Cognitive Testing of Job Corps' new Student Experience Assessment (SEA) Survey

Student Experience Assessment

Cognitive Testing Instructions for Students

Purpose:

The National Office of Job Corps is updating the Student Satisfaction Survey. You may have completed this survey during your time here on center. The survey asks about how safe you feel while you are on center and how satisfied you are with the Job Corps program.

The survey is being updated because the questions are out of date and we need to collect better information about how satisfied students are with Job Corps services.

We have created a new survey but we need to make sure it makes sense and the language is correct so all can understand the questions. We need your help going through the survey questions and telling us if the questions and answer choices make sense.

We will be asking you if the words in the questions are okay and whether the questions are important for us to ask. If there are words in the questions or answer choices that you do not know, it is important for you to tell us. If you do not know a word, then other students will not know either so we need to fix the question.

This is not a test of any kind. We really need your help and appreciate your advice to make sure this survey is helpful and not a waste of time for future Job Corps students taking this survey. We are not keeping any answers that you provide on the survey, we are only keeping notes about what needs to be fixed. You are helping us make sure we can get the information we need to make the survey useful.

While we do not plan to share any of the answers you give us, we work for Job Corps and we must ensure your safety and the safety of your fellow students. We are required to share certain information. For example, if you were to tell us you have a weapon on center or if you are thinking of hurting yourself or someone else, we will need to tell the center staff so we all can ensure your safety and the safety of others.

We would like to audio record your comments so we can make sure our notes are correct. You will not be identified in the recording and the recording will not be shared with the center or anyone outside of this room. If you feel uncomfortable with us audio recording, we will stop at any time.

Confirm participation:

Talking with us today about the survey is voluntary. You do not have to participate if you do not want to; if you choose to review the survey with us, you can stop at any time.

Do you want to review the survey with us today?

Is it okay for us to audio record this conversation?

Demographic questions:

1. Is English your first language? ___ If no, what is the language you like to use when speaking or reading? __________

2. Which reading classes do you take on center? _____________________________________

3. Have you completed CPP? _______________________

4. Have you finished your career technical training (CTT)? ___ If yes, are you working with career transition services (CTS)?

5. When do you think you’ll graduate? __________________________

Ground rules:

We have a few instructions to help the interview go smoothly.

• Please turn off any mobile devices you have -- phones, music players, etc.

• We will be following some guidelines from (center staff) -- [Refer to any instructions you’ve been provided by the center on where the student should go after the interview, etc.]

What we need you to do:

• Be very honest with us! If we have asked you a question that does not make any sense or if the words we have used seem out of date or “old” or are just too hard to understand, we really need to know.

• Follow along with us on the paper survey we have given you. You can use the pencil to make any notes on the survey you want and give the survey back when we are finished. Please do not write your name on the survey.

• If you want to stop participating [or recording] at any time, please let me know.

• If there are any questions you don’t want to answer please let me know.