Oct. 30 Sonda Gabriel in COE Human Subjects Review Committee sent letter approving my research project "Evaluation of Awareness of Illinois Diversity Among Students and Teachers Participating in Project I-57".  She judged it to be expect from formal prior review in federal regulation exemption category 46.101 (b) 1 for research conducted in established educational settings involving normal educational practices.

She sent copies of all the materials to each of the school disctricts involved to get their approval:

Fisher - principal
Benton - Principal
Maine East - Alice Davitt, coord. of grants

The main contact people via e-mail

UIUC, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Sonda Gabriel, human subjects review committee

Alice Davitt, coordinator of grants

Ken Faulhaber, asst. principal

Audrey Haugan, asst. principal
John Aldworth, teacher of English, Maine West

Deanna Alexander, technology coordinator
Erin Remington, 5th grade teacher at Fisher

Kathy Auten, tech coordinator
Ronald Knox, principal

Sister Donna Bebensee, principal

Subject: Re: Research project

Sonda,

Thanks for getting to my research application so promptly!  I was
wondering whether I should be contacting the three contact people I listed
personally meanwhile while you're waiting to hear back from the schools?
I'm already part of Project I-57, so Jim Levin might prefer that route.
Just let me know one way or another.

Thanks!

Paul

Subject: Project I-57 eval (Sundberg)

Dear Alice,

Hi.  I couldn't make it to the Friday Video conference with the rest of
the I-57 people so you haven't seen me yet.  I'm Paul Sundberg, Jim
Levin's grad research assistant for Project I-57.  Good to meet you!

I recently submitted an evaluation proposal to the College of Ed to
compare three of the I-57 schools: Fisher, Benton, and Maine East.  Our
research coordinator Sonda Gabriel should have forwarded on all the
necessary project info on to you.

I'm not sure how many Maine East classes are planning to cooperate with
Project I-57, but I was hoping to find one or two that were not science or
math (social science, English, etc.) to administer my research forms in
sometime before Nov. 21 when I have to give a report on the findings.
Since the children at the other two schools unfortunately are much
younger, I requested the lowest high school age level (freshmen) if possible.

I was interested to see if you had any recommendations for which class or
classes I could work with.  I was hoping to get about 30 kids from each
school, whatever the individual class sizes are.  Any e-mail addresses of
teachers you think might fit would be appreciated!

The aim is to get the kids BEFORE they start in seriously on any Project
I-57 contact with other schools to get the "before" picture (and later the
"after" picture).

If you have any questions or if what I wrote wasn't exactly clear, please
let me know!

Thanks,

Paul Sundberg

FROM ALICE DAVITT (nov. 12):

Paul
Since I have been out of the office for 5 days and I just had a chance to read
your mail and glance at the document you sent. I will be forwarding your e-mail
to Ken Faulhaber at East and Audrey Haugan at West, the program coordinators.

We will try to get one class in each school to do the pre and post survey for
the I-57 project.

Alice

TO ALICE (Nov. 12)

Subject: Re: Project I-57 eval (Sundberg)

Alice,

Welcome back!  I appreciate you're following up  on my message.  Do I have
your permission to contact the two teachers directly?  It would be
extremely helpful if they could give the pretest before Nov. 21, when I am
supposed to present my "findings" so far.

Thanks!

Paul Sundberg

Subject: Re: Project I-57 eval (Sundberg)

Paul -

I really do not know they will be able to have that kind of turn around - it
really is too short, given that is just one week away, I guess I would say no.
That would not be fair to the classes. You may contact Ken Faulhaber (East) and
Audrey Haugan (West) they are the Assistant Principals and coordinators of the
programs. Right now they are the only contact via e-mail as the teachers just
got addresses today.  It is really up to the building coordinators as they work
with the Academy teachers. As you know, the teachers were not aware of this
survey and would have planned it's incorporation along the way.
Hope this all works out for everyone in a positive way.
I will forward this on to Ken and Audrey as well.
Thanks for your understanding

Alice

Subject: Re: Project I-57 eval (Sundberg)

Paul

I just spent some time talking with Ken Faulhaber about your feeling that you
sent the survey in plenty of time.  I would like to help you understand that
public schools need more lead time than 9 actual school days before your
presentation to adjust lessons, rearrange projects, tests and other classroom
activities. In actuality,in order to get the surveys back to you in regular
mail, it left only 5 school days from the time we recieved them, to make plans,
administer the survey, and return your surveys by the 20th. Our students were
not in school M, T, or W this week. We will do everything we can to try to get
them completed and returned.

