Action and Monitoring school leader interview protocol

OMB Number: 1850-0952 v.7; Expiration 11/30/2026

Attachment 4. MESA approach interview 4: Action and Monitoring school leader interview protocol

Note – text in italics is not to be read aloud. 

The Making Equitable Schools Audit (MESA) research team will use the following protocol to conduct 30-minute interviews with school leaders in order to answer research questions on the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of MESA. The research team will interview the principal at each participating school at the conclusion of the Action and Monitoring coaching sessions.

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

Introduction

Introduction

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. The purpose of the interview is to collect information about your experiences so far in participating in the MESA approach. Your feedback is important to us and will help MESA facilitators and coaches understand how the approach is working and how the audit and coaching sessions can be improved.

REL Midwest will maintain and protect the confidentiality of your responses. 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. Your participation is voluntary, and you may withdraw at any time or choose not to answer a question.

I would like to record these interviews to ensure that we capture your responses. Your responses will be kept confidential, and the recording will not be shared with anyone outside of the MESA 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.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Item number	Interview question
1.	What are some of your key takeaways from participating in the MESA approach? As a reminder, here are the components of the MESA approach: Onboarding sessions for school administrators Pre-equity audit leadership coaching with a school leadership team Equity audit sessions with the leadership team, family members and students Post-equity audit leadership coaching sessions with a school leadership team Action and monitoring sessions with school administrators
2.	How have you continued to work with the leadership team on your implementation plan since the end of the coaching sessions? Probe: Did you feel confident in the next steps with your leadership team following the end of the action and monitoring sessions? Do you continue to feel confident?
3.	I want to ask you to reflect on specific elements of the implementation action plan (pull up the latest version of the plan and share your screen). What strategies have you started implementing already? Probe: Which strategies are you having the most trouble with and why? Probe: Which strategies have you had the most success with so far? What strategies are you planning to work on next/before the end of this year? Probe: How are you thinking now about growing and refining your plan as you continue to implement existing strategies?
4.	What challenges, if any, did you experience after the final action and monitoring coaching sessions ended? Probe: What additional resources or support did you wish you had following the coaching sessions?
5.	Is there anything that we didn’t ask you about that you want to let us know?