Sample Protocol for America Reads Challenge Sites

This is a simple Questionnaire that can be used voluntarily by sites implementing the America Reads Challenge. THIS IS NOT A REQUIRED DATA COLLECTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

America Reads Challenge: Read*Write*Now!
1998 All-Site Study

Telephone Interview Protocol

ARC: RWN site:

Site coordinator:

Interview date and time:

Contact Information

Name of site coordinator:
Regular/full-time position:
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:

Project Design

(Note: The term "project" refers to the overall ARC:RWN initiative that took place in a ARC:RWN site. A "site" is the jurisdiction where the project was implemented, e.g., Boston.)

1. What were the dates of the summer ARC:RWN project?

2. How many days per week did the summer ARC:RWN project operate?
_____ (1) Less than one day
_____ (2) 1-2 days
_____ (3) 3-4 days
_____ (4) 5 days

3. How many hours per day did students participate in ARC:RWN activities?
_____ (1) Less than one hour
_____ (2) 1-2 hours
_____ (3) 3-5 hours
_____ (4) More than 5 hours

4. Rank in order of importance the overall purposes of the project.
_____ (a) Maintain or improve students' reading skills
_____ (b) Maintain or improve students' writing skills
_____ (c) Reach students most in need of reading assistance
_____ (d) Encourage recreational reading
_____ (e) Increase children's love of reading
_____ (f) Encourage pre-reading or emergent reading skills in early childhood students
_____ (g) Provide extended learning opportunities for children during the summer
_____ (h) Get community partners (e.g., schools, businesses) involved in literacy efforts
_____ (i) Involve parents in their child's literacy development
_____ (j) Other (specify)

Components

(Note: The term "component" refers to summer programs or venues that sponsored ARC:RWN activities. A Title I summer school program, a summer camp program, and a library program are examples of project components. However, we also want to know in what kinds and how many locations project components occurred. For example, a Title I summer school program may have taken place in 10 schools, while a summer camp may have taken place in a single museum.)

5. What were the project components?
_____(1) Title I summer school program
_____(2) Academic summer camp
_____(3) Recreational summer camp
_____(4) Library program
_____(5) Religious program
_____(6) Adult education program
_____(7) Other (specify)

6. In what locations did ARC:RWN activities take place?
_____(1) Schools
_____(2) Churches
_____(3) Libraries
_____(4) Adult education centers
_____(5) Community centers
_____(6) Museums
_____(7) Parks
_____(8) Other (specify)

7. In how many locations did ARC:RWN activities take place throughout the site?

Administration

8.. Did you work with any other individuals or organizations to help coordinate the project? If so, which individuals or groups were involved?

9. What were the job titles of those who served as coordinators at each location?
_____(1) Superintendents
_____(2) District curriculum specialists
_____(3) Principals
_____(4) Title I teachers or coordinators
_____(5) Other teachers
_____(6) Instructional aides/paraprofessionals
_____(7) Other school staff (specify)
_____(8) Federal Work Study students
_____(9) AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteers
_____(10) Staff from religious organizations
_____(11) Librarians
_____(12) Staff from community literacy organizations
_____(13) Other (specify)

10. Which, if any, of these people also served as learning partners, tutoring children in reading? (Check all that apply.)
_____(1) Superintendents
_____(2) District curriculum specialists
_____(3) Principals
_____(4) Title I teachers or coordinators
_____(5) Other teachers
_____(6) Instructional aides/paraprofessionals
_____(7) Other school staff (specify)
_____(8) Federal work-study students
_____(9) AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteers
_____(10) Staff from religious institutions
_____(11) Librarians
_____(12) Staff from community literacy organizations
_____(13) Other (specify)

Participants

11. How many students--not including middle school and high school learning partners--participated in the ARC:RWN project during the summer of 1998?

12. How many students participated in each project component (e.g., number of students in summer school program, library program, etc.)?

