REL Midwest Usability and Feasibility Study for the Data-Informed Leadership for Equity (DILE) Approach

Attachment II. School leadership team training, coaching, and ABM interview protocol

DILE Approach Components 2 and 3: School leadership team interviews for training, coaching and ABM (Fall)

The research team will use the following protocol to conduct in-depth 45-minute interviews with the school leadership team. This protocol will be for interviews with the school leadership team will be towards the end of fall 2025 with 4 members of each leadership team after they had training, the first coaching sessions, and interacted with ABM.

Participant name:		Interview date:
Participant school:		Start time:
Interviewer name:		End time:

Introduction

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. The purpose of the interview is to collect information about your experiences implementing the DILE (Data Informed Leadership for Equity) approach so far this year. Your feedback is important to us and will help the DILE team understand how the approach is working and how the DILE training, coaching, and ABM might be improved.

We will not use your name, the name of your school, or any information that could be used to identify you in any written reports based on the data.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

I would like to record these interviews to ensure we capture your responses. Your responses will be kept confidential, and the recording will not be shared with anyone outside of the DILE team. Do I have your permission to record? If yes, start the recorder and then state your name, the date, and the interview participant’s name and school before you begin. If no, ask if it’s okay for you to take notes and then state your name, the date, and the interview participant’s name and school before you begin.

Now, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your experience with the DILE approach.

Usability Interview Questions (aligned to research question 1)

1. Please describe your experience with the DILE training session?

   1. Probes: How would you describe the DILE training? What do you see as the primary goal of the session?

   2. Were the training materials easy or difficult to understand? Easy to access? Please describe why or why not.

2. What have you learned from the DILE training session?

   1. In what ways did you develop a better understanding of the DILE approach? Action-based monitoring (ABM)? Responding to ABM? Implementing DILE?

3. How do you plan to implement what you learned in the session in your school?

   1. How easy or hard will it be to implement DILE in your school?

4. What improvements to the DILE training could be made to make it easier to understand? Easier to apply?

Feasibility Interview Questions (aligned to research questions 2-6)

5. In what ways does the training for and implementation of DILE align or not align with other district and school initiatives and structures?

   1. How well do the strategies and materials you received at the training align with other programs or initiatives happening at your school and in your district? Please provide an example.

6. Is there anything that would make it easier to implement DILE in your school?

   1. Are there specific school or community factors that make it easier or harder to implement DILE?

7. Do you anticipate being able to continue applying DILE in future school years? Why or why not?

   1. (probe) Are there school or community factors that may make it easier or harder to implement in the future?

Acceptability Interview Questions (aligned to research question 7)

8. Overall, did you feel like the DILE training was a good use of your time? Why or why not?

   1. Do you feel that the DILE training is appropriate for a DILE leadership team?

   2. How relevant do you feel the training was in helping meet the needs of your students?

   3. Did you feel like the use of ABM will contribute to changes in how your school examines and addresses equity concerns?

9. What suggestions or recommendations do you have, if any, about how to improve the training?

DILE Approach Components 2 and 3: School leadership team interviews for coaching and ABM (Spring)

The research team will use the following protocol to conduct in-depth 45-minute interviews with the school leadership team. This protocol is for interviews with the school leadership team towards the end of spring 2026 with 4 members of each leadership team after they had additional coaching sessions and interacted with ABM.

Participant name:		Interview date:
Participant school:		Start time:
Interviewer name:		End time:

Introduction

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. The purpose of the interview is to collect information about your experiences implementing the DILE (Data Informed Leadership for Equity) approach so far this year. Your feedback is important to us and will help the DILE team understand how the approach is working and how the DILE training, coaching, and ABM might be improved.

We will not use your name, the name of your school, or any information that could be used to identify you in any written reports based on the data.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

I would like to record these interviews to ensure we capture your responses. Your responses will be kept confidential, and the recording will not be shared with anyone outside of the DILE team. Do I have your permission to record? If yes, start the recorder and then state your name, the date, and the interview participant’s name and school before you begin. If no, ask if it’s okay for you to take notes and then state your name, the date, and the interview participant’s name and school before you begin.

Now, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your experience with the DILE approach.

Usability Interview Questions (aligned to research question 1)

1. What has been your experience with the DILE coaching sessions?

   1. Probe: How would you describe the DILE coaching sessions? What do you see as the primary goal of the sessions?

   2. Probe: Were there parts of the DILE coaching sessions that you found particularly valuable? If so, please describe.

      1. Were there aspects that you found less valuable? If so, please describe.

2. What have you learned from the DILE coaching sessions and ABM?

3. What improvements to the DILE materials or coaching sessions would make them easier to understand? Easier to apply in your practice?

4. What has been your experience with using action-based monitoring (ABM)?

   1. What was your experience following the taking action protocol to respond to ABM alerts? Did you collaborate with classroom teachers?

5. How easy or difficult do you think it has been or will be to implement what you learned in the DILE coaching sessions?

6. What improvements to the ABM alerts would you suggest to make them easier to use?

   1. Probe: Some examples might include frequency, depth of data, format, etc.

7. Please describe how and to what extent you use DILE materials, such as the take action protocols, worksheets, information from Powerpoints, etc.

   1. Are there any ways the DILE team can improve upon the materials provided to you, particularly to make them easier to use or more useful??

Feasibility Interview Questions (aligned to research questions 2-6)

8. Given your other commitments, what do you think about the time for training and coaching? Why?

   1. Would you say the length of the training was too long, too short, or just right? Why?

   2. Is there anything you would change about the cadence of the coaching, such as the number or length of the coaching sessions?

9. How relevant is ABM to the needs of your school?

   1. Does its use align with other district and school initiatives and structures in your school?

10. What do you think are the most important considerations for using and responding to ABM in your school?

11. Is there anything that would make it easier to use and respond to ABM in your school?

    1. Are there specific school or district factors that make it easier or harder to use and respond to ABM?

12. Do you anticipate being able to continue using ABM in future school years? Why or why not?

    1. (probe) are there school or community factors that may make it easier or harder to use in the future?

Acceptability Interview Questions (aligned to research question 7)

13. Do you think you will make any changes (or have you made any) as a result of the DILE coaching sessions and use of ABM?

    1. If yes—please describe.

    2. If no—why not?

14. Overall, did you feel like the DILE coaching sessions and engagement with ABM were a good use of your time? Why or why not?

    1. Did you feel like the use of and response to ABM contributed to changes in how your school examines and addresses equity concerns?

15. What suggestions or recommendations do you have, if any, about how to improve the ABM coaching sessions or materials?

    1. Probe: Are there any suggestions about how to align ABM and coaching within your school context?

Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest DILE Evaluation 2