Plan facilitator training.

As your work team identifies sources for facilitators, keep in mind the amount of training involved. We recommend that all potential facilitators receive at least one three-hour training. This is minimal. After that, the more practice, the better. Remember that facilitators can gain invaluable experience running pilot groups. Please call the Partnership for Kentucky Schools at 859-455-9595 if you would like skilled assistance with designing and conducting your facilitator training.

If you are conducting an effort in a cluster of schools or in an entire district...

You may want to train the facilitators for each school level separately, especially if your questions vary according to grade level. In Jessamine County, we trained student facilitators and counselors separately. This seemed to work pretty well. It may be possible to train all facilitators at once. If you try it, please let us know what happens.

For Fayette County Schools, we trained student facilitators (middle and high school students) from five schools simultaneously. You can view the agenda for that joint training session. Students from each participating school later held their own practice sessions.

In order to give facilitators the necessary time for practice, plan the date, time, and location of your training(s) well in advance of the focus group dates. At this point, you should also designate members of the work team to prepare materials and carry out the training(s). Those members with the most experience in facilitation are probably the best people for the job.

Appendix F contains lots of useful facilitator training materials, including sample agendas for the first training session and background information on facilitating focus groups.

Next: Make decisions about facilitator logistics.