13. What were the ages of preschool children and grade levels of students served?

14a. What were the ethnicities of the students served? (Give numbers in each category.)
______(1) Black or African-American
______(2) White
______(3) American Indian or Alaska Native
______(4) Hispanic or Latino
______(5) Asian
______(6) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
______(7) More than one race reported

14b. How many children from the following special populations were served?
______(1) Special Education
______(2) Title I
______(3) Limited English Proficient
______(4) Early Childhood
______(5) Migrant
______(6) Other (specify)

15. How were students--not including middle school and high school learning partners--recruited?
______(1) School system
        _____ (a) School principal
        _____ (b) Classroom teacher
        _____ (c) Reading teacher
        _____ (d) Title I staff
______(2) Community organizations (specify)
______(3) Advertisements
______(4) Library notices
______(5) Other (specify)

16. In what ways did your project get families involved in ARC:RWN activities?
______ (1) Encouraged parents to read with their child at home
______ (2) Provided regular feedback on their child's progress
______ (3) Provided literacy training for parents
______ (4) Encouraged parents to serve as learning partners
______ (5) Other (specify)

Reading Interventions and Enrichment Activities

17. What reading intervention most closely describes your program's activities?
_____ (1) Tutors read to and with children
_____ (2) Tutors read to and with children and followed up services by engaging children in instructional reading activities such as those found in ARC:RWN materials
_____ (3) Tutors read to and with children and followed up services with instructional reading activities provided by the child's teacher or a reading specialist

18. What kinds of instructional reading activities did your program provide to children? (Check all that apply. Get specific examples.)
_____ (1) Provide frequent and intensive opportunities for children to read and be read to
_____ (2) Help children to recognize letters of the alphabet and make letter-sound associations
_____ (3) Help children identify words using letter-sound relationships
_____ (4) Stimulate verbal interaction
_____ (5) Monitor reading comprehension
_____ (6) Provide expanded writing opportunities
_____ (7) Encourage spelling skills, using both inventive and conventional techniques
_____ (8) Other (specify)

Examples:

19. What kinds of recreational and enrichment activities did your project sponsor? (Check all that apply. Get specific examples.)
_____ (1) Art projects
_____ (2) Field trips
_____ (3) Other (specify)
_____ (4) None

Examples:

20. How was the ARC:RWN tutoring program incorporated into your summer program?
_____ (1) Part of the literacy curriculum
_____ (2) An additional enrichment activity within a structured academic program
_____ (3) A discrete activity in a non-academic setting

21. What literacy instruction materials were used in ARC:RWN project locations?

22. How many of each of the following ARC:RWN materials did you use last summer?

ARC:RWN Materials

___________ (1) READ*WRITE*NOW! Basic Kit
___________ (2) Early Childhood Kit--READY*SET*READ
___________ (3) READ*WRITE*NOW! Learning Partners Guide
___________ (4) READ*WRITE*NOW! Just Add Kids Resource Directory
___________ (5) Learning to Read, Reading to Learn
___________ (6) Checkpoints for Progress
___________ (7) Simple Things You Can Do to Help All Children Read Well and Independently by the End of Third Grade

23a. In your experience, what effect do reading incentives in general have on children's reading habits?
_____ (1) Significant effect
_____ (2) Moderate effect
_____ (3) Little effect

23b. Did you use incentives to encourage children participating in your project to read? If so, what incentives did you use?
_____ (1) Certificate for Chicken Soup for Little Souls
_____ (2) Other (specify)

23c. What effect did each have on the reading habits of the children participating in your project?

(a) Certificate for Chicken Soup for Little Souls:
_____ (1) Significant effect
_____ (2) Moderate effect
_____ (3) Little effect

(b) Other (specify)
_____ (1) Significant effect
_____ (2) Moderate effect
_____ (3) Little effect

Responsibilities and Training of Learning Partners

24. Who were your learning partners? (List the number of partners in each category.)
______(1) Federal Work Study students
______(2) VISTA volunteers
______(3) AmeriCorps volunteers
______(4) Community volunteers 
______(5) Head Start parents 
______(6) Teachers
______(7) Corporate volunteers
______(8) Middle school students
______(9) High school students
______(10) University students
______(11) ARC:RWN parents
______(12) Other parents
______(13) Church members
______(14) Senior citizens
______(15) Other (specify)

25. How many learning partners participated in the ARC:RWN project? How many worked in each project component?

26. What was the average ratio of tutors to children in your program?
______(1) 1 tutor to 1 child
______(2) 1 tutor to 2 children
______(3) 1 tutor to 5 children
______(4) 1 tutor to 10 children
______(5) 1 tutor to 20 children
______(6) Other (specify)

27. How were learning partners recruited?
______(1) Local advertising
______(2) Local school system office
______(3) Local literacy group
______(4) Local college/university
______(5) Other community organization
______(6) Religious organization
______(7) District, state, or federal Title I
______(8) Corporation for National Service
______(9) Public library
______(10) Other (specify)

