Action Research Project Update

Action Research Project Update

 

Since school started five weeks ago, I have not conquered a lot in my action research project.  One of the main data gatherings is based out of the referrals that are given to students in my school.  Fortunately for the school and unfortunately for me, there are not that many referrals filed yet.  I really can’t do much with the information that I have from these referrals.  I need to have at least two more months of data to really start analyzing the information appropriately. Bottom line, it is a matter of more time before I really start seeing the referrals piled up and for me to start searching for the needed data.

 

EDLD 5301 Week 3 -Action Research Project

 

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

PROCESS OVERVIEW

 

 Special Population Students in ISS and their Academic Success towards AYP

 

 

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION – Creating a climate to explore action research issues:

Since I had been involved in ISS (In school suspension) in previous years in my school with students with a behavioral issue, it has always made me wonder about its effectiveness in regards to all students populations and achieving academic success by the end of the school year, especially for meeting AYP by the campus .  It has always seemed to me that ISS is being used as an escape by students to avoid attending a class with a particular teacher or all classes.  I feel that students are wasting too much time in ISS instead of the classrooms where they should be learning and achieving the academic success.  A lot of the learning process is lost in ISS because the actual teacher for each particular class is not there and the student misses the opportunity to engage in class to grasp the taught knowledge.  I believe that conducting an action research study will be very beneficial for the academic success of the ISS students and the teaching process by the educators who will not have to waste additional time to re-teach those students from ISS.  At the same time, administrators will benefit from having less ISS referrals allowing them more available time to accomplish other important school duties.  Last, the school can benefit by meeting and exceeding AYP as more students are engaged in a learning process in class vs. ISS isolation.  I know that with an action research study implemented the students will spend more time in the classroom engaged in the learning process than wasting their time escaping towards ISS.

 

 

2. ANALYZING DATA – Data will be gathered in several ways: 1. Referrals given to all students will be collected by the administration secretaries.  At this point, the referral student will be identified for a particular special education population.  This information will be noted on the referral.  In addition for data gathering, TEA AYP Progress campus data will be obtained to analyze AYP passing and failure data from last year to current year.  ISS students will be classified into behavioral or non-behavioral categories with subcategories of the different reasons for their misconduct with a scale for the severity of the offense.

 

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – In order to get a better result of the data gathered, all parties involved need to be aware of the project and data generated.  Those writing the referrals need to specify complete information on the referrals.  Issues will rise about whether student should or should not be allowed back in a classroom after an offense.  Pros and cons need to be examined to get a desired correct possible solution to benefit academically those students in ISS.

 

 

 

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION –

• For the action research project, do I have the correct data available?

• How will teachers react to students sent back to class to learn instead of ISS?

• What is the district and campus policy on sending ISS students home? ,.

• What reactions will generate from students, teachers, parents and administrators the idea to eliminate ISS from school?

 

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS –

The removal of an ISS room from campus will force and allow the students to write and meditate on their actions and correct their behavior to continue in the classroom.  Failure to comply will have to implement OSS (out of school suspension) where parents are going to deal with the student at home.  A greater number of students will go back to class and learn their different subjects improving their academic performance and meeting AYP requirements.

 

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION – You are about ready to launch your action research project but you must be able to answer these questions:

 

It is time to double check your approach to implementing your action research project!

A. Are you clear on what you are attempting to solve (your research questions)? YES

B. Have you adequately addressed the skills and resources questions? YES

C. Have you established a collaborative approach to the issue? YES

D. Are your time lines realistic? YES

E. Do you have a reasonable plan to monitor the project? YES

F. Do you have a reasonable plan for determining the level of success – how do you evaluate if the plan is effective? YES

G. How will you revise and improve the plan based on monitoring and evaluation? Double checking the ISS student special population, keep them in class with a parental involvement commitment and evaluate with benchmarks and STAAR test results.

 

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

I have prepared a plan of action.  Using the action research project committee to help develop a plan of action, The Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template will be the primary source to guide my plan of action.  The project will be closely monitored and a summary report will be created to show the outcome of my action research project of special population ISS students are affected academically and meeting AYP recognition.