Alice

Subject: Re: Project I-57 eval (Sundberg)

On Fri, 13 Nov 1998, DAVITT wrote:

> Paul
>
> I just spent some time talking with Ken Faulhaber about your feeling
that you sent the survey in plenty of time.

** Alice, I'm sorry if the situation has put undue pressure on anyone. THe
most important thing for me is to maintain good working relations with you
and others in Maine Township for the length of the 1_57 project.
Deadlines are definitely secondary.
 

I would like to help you
understand that public schools need more lead time than 9 actual school
days before your presentation to adjust lessons, rearrange projects,
tests and other classroom activities.

** When Sonda Gabriel told me the beginning of November that she had
mailed forms out to all the participating schools, I assumed that I had
close to 20 days to work with, so I didn't think it would put too many
limitations on participating classes.  Both Fisher and Benton, in fact,
have been able to get materials back to me.  With you being gone for 10
days earlier in the month, however, that understandably lessened the
timeframe for any meaningful work to be done on the survey on your end,
so I can fully understand why you saw the requested date Nov. 21 as being
unrealistic.
In actuality,in order to get the
surveys back to you in regular mail, it left only 5 school days from the
time we recieved them, to make plans, administer the survey, and return
your surveys by the 20th. Our students were not in school M, T, or W this
week. We will do everything we can to try to get them completed and returned.

** I'm grateful for whatever the two Maine schools can manage and for all your efforts!

Paul Sundberg

Subject: Paul Sundberg's pretest

Dear Audrey,

Hi.  I'm Jim Levin's grad assistant on Project I-57.  Alice Davitt sent a
few emails to you recently about my evaluation project on three of the
I-57 participating schools:  Benton, Fisher and Maine Township.

My interest is to judge whether computer-mediated communications media
like e-mail and the Web actually changed student attitudes towards
different communities:  your kids are in a predominantly urban/suburban
sprawl, whereas Fisher and Benton live in much quieter settings with more
limited economic bases.

The two essays in my pretest are designed to get qualitative data on those
attitudes at an early stage in the Project before too much communication
has occurred between schools.

Ruth seemed to think it would be impossible for teachers at Maine to give
the pretest before Nov. 20, but I'm interested to see what your thinking
on that is.  I'm hoping to present preliminary results from the
first pretest informally to an evaluation class I'm taking this semester -
due Nov. 21.  (Alice was out of communication for over a week after I
e-mailed her my project request - I actually did leave time for the
measure to be given, but she's only gotten the info out to the schools
now.  I apologize that so little time is left.)

Anyway, of course I'll be appreciative of any assistance you can give
whether or not it meets my class deadline.  (I'm always hopeful till
there's clear evidence that there's no hope!)  The data will still be
useful.

If anything in the material Sonda Gabriel sent isn't clear, please ask.
I'd be happy to clarify.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Paul Sundberg

Subject: Pretest

Paul:

Hi.  I don't have any materials on your pre-test that Sondra Gabriel was to
have sent.   If I can get it today, it is possible to give a pretest to a group
of kids - depending on what you are looking for.  I'm sorry to be so vague, but
I don't know what your pretest is . . . .

Please e-mail what it is you would need, and I will try to get a teacher or two
from the Academy to work it in perhaps on Monday or Tuesday.  That may still
give you time to have something for your class on the 21st.

Audrey Haugan

Subject: Re: Pretest

Audrey,

Hi.  Thanks for getting back to me in good time.  I feel bad that this
project is putting everyone under time pressure.  I had thought there
would be a bit more breathing room than there turned out to be.

As for the test forms themselves, I was under the impression that our
research coordinator at U of I, Sonda Gabriel, had sent copies of all the
forms to the principals involved - or maybe just to Alice Davitt in the
case of Maine Township.  So there should be at least a single copy up in
your school disctrict already.

But rather than put you to the trouble of tracking it down, I'll fedex
copies of the forms up to you at Maine West to distribute as you think
appropriate. The earliest they could get to you would be Monday, however.
If that's too late, the teachers can give them when they can and return
them by regular mail. However, if there's a chance they could get to them
before Friday, however, I'll enclose pre-addressed fedex envelopes for
them to return the tests in.

Again, I really appreciate your efforts to make this work!

-Paul

Subject: Re: Pretest

Audrey,

Hi.  I realized in my last message that I had promised to send a prepaid
Fedex envelope along with the forms I fedexed this Saturday.  I think what
would work as well is if one of your secretaries could fedex the
filled-out copies back to me using my account number.  I'll ask Fedex how
that might work.  That way the postage is all on my account.

