Progress on Action Research Plan

 I am in the process of finishing the research phase of the action research project. Most of my research has come from other local school districts. I have talked to two Curriculum Directors about their strategies and interventions that proven to be successful at their middle school.  From the information that I have gathered, it seems that most are utilizing after school and before school tutorials for remediation practices. Both have also been using interactive websites such as Study Island, iStation, Think Through Math, and Achieve 3000. I plan on meeting with my action research committee this week to display all the information and determine if other possible strategies could be used to help increase our school achievement.

Also, I have spent a few hours informing, training, and implementing Remind101 at our school. I informed the staff at our last faculty meeting about the service and many supported the idea that this would be a great tool to increase the home-school connection. I have since created information letters to send home as well as setup specific group accounts for teachers to send out message. I look forward in the upcoming weeks to see what kind of impact this has on increasing parent support at home.

Another situation that has been helping me with this process is participating in our Campus Improvement Plan leadership team. Unfortunately, our school feel under the rating “Requires Improvement” due to our low STAAR results.  Being involved with this process has given me the ability to look at different data and as a school, come up with specific strategies that could help increase our STAAR results. There is a great amount of planning and details that go into this process to help our school become successful.

Week 5 Reflection!!!

The last five weeks have given me an opportunity to learn about the terms “inquiry” and “action research”. In Leading with Passion and Knowledge, Dana sums up this concept best by stating, “Inquiring professionals seek out change and reflect on their practice by posing questions or ‘wonderings,’ collecting data to gain insights into their wonderings, analyzing the data along with reading relevant literature, making changes in practice based on new understandings developed during inquiry, and sharing findings with others” (Dana, 2009, pg. 2-3).  I was better able to gain a perspective of this learning process through multiple outlets such as lectures, readings, internet, assignments, discussion boards, and blogs. Each avenue was valuable in its own way.   Lectures by Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Arterbury gave a brief overview of what to expect for the week. The lectures also provided helpful tips and reminders to be successful in this course as well as with our action research project. I also took advantage of the video transcripts by reading them after the presentation to ensure I had a grasp of the concept for the week.   The Dana text and Harris text had great information. It was well organized and clearly stated. I feel the Dana text served to be very useful towards completing my action research template and helping me narrow down a research topic. Not only did it provide multiple case studies, but it also gave the results of each one. Also, it had multiple useful tools, ideas, and recommendation for getting my action research project started and sustaining progress throughout the duration of the assignment. One of the better quotes that I took away from the Dana text states, “Clarifying, pushing, and extending thinking helps lead to informed, positive change in traditional school practices—the critical action part of the action research and the reason you began this whole inquiry journey in the first place!” (Dana, 2009, pg. 136). This sentence sticks out to me, because as an action researcher one must continually be thinking “outside the box” in order to make a motion towards educational reform.     The last opportunity to learn involved the assignments/activities, discussion board, and blogs. Next to the book, I was able to use my blog to communicate and get feedback from my classmates. I have to admit that I have never used a blog before. However, after this class, I plan on sharing it with faculty at school. My hope is that it will serve as a learning tool for the students. It will give them the ability to respond to a teachers question and respond towards their peers. All the discussion board postings seemed to be similar. However, each one was a little different. In addition to my blog, this was useful in getting feedback from my peers. This also gave me an opportunity to identify my target group and recognize any challenges that may occur along the way.   Overall, the information presented in this course was very informative. I plan on using many of these techniques and recommendations toward my project. I also feel that the information presented will help me with my personal learning community as I inform them of my project. I know that I will have to incorporate my time management skills when school starts back in the next few weeks.   Citation: Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

WEEK 4 Reflection:

 

 This week gave me an opportunity to put the final touches on my Action Research Plan. I met with my principal and assistant principal to inform of intended goals. They both liked the idea that I was going to do some outside research to other local middle schools to see if interventions there could benefit us at our school. I also learned about new strategies to sustain improvement. I did not have a lot of knowledge on these techniques until reading them in the Harris text. This week also gave me an opportunity to know what it may feel like when I start back to school. We started two a days this week and I had to use my time management skills to get my work done. Good thing this week was light!

