Dear Parent or Guardian:
Buckeye Union and Youngker High School is participating in the Arizona Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (AZ GEAR UP), which aims to improve the postsecondary education and career readiness of our high school students. This program is being led by Northern Arizona University (NAU). To better understand how the GEAR UP grant program is working, NAU has contracted with a research company, ICF, to survey students. This spring, your child will be given the opportunity to complete a survey which should take approximately 10 minutes. This survey asks your child questions about his or her school experiences and postsecondary education and career goals. All students in your child’s school are being asked to participate in this study. We encourage students to take the voluntary survey since students’ experiences will be important to understanding the program.
Please consider the details below prior to deciding to allow your child to participate in the survey:
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Confidentiality: Data collected by researchers will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law. Neither your name nor your child’s name is collected on the survey so the researchers will not be able to identify your child in written reports. All findings related to short-answer or multiple-choice questions will be summarized across respondents in study reports. Your child’s individual answers to open-ended questions could be shared anonymously in study reports. We will not share individual survey responses with your child’s school. Data from this survey will be stored in a secure area accessible only to the researchers during the study.
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Risks/Benefits: The study presents minimal risk to your child. Researchers will not identify specific children in order to maintain confidentiality. Your child’s participation helps build knowledge in the state and nationally about how to support students to prepare for postsecondary education and career. Where appropriate, GEAR UP schools can use the information learned from the study to adjust their GEAR UP activities, events, and/or resources.
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Voluntary Participation: Participation in this study is voluntary. If a student does not participate in the study, he or she will still receive the academic and non-academic supports offered at his or her school. Additionally, you may withdraw your child from the study at any time with no consequences. Even if you consent for your child to participate, your child will also have an opportunity to decide if she/he wants to complete the survey. Your child will be able to skip any survey item that she/he does not wish to answer and withdraw at any time.
In order for your student to participate in this survey, we need you to complete the permission slip that is attached to this email, or you can give them permission at the following link. It is very important to us that we have as many students as possible complete this survey so that we can plan for the future of Gear Up services.
Parent/Guardian OPT-IN Permission Slip LINK:
http://tinyurl.com/AZGUBUHSParentOpt-In
We are also surveying parents/guardians about the Gear Up services your school provides. You can access this survey at
http://tinyurl.com/AZGUParent beginning on January 22, 2024 and running through February 29, 2024.
If you have any questions about the study, you can contact Johnavae Campbell at
[email protected] or (703) 200-9576. She is the project manager for the study. If you have questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact Christine Walrath, IRB Chair, at
[email protected] or (646) 695-8154. You can also contact Jayme Arrieta, BUHSD Gear Up Director, at
[email protected], (623) 269-1016.