Fedex promised that the envelope with the blank pre-tests would get to you
by Monday, so if they don't, please let me know and I'll harangue Fedex!!
:-)

Again, if this won't work out at all, please don't feel shy about telling
me so.  The I-57 cooperation has just started and I'd hate to have people
feeling taken advantage of from the very beginning!

Again, thanks so much for your willingness to try this!

Paul S.

Subject: Re: Pretest

Audrey,

Thanks for trying so valiently!  It doesn't really surprise me that none
of the teaching staff will be able to give the test this week - my
optimism is always tempered by realism.  Any time is fine now.  My main
research limitation is that the pretest be given BEFORE the
classes at the various schools make contact.  Other than that, there is no
real deadline.  An English class sounds perfect, actually, since the test
involves two essays, so perhaps the teacher can get some wider use out of
it.

As a favor, would you mind if I communicated with the English teacher
beforehand to kind of explain the purpose of the project and clarify how
he could best administer the pretest in his class?  It would also give him
some immediate feeling of involvement in I-57 beyond Maine West.

Again, thanks for your willingness.  We grad students are at your mercy!
:-)

-Paul

Subject: Re: Pretest

Paul:

Hi.  I've talked to the Academy English teacher who is probably the most
flexible of our staff and he is not able to give the pre-test in time for your
deadline.  He's probably willing to do it at a later date, but that won't help
you, I don't think.

Please get back to me if in the next two weeks it would be okay to give the
test.

I did get a copy of the test from Alice on Friday, and I'll wait for yours from
Fed Ex today.  Sorry you've gone through so much trouble, too.  Had we received
the info. earlier, I think we could have helped you out.

Let me know if you still want the test given, albeit late.

Audrey

Subject: Re: Pretest

Audrey,

Hi.  Just wondering if you got the Fedex material OK this Monday.

-Paul

Subject: Re: Pretest

Hi, Paul:

Yes, I got the package of materials.  I should have let you know, sorry.  I
have forwarded it to John Aldworth.  Have you e-mailed him or tried to call?
My request was that he try to do the pre-test within the next two weeks. I know
it doesn't meet your time-line, but it may help . . . .

I'll let you know what I hear.

Audrey

Subject: Re: Pretest

Audrey,

Thanks for getting back to me. Glad to hear the Fedex people lived up to
their reputation!  (Otherwise, the Post Office is cheaper.)  Yes, I've
contacted John and will be interested to hear when he feels he could give
the pretest.

I'm curious how many of your classes will be participating in Project
I-57, and which schools they'll be in contact with.  I heard from Deanna
Alexander in Fisher that their 4th grade classes will be in contact with
Maine West.

Good luck with the Project and hope it lives up to your expectations.

_Paul

Subject: I-57 essays for Paul Sundberg

John,

Hi. I'm Jim Levin's grad assistant at UIUC, the one that sent the pre-test
forms Audrey has been speaking to you about. (Yes, I'm the one who's
adding to your load the end of the semester, sorry!)

Audrey just wrote saying that she suggested you try to give the forms out
within the next couple of weeks.  Now that the Nov. 21 deadline is no
longer a possibility, there's no rush, although ideally the pre-test
should be given out *before* students have had a chance to interact on the
internet. Sooner is better for me just because I have to write up my
results for the Evaluation of Internet Technologies course before the end
of the semester.

I was wondering if you had any questions about what the pre-test was about
or how to administer it?  I'm happy to provide any background information
you'd like, although the teacher explanation forms included with the evaluation
forms should explain most of it.

Thanks again for your willingness to help out,

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 essays for Paul Sundberg

I have received the forms, and I will be giving them sometime in the next week.
 It is kind of hectic around here now, but I will mail them back as soon as
they are completed.  This week is already over, but I will probably give them
out next Thursday and have them in the mail that same day.  I hope that this
gives you the time necessary to complete your work.  If you have any questions,
please let me know.

John

Subject: Re: I-57 essays for Paul Sundberg

John,

Thanks for getting back to me during the busy week before Thanksgiving!
This coming THursday is fine.  Don't bother fedexing the surveys or using
express mail, however. Normal mail from upstate is almost as fast, and the
Evaluation meeting on Nov. 21 is past anyway.

I've noticed that some of the essay writers in other classes have assumed
by the shape of the essay questions (each question on a separate line)
that their responses are expected to be Q-A and have put their essay
"answers" on separate lines (sometimes even numbered 1,2,3).

