Interview Protocol - Recruitment, Admissions, and Intake Services Overview

CJC Implementation Research Protocol:

OMB Control No.1290-0012

OMB approval expires 02/29/2020

Abt Associates IRB approval No.0917

Persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. Respondents’ responses are voluntary.

Recruitment, Admissions, and Intake Services Overview

Introduction of and Informed Consent for the Study (read to all respondents)

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview today.

My name is____________, and this is _____________and we are researchers from MDRC. We are here because MDRC and our partners, Abt Associates, are conducting a five-year study of the Cascades Program on behalf of the United States Department of Labor (DOL).

We are visiting to conduct in-person interviews with center staff and partners (such as referral partners and employers) to learn what is happening on the ground and what are the challenges of implementing this new program. Interviews will cover the organizational characteristics of the center, as well as its mission and vision, and how it fits within the Job Corps network.

These interviews will provide important qualitative information on the implementation at Cascades. We will use what we learn from these interviews to contribute to a report about the impacts and implementation of the Cascades program. This report will be submitted to DOL to inform the federal government about this new model.

Privacy Statement [Interviewer must read this to all respondents]

Before beginning the interview, we want to thank you for agreeing to participate in this study and remind you that your participation is voluntary. We know that you are busy and will try to be as brief as possible. We have many questions and are going to talk to many different people, so please do not feel as though we expect you to be able to answer every question. You may also refuse to answer any question. The interview today should last about 60 minutes. This interview is not part of a Job Corps audit or a compliance review. We are interested in learning about your ideas, experiences, and opinions about Cascades’ implementation. There are no right or wrong answers. We want to know what you think.

In addition, before we start, I want to let you know that although we will take notes during these interviews, information is never repeated with the name of the respondent in any reports or in any discussions with supervisors, colleagues, or anyone from DOL. When we write our reports and discuss our findings, information from all the people we speak with is compiled and presented so that no one person can be identified. There is a small risk of loss of privacy, but we have many procedures in place to ensure your information does not get lost.

To help me accurately report on the information you share, it would help if I could tape record this call; of course, I could turn off the recorder at any point if you so desire. I do not have a recorder on now; is it okay with you for me to turn it on? Great, once I turn it on, I am going to ask you to state your name and verbal consent to being recorded.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Start recorder.

Do I have your permission to begin and record the interview?

Staff Title: Title
Staff Role:

Staff Initials:
Interviewer: Interviewer last name
Write-up: Last name of person doing write-up

INTERVIEW DATE/TIME:

Staff Background

1. Please describe the major responsibilities of your position. Describe

2. How long have you been at this center? 0.00 years

3. How long have you been in your current role at this center? 0.00 years

4. Have you worked at other Job Corps Centers? For how long? 0.00 years

5. Where did you work prior to Job Corps? Describe

6. What role did you have at your previous employer? Describe

7. What is your educational background? Describe

8. What made you interested in working at this center? Describe

Staffing and Management

9. Who do you directly report to?

10. What staff report directly to you?

11. Please describe the education & training staff titles and roles and responsibilities.

Staff title	Roles/Responsibilities
Title	Describe

12. How do you supervise staff? What is your management approach/style? Describe

    1. How often do you meet with them, do you meet as a group or one-on-one, what is discussed in these meetings?

13. When hiring new staff members, what qualities do you look for? (Experience in the IT/Healthcare field? Certifications? Connections with employers in the region? Experience working with youth?) Describe

1. Do you think the backgrounds, or the qualifications, of your staff differ from those at other Job Corps Centers? How? Why? Describe.

14. What professional development opportunities are available to staff? Describe

    1. How do you think the training or professional development at this center differs from other centers?

    2. Do you think there are higher expectations of the staff at this center?

    3. What additional opportunities do you think staff would benefit from? Describe

Center Values, Center Environment, and Relationships

15. How would you describe this Job Corps center’s values and philosophy? Describe

1. Do these values and philosophy differ from those of other Job Corps centers? Describe

16. How would you describe the culture and environment at this Job Corps center?

    1. Do you think the culture and philosophy of this center is different than other Job Corps centers? Describe

17. [Cascades and Ottumwa only] How would you explain student-centered design?

    1. How does the center incorporate a student-centered design? Examples

18. What do staff relationships with the students look like?

    1. Do you think these relationships at this center differs from other Job Corps centers? Describe

19. What do the relationships between the students look like?

    1. Do you think these relationships at this center differs from other Job Corps centers? Describe

20. [Cascades Only] What affect, if any, does the cohort system have on students?

