District Agreement

S

OMB Number: xxxx-xxxx

Expiration Date: xx/xx/xx

chool ID: ____________________

Appendix Q

REL-SE Vocabulary Study

School District Partnership Agreement

This document is intended to serve as a partnership agreement between the Regional Educational Laboratory-Southeast (REL-SE) located at the SERVE Center at University of North Carolina at Greensboro (including its subcontractors: University of Georgia (UGA), Abt Associates Inc., and Empirical Education) and __[School District Name]__ for the study of The Effectiveness of a Program to Accelerate Vocabulary Development in Kindergarten (“Vocab Study”). This agreement sets forth the individual and joint responsibilities of REL-SE and the school district. This study will take place beginning in July 2008 and continuing through June 2010. Kindergarten teachers in study schools will participate for one school year and may participate in the fall of the subsequent year. Students will participate through kindergarten and first grade.

During the intervention year (2008-2009 school year), kindergarten teachers in one half of the schools in the study will be randomly assigned to receive training in the PAVE vocabulary enhancement program (“Treatment”). Kindergarten teachers in the other half of the schools (“Control” schools) will be eligible to receive PAVE training in the summer following the intervention year (Summer 2009). Kindergarten teachers in all participating schools will be asked to complete a brief survey in the fall and allow their classrooms to be observed by REL-SE study staff once during the fall and once during the spring of the study year. During the classroom observation, twenty minutes of the instructional time will be audiotape recorded. Some teachers will also be interviewed about their experiences using the research-based classroom practices. Teachers in the treatment group will be asked to allow their classrooms to be observed one additional time, in the fall of the subsequent school year (Fall 2009). In addition to allowing researchers to observe their classrooms, teachers will be asked to allow data collectors to conduct individual child assessments on a randomly selected sample of about 10 of their students whose parents have agreed to their child’s participation. The child assessments would be carried out in Fall 2008, Spring 2009, and Fall 2009. Children in both the treatment and control groups will be assessed.

Responsibilities of Partners: Major responsibilities for partners are listed below.

REL-SE Study Staff (including SERVE, Abt Associates Inc., University of Georgia, Empirical Education and hired consultants) WILL:

• Randomly Assign Schools: In Spring 2008, after schools and teachers have agreed to participate, Abt staff will randomly assign participating schools to Treatment or Control conditions. Of the schools that have volunteered and are eligible, up to 84 schools will be selected to participate. From this group, half will be randomly assigned to “Treatment” (i.e., receive and implement PAVE training in the 2008-2009 school year), and half will be assigned to “Control” (i.e., be eligible to receive PAVE training in summer following the 2008-2009 school year). All kindergarten teachers in participating schools will be assigned to the same group (Treatment or Control) and will remain in that group until June 2009.

• Provide PAVE Training: Project staff will offer a one-day summer training session to all kindergarten teachers in the treatment schools in July 2008 and will provide the one-day summer training session to all kindergarten teachers in the control schools in July 2009. Staff will also provide teachers who participate in the research study in the treatment group with two in-class support visits during the first several weeks of the 2008-2009 school year. Staff will provide retraining during up to two more classroom visits, if necessary, to teachers who are having difficulty implementing PAVE. In addition, project staff will facilitate peer discussions among teachers in the same treatment school approximately every six weeks during after-school sessions.

• Provide PAVE Instructional Materials: Project staff will provide teachers who participate in the summer PAVE training with a range of curriculum units from which to select for use in their classrooms. Curriculum units will include lesson plans and materials for implementing instructional activities. Teachers in the treatment schools will be provided with materials in the 2008-2009 school year; teachers in the control schools will receive materials in the 2009-2010 school year.

• Collect Data:

  • Teacher/Classroom Data: Project staff will observe all participating classrooms (i.e., both treatment and control classrooms) for two mornings – one in Fall 2008 and one in Spring 2009 – to understand the nature of teacher-child instructional interactions. At each of these classroom observation visits, data collectors will audiotape record 20-minutes of teacher talk during small-group literacy instruction. Observers will also collect information from teachers on demographic characteristics and teaching experience in a questionnaire completed by all participating teachers at the fall visit. In addition to the two classroom observation visits during the intervention year, project staff will also conduct a third observation of treatment teachers, during the second month of the subsequent school year (Fall 2009) and will interview teachers briefly about the challenges of implementing PAVE.

  • Student Data: Project staff will also conduct child assessments in the fall and the spring of the intervention year (Fall 2008 & Spring 2009), as well as in the spring of first grade (Spring 2010). Project staff (from Empirical Education) will collect extant data from school district records for each child with parental consent.

• Assure Confidentiality: Data collectors will commit to assuring confidentiality in the collection of information from students and teachers. Identification numbers, not teacher or student names, will be used once the data are collected. Project staff will combine the data from all participating schools when we analyze outcomes for teachers and children. In reporting findings to the U.S. Department of Education and publicly, no information will be linked to a specific school, teacher, or child.

• Provide Reports: Project staff will ensure that all participating schools and teachers receive copies of the study findings.

SCHOOL DISTRICT NAME WILL:

• Assist with Recruitment of Schools: ___________________agrees to work with project staff to enlist the support and participation of elementary schools and kindergarten teachers.

• Agree to Random Assignment: ____________________ will allow participating schools to be assigned at random to either the treatment condition (two or more kindergarten teachers in the school will implement PAVE in their classrooms) or the control condition (kindergarten teachers will wait until the summer following the study to receive PAVE training). School district personnel, school personnel, and teachers will NOT be able to request which year the training is provided.

• Provide Access to Student Data: ____________________ will allow access to extant data from school district records and electronic databases for each child with parental consent. The school district will provide project staff (from Empirical Education) with student data, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals, special education status, and status as an English-language learner.

• Agree to Participate for the Duration of the Study: ____________________ will allow the participation of study schools for the duration of the study (July 2008-June 2010), including intervention training and data collection activities.

Changes to the Partnership Agreement: If, over the course of the study, any modifications or additions need to be made to this agreement, terms may be adjusted with written amendments as agreed upon by both parties.

Period of Partnership Agreement: July 2008 – June 2010.

Signatures:

_________________________ _______________________________

[REL-SE official] [School District official]

School District Name: ____________________

(date)____________________ (date) ____________________

Please return the signed School District Partnership Agreement.

Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

3