If you could remind your class before they dig into the two essays that
each one is a SINGLE essay (implying writing the sentences together or in
paragraph form like a normal essay), I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 essays for Paul Sundberg

Paul,

The essays are in the mail.  The students wrote them yesterday, and they were
sent away yesterday afternoon.  I hope this is in time for whatever you need.
Enjoy reading them.

John

Subject: Re: I-57 essays for Paul Sundberg

John,

Got the manilla envelope in the mail yesterday.  You must have really
inspired them!  They wrote more words per essay than any other classes
I've received surveys from.

I'm curious how long in the end it took them to complete the 2 essays +
questionnaire.  I estimated 30 minutes, but of course that's only a rough
estimate.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time out of your own class plan to
administer the surveys.  I'll be putting the info up on the Web to let you
and Audrey to run a "quality control" check on them before I make the
pages available to the other I-57 participants.

-Paul

Subject: Paul Sundberg's pretest

Ken,

Hi.  I'm Jim Levin's grad assistant on Project I-57.  Alice Davitt sent a
few emails to you recently about my evaluation project on three of the
I-57 participating schools:  Benton, Fisher and Maine Township.

My interest is to judge whether computer-mediated communications media
like e-mail and the Web actually change student attitudes towards
different communities:  your kids are in a predominantly urban/suburban
sprawl, whereas Fisher and Benton live in much quieter settings with more
limited economic bases.

The two essays in my pretest are designed to get qualitative data on those
attitudes at an early stage in the Project before too much communication
has occurred between schools.

Ruth seemed to think it would be impossible for teachers at Maine to give
the pretest before Nov. 20, but I'm interested to see what your thinking
on that is.  I'm hoping to present preliminary results from the
first pretest informally to an evaluation class I'm taking this semester -
due Nov. 21.  (Alice was out of communication for over a week after I
e-mailed her my project request - I actually did leave time for the
measure to be given, but she's only gotten the info out to the schools
now. I apologize that so little time is left.)

Anyway, of course I'll be appreciative of any assistance you can give
whether or not it meets my class deadline.  (I'm always hopeful till
there's clear evidence that there's no hope!)  The data will still be
useful.

If anything in the material Sonda Gabriel sent isn't clear, please ask.
I'd be happy to clarify.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Paul

Subject: Re: Paul Sundberg's pretest update

Ken,

Thanks for taking the trouble to phone on Friday.  Sorry I didn't get the
call till school was out for the week.  It would be excellent if even one
of the teachers could give the pretest before Friday this week, although I
fully understand if no one turns out to be able to.  Please don't fedex at
your own expense; I have a Fedex account number, which I'll provide when I
have it with me (I'm away from home at the moment).

Sonda Gabriel (UIUC) was supposed to have sent out copies of all the
pretest/project materials the end of October (or 1st of November) -- to
Alice Davitt, in your case, I believe.  Did Alice give you copies of them
for your teacher(s)?  I'll mail a check to cover the cost of making the
photocopies (about 3 pages x 30 students, I'm guessing) -- or I could
Fedex copies from down here, if you prefer.

I'll be checking e-mail at least once daily, so please feel free to ask
any questions that come up.  I hope I can return the favor in the near
future!

Thanks,

Paul S.

Subject: Project I-57:  Thank You!

Ken,

Hi. (I seem to have lost your short e-mail address somehow, so I've
reverted to the first really l-o-n-g one.)

I got the package you sent with all the forms.  Amazing!  I hadn't
expected such a whole-hearted effort to get a number of classes involved
in taking the pretest.  I really appreciate the effort that took and hope
the teachers involved are still speaking to me!

I will send a check for the $17.25 it took to express mail the package.
Perhaps Jim can dig into the I-57 budget to reimburse me.  You certainly
shouldn't bear the postage costs.

I'd appreciate having the e-mail addresses of the teachers who volunteered
their class time for the survey so I can thank them personally:  Maria
Garvey and (?) Lundberg.

How has the I-57 project been going for you all in general so far?  Let me
know if there's anything Jim Levin or I can help you with.

Best,

Paul

Subject: Re: Project I-57 express mailing fees

Ken,

Hi.I've been hoping to hear from you about how best to reimburse you or
Maine Township school district for the $17.25 spent for express mailing
the I-57 surveys back to me.  I really appreciated all the effort you went
to to get them back in time.

At the moment, I'm crunching the data from the surveys to put on a Web
page to be available to all the I-57 participants.  I already have pages
up for Fisher and Benton.  I'll let you know as soon as your school's data
is on the Web to give you and Mrs. Garvy a chance to do a bit of "quality
control" checking before I send the URL to the other I-57 people.