28. What was the average weekly time commitment of each ARC:RWN learning partner who read with students?

29. What, if any, additional responsibilities did learning partners have?
______ (1) Coordinate projects
______ (2) Facilitate instructional activities
______ (3) Facilitate enrichment and recreational activities
______ (4) Other (specify)
______ (5) None

30. What kind of training was provided to learning partners?
______(1) Pre-service
______(2) In-service
______(3) On-going
______(4) None

31. What topics were covered during the training?
______(1) Tutoring methods
______(2) Reading instruction methods
______(3) General instructional methods
______(4) Student discipline/student management
______(5) Logistical information
______(6) Other (specify)

32. Who provided the training?
______(1) School system staff
______(2) Local college/university
______(3) Community organization (specify)
______(4) Other (specify)

33. What materials were used during training sessions?
_____ (1) ARC:RWN Learning Partners Guide
_____ (2) Materials developed by the site (specify)
_____ (3) Other (specify)

Planning and Resources

34. When did you start planning for your 1998 ARC:RWN summer project (month, year)?

35. Representatives from which of the following organizations were involved in planning your site's summer project? (Check all that apply.)
____(1) Title I
_____ (a) U.S. Department of Education
_____ (b) State Title I office
_____ (c) District Title I office
____(2) Local school system
____(3) Local literacy organizations
____(4) Corporation for National Service
____(5) Service organizations for children
____(6) Libraries
____(7) Religious organizations
____(8) Businesses
____(9) Other (specify)

Federal, State, and Local Government Resources

36a. What federal government resources did your site use? (Indicate whether resources were funding and/or in-kind contributions.)

36b. How did the project use these resources?

37a. What state or local government agencies contributed resources? (Indicate whether resources were funding and/or in-kind contributions.)

37b. How did the project use these resources?

Community Resources

38a. What community partners contributed resources? (Indicate whether resources were funding and/or in-kind contributions.)

38b. How did the project use these resources?

Project Evaluation

39. How did you evaluate your 1998 summer project?
_____(1) Formal assessments of student progress in reading
    ______(a) pre- and post-assessments
    ______(b) student portfolios
    ______(c) other
_____(2) Surveys of parent, student, and learning partner attitudes
_____(3) Descriptive information
    ______(a) student attendance
    ______(b) numbers of minutes or hours spent reading
    ______(c) other
_____(4) Anecdotal evidence of behavioral changes in students, families, and learning partners
_____(5) Other (specify)

40a. If formal assessments were administered, what were the outcomes of your project's formal assessments of student progress in reading and writing?
(1) _____ percent of students maintained their reading skills
(2) _____ percent of students improved their reading skills
(3) _____ percent of students maintained their writing skills
(4) _____ percent of students improved their writing skills
(5) _____ Other (specify)

40b. What were the outcomes of the other assessments? (Specify the percent of students/parents/partners achieving each outcome. Mark the outcome "A" if the evidence is anecdotal.)
_____ (1) Students read more books for pleasure outside of the ARC:RWN project
_____ (2) Students watched fewer hours of television
_____ (3) Students visited the library more often
_____ (4) More students registered for library cards
_____ (5) Middle school and high school learning partners improved their own reading and writing skills
_____ (6) Middle school and high school learning partners demonstrated social growth in their responsibilities as tutors
_____ (7) Parents sustained or increased their involvement in literacy activities
_____ (8) Community partners played a more active role in literacy efforts
_____ (9) Other (specify)

41. On a scale of 1-5, where 5 = fulfillment of purpose, to what extent do you think the ARC:RWN project reached each goal below? Write N/A if the purpose does not apply to your project.
_____ (a) Maintain or improve students' reading skills
_____ (b) Maintain or improve students' writing skills
_____ (c) Reach students most in need of reading assistance
_____ (d) Encourage recreational reading
_____ (e) Increase children's love of reading
_____ (f) Encourage pre-reading or emergent reading skills in early childhood students
_____ (g) Provide extended learning opportunities for children during the summer
_____ (h) Involve community partners (e.g., schools, businesses) in literacy efforts
_____ (i) Involve parents in their child's literacy development
_____ (j) Other (specify)

42. Did the project operate in the 1997-98 school year? If so, what kind of activities took place?

43. Will the project operate in the 1998-99 school year? During the summer of 1999? Why or why not?

44. What changes do you anticipate making for the 1998-99 school year or the summer of 1999?

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