 

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT

Keep positive results from the action research.  If indeed special populations in ISS benefit from removal from it and place in classroom and improve academically towards AYP, then keep applying and monitor all positive aspects of it.  Last, share this research with your school, your district, and other district so that they can also benefit in the future.

Reflection from video interview with school principal

I had the opportunity to watch some short videos with some school leaders.  The first interview was very interesting to me and included Dr. Johnny Briseno, Principal at Rancho Isabella Elementary in Angleton ISD.  Dr.Briseno stated that they don’t make any decisions without looking first at the data and the main source from which this problem is created.  They look at the list of students that failed and analyze each one of them to see what could have caused for the student to fail, including issues at home, school, or others.  The same teachers identify the students and get data from system to fully understand the problem and share with other future grades teachers so that they are aware of individual situations.  The teachers also inform other future teachers about these students on how they are and what teaching methods work for the group and individually.  At the end, Mr. Briseno suggested to search on the internet for related issues to find possible solutions to the problem that is front of you.

After watching Mr. Briseno’s video, I mainly take and grasp that at any problem presented to do the following steps:
 

1.  Don’t jump into decision makings right away.

2.  Look at the data first and find out the root to the problem.

3.  Find solutions to the causes of the problem.

4.  Teachers inform other future teachers to simplify the students learning process and understand the students, too.

5.  Use internet as a guide for any problem or situation presented and search for possible positive implementations to solve the problem.

 

Introduction to Action Research

July 20, 2013

Introduction to Action Research

ACTION RESEARCH
The notion of principal inquiry is adapted from the work on teacher action research (see for example, Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2008, 2009; Zeichner, 2003; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993, 1999, 2001).  Action research is a method of decision making that is interactive.  Educator or Principal, in this case, gathers information from several sources, such as, teachers, students, community, related books, and self-learned knowledge.  Then, he/she applies own personal changes to the process in place to achieve the desire outcome or goal.  It is a “hands on” decision making process that is monitored all along and modifications are implemented using personal and gathered data.
Action research has been defined as a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems (Wendell L French; Cecil Bell (1973). “Action research” by Carr and Kemmis (1986), this approach to educational research has many benefits:  (1) theories and knowledge are generated from research grounded in the realities of educational practice, (2) practitioners become collaborators in educational research by investigating their own problems, and (3) practitioners play a part in the research process, which makes them more likely to facilitate change based on the knowledge they generate.  The principal makes the decision and implementations, but everyone involved is accountable and responsible for the level of achievement at  the end.



References
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming criticat: Knowing through action research. Geelong,
      Australia: Deakin University Press.
Cochran-Smith, M., &Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside/outside:  Teacher research and knowledge. New York:
      Teachers College Press.
Cochran-Smith, M., &Lytle, S. L. (1999). The teacher research movement: A decade later. Educational  
      Researcher, 28(7), 15-25.
Cochran-Smith, M., &Lytle, S. L. (2001). Beyond certainty:  Taking an inquiry stance on practice.  In A.
      Lieberman & L. Miller (Eds.), Teachers caught in the action:  Professional development that
      matters (pp. 45-58). New York:  Teachers College Press.
Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2008).  The reflective educator's guide to professional development:           Coaching inquiry-oriented learning communities.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. pp. 3.
Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009).  The reflective educator's guide to classroom research:
      Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry (2nd ed).  Thousand Oaks, CA:
      Corwin. pp. 3.
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell (1973). Organization development: behavioral science interventions for
      organization improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 18.
Zeichner, K. (2003). Teacher research as professional development for P-12 educators in the USA.
      Educational Action Research, 2(2), 301-326.

Use of Blogs by Educational Leaders

After reading and understanding the purpose of blogs It made me realize of their importance for educational leaders.  In this centralized web forum, any educational leader can find information about any topic that they are searching on.  Principals can share and gather information to use in their campus regardless where any of them are located.  This is a good tool for leaders to consider as a reference and to keep up with new trends around the country and beyond.