Thanks again,

Paul

Subject: I-57 class evaluation

Dear Deana,

Hi.  I couldn't make it to the Friday Video conference with the rest of
the I-57 people so you haven't seen me yet.  I'm Paul Sundberg, Jim
Levin's grad research assistant for Project I-57.  Good to meet you!

I recently submitted an evaluation proposal to the College of Ed to
compare three of the I-57 schools: Fisher, Benton, and Maine East.  Our
research coordinator Sonda Gabriel should have forwarded on all the
necessary project info to your principal - and hopefully, on to you!

I'm not sure how many Fisher classes are planning to cooperate with
Project I-57, but I was hoping to find one or two that were not science or
math (social science, English, etc.) to administer my evaluation in
sometime before Nov. 21 when I have to give a report on the findings.

I was interested to see if you had any recommendations for which class
or classes I could work with.  I was hoping to get about 30 kids from each
school, whatever the individual class sizes are.

The aim is to get the kids BEFORE they start in seriously on any Project
I-57 contact with other schools to get the "before" picture (and later the
"after" picture).

If you have any questions or if what I wrote wasn't exactly clear, please
let me know!

Thanks,

Paul Sundberg

Dear Paul,

Deanna Alexander, our Tech. Coordinator from Fisher Grade School gave me
some information about a research project you are doing at the U of I.  We
would be happy to participate.  I am pretty sure I understand what you need
to have done.  I am planning on doing this survey early next week.  If that
is not soon enough just let me know.  I teach 21 fifth graders here at
Fisher.  One area we thought might be a problem is what school we are
partnered with.  We have been partnered with ninth graders at Niles Notre
Dame.  We won't have as much contact with Benton, although we will have
some.  Most of our contact will be with Notre Dame.  Is this a problem?

        Let me know if their is anything else we can do to help with your
project.

                                                Erin Remington
                                                Fisher Grade School

Subject: Re: I-57 Grant Participation/Fisher

Erin,

Hi!  Very neat of you to be willing to give the essay questions to your
class.

The schools I will be comparing are Benton, Fisher and Maine East.
Is everyone at Fisher who is participating in Project I-57 working with
Notre Dame or are different classes working with different schools?

A class working with Maine East would be ideal, of course, since I was
hoping to compare students' attitudes towards students at other schools
they have had contact with over the year.  But ...  I'll be happy to get
what I can get!

Early next week is OK provided I get the data back by Nov. 20, since I
have to present the results that weekend.  Sorry if that's a bit of a
push.  Let me know how many students you are planning to administer
the essays to and I can send a packet of forms.

Again, thanks for your willingness to help out!

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 eval at Fisher

Dear Erin,

Hi. Thanks for your e-mail Nov. 9 telling of your willingness to give out
the pre-test for a Project I-57 evaluation I made.  I was wondering what
the current status was since I was hoping to have the pretest back in time
to present the results in a class on evaluation I'm taking here (we meet
this Saturday Nov. 21).

I realize time is really short now to achieve that goal, so if it's
impossible to get the test handed out and returned by then, please don't
feel shy about saying it won't work.  On the other hand, if at least one
of the classes could fit it in this week and fedex the copies back to me
by Friday (I have a Fedex account you could charge it to), I would be
ecstatic!  I'm always hopeful, but also realistic!

Again, thanks for being willing to participate in the evaluation!

-Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 eval at Fisher

Paul,
We have some quick questions/concerns.
1. Erin is giving the pre-test this morning to her class.
2. If you want it sent by fedex you will have to call for a pick-up here.
3. Erin and class are coming to Krannert for the Performing Arts today
around noon. You could pick them up there if quick arrangements can be made.
4. We don't understand your comments below -- sounds as if you are
expecting more than one of our classes to do this pre-test. If so, we have
misunderstood. If that be the case please let us know immediately.
5. To give you background information two Fisher 5th grade classes are
going to be working with Notre Dame of Niles and two Fisher 4th grade
classes are working with Main West.  Benton is communicating with Main East.
Please reply.

--deanna

Subject: Re: I-57 Grant Participation/Fisher

Erin, Deanna, Jim,

Due to the very prompt efforts of Deanna and Erin, I have the preliminary
results of the Fisher I-57 presurvey up on the Web (in draft form):

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/i57/Paul/fisherdata.html

One page is demographics/statistics on the class, the other two are
write-ups of the essays.  Some are kind of cute, some funny, and some
pretty weird!

