Preview of the Focus Group Blueprint

Okay, you're ready. You've read these introductory materials and talked with other educators and school leaders. Your school community has decided to wade into the wonderful world of focus group research. You know what focus groups are and you know what they can do. But how do you actually do focus group research?

This Toolkit will guide you step-by-step through all of the discussions, decisions, plans, and actions necessary for your school community to carry out focus group research. When we say "school community" we mean anyone and everyone who interacts with schools – students, educators, other staff, parents, employers who hire graduates, and community members. Yet within this inclusive term, we expect educators to be the primary organizers of student focus group research.

We have organized the remainder of this Toolkit according to the responsibilities of the work team members. These are the carefully chosen, dedicated people from the school community who will be the key to your focus group success. We presume most of the work team members will be educators and students. We hope you will involve school staff and people from the community in appropriate ways as well.

The list of steps on the next page is long, but every item on it, and more, is described in detail in later sections. In general, the steps are the same for an effort in an individual school, a cluster of schools, or an entire district. Regardless of your exact time frame, you should follow this sequence of steps as closely as possible. You will find key elements of the sequence in the sample timetable (4 kb, pdf) we present.

Next: Sequence of the "Focus Group Blueprint"