Get the Most out of Family Interviews

I have previously shared my soggy "meh" feelings about using surveys to gather data from families about the equity of your multilingual communications, and my whole-hearted support for having personal conversations with parents instead.

January to February is the time I most recommend for conducting these interviews, because:

a) families have had a whole semester’s experience with communication from school,
b) you still have a whole semester to analyze responses, make a plan, and get the appropriate people on board before summer (when it will be to late to initiate systemic change).

I’ve shared lots of tips related to interviews before. Today, let’s talk about how to generate the most useful information if you are relying on a team of one or more people to do the interviews.

These are lessons I have learned the hard way, and I hope to save you years of subpar interview data.

Tip of the Week

Standardize the wording of your interview questions with your team.
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At the same time, prepare your interviewers to be fluid in following up with parents and caregivers in order to draw out the most useful information possible.

The Story

The first year I did family interviews, I did them solo. It was a helpful experience for creating a clear vision and understanding of how those conversations can go. Because I naturally understood what I was trying to do, I intuitively asked follow-up questions of parents when I needed more clarity. Because didn’t have to communicate my purpose to anyone, I didn’t realize that asking follow-up questions is something I would need to name explicitly when I did bring others on.
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The second year, I added one person to the effort. I was generally happy with the usability of the information from her calls, because she took detailed notes. Yet there were instances when I read her responses where I wish she had prompted for more detail or clarity.

For example, when one parent said, “I receive materials in English, but I can’t understand them,” I wish she had prompted with something like, “Do you receive texts and emails in English as well? And documents that go home? When you receive calls from people other than me, are they in Spanish or with a Spanish interpreter?” As humans, we often talk in broad strokes, and it is helpful to break down the information as much as possible in order to be able to take take targeted action in response to parent feedback.

One of our questions was geared at inclusion. We asked whether their child had opportunities to see or share their culture at school. When one parent responded, “It’s fine for Fatima to share about her African culture at school” (essentially giving permission, rather than answering if this had been her experience so far), I wish I had trained my teacher to reiterate the question to get that information; I was glad to have mom's approval, but I also wanted to know what her experience had been thus far.

Getting partial information, instead of the full picture wasn’t the teacher’s fault. She did a great job at what I had trained her to do, but I hadn’t trained her to prompt following parent responses.

Training staff in how to prompt isn’t easy, but the best thing to do is to just start. Simply name why, when, and how.

I wish I could say I got better at that piece immediately, but I didn't. It took a couple years of hitting this frustration for me to step back and reflect on how to improve it.

Call to Action

On Monday of next week, sit down to plan your parent interviews.

1. Script your initial interview questions (no more than three).
2. Define your expectations of your interviewers. I recommend that your expectations include that they should ask the exact questions as written, and not something sort of like this question, or on the general topic. (Feel free to let them know it’s not that we don’t trust our people to ask a good question; it's that we need to be consistent in our questions to construct a coherent understanding of trends in our families' experiences that builds from year to year.)
3. Clearly communicate to your team the purpose of the interviews (to get actionable information so we can improve our systems), and emphasize the importance of their in-the-moment judgment.
4. Let your team know you are relying on them to ask follow-up questions that draw out the best information. While scripting can make people feel patronized, this is where you drive home your trust in them to achieve the purpose of the interview using their own discretion.
   1. Why ask follow-up questions? To gain as much detail and clarity as possible in order to take concrete action.
   2. When to ask follow-up questions? When a parent response is unclear, lacks details, doesn’t answer the question, or refers to a specific incident you weren’t aware of.
   3. How to ask follow-up questions? Use your best judgment in the moment to select a follow-up from the "menu" of suggestions. If you feel a different question is needed, which is not on the menu, ask it! It is better to improvise and get more information than to stick to the menu and miss out.

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Here’s a free template you can use to structure the follow-up questions for your team.

​Examples of follow-up questions:
Question: Are you receiving all school communications in Somali?
Follow-up Menu:
If unclear:

• When do you receive communication in Somali, and when do you receive it in English?
• Is there a difference in how [sibling 1]’s school and [sibling 2]’s schools communicate with you?

If lacking detail:

• Do you mind if I ask in more detail? Do you receive texts/emails in Somali? What about papers? When you receive calls, are they with a Somali interpreter?

For specific incidents: Find out what, who, when.
If doesn’t answer the question: Repeat the question. Reword if necessary.
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Question: How well informed do you feel about your child’s progress at school?
Follow-up Menu:
If unclear:

• Thank you for sharing. I really want to understand more. Would you mind telling me more about your experience?

If lacking detail:

• (Affirmative answer) That’s great to hear. What communication from the school helps you feel that way?
• (Negative answer) I’m sorry to hear that. We all want to do better. What information would you like to receive more of?
• (Negative answer) I’m so sorry to hear that. What is most challenging about figuring out how your child is doing at school?

For specific incidents: Find out what, who, when.
If doesn’t answer the question: Repeat the question. Reword if necessary.
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Question: How included did you feel in parent-teacher conferences in October?
Follow-up Menu:
If unclear:

• I appreciate you sharing that. Can you tell me more about what happened/your experience?

If lacking detail:

• (Affirmative answer) I am so happy that was your experience. What was the most important thing that made conferences convenient for you?
• (Negative answer) I am so sorry we didn’t make it easier to _________. What was the hardest part? Besides _______ and _______, is there anything that would have helped?

For specific incidents: Find out what, who, when.
If doesn’t answer the question: Repeat the question. Reword if necessary.

Better Together

So many leaders know that their multilingual families aren't getting equitable access to information, programming, or people in their schools. But most get stuck when trying to fix it because they are over-tasked and under-staffed. Anne Truran focuses centrally on this topic to help educational leaders make progress faster without all the trial and error, so they can focus their energies on the many other challenges that deserve their attention.
Make this one problem solved without adding it to your plate.
​Bookings for Fall 2024 support are now open!
If you are interested in creating systemic change at your district so multilingual families have equitable access to information, your schools can be compliant with federal law, and all your kids can get what they need, find out which one of the following pathways will work best for you:

• consulting
• one-on-one coaching
• group coaching
• professional development sessions

1) Schedule a free call.
2) Tell me about yourself, your school and community.
3) Get started on your best pathway forward to create real change for families and kids.