I'd appreciate it if Erin could look over the answers, etc. and maybe
straighten me out on some of the odd words, concepts I received.  She
knows the kids better than I do!  Also, keep in mind that other i-57
participants will be looking at them eventually (though not the general
public).  Should anything be kept off the pages out of privacy concerns
for the students?

Thanks again, Fisher, for trying so hard to get the forms back to me by
Nov. 21. The essays were a mini hit at the Evaluation meeting this
Saturday!

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher up on the Web

Deanna, Erin,

Hi.  I was just wondering if you'd had a moment to look over the Web pages
I made from the Fisher I-57 survey data to give feedback before I put out
the URL for other I-57 people.  There are, of course, privacy issues for
the authors of the essays, and other things I may not have thought of.

The URL (all three pages are linked off this one) again is:

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/i57/Paul/Fisherdata.html

I'll be writing up the initial pre-test experience this weekend (with
Fisher, Benton, Maine Township) for my Evaluation class, so any feedback
you two could give on the pages by Friday would make the report more
comprehensive.

Thanks again!

Paul

Subject: I-57
 

>Paul,
>
>       I am sorry I did not get back to you right away about the survey
results.
>To tell you the truth, I got busy with something else and just forgot.  I
>did read through it though and found it pretty interesting.  I didn't
>realize how much our students would prefer their own town above everywhere
>else.  They should start their own chamber of commerce and attract people
>to Fisher!!!  They certainly have a lot that they can learn about the other
>communities involved in the grant.  Suggestions about displaying this on
>the web:
>
>       *I did not read their responses so that they would feel free to write
what
>they really felt, but that meant their spelling was not checked.  I think
>it would be good to fix spelling before putting it on a web site.
>
>       *I also think that their answers may need to be more anonymous.  Even
with
>just their initials it is still pretty easy to figure out who said what
>because of other projects they have going with this grant.
>
>Let me know what you think, and how I can help.  Once again, sorry for
>responding so late.  Erin
>

Subject: Re: I-57

Erin,

No.  You're not too late.  You think *you've* been sidetracked the last
few weeks!  (It's just as crazy over here at UIUC).

It's interesting that you suggested conrrecting the students misspellings.
I had thought to keep my hands totally off their essays and present them
"as is".  But if they'd prefer I "tidy" up the final Web versions, it's
their call.

One of your kids wrote that his father's job was "state gagage".  Any idea
what they meant?  :-)

-Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher up on the Web

Paul,
I have forwarded your most recent message to Erin.
You had sent it to:  cc: ereming@hurricane.cso.uiuc.edu
That would not be correct. Her address is ereming@fisher.k12.il.us
She will get back to you soon.
We do have a concern about the privacy. She will tell you.
I have a 4th grade teacher completing your survey. She has taken it a step
further!!! Her kids are practicing using a word procesor to type their
answers to your essay questions. She will have them for you likely by the
end of the week. How should she get them to you?
--deanna

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher

Essay#1 from Mrs. Warner's 4th grade class.

[...]

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher

Deanna,

I got the e-mail essays from Mrs. Warner's class.  How neat to have them
already in digital form!  (As opposed to my typing in every word, like
usual.) I could really get into this!

Are they planning to send essay 2 someday soon?  And the student
questionnaires?

Please pass on a big thank-you to Mrs. Warner for trying this out.  I'm
curious how much effort it was to compile all the computer essays into one
document.

Thanks again,

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher

Here is Essay #2. Need your address so the questionnaires can be mailed on
Monday.

[...]

Subject: Re: I-57 eval from Fisher

Deanna,

Essay 2!!  The pieces are coming together...

My address (for the questionnaires) is:

Paul Sundberg
606 W. Oregon St.
Urbana, IL 61801

I've spent the last 5 days tabulating all the survey info from Maine EAst
HS:  two classes sent 47 forms, making 47x3 pages to decipher, type in and
format in html.  It's such a relief to have the latest Fisher surveys come
in already in computer-ready format!

Thanks again, Deanna!

Subject: Hi!

Kathy,

Hi! This is Paul Sundberg.  I'm Jim Levin's grad research assistant for
the I-57 project.  Now that Emelie Sims has had to back out of her role
with Benton on the project, Jim suggested that I take up the slack.

It'd be nice to hear a little bit about yourself, what you're teaching,
etc. and then ways in which I could help you out.  Like Emelie, my weekly
hours for the project are limited, but I have a few more than she did.

About me:  I've been in the doctoral program in Education for about 5
years now (they say they let you out at the end, but I'm inclined to
disbelieve them!).  I'm not really an Illinois native.  I moved to Urbana
for the grad program back in 1993 after teaching in Cairo -- Egypt, that is!!
I once tried to mail a postcard from Cairo, Illinois to Cairo, Egypt
but my friend in Egypt said it never arrived.  I bet it's still in a
return-to-sender bag somewhere in the Cairo, IL post office!

