Interview Protocol for District Staff Project Leads

Attachment G. Interview Protocol for District Staff Project Leads

Opening Statement and Assurances 

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

 If yes, start the Teams recording feature and then state your name, the date, and the interview participant’s name before you begin.  

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

Do you have any questions before we begin?     

Semi-Structured Interview Protocol  

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

1. Please tell your current role within your district, and how you support college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) efforts or postsecondary advising efforts through the Effective Advising Framework (EAF).

1. How long have you been in this position?

2. How did you become the district project lead? Prior to becoming the district project lead for the EAF pilot implementation project, did your previous work relate to CCMR?

3. What are your responsibilities as a district project lead?

4. In what ways has your current role and/or set of responsibilities changed over the course of this EAF project?

Domain 2: Descriptions of District Context  

5. I’d like to know more about your district and how your context informs the EAF work you lead.

1. What efforts, initiatives, or procedures does your district have in place to help ensure students are prepared for postsecondary success? How have these changed since the introduction of the EAF pilot?

2. How does the district communicate with students and their parents about college, career, and military readiness (CCMR)?

3. How do you see factors like district size, local labor market, community perceptions of CCMR, student populations, and staff roles, influencing your implementation of the EAF?

Domain 3: Accounts of EAF Implementation  

5. What are your district’s CCMR goals? What indicators do you track and what changes do you hope to see as part of the EAF program?

6. I’d like to know more about how your district has approached implementing the EAF and the individual career and academic plans (ICAPs).

1. Can you give me an overview of [insert district name]’s approach to implementing the EAF? How do you communicate with district and school staff about the EAF plan?

2. What EAF materials and resources did your district use?

3. What materials and resources did you and your colleagues find useful?

4. What materials and resources did your district need that weren’t already available to them?

5. How do efforts to implement the ICAPs differ from previous efforts to implement personal graduation plans?

6. How if at all, have advising timelines changed, through the implementation of individual planning systems? How, if at all, have advising roles changed since the implementation of individual planning systems?

5. 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 during the EAF Pilot Program 

6. I’d like to know more about how you collaborate with district and school staff who participate in implementing the EAF.

1. Can you describe how you continue to support district and school staff as they implement the EAF and ICAPs?

2. What school staff members or roles participate in implementing the EAF at the school level in your district?

3. How do you facilitate progress monitoring of EAF implementation in your district throughout implementation?

7. I’d like to know more about how you collaborate with EAF coaches at the Education Service Center (ESC) to support your planning for and implementation of the EAF in your district.

1. Can you describe your initial introduction to the EAF and the training process with your coach?

2. How did your EAF coach support you in planning EAF implementation?

3. When you reflect on your collaborative relationship with the EAF coach, what is going well?

4. Where do you experience challenges?

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 project as a whole.

1. What implementation successes and challenges have you encountered?

1. When you reflect on the work you’ve done with schools in your district, what do you see as going well with their implementation of the EAF?

1. What do you attribute this success to?

2. What barriers have you or the school staff experienced over the course of implementing the EAF to support students’ CCMR?

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

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

2. Is there anything else you would like to share about your experience as a district project lead during the EAF pilot implementation project?

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