School Staff Focus Group Protocol

Attachment H. School Staff Focus Group Protocol

Opening Statement and Assurances 

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this focus group about the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Effective Advising Framework. This focus group should take approximately an hour. TEA has partnered with the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest to conduct a study of their Effective Advising Framework (EAF) pilot program. The study team appreciates your time and willingness to share your experiences with the EAF. Your feedback is important to us and will help the REL Southwest team understand how the EAF pilot program is working and how the program might be improved. 

Confidentiality  

Your participation is voluntary. You can opt not to answer any question and/or stop participating at any time. In reporting the study’s results, your answers will be completely confidential; no information that identifies you or your organization will be reported. The researchers conducting this study follow the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183). The reports prepared for the study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district, school, institution, or individual. All information you provide will be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. §9573 and 6 U.S.C. §151).

I would like to record this focus to ensure we capture your responses. Your responses will be kept confidential, and the recording will not be shared with anyone outside the REL Southwest team and the transcription service provider. Do you consent to participate in this focus group, and do I have your permission to record?

 If yes, start the Teams recording feature.

If no, ask if it’s okay for you to invite a note-taker to join the meeting to take de-identified notes.

Do you have any questions before we begin?          

Semistructured Focus Group Protocol  

Domain 1: Respondents’ CCMR Background and Role Related to the EAF  

1. Please share your name; your current position; and how you support college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) efforts at your school and within your district. 

1. How long have you been in this position and working with students toward CCMR? 

2. How do you support students’ CCMR?  

3. Did you support students’ CCMR before the grant? If so, in what ways has your CCMR work changed?

4. In what ways has your current role and/or set of responsibilities changed since the award of the planning/implementation grant? 

Domain 2: Descriptions of District and School Contexts  

2. I’d like to know more about your district and school context. Can you give us a glimpse into your school and district community’s perception of college, career, and military readiness? 

1. Can you tell me about your district’s CCMR goals? 

2. Can you tell me about your district’s goals for the individual planning system?

3. How do teachers and administrators perceive career and academic advising in your school? What conversations or activities do teachers and administrators engage in to make sure students have an individual career and academic plan before graduation?

4. How do students in your schools perceive CCMR or career and academic advising?

5. How do parents and community members perceive CCMR or career and academic advising in your district?

6. How do you engage with students and parents to get their feedback on CCMR guidance and resources?

Domain 3: Accounts of EAF Awareness and Implementation  

3. As you know, the purpose of this focus group is to learn more about how your district is implementing the Effective Advising Framework (EAF) plan designed by district leadership and supported by a regional EAF coach. Can you tell me about how your school approaches the EAF as well as the individual planning system and how you learned about these efforts?

1. What communication did you receive about the EAF and/or the individual career and academic plans (ICAP)?

2. Who communicated with you about the EAF and how frequently did you hear from them?

3. Did you receive any professional development or trainings related to the EAF and/or the ICAPs?

   1. If so, can you describe it?

   2. What aspects of the training(s) did you find beneficial and why? What additional training supports would have benefited you?

4. What systems, new or old, are in place to make sure all students get the individual career and academic planning and advising they need?

5. Who else at your school is involved in implementing the EAF activities and systems? What are their roles?

6. What EAF materials and resources have you used to implement ICAPs?

   1. What resources and tools have been most helpful?

   2. What resources and tools would be helpful but are not currently available?

3. How is your school district using the EAF to align advising practices across grade levels to create experiences designed to set students up for postsecondary success? 

Domain 4: Reflections on Collaboration and Implementation  

5. I’d like to know more about how you and your colleagues implement the EAF and ICAPs.

a. From your current role, can you describe how the implementation of the EAF has influenced your practices to support students’ postsecondary readiness?

i. If yes, in what ways?

ii. If not, why is this the case?

b. Under this new plan and with these new resources, how prepared do you feel to support students’ individual student planning process as they prepare for life after high school?

c. If no, what support/resources would help you to be able to support students’ CCMR?

6. I’d like to know more about how you collaborate with your district project lead.

1. How has your district project lead communicated with you about CCMR or the EAF throughout implementation?

2. What supports has your district provided you with?

   1. How did these supports help your understanding and implementation of the EAF?

3. What supports would you like to have received from your district?

4. How would these things help you in the future?

Domain 5: Perceptions of District Implementation Efficacy  

7. Now that we have discussed your district’s implementation of the EAF, I’d like you to reflect on the EAF implementation as a whole. What implementation successes and challenges have you encountered?

1. What do you see as going well with your school’s implementation of the EAF and/or the ICAPs?

2. What barriers or limitations have you faced in implementing the EAF and/or ICAPs?

3. What would you change, if anything, about the implementation of the EAF or the ICAPs in your context?

d. What would you change, if anything, about the state-level EAF pilot implementation project?

8. Is there anything else you would like to share about your CCMR work as part of the EAF pilot program in your district?

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