Creating Trust:

• Do your teachers wholeheartedly support your efforts to bring about improvement? Why/why not?

• Do you take an active interest in trying to help teachers personally and professionally? How?

• Has this changed recently?

[Benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, and openness?] 9) Protecting Instructional Time:

• Do your teachers complain much about things that cut into the time they have for instruction?

• Is there anything you do about this issue?

• What do you do to provide a safe, orderly environment? • Any change in this over the past few years?

[Minimize interruptions? Student absence for extracurriculars? Discourage student and teacher lateness and absences?]

10) Others:

• Is there anything else that you like to share about your school—about the teachers, students, parents, and/or the community?

• Does the district hinder or facilitate your success in any way? If so, how?

[District barriers or supports?]

Appendix B

Interview Protocol (Teachers) 1) Grand Tour Question

• What would you say are your biggest challenges in this school? How are you

addressing those?

Student Population: Free & Reduced Meal: Black:

White:

Hispanic: Multi-Racial: Asian:

Per Pupil Expenditure:

Cohort Graduation Rate:

SAT:

SAT Participation:

EOC Proficiency Scores

Eng I Alg

I

Alg II

Geom Bio Chem Phys Sci Physics Civics & Econ US Hist 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2005-06: School Designation: Growth: AYP: 2004-05: School Designation: Growth: AYP:

2) Goal Setting and Communication of Goals:

• Is there a set of specific goals for this school overall? If so, what are they? • How were these goals set?

• Are the school’s goals clear to you? If so, how do you know what they are? • Do your students know what the goals are? How do they know?

• Have the goals just been established, or have they been in place for several years?

[Goals instructional? Defined in terms of EOC results or other measurable outcomes? Data used to set goals? In written form? Stressed in opening orientation, faculty meetings?] 3) Coordination of Curriculum & Instruction:

• How are curricular decision made here?

• Does the principal play any role in shaping the curriculum or tracking whether and how it’s implemented? Why/why not?

• How do you decide what to teach? • Has this changed in the past few years?

[NC Standard Course of Study? Pacing guides? Benchmarks? Opportunity to learn?]

School School District North Carolina Fully Licensed Teachers

Classes Taught by Highly Qualified Teachers

Teachers with Advanced Degrees NBCTs

3.5) Teacher Recruitment, Assignment & Retention:

• How does the principal recruit teachers?

• Who and how do you decide who teaches what? • What is your teacher turnover rate?

• Does the principal provide any type of incentives for teachers? If so, what and why? • How does he encourage and support you? How does he acknowledge your performance?

Has this changed over the past few years?

[Self-motivated, self-starter teachers? Do you do anything to get them going and keep them working hard?]

School School District North Carolina 05-06 School-level turnover

rate (107 teachers)

04-05 School-level turnover rate (105 teachers)

Smith Years of Teaching Experience:

4) Supervision & Evaluation of Instruction:

• Does the principal come to your classroom very often? Why/why not? • What does he seem to be looking for when he does?

• Does he talk with you about what he sees?

• Has the principal’s attention to instruction and changed in the past few years?

[Formal evaluations of teachers? Any connection of teacher evaluations to student learning, achievement, test scores?]

5) Monitoring Student Progress and Providing Incentives for Learning:

• Does the principal give much attention to monitoring students’ academic progress? • If so, what sorts of things does he do?

• Do you do anything special to recognize or reward high student achievement here? • What is your drop-out rate and how do you address issues regarding drop-outs? • How are students assigned to teachers?

• Has this changed in the past few years?

[Concrete behaviors reflecting expectations? Formative assessments? Benchmarks? Emphasis?]

6) Promoting Professional Development and Building Community:

• How do you handle professional development here?

• Is the schedule set up so that teachers who teach the same subjects have times when they can meet with each other? Do you?

• Do you think much comes of these sessions?

• If one of your teachers was doing a poor job, would the other teachers call him/her on it? Why/why not?

• Has this changed over the past few years?

[Shared planning times? Who, how, when, where and why? Principal part of the team? Why/why not? How? How are norms set and developed? Shared purpose and collective responsibility for learning?]

7) Maintaining Visibility:

• Does the principal get out around the school very much? When and why? • What activities does he attend?

• What does he do when he attends activities like that? Why? • Has his visibility changed over the past few years?

[Participate in extracurriculars? Cover for teachers absent or late? Teach classes? Tutor students?]

8) Creating Trust:

• Can you trust that the principal will do what he tells you s/he will do? • Does the principal care about you as an individual?

• Does the principal take an active interest in trying to help teachers improve their knowledge and skill?

• Has this changed recently?