week 5 reflection

Prior to this class I had no idea what the action research process was.  This topic caught my attention, along with all of the different steps to action research.  I think it is important that the process is broken down; each step in the method is thought out and analyzed before you move on to the next step.  Develop wonderings, analyze data etc..  However, taking time to reflect and look back is the area that really caught my interest.  The blogs and the discussion board postings all require reflection.  It is an important step in the action research process because it gives time to gather thoughts on past decisions and think about the direction, or the next course of action.  Taking time to reflect can be beneficial to others as well, I have learned a lot from reading others blogs and their reflections.  A specific area that I would like to learn more in is the data collection area.  I am sure that the more data collected, over time this process will become smoother/easier.  What is the best way to collect this type of information?  Should I use a survey, or send out emails?  If I need to know something specific for my action research, what is the best method for attaining that information?  I would like to improve in this area of action research.  In order to build on to my knowledge in this area I will continue to collect data using different methods.  Using different methods when collecting data will help to determine which strategies are more efficient for certain scenarios.  There are certain data collection methods that work best in order to get certain pieces of information, as I continue to use these different methods in action research I hope to continue improving my action research skills. 

Austin Jones EA 1290 Action Research Plan

Austin Jones EA 1290

School vision: KISD will equip students to become lifelong learners committed to academic excellence, integrity, responsible citizenship and service to others.

Goal: How can faculty, principals, and teachers work together to decrease the number of students tardy to class at the junior high?

OUTCOMES/ OBJECTIVES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
Gather information concerning the tardy issue and analyze information. Quantitative	Meet with the assistant principal and discuss the current tardy policy and what he hopes to accomplish from action research.	Assistant principal, current tardy policy	Austin Jones	March 2011	The direction will be re-affirmed yet again, we will document the number of kids tardy and the amount of time he spends on average dealing with tardies.
Gather data from inside sources and continue to analyze. Qualitative/Quantitative	Examine tardy reports at our school, use surveys to get an idea from the other teachers on the subject and how they feel on the issue along with ideas that would help decrease tardies. Interview secretaries, teachers, and students to gather ideas and information relevant to the issue.	Surveys, teachers at our school, interview results, and the students.	Austin Jones	April 2011	Document the results of the surveys/interviews; use this information to assist in continuing to gather more information.
Gather data from outside sources and continue to analyze. Qualitative. Develop deeper understanding.	Seek to contact other schools in the area and examine their tardy policies. Take note of the ones that seem to be successful and working efficiently.	Surrounding school contacts, taking field notes.	Austin Jones	June 2011	Look at the information and determine if it is relevant to our school and if it can be useful to our problem, can an option be functional and increase performance?
Information on different effective tardy policies. Qualitative/Quantitative. Developing deeper understanding	Conduct research reading relevant journal articles, books, magazines, and other material to gain a bigger understanding of different policies and procedures relating to students being tardy.	Journals, articles, magazine, different sources that would be helpful/relevant.	Austin Jones	August 2011	Look at the information and determine if it is relevant to our school and if it can be useful to our problem, can an option be functional and increase performance?
Engage in self reflection.	Meet with mentor, fellow teachers and review findings thus far. Discuss different options that would WORK, that would be functional for our school that would increase performance. Discuss different steps that would need to take place in order to change or improve the current policy.	Teacher, administration	Austin Jones	October 2011	Document the results of the meetings and discussions. Determine if the ideas researched so far are feasible and reasonable to our school.
Exploring pragmatic patterns/determine a plan to implement	Meet with administration, determine the impact of the new policy, the benefits and the potential downfalls	Administration	Austin Jones	November 2011	Document the information in the meetings, determine what else is needed to implement the policy.
Validate direction and policy	Review the policy and make sure that it will be appropriate for our school, answer questions, send out the proposed plan to other teachers asking for feedback and final suggestions.	teachers	Austin Jones	January 2011	Make final adjustments on the new policy or improve the plan.
Measuring success	Determine how we will measure success of the new plan, or the improvements to the existing policy	Mentor, teachers	Austin Jones	January 2011	Take final recording of the number of students tardy under the existing policy, and the amount of time the principal spends on average dealing with this problem.
Implement the new plan	Communicate the final plan to the staff and students. (This involves the discipline procedures and the repercussions of being tardy, along with the benefits of the plan and its desired results.)	Students, faculty	Austin Jones	February 2011	Assess the number of students tardy once the new or improved policy is underway, and the amount of time the principal spends dealing with this issue. Compare the new results to the old results. Is the plan effective? Answer the question, has this plan increased performance?

