Recommendations for Successfully Recruiting and Retaining School Participation in a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Impact Evaluation

This brief is a complement to the brief on "Recommendations for Successfully Recruiting and Retaining District Participation in an Impact Evaluation," which is available here. This brief shows a sequence of suggested activities that can be undertaken—after obtaining district approval—to recruit schools to participate in a teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) impact evaluation. These activities are similar to the steps used for district recruitment; both aim to secure interest and participation in the evaluation. Engaging schools in the recruiting process can help ensure high quality participation throughout program delivery and data collection.

The steps for obtaining school participation in an impact evaluation are: (1) Planning, (2) Initial Contact, (3) Additional Communication/ Stakeholder Meeting, and (4) Obtaining a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) (Figure 1). Below, we present each step in a question-and-answer format, with best practices for recruitment highlighted throughout.