Feedback from Head Start (HS) American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Self-Review

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Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Recording Request:

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(If participants have no concerns, begin recording. If participant has concerns, then “Okay, then I will be taking notes during the discussion.).

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Questions for the AIAN staff piloting the CLASS self-reviews:

[TALKING POINTS] Hello! Thank you for joining this discussion, we look forward to learning from your experiences piloting the AIAN CLASS self-review process. My name is [x]; I am working with OHS to gather information from you and your program director. We’re also speaking with Nicolle and the rest of the CLASS team from DLH, Renetta and others from NCECDTL, and the OHS Region XI office.

This group discussion today is voluntary. The information you provide will be used solely to inform OHS’s next steps with the self-review process for AIAN Head Start programs. In addition, we will create a summary brief highlighting the themes from our discussions to share with the participating programs.

This discussion and your impressions and feedback will not be used for OHS monitoring purposes. We may use some quotes from our discussion today as part of our findings that we share with OHS, but we will not use individual or program names in the reports to OHS or in the summary brief for programs. Any questions there?

Today, during our scheduled hour and fifteen minutes, we are going to discuss your feedback, impressions and experiences with participating in the AIAN CLASS self-review pilot,

• Both your initial experiences prior to implementing the observations for the self-review

• and your thoughts and feedback now that you have completed the self-review in your programs

So, I know for many of you this has been more than a year since your program first agreed to participate in this self-review pilot…for others it has been a somewhat shorter time, but still…you’ve been waiting awhile… I would like to start our discussion with asking you to think back to before you conducted CLASS observations in your program as part of the self-review pilot.

[Discussion Question 1]

Before you implemented the AIAN CLASS self-review for your program, what were your thoughts about the opportunity to participate in this process?

(Prompts if needed: What did you think would go well? What things were you worried about? What other things were you thinking before?)

[Discussion Question 2]

Prior to starting the self-review process, did you feel prepared? Did you feel ready to pilot the CLASS self-reviews for your own program?

(Prompts if needed: Was the Community of Practice helpful?)

Thank you for sharing your early thoughts about this opportunity. [Reflect on previous discussion]

Now, we would appreciate hearing your thoughts about the actual experience of conducting the CLASS self-review:

[Discussion Question 3]

How did the CLASS self-review process go?

[Prompts if needed: What was easy? What parts, if any, were harder to do? Any other challenging or confusing parts about conducting the CLASS self-review? Overall, how confident did you feel conducting the CLASS self-review?]

As you know, this is the first time that CLASS self-reviews have been done by Head Start programs.

[Discussion Question 4]

How do you think your familiarity with the classrooms impacted your observations of the classrooms?

[Prompts if needed: Did your familiarity with the classrooms help? Did it give you better insight into your scoring? Did that familiarity lead to any challenges? For example, was it difficult to remain neutral?] [if needed, reflect back on earlier answers that might already address this question]

Follow Up Question: What strategies, if any, did you use to reduce bias while observing and scoring classrooms in your own program?

Thank you for sharing experiences with me. [reflect on some of the answers]

[Discussion Question 5]

Overall, now that you have completed the CLASS self-review for your program, do you feel that the self-review process would work well for your program in the future?

[Prompt if needed: What makes it work well? What would it need to work better?] [if needed, reflect back on earlier answers that might already address this question.]

[Discussion Question 6]

Given this new approach, do you feel that you are better suited to serve as the CLASS reviewer of your program than an outside CLASS reviewer consultant? Why or why not? [Reflect back on earlier answers that might also answer this question]

[Prompt if needed: In what ways does the CLASS review work better with someone from within the AIAN program? Any ways that it was more difficult?]

The next set of questions is about the actual process of submitting CLASS scores to OHS.

[Discussion Question 7]

After completing the self-review of your program, how was the process for submitting your CLASS scores to the AIAN CLASS lead? [Easy or Difficult, mix?] Is there any way that this process of submitting scores could be improved in the future? [other ways?]

Okay, thank you for this valuable information. [reflect back some responses].

[Discussion Question 8]

Next, we are going to ask about your recommendations and ideas for the future, but before we move on to that, does anyone have any other thoughts come to mind that you would like to share about your experiences and impressions of the self-review?

I hear what you are saying [reflect on additional thoughts from group].

[Discussion Question 9]

Okay, moving to the next question, we would really appreciate any recommendations you have that could improve the CLASS self-review process for other AIAN programs in the future. What would make the self-review process better? [Present bulleted list and ask for feedback for each component: the planning calls, self-review supports, timing for self-review period, communication with the AIAN CLASS lead, submitting of scores, Community of Practice support, National Center resources, regional TTA support] [reflect if some recommendations have already been mentioned]

[Discussion Question 10]

Our final questions are about conducting CLASS reviews in the future. First, given your experience, would you be interested in conducting a CLASS self-review for your program again in the future?

[Prompts if needed: Would you recommend this role to others?]

[Discussion Question 11]

If OHS continues the self-review pilot in the future, it is possible that not all AIAN programs would have a certified CLASS observer on staff. How would you feel about conducting a CLASS review for another AIAN program?

[Follow up Prompts: What supports would you need from your program director, DLH CLASS team, NCECDTL, and/or the OHS Region XI office? How comfortable are you traveling to other programs to conduct a review?]

[Discussion Question 12]
Thank you so much for your input and your support in trying out this unique process for your program, and for all AIAN programs. Do you have any other thoughts or feedback that you’d like to share about this experience?