A: You have to have some way to get into the organization. One of the things that we've done, and continue to do, is we do a lot of pro-bono work for schools. We go to school board meetings. We go to PTA meetings. We give talks at the PTA, and often I'll put out cards and say, "Put your name and address down there if you'll be willing for me to contact you later for research," and I'll send them some stuff. We do anything to develop the visibility that we're actually good citizens and that we're interested. We don't just show up when we have a grant proposal going in and we say sign here. The way you present yourself has to be more than "I'm John, and I really need you to sign this, or I can't get my R01".

A: It's always good to hire people who've got experience with schools, especially certified and experienced teachers, if possible. You want people who can talk the talk. I really advise that. Being an intervention researcher you're always trying to weasel your way into organization structures, and you have to first find out how that organization works. Different school systems are structured in different ways. There are different interest group stakeholders and what you really need to do is to find the proper way to access that particular system. You need to find a champion.