RECRUITMENT ISSUES IN SCHOOL-BASED RESEARCH - LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE HIGH-5 ALABAMA PROJECT

School-based research requires a multi-level recruitment process to en sure an adequate sample. This article describes the High 5 Alabama rec ruitment experience at four levels: district, school, classroom and in dividual. One hundred percent of 28 schools across three districts and 108 classroom teachers contacted agreed to participate. Moderate succ ess (69%) at the individual level, which required active parental cons ent for the student and parent to participate, resulted in 1,698 stude nt/parent participants. Ail examination of differences between partici pants and nonparticipants revealed under-representation of a subsample of the population in the project sample. Suggestions obtained from pr oject staff and teachers intended to enhance future school-based recru itment strategies include enlistment of a district advocate; meeting w ith teachers to solicit support; using incentives with students and le achers; direct contact with parents; having teachers keep rosters of s tudents returning consent forms; and tailoring recruitment strategies for specific subpopulations.