messaging system with your student information system.

For each meeting with the text messaging vendor…

	Who participated from [the district] in the meeting (i.e., position)?	For each person who participated from [the district]… Does this staff operate on a 9 or 12 month year?	How long was the meeting?	Where did the meeting take place?	If off site, what was the travel time for the district attendees?
1st Meeting
2nd Meeting
3rd Meeting
…

2. Did you have internal meetings among district staff about the set-up process? How often did you meet?

For each internal planning meeting …

	Who participated from [the district] in the meeting (i.e., position)?	Do these staff operate on a 9 or 12 month year?	How long was the meeting?	Where did the meeting take place?
1st Meeting
2nd Meeting
3rd Meeting
…

3. After the text messaging system was set up, we understand that you tested the system working with [text message vendor name]. What tasks or activities were involved in this process?

   1. On your district’s side, who was involved (i.e., position)?

   2. About how many hours of IT staff time was spent in the testing?

Thank you. Now that we understand the process, we’d like to walk through some questions about the personnel time, facilities, and equipment that your district used to set up the text messaging intervention. Do you have any questions before we continue?

2. We’d like to now go through a set of questions related to the tasks IT personnel worked on to set up the text messaging system, including the testing of the system. We’ll ask you to start from the beginning of the summer, after the district signed the MOU, to the present.

For each task …

1. Please walk us through the task descriptively, so we have an understanding of what happened.

2. Who worked on this task? (For any person not mentioned in Q1a or Q1b, be sure to ask their position and whether they work on a 9 or 12 month year)

3. For each of the staff who worked on this task, how many hours did they spend on this task?

4. Was anyone hired specifically for this task? If yes:

   1. What was their job title?

5. For district staff not hired specifically for this task, what would the district staff have been doing if they had not been working on this task?

3. What facilities were used by the staff who worked on developing and integrating the text messaging system? Could you describe the working space that is used by the staff in your district who worked on developing and integrating the text messaging system (e.g., approximately how much office space did they use and for how much time)? How much did this office space cost to rent or maintain?

4. Next we’d like to ask about the equipment your staff used for the set-up work.

   1. What equipment did your team use to set up the text messaging system?

   2. Did your district need to purchase any special equipment such as additional servers or software programs for this effort? If yes:

      1. Please list the equipment you bought, and provide the cost.

   3. What equipment was purchased to integrate the text messaging intervention with your SIS system?

For each type or piece of equipment mentioned, ask:

1. How much did the equipment cost?

2. When did your district purchase the equipment?

3. How much time during a typical week was this equipment being used to support the text messaging intervention?

5. Can you think of any other resources that were used by your district to get the text messaging system set up and integrated with your SIS system?

This may include the following:

1. In-kind donations (including volunteer time)

2. Conference call time

3. Time spent finding technological solutions

4. Time spent getting technical assistance from the text messaging provider

5. Food

6. Transportation

7. Incentives

8. Consultants

9. Increase in bandwidth availability or wifi upgrades

Spring 2018 Interview Protocol

During this interview, we’ll ask questions to collect cost information related to your district’s implementation of the text messaging intervention over the 2017-18 school year. The purpose is to understand the activities and resources that supported the implementation of the text messaging intervention since we last spoke in the fall. These activities and resources include any supplemental work you had to do to support the text messaging intervention during the 2017-18 school year, but exclude any work you may have done to prepare for any plans for the 2018-19 school year or beyond.

1. We’d like to first understand what the implementation support process was like for your district throughout the year.

   1. After the text messaging intervention had begun in your district, did your office have to modify any programs or processes to keep the text messaging system running?

      1. If yes, please describe the (re)development process.

   2. Did you meet with the text message vendor [add name]? How often did you meet with them?

Please be sure to include both in-person and virtual meetings, and in-person or virtual meetings.

For each meeting with the text messaging vendor…

	Who participated from [the district] in the meeting (i.e., position)?	For each person who participated from [the district]… Does this staff operate on a 9 or 12 month year?	How long was the meeting?	Where did the meeting take place?	If off site, what was the travel time for the district attendees?
1st Meeting
2nd Meeting
3rd Meeting
…

3. Did you have internal meetings about the text messaging intervention? How often did you meet?

For each internal meeting …

	Who participated from [the district] in the meeting (i.e., position)?	Do these staff operate on a 9 or 12 month year?	How long was the meeting?	Where did the meeting take place?
1st Meeting
2nd Meeting
3rd Meeting
…

4. Did your district experience any major challenges related to implementing the intervention?

   1. If yes, please describe each challenge and whether and how it was resolved.

Thank you. Now that we understand the how the year went, we’d like to walk through some questions about the personnel time, facilities and equipment that your district used to implement the text messaging intervention. Do you have any questions before we continue?

2. We’d like to now go through a set of questions related to the tasks IT personnel worked on to implement or monitor the intervention. We’ll ask you to start from the beginning of the implementation of the intervention (Approximately October 1^st) and move to the present.

For each task …

1. Please walk us through the task descriptively, so we have an understanding of what happened.

2. Who worked on this task? (For any person not mentioned in Q1b or Q1c, be sure to ask their position and whether they work on a 9 or 12 month year)

3. For each of the staff who worked on the task, how many hours did they spend on this task?

4. Was anyone hired specifically for this task?

   1. What was their job title?

5. For district staff not hired specifically for this task, what would the district staff have been doing if they had not been working on this task?

3. What facilities are used by the staff who worked on monitoring and maintaining the text messaging system? Could you describe the working space that is used by the staff in your district who worked on monitoring and maintaining the text messaging system (e.g., approximately how much office space did they use and for how much time)? How much does this office space cost to rent or maintain?

4. Next we’d like to ask about the equipment your staff used.

   1. What equipment did your team use to set up the text-messaging system?

   2. This past fall you had indicated that you [did/did not] purchase equipment to set up the intervention. [If the district had purchased equipment…] You had said that your district purchased XX. Not including XX, did your district need to purchase any special equipment such as additional servers or software programs to support the implementation during SY 2017-18?

1. If yes – please list the equipment you bought, and provide the cost.

3. Did your district purchase any equipment to monitor or maintain the text messaging intervention?

2. If yes, for each type or piece of equipment mentioned, ask:

   1. How much did the equipment cost?

   2. In what month did your district purchase the equipment?

   3. How much time during a typical week was this equipment being used to support the text messaging intervention?

5. Can you think of any other resources that were used by your district that assisted with monitoring or maintaining the text messaging system?

This may include the following

1. In-kind donations (including volunteer time)

2. Conference call time

3. Time spent finding technological solutions

4. Time spent getting technical assistance from the text message provider

5. Food

6. Transportation

7. Incentives

8. Consultants

9. Increase in bandwidth availability or wifi upgrades

American Institutes for Research OMB Clearance Request: District Interview—10