    1. Does it affect student relationships?

    2. Does it affect student progress?

21. How diverse is the student population?

    1. Does this have an effect on the center? Culturally, Socially?  

    2. What are the pros and cons of having older students at the center?

22. [Cascades only] Does the fact that students at Cascades are younger (ages 16-21 only) have any effect on the center? How? Why not? Describe

23. [Cascades only] Does that fact that students at Cascades had additional screening during intake have any effect on the center? How? Why not? Describe

24. How do you think the typical student that attends this Job Corps center compares to the students at other Job Corps centers?

25. [Cascades only] Do you think that Cascades students are better prepared for Job Corps or for college than typical Job Corps students? Why? How? Describe

26. Overall, what, if anything, do you think sets this center apart from other Job Corps centers?

Recruitment, Admissions, Intake

27. What are/were the center’s primary methods of recruitment? [Examples: fliers, word of mouth, referrals from partner organization, tabling]

Recruitment Method	Description
Type of recruitment method	Describe

27. What are/were the most useful outreach methods?

    1. Which methods do the best job of connecting you with students who are appropriate for the center? (i.e. lead to arrivals) Describe

28. Who were/are your main referral partners? (Did you get many referrals from school districts?)

Name of referral partner	Description of referral relationship [how the process works, how active is the relationship]
Name of partner	Describe

27. How would you describe the qualities of a strong referral partner? (Which referral partners send you the most appropriate students?) Describe

28. To what extent do you work together with these referral partners to bring a student in? (i.e., are you in direct contact with partners about the status of referrals or are partners just passing on info about the center to students and guardians?)

    1. Do your partners understand the type of student the center (Job Corps) is interested in recruiting?

    2. How do you communicate, formally and informally, the standards that guide their referrals to you? Describe

29. What staff conducts outreach, recruitment, and intake? Describe

    1. Who is responsible for monitoring the referrals coming in? Describe

    2. Are outreach and intake responsibilities divided among the staff? Describe

30. Briefly describe the process for students applying to the center starting with the application or the initial referral through to arrival on center.

    1. How do you determine whether a student is appropriate for the center?

    2. How do you determine which pathway is the appropriate fit for student? Do you conduct career exploration? How? What tools are used?

    3. Is the motivation of the student currently used as a factor in determining suitability? Describe

    4. When and how are the parents involved? Describe

31. How would you describe the target student for the center? Describe

    1. What type of student are you looking for, not only in terms of education levels, but also motivation and the interest in the targeted industry?

32. What are the biggest challenges to recruitment? (competition from other organizations, transportation, lack of visibility in the community, the eligibility criteria?) Describe

    1. Are there additional supports that you think would be helpful to improve recruitment? Describe

33. [Cascades only] Did you encounter any specific challenges in recruiting students who fit the Cascades eligibility criteria? At what point in the process were students most likely to be screened out [i.e., cannot pass the STAR 360 assessment at the threshold level, are not interested in being part of the study so they drop out of the enrollment process]? Describe

34. What are the best strategies in identifying students that are a good fit for the center? Describe

1. [Cascades only] What were the challenges to identifying students that are appropriate for Cascades services? Describe

27. At what point would you say students are most likely to drop out (not screened out) of the intake process? Describe

28. What do you think are the main reasons that students drop out of the intake process? Describe

29. What steps, if any, do you take to re-engage students who drop out during intake? Describe

30. What is the biggest reasons you think students choose this center as opposed to other Job Corps centers? What do you think attracts students to this center? Describe

31. When do admission responsibilities end? (e.g., At eligibility? Once students come for their first day on center? After the on-site orientation?) Describe

32. Do you have a waiting list? If so, what is it like; how does it work?

    1. How many students are typically on it? Are there times of year when it is longer than others? Describe

    2. How do you keep students on the waiting list interested in Cascades until a new cohort is enrolled? Describe

Education & Training Services

44. How do you describe the education & training services at this center to prospective students?   

Community Culture and Student Support Systems

44. How do you describe the support services at this center to prospective students?   

Disciplinary Policies

44. How do you describe the rules and policies at this center to prospective students?   

Career Transition Readiness Services, Career Transition Services, Internships, and other Placement services

44. How do you describe the internship or employment services and opportunities at this center to prospective students?   

Student Retention and Separations 

44. What is your sense of why students leave the center early?   

49. At what point do students tend to separate? What are the biggest drop-off points?  

1. Do students drop-out during trade/pathway services? Describe

2. About what percentage of students do you think end up dropping-off before completion?

50. What are the center’s policies with regard to student retention? 

1. How does the center attempt to retain students?  

2. What actions are taken? By what staff?   

3. How are students involved/engaged in this effort? 

Abt Associates  ▌pg. 1