REVISED :

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improve the 6th grade economically disadvantaged STAAR results in Math and Reading
Action Steps(s):		Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Define the 6th grade Economically Disadvantaged sub-population group by meeting with Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction	Felix Duran, Chad Rothbauer (asst. superintendent), Patrick Frank (site supervisor)		August 19th, 2013 -  August 20th, 2013	AEIS Report and use DMAC to identify students	Create a spreadsheet of previous testing scores of sub-population group
Gain research from other middle schools in the area to see what resources  or interventions are successful at their respective school	Felix Duran & surrounding middle schools		September 3rd – September 19th, 2013	Interventions and data from other schools	This will help gain a perspective of other districts after school programs, interventions, and strategies to determine if they could be successful at our middle school. Follow with journal reflections.
Meet with 6th grade Reading and Math Teachers (including  STAAR Teachers) to inquiry about interventions and strategies	Felix Duran, Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Trojack, Mr. Linn, Mr. Rodiek, & Ms. Kahnank		Week of September23rd,  2013	Data from DMAC and AEIS report	Teachers will understand the plan of research. I will disseminate all needed information to teachers.  Also, I will follow with a journal of reflection.
Begin to implement strategies and interventions	Felix Duran and 6th grade teachers		October 2013 – May 2014	After school tutor and computer lab	This will help determine research and make or add any additional changes to interventions. Follow with journal reflections.
Gather grades and data from six-weeks benchmarks and report cards to monitor progress of selected implementations and strategies	Felix Duran and 6th grade teachers		October 2013 – March 2014	DMAC reports and identified students spreadsheet that was created	This step will assist in gaining data on interventions. Make any necessary changes. This will also help to see if modifications/accommodations of any students need to be changed. Follow with journal reflections.
Administer STAAR Tests	Entire campus		Late April 2014	State Test	Testing results
Conduct Interviews of teachers 6th grade math and reading teachers (including STAAR teachers)	Felix Duran and selected teachers that participated		Week of May 12th, 2014	Testing results and data collected	This will see if there was successful correlation of interventions/strategies toward the 6th grade economically disadvantaged students in Math and Reading
Analyze and interpret data and findings	Felix Duran		Week of May 19th,  2014	Data, research, & interviews	This will help justify if implementations and strategies should be used towards 7th and 8th grade.
Share results and make recommendations	Felix Duran, Mr. Frank, and superintendents		June 2014	Data, graphs, and tables	I will share recommendations based on data and research to suggest implementation of selected interventions and strategies. I will also email results to all teachers in the middle school.

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improve the 6th grade economically disadvantaged STAAR results in Math and Reading
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Define the 6th grade Economically Disadvantaged sub-population group by meeting with Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction	Felix Duran, Chad Rothbauer (asst. superintendent), Patrick Frank (site supervisor)	August 2013	AEIS Report and use DMAC to identify students	Create a spreadsheet of previous testing scores of sub-population group
Meet with 6th grade Reading and Math Teachers (including  STAAR Teachers) to inquiry about interventions and strategies	Felix Duran, Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Trojack, Mr. Linn, Mr. Rodiek, & Ms. Kahnank	September 2013	Data from DMAC and AEIS report	Teachers will understand the plan of research. I will disseminate all needed information to teachers.  Also, I will follow with a journal of reflection.
Gain research from other middle schools in the area to see what resources or interventions are successful at their respective school	Felix Duran & surrounding middle schools	September 2013	Interventions and data from other schools	This will help gain a perspective of other districts after school programs, interventions, and strategies to determine if they could be successful at our middle school. Follow with journal reflections.
Begin to implement strategies and interventions	Felix Duran and 6th grade teachers	October 2013	After school tutor and computer lab	This will help determine research and make or add any additional changes to interventions. Follow with journal reflections.
Gather grades and data from six-weeks benchmarks and report cards to monitor progress of selected implementations and strategies	Felix Duran and 6th grade teachers	October 2013 – March 2014	DMAC reports and identified students spreadsheet that was created	This step will assist in gaining data on interventions. Make any necessary changes. This will also help to see if modifications/accommodations of any students need to be changed. Follow with journal reflections.
Administer STAAR Tests	Entire campus	April 2014	State Test	Testing results
Conduct Interviews of teachers 6th grade math and reading teachers (including STAAR teachers)	Felix Duran and selected teachers that participated	May 2014	Testing results and data collected	This will see if there was successful correlation of interventions/strategies toward the 6th grade economically disadvantaged students in Math and Reading
Analyze and interpret data and findings	Felix Duran	May 2014	Data, research, & interviews	This will help justify if implementations and strategies should be used towards 7th and 8th grade.
Share results and make recommendations	Felix Duran, Mr. Frank, and superintendents	June 2014	Data, graphs, and tables	I will share recommendations based on data and research to suggest implementation of selected interventions and strategies. I will also email results to all teachers in the middle school.