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The focus-group interview format was used to investigate the implementation of the Career Ladders teacher-incentive program in a rural school district in Arizona. Two interviews were planned for each of the following groups: (1) school board members; (2) Career Ladders steering committee; (3) administrators; (4) central office staff; (5) parents; (6) Career Ladder teachers; and (7) non-Career Ladder teachers. Despite the diversity of the seven focus groups, their comments yielded some common themes about the Career Ladder program. The most dominant was a perceived overall lack of district readiness to adopt a program of the scope and magnitude of the Career Ladder program and a lack of needed organization. Related to this finding was the expressed need for an agreed-on curriculum. A separate focus group for the Career Ladders Pilot District Network served as a check on the internal validity of the conceptual structure being piloted in the district, and it defined concerns about program implementation. This group was far more positive in its evaluation of the developing Career Ladders program than were the school district focus groups. Follow-up interviews were conducted with five of the seven focus groups (parents and central staff could not be rescheduled). The focus group format is a powerful tool for validation of the theoretical model for program development by giving all groups a chance to express themselves. (SLD)

The focus-group interview format was used to investigate the implementation of the Career Ladders teacher-incentive program in a rural school district in Arizona. Two interviews were planned for each of the following groups: (1) school board members; (2) Career Ladders steering committee; (3) administrators; (4) central office staff; (5) parents; (6) Career Ladder teachers; and (7) non-Career Ladder teachers. Despite the diversity of the seven focus groups, their comments yielded some common themes about the Career Ladder program. The most dominant was a perceived overall lack of district readiness to adopt a program of the scope and magnitude of the Career Ladder program and a lack of needed organization. Related to this finding was the expressed need for an agreed-on curriculum. A separate focus group for the Career Ladders Pilot District Network served as a check on the internal validity of the conceptual structure being piloted in the district, and it defined concerns about program implementation. This group was far more positive in its evaluation of the developing Career Ladders program than were the school district focus groups. Follow-up interviews were conducted with five of the seven focus groups (parents and central staff could not be rescheduled). The focus group format is a powerful tool for validation of the theoretical model for program development by giving all groups a chance to express themselves. (SLD)

The focus-group interview format was used to investigate the implementation of the Career Ladders teacher-incentive program in a rural school district in Arizona. Two interviews were planned for each of the following groups: (1) school board members; (2) Career Ladders steering committee; (3) administrators; (4) central office staff; (5) parents; (6) Career Ladder teachers; and (7) non-Career Ladder teachers. Despite the diversity of the seven focus groups, their comments yielded some common themes about the Career Ladder program. The most dominant was a perceived overall lack of district readiness to adopt a program of the scope and magnitude of the Career Ladder program and a lack of needed organization. Related to this finding was the expressed need for an agreed-on curriculum. A separate focus group for the Career Ladders Pilot District Network served as a check on the internal validity of the conceptual structure being piloted in the district, and it defined concerns about program implementation. This group was far more positive in its evaluation of the developing Career Ladders program than were the school district focus groups. Follow-up interviews were conducted with five of the seven focus groups (parents and central staff could not be rescheduled). The focus group format is a powerful tool for validation of the theoretical model for program development by giving all groups a chance to express themselves. (SLD)