 

Purpose of my action research and the significance

I am debating a few areas of concern in our school that would benefit from action research. The curriculum we currently use is cscope. This “package deal” comes equipped with a unit test over each section. We teach the material in the format outlined by the curriculum however, the test scores are low, the majority of the scores are not above a 70. It is not uncommon for teachers to have a class average on a particular test of a 50 or below. This topic interests me and I believe that we could benefit as a faculty from action research, the down fall is the amount of information concerning this topic. I couldn’t find too much, if any information at all over this area. There is plenty of information (journals, articles, books) over test scores and how to generate improvement, but few if any over improving cscope unit test scores. For this reason I am also considering conducting action research over an issue at our school that is currently a big and common problem. This year our school has had an increase in students being tardy to class. We have five minutes in between classes, and as of this year we went to a lockerless campus. The halls are quieter, but tardies remain high. Conducting action research could help find a solution or at least improve the tardy issue. My principal let me know that this was an issue that is a main area of concern and the amount of information available to research would be greater. I believe that in both issues the students, faculty, and administration will benefit from action research. In the issue of improving cscope test scores, the students and faculty will be the ones primarily benefitted. Teachers work hard and want to see that their work helped students succeed on whatever form of evaluation is chose. Likewise, the students want to pass the tests. Finding a solution to the tardy issue, in my opinion, will primarily benefit the administrators and teachers the most. A large amount of office referrals and students being in P.A.S.S (principal’s alternative school setting) are due to tardies. Our administration puts too much time into dealing with tardies/dress code violations. Teachers and students would also benefit from a solution to the tardy issue; students would be in class more, missing less instruction time making the teachers’ job less stressful.

Description of Action Research and how educational leaders might use blogs.

Action research is a great method of solving problems at the school and finding solutions over areas of concern surrounding the school and community.  It can become a part of the school's continuous improvement and used to solve multiple problems that the staff or students might be encountering.  It is important that this style of research is done with the constituents that are being affected by the problem instead of outside people.  Action inquiry seeks out or defines a problem within the current system or school, then collaboratively seeks and determines possible solutions to the problems using different methods of research.  The next step requires taking action by doing something different that might help solve the problem or improve it.  The last step in action research is to communicate the results.  Action inquiry can be very crucial in the continuous development/improvement of the school.  Staff and administrators might use action research to find out: why tardies are more common after lunch, why are students struggling with 7^th grade science vocabulary, what can we do to limit dress code referrals and what can we do as a school to increase parental involvement with their child’s education.  Without action inquiry, changes and questions surrounding policies that are flawed would not be sought after.  If the entire staff at a particular school had an area of concern and no one conducted action research, quite possibly the problem would not get solved in the correct manner, and the constant complaints could affect the entire climate of the school.  Action research requires people to become active in trying to solve the areas of concern, and taking a course of action that reflects the result of their research.  I have learned that action research is different than traditional research because action inquiry requires the work to be done in house, by the staff affected or surrounding the problem.  Traditional research relies on the opinions and findings from outsiders, not associated with the school or the school district.  Therefore, in traditional research the outsiders do not know the climate or culture of the school and their courses of action are not an accurate reflection of the school they are hoping to improve.

Educational leaders might use blogs for numerous reasons.   If a principal solves a problem using action research and the result is successful, the leader might want to save the solutions on the blog.  This would allow for other leaders to view the results of action research on this particular problem.  An educational leader sharing a blog can be a form of communicating the results of the action research, a form that doesn’t end at the school, instead it spreads to other schools so that the information can continue to be useful.  The blogs can also be useful in sharing your thoughts and research to other staff members in the future.  If you blog about a problem, action research, and the course of action, then you will be able to come back to this information in the future.  The can be used to share with new staff members or see what area the team excelled at so that this practice or method can solve other areas of concern (Dana, 2009, p.88).

Dana, N. (2009).  Leading with passion and knowledge.  Corwin:  A SAGE Company.