Academic Research
Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools supports high-quality external research and evaluation efforts, especially in areas that will improve its educational practices and outcomes. The application process was established to:
- protect staff and students from unnecessary or redundant data collections,
- review research and evaluation requests in light of current laws covering privacy of information, and
- assure that external research/evaluation projects are of value to the district and to education in general.
Important Information
Please note the following:
- You must submit an application if your research/evaluation project includes collecting or using individual-level data from or about WJCC Public Schools students, staff or parents.
- Active consent for student participation must be obtained from parents/guardians before data can be collected or any individually identifiable student information can be released.
- No data collection is allowed on a testing day.
- Individual students, staff, or schools may not be identified in any research or evaluation product.
- Please allow at least 3-4 weeks for review of your application.
- As part of our research permissions and agreement, WJCC Public Schools will receive a copy of your findings upon completion of your research project/study.
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact the Coordinator of Accountability and Assessment.
When your data collection is complete, and you will no longer be working in your participating school(s), please notify the Coordinator of Accountability and Assessment using the Data Collection Completion Notification Form. If your results are later reported in a more completed form (book, dissertation, journal article, etc.) you should provide WJCC Public Schools with a copy for its professional library. Personal feedback to principals and teachers involved in your project is encouraged. Providing an in-kind service to the school(s) in which you conducted your project is also encouraged. This might include volunteering to mentor or tutor individual students, serving as a guest speaker, or donating money or materials.
- You should work with staff at your participating schools to assure that meetings, interviews, observations, the administration of instruments, and so on are scheduled in advance and at their convenience.
- You must maintain the confidentiality of records and respect the privacy and rights of individuals and schools. Data must be disposed of when their use is complete, especially if they include numbers or identification numbers.
- As you conduct an external research or evaluation study in WJCC Public Schools, you must abide by standards of professional conduct at all times.
Your school contact, the school principal and/or the coordinator will work with you to develop procedures for contacting parents.
Please refer to the Parent/Guardian Consent Template for more information.
If data will be collected about or from individual students, parent/guardian consent is required. A copy of your proposed parent/guardian consent form should be attached to your application.
Once your application is approved, you need to fill out an online form for a criminal background check and fingerprinting. If you are a current employee of WJCC Public Schools, you will not have to submit this information. Information regarding the background check, as well as a request form, is available online. Please note on your form that this is for a research application. Then you can go into individual school to conduct your study. You should also obtain the necessary informed consent from the parent/guardian of students.
Generally, you should be able to hear the review results within 4 -6 weeks of your application. However, it is advisable for you to provide extra time for principal signature, parental/guardian consent and other miscellaneous events.
The Coordinator of Accountability and Assessment will appoint a Review Committee made up of WJCC Public Schools staff. The Committee members will be selected based on their knowledge, familiarity, and affiliation with the research subject and population.
Please check with the Application Review Criteria to make sure that you comply with all criteria. Attachment of all necessary materials will also help to expedite the review process.
To complete an application, follow the instructions on the Research Procedures Overview page. Use the Application Checklist to confirm that all required materials are completed and included in your application.
All required and needed materials are available by downloading the files on this website.
The procedures in WJCC Public Schools are established to coordinate external research applications and to safeguard the bene?ts of the WJCC Public Schools community. WJCC supports high quality educational research and evaluation. Through the application procedures, the Review Committee can better determine whether external educational research and evaluations are consistent with federal and state government regulations and contribute to the educational practices and knowledge base.
You must fill out an application to conduct research and evaluation if you are not employed by WJCC Public Schools, or work for WJCC Public Schools, but are doing research and evaluation for your own purposes, such as a class project or assignment, thesis, dissertation, conference presentation or journal publication.
