Action Plan for Action Research- Week 3

SCHOOL VISION:

The District, through a model of shared decision-making involving students, parents, and community members, shall provide an opportunity for all students to develop academic skills, future career readiness, social and civic responsibility and to become contributing members of our society.

GOAL:

The goal of this action research project is to identify the area of reading in which our students in kindergarten and first grade struggle the most and to address that need using research based practices. When these practices are put into place it is expected that the students in kindergarten and first grade will become more successful readers and will be able to meet the district set standards for being successful readers. This means that the students in kindergarten will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 4 in May and the first graders will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 18 by the end of the school year. The goal is also for these kindergarten and first grade students to receive a rating of developed on the TPRI assessment for their grade level.

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
Baseline data for determining area of need	Pre=assessment	TPRI- K & 1st grade DRA2-1st grade	Classroom teachers will complete assessments Terry Boyd will compile data into grid	9/7/2010-9/21/2010	TPRI DRA2
Area of need identified	Meet with kindergarten and first grade teachers to identify area of need in reading.	Data from beginning of the year assessments	Classroom teachers Terry Boyd *Data turned in to administration	9/24/2010
Research based strategy bank	Research possible strategies to meet deficit area of students	Master Reading Teacher materials containing research based strategies	Terry Boyd	9/24/2010 -10/8/2010
Agreed upon research based strategy	Meet with teachers to gain consensus on strategy to use for identified need.	Research based strategies bank created from MRT resources	Classroom teachers and Terry Boyd *strategy turned in to administration	10/8/2010
Establish criteria and expectations and instruct on research based strategy	Meet with teachers to establish expectations and instruct on the proper use of the agreed upon strategy	Research based strategy and materials for instruction	Classroom teachers and Terry Boyd	10/13/2010
Collaboration and Communication	Meet with teachers to discuss concerns and questions that arise from implementation		Classroom teachers and Terry Boyd	Every three weeks until End of the program
Data for evaluation of best practice and revaluation of program	Midyear assessment	TPRI-K DRA2- K & 1st grade	Classroom teachers will complete assessments Terry Boyd will compile data into grid *data turned in to administration	1/10/2011-1/24/2011	TPRI DRA2
Data for evaluation of best practice	End of year assessment	TPRI-K & 1st grade DRA2- K & 1st grade	Classroom teachers will complete assessments Terry Boyd will compile data into grid *data turned in to administration	5/2/2011-5/13/2011	TPRI DRA2
Interviews from teachers on success/failures of strategy and ideas for improved results	Evaluate data and program revaluate process and strategy for future use	Data from assessments Interview questionnaire	Classroom teachers and Terry Boyd *data turned in to administration	5/18/2011

*Remember, the Action Research Plan is the framework or blueprint for your Action Research Project that may take several courses, and months, to complete. One of the major goals of EDLD 5301 is to provide this blueprint to assist you in implementing, monitoring and assessing your Action Research Project process and product.

Report and Dissemination of SIP/PIP Findings, Implications and Recommendations: Students will be asked to develop a School Improvement Action Plan Report for your Final Comprehensive Report in EDLD 5398. This report should also address the findings, implications and recommendations from your action research. The report should also provide information and examples of how you shared and disseminated progress on your SIP/PIP throughout your internship via blogs, wikis, and Discussion Board postings. This dissemination plan is addressed in your Week Three Assignment, Part 4.

Week 2 musings....

I have been working on my week 2 assignment today. I thought that the interviews with the leaders of school districts were very helpful. They all had some important advice to anyone doing research. I think that it is important to listen to people who have already done what we are doing now. These administrators have already been through the research class, and the advice that they give is a result of experience. I especially liked it when Dr. Lewis said to make sure that whatever you study is something that interests you and that will apply to your situation. So many times in the past as a student people have asked me to do research on something that I had no interest in doing. I always had a hard time with doing the research because it was something that interested the teacher and not me. Also, I didn't always see its importance to me. If I research something that will benefit me, my students, and/or my school in the future, I will see a need for it and a real purpose. I will not feel like I am wasting time doing an assignment for the sake of doing an assignment.
Also, Dr. Chargois had an important point when he talked about the importance of doing research in our classrooms. So many times we are handed data or resources and told to use it in our rooms. It might not apply to our situation, or it may only apply in limited amounts. If the classroom teacher is doing research and adjusting what he or she is doing along the way based on results then the situation is more beneficial to the students and the teacher and everyone involved benefits. They don't see what they are doing as a waste of time.
I look forward to doing my action research at our campus and making it something that the teachers see as useful and important. I think this will be a learning process that will be invaluable in my future career and it will help me when I am dealt different situations that need resolving.

This week I have learned a great deal about action research. I have learned the difference between action research and "traditional research". I have also learned the benefits of action research to the person doing the research and all stakeholders. I also learned the different places that action research occurs in an educational setting.
All of the reading that I did this week lessened my anxiety level about doing the action research. I had a real fear of doing this project because it has been such a long time since I had done a research paper. However, after doing the readings, I learned that I have already been doing action research at my campus. I already know some of the steps in the process and I have seen some real benefits from the process. I have been involved in the leadership team at the district level and at the campus level in my school district. We have looked at data about TAKS scores and have used the data to define our greatest area of need. We found that math was an issue at our school. We then looked at our TEKS and decided which TEKS the students were struggling with based on the disaggregation of test data. Using that data we found several areas that need improvement. We decided to focus on problem solving skills in math first. We looked at best practices and chose a strategy to teach school wide that would help our students whenever they are faced with a problem solving situation. We modeled and practiced, and have the students practice using the strategy that we found. We then looked at our test data the following year to see how successful the strategy was in meeting our need. We then decided to continue teaching the problem solving strategy as well as deciding to add another strategy to our repertoire in order to address another TEK that the students were struggling with on the TAKS test.
I think my going through this process already has helped me to better understand the process of action research. I found many benefits of this process and have real life experience going through each stage of the process.
Now I am not as stressed about going through the class I feel like I can breathe a little easier because I have some experience in doing action research. I also have seen the benefits of this process so I know from trial and error some things that were done that worked and some things that did not work so well at our campus.
I plan on using this action research in the area of literacy. I haven't decided if I want to do research on reaching the emergent readers and making sure that they have the basic skills needed for learning to read or if I want to address teaching the English language learners. I plan on looking at data from assessments that the students have been given as well as future assessments. I will look at the data in order to devise a plan of attack on an area of need. I will then use published data to find best practices and have the teachers implement these best practices. Once I have done this I will monitor the effectiveness of the strategies introduced and look at future assessments in order to see how the best practices introduced can be altered to improve instruction even more.
Educational leaders might use action research as my campus did in order to improve an area of the school that concerns them. This could be an achievement area where the students are struggling or an area that is a conflict between different groups involved with the school. I could see this as a positive way to make decisions that are informed and very beneficial to the campus. I think that by using action research the administrators can make better informed decisions because it takes into account situations unique to the school the administrator is in charge of leading.