Research and Evaluation

Guidelines for Conducting Research in Liberty Public Schools

Research Application

All research in Liberty Public Schools shall conform to the following guidelines:

• Will deal with problems that have significance for the improvement of education in Liberty Public Schools.
• Will be related to the priorities established by Liberty Public Schools.
• Will be appropriate for the age level(s) of the target population.
• Will be carried out with a high degree of professionalism and rigor.
• Will not significantly interfere with the daily routine of conducting classes or with the administration of the school.
• Will not deal with content that might be considered inconsistent with the purpose of the school district.
• Will protect the confidentiality of all participants and schools in such research.
• Will ascribe to professional standards or code of ethics for educational research such as the Code of Ethics of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

The Liberty Public Schools Application for Conducting Research shall be submitted to the Director of Assessment, Evaluation and Testing and shall apply to research studies submitted by any and all groups, agencies, or individuals, in or out of the school system, including:

• Research related to doctoral dissertations, masters theses, and bachelor theses.
• Research related to college course requirements.
• Institutional and behavioral science research.
• Independent professional research.

Timeline for Application Process

The request will be reviewed and a written response will be sent to the principal investigator typically within 2-6 weeks, depending on the scope of the request. All applications to conduct research or to request data must be submitted prior to the Liberty Public School’s spring break to be considered for the current academic year.  The review process will resume in August prior to the opening of school the following academic year.

Administrative Charge

Charges may be incurred if approved projects require additional district personnel time to provide data (e.g., merging test score files, extracting student demographics, etc.).  These data-management tasks will be charged at a rate of $50.00 per hour.  Applicants will need to arrange payments before data will be released.

 Other Conditions

• Persons conducting research in Liberty Public Schools must comply with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and guarantee the anonymity of individual children, schools, and school personnel in reporting the results, unless written approval is obtained from the parents of participating children, from the school principal, or the school personnel involved.
• All copies of written approvals from said parties must be copied and sent to the Director of Assessment, Evaluation, and Testing for district record keeping purposes.
• Final approval of any study will not be made until all measurement instruments have been reviewed and approved.
• Publications emanating from studies in the schools should acknowledge the contribution of Liberty Public Schools unless requests to the contrary are made, or unless the identification of the system would jeopardize future research efforts or school programs.
• Upon completion of the study, a copy of the final report must be sent to the Director of Assessment, Evaluation, and Testing and relevant school principal(s). If your project spans one year or less, only the final report will be required.

Failure to comply with the above stipulations places the researcher at risk for continuing to conduct research within the Liberty Public Schools or approval of future projects.