Action Research Project

Goals:

School Performance:

· Compare grades from previous year (’09 Freshmen vs. ’10 Freshmen, ’09 Freshmen vs. ’10 Freshmen, etc.)

· Compare TAKS scores from previous year (’09 Freshmen vs. ’10 Freshmen, ’09 Freshmen vs. ’10 Freshmen, etc.)

Individual Students:

· Provide questionnaires to a random sampling of students that aims at providing insight into the tutorials effectiveness

Individual Teachers:

· Provide questionnaires to a random sampling of students that aims at providing insight into the tutorials effectiveness

Campus/Community Culture:

· Seeing if the teachers view the mandatory tutorials as a negative or a positive?

· Are the stakeholders more concerned over the two extra tutorial periods or the shortened school day (30 mins shorter)?

· The effect of starting school half an hour later every day has had on the stakeholders

Activities designed to achieve the objectives:

· Surveys/Questionnaires to students/teachers/administrators

· Comparing data from years past to current school year

· Observing the attitude of a various stakeholders throughout the year (especially emphasizing the morning hours and MW afternoons)

Resources and research tools needed for data gathering

· Last year’s AEIS Reports

· Access to the grades from the previous year

· Develop questionnaires/surveys for individual teachers and students

· Blog/journal for observing community/campus culture

Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities

School Performance:

· Comparing TAKS scores: 3 weeks after receiving them

· Comparing grades from previous years: 1^st Semester, After Christmas Break; 2^nd Semester, 3 weeks after graduation

Individual Students:

· Develop questionnaire by beginning of school year

· Random sample of 40 students (10 Freshman, 10 Sophomores, 10 Juniors, 10 Seniors) every six weeks; Analyze data by progress reports of following six weeks

Individual Teachers

· Develop questionnaire by beginning of school year

· Random sample of 10 teachers (2 Math, 2 Science, 2 English, 2 History, 2 Elective) each six weeks; Analyze data by progress reports of following six weeks. Must ensure that each grade level’s core areas have been sampled

Campus/Community Culture

· Continuous observation of stakeholders. Log thoughts into Blog/Journal

· Attend various stakeholder meetings: SBDM, School Board, PTA, etc.

Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan

· Drafting of the questionnaires for teachers/students: Myself, various administrators, teacher volunteers

· Accessing grades from previous year: Grade level principals will have to give me the ok to perform this task. Could delegate to some other source

· AEIS Reports: Can easily access and read myself from the internet

Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives

· Perusing the survey/questionnaires on a six-weeks basis. Include in the questionnaires suggestions for improvement, see if there is a consensus on what could be done to make it more effective.

· Direct comparison of grades before and after installation of mandatory tutorial period

· TAKS scores at the end of the year

· Ensure that all surveys/questionnaires are received and analyzed in a timely manner (by the time progress reports come out the following six weeks)

Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study

· Grades

· TAKS Scores

· Completion Rate (long term assessment)

· AEIS Reports

· Meeting with SBDM, administrators, etc. to see of any additional measures should be taken

Use of Blogs

As an educator, Blogs can be very useful. If ever you have a thought, you can post it on your blog. This would be different from a diary since other people can view it and comment on it. At the same time, you have access to a TON of other people's thoughts. Currently, I am a football coach and I follow about 7-10 blogs on a regular basis that deal with football. I have learned so much from these blogs and have been tempted to get one myself.

My introduction to Action Research

What I've learned about Action Research so far....well, to start off, i am very familiar with how traditional research works. I worked for UT Health Science Center in San Antonio for a year as a Research Assistant. Traditional research involves a specific area of interest, a hypothesis, a well-designed experiment that tests the hypothesis, gathering data, analyzing data, and finally forming a conclusion. While my department did not work on educational problems/data, there is still plenty of research done within the field. This is where Action Research begins to differ. Whereas as an educator, you can easily read about the latest research in curriculum, test-taking strategies, etc. but the odds of it directly applying to your current situation are very low. The least you can hope for is one bit of knowledge that can be applied in your current setting. Action Research requires people to think/reflect upon their current situation, problems that can be seen, and how you think is best to solve that problem. Let's say your a principal and you want to solve a current problem at your campus. Hypothetically, you have two possibilities, A) Listen to an expert talk about his/her area of expertise which is closely related to your problem or B) Devote some time to reflect on the problem and come up with your own solution. The 2nd choice would be similar to action research and I believe (so does the research according to the Dana text) that the principal would be better off reflecting on his/her own. The "Spray and Pray" method might not work in his/her setting and he/she would be lucky to come away with one or two tidbits of knowledge. I think the principal would be better off reflecting and devising his/her own solution. The reasoning...nobody knows their campus and stakeholders better than the principal. By being familiar with the campus and stakeholders, you can attend to the minute details and employ the best strategy for your campus.

Another thing I've learned about Action Research is that it is a never ending process. The Dana text compares Action Research to a spiral. You think about the problem, determine how best to solve it, employ the strategy, evaluate, and then start from the beginning. There will always be something to improve upon and that's why one must actively participate in Action Research.

Interesting point...but in my first class (this is my 5th one), I chose to read the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. When reading about Action Research, I immediately started correlating it with the 3rd Habit in Covey's book, Putting First Things First. In that chapter, Covey talks about Quadrant II habits (matters that were important but not urgent). He said that in order to truly be effective, you must actively participate in Quadrant II activities. I believe that Action Research is a Quadrant II activity. To educators, it is very important but lacks the urgency other matters do. Also...if you haven't read 7 Habits, I highly suggest it...

Bio

Hey guys...my name's Jake and I'm currently enrolled in Lamar University's Educational Leadership program. I've always wanted to start a blog and this class, 5301 Research, made me finally get around to it. Looking forward to working with all my fellow classmates as well as posting my thoughts/findings on here on a regular basis....