My job before coming back to grad school was teaching ESL, but after 8
years of that I was ready for another career.

My technology skills are more on the idea side rather than on the
nitty-gritty how-do-you-fix-my-hard-drive? side, but I have used most of
the internet technologies Jim mentioned during the video conference.  And
I'll be happy to help out (any questions you're too embarrassed to ask
Jim, just ask me!)

Hope to hear from you!

Paul

Subject: Re: Hi!

Kate,

Hi, again.  I sent you an e-mail earlier on in November introducing myself
as Jim Levin's grad assistant and volunteering to fill in for Emelie Sims,
who unfortunately had to back out of Project I-57.  I'd be happy to help
out in her place if you need someone.

You should also have gotten some forms from Sonda Gabriel in the College
of Education here at the U. of I. about an evaluation project I'm
conducting - kind of a pre-test, post-test - on student attitudes towards
other parts of Illinois.  Did you ever receive those?  (She sent them to
the principals of each of the three schools I'm surveying.)

I was hoping that some of the schools might be able to give out the 3-page
essay/questionnaires to a class by this Friday so I could present the
preliminary findings Nov. 21 (Saturday) in a class on evaluation I'm
taking this semester.

I realize time is extremely short now and I'd understand perfectly if it
was impossible, but if it's at all possible for one of the middle school
teachers to give out the 30-min. pretest sometime this week and fedex the
results back to me to arrive by Friday (I have a Fedex account you can
bill it to), I would be ecstatic!  But please don't feel shy to say no if
it's impossible.  I'm always hopeful, but also realistic.

Thanks!

Paul S.

Subject: Re: Hi!

I didn't get teh info from Sonda.  If you send it to me I would be glad to
take a look at it and see if it is possible to get it back to you in time.
I hope we will be able to help you.

Kathy

Subject: Re: Hi!

Kathy,

Hi!  Great to hear from you!  I'd be happy to mail the pretest forms to
you.  But first I wanted to be sure your principal, Mr. Knox, didn't
already have a copy he received from Sonda at UIUC.  Could you check and
let me know.  If not, I could fedex the forms tomorrow.

If the time frame won't work, please don't feel shy about telling me,
since it's really my responsibility to make sure things get to you on
time.

Thanks for your willingness to participate in this.  I really appreciate
it!

Paul

Subject: Re: Hi!

I have the forms. I got to look at them today. I think we will be able to
get the students to work on them tomorrow or Thurs. We would like to use the
results from this survey also. What about the student consent form. Is this
necessary for you? Or is it for our benifit? We had the student's and their
parents fill out a form giving consent to be a part of the I-57 project.
Just let me know what we need to do about this. I hope we'll be able to help
you out with this.

Kathy

Subject: Re: Hi!

Kathy,

Sorry this is a day late.  The consent forms are for the U of I to allow
me to use the data and make it public.  I don't know what your own legal
requirements are.  If you don't need the consent forms, fine.  If you do,
you could photocopy them.  But I'd like them back with the essay forms, if
you can manage.  (There's also a teacher questionnaire.)

By the way, my Fedex account # is 2230-1611-1.  When you send them back,
on the package slip, you can check off "Recipient" under #7 Payment and
put my account number on the next line.  Then I get to pay for it (!)

Again, I hope this isn't a big dislocation of your teaching time.  I
really appreciate all your efforts to fit the essays in.  Hopefully, the
students and school will get something out of it as well!  Of course, I'll
share the results with Benton MS as soon as I get them organized.

Enjoy our beautiful fall weather!

Paul

Subject: Re: Hi!

Kathy,

Just for my information, which other I-57 schools are the Benton teachers
going to be in contact with this coming year?

Are we having fun (with Project I-57) yet?  :-)

Paul

Subject: I-57 surveys

Kathy, Mr. Knox,

Hi! I hope Kathy got my last message with my Fedex account number.  That
will save the school money and me a bit of time.  Thank you for trying to
fit in the test administration this week - if it isn't working out as
you'd hoped, I'll fully understand.  I just value your willingness to help
out with the evaluation.

Thanks!

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys

Paul,

Is it possible for us to number the students and their essays, so that we
don't have to get the parents permission. I am reluctant to get this
signed, because the students that are involved in this project have already
taken home a number of release forms in order to be involved in this
project. Let me know what needs to be done. Thanks

Kathy

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys

Kathy,

I checked with our research coordinator here, and she says the guidelines
would allow you just to number the forms, but she just recommends that you
ask Mr. Knox's approval.

ANother possibility, if your school district allows
it, is to send the consent forms home as "Passive consent", meaning that
if the parents object, they can send the form back saying they DON'T want
their child's test to be used, but if they don't then their permission is
assumed.  A note explaining that would probably have to be added with the
form, since the form I wrote assumes active consent ("I agree").

All I need on my end is some way to tie a test form with a particular
student now and later next year when we do the post-test.

Good luck!

Paul

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys

Paul,

We have the questionaires and essays ready to go.  We are going to keep
track of each students number and send them to you this afternoon. Let me
know if you want me to fax them to you today or fedex them.  They just
finished this afternoon.

Kathy

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys mailing

Kathy (I'll watch the Kate thing!),

I'm so impressed you managed to fit it all in by today.  Wow!  You get the
prize for work under pressure!  It's probably too late to let you know my
mailing preference, but if there's still time, please send it the cheapest
way for you.  The forms will be very valuable whenever they get here.

Again, thanks for finding time in your regular classtime to do this. I
know how possessive I get of my in-class time.  You've all been more than
helpful!

-Paul

Subject: Re: Surveys

Sonda,

That is curious.  Kate Auten has been in contact with me, but maybe she
didn't have my address or forgot to ask me.  It's OK.  I'll check for it
in my box.  Thanks for passing it on!  So far I have forms back from Maine
East, Fisher and now Benton.  Not bad!!

Thanks,

Paul

On Mon, 23 Nov 1998, Sonda Gabriel wrote:

> Hi Paul,
> I received an express mail package this afternoon from one of the teachers
> in Benton with her students' completed surveys. I'm not sure why she
> sent it to me. I will go ahead and put them in your edpsy mailbox.
>
> Sonda

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys

Kathy,

Hi!  I've been data crunching the last couple of days on the Benton
surveys you so kindly had Mrs. Johnson's class do for me.  The URL for the
essays, etc. is:

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/i57/Paul/Bentondata.html

I haven't made the URL public just yet.  I thought you and Mrs. Johnson
(what is her first name?) should have a first shot at it to give your
feedback before I make anything public.  Let me know ASAP if you'd like me
to modify anything on the three pages!

I'd also like to ask her a couple of questions about the forms you mailed:

a)  Did she complete the "Questionnaire for teachers" that was included
with the student surveys? I didn't find one with the student copies.  I
could put up a Web version for her to print out and fill in if she or the
school doesn't have a copy.

b) One student (#16) filled out the demographic questionnaire but didn't
turn in either essay.  Did she come in late?

c) One female student (#15) filled out the first essay but not the second.
I was curious why.

d) Two students listed themselves as "European-American" but then wrote
that their parents spoke Spanish and English at home.  That seems like a
bit of a discrepancy.  The essay by the one (#10) mixed up 'living' and
'leaving', which seems to be the kind of mistake a non-native speaker of
English might make, especially one whose first language is Spanish.  Maybe
Mrs. Johnson could fill me in on those two, one is male (#4) born in
Carbondale with a lawyer father, the other is female (#10) with a
policeman father.  One thought I had was that maybe the families were
anglo, but that maybe the parents had studied Spanish and spoke it
occasionally for fun at home.

Subject: I-57 surveys by Paul Sundberg

Dear Sister Donna,

Hi. I'm Jim Levin's grad assistant for the length of Project I-57.  I've
been contacting a number of the participating I-57 schools to see if
they'd be willing to administer a pre-test/post-test evaluation of
Project I-57 students that I've developed as part of a course I'm taking
in Evaluation of Information Technologies.

So far, Benton, Fisher, and Maine East and West have volunteered to
cooperate.  The project has already been cleared by the College of Ed
office on Research on Human Subjects, and it would involve my sending
copies of the research forms to the school principal and then having 1-2
classes involved in Project I-57 filling out a 2-part essay and
questionnaire - once at the beginning of the project, once at the end.

Since one Fisher 5th grade class (Ms. Remington's) has already completed
this survey, it would complement the findings to have the same survey
completed by their cooperating class at Notre Dame HS.

Please let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks!

Paul Sundberg

FROM S. DONNA (Dec. 5, 1998)

Subject: Re: I-57 surveys by Paul Sundberg

Dear Paul,
Notre Dame would be willing to administer you test. Please send it to this
address. Our Email is out at school and we have no idea when it will be
back in service.

Thank you.

Sr. Donna