Update on my Action Research Project

My action research project, Parental Involvement and Support, is moving along as scheduled.  The first phase of the project is creating an action research committee to include teachers, administrators, counselors, and technology staff is almost complete.  I have met with several teachers in the math department during their PLC’s and with campus administrators to discuss participation on the committee.  I have received confirmation of participation from six math teachers (2 from each of the core areas; Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry) and my site supervisor.  My campus principal has also given me confirmation that he will support any of my efforts that are aimed to produce student achievement. I have been unable to get membership from any of the school counselors or the technology staff.  However, the first month of school is always hectic for them with schedule changes, new student arrivals, and equipment issues.  I understand their hesitance to commit to another endeavor at this time.  The group that I have collaborated with has been encouraged by this project.  They all share the same passion that I have for the student population in our school. They want to see the parents get more involved with their student’s academics.  They also know that times have changed and the old way of doing things are non-effective.  As a matter of fact, one new action items that may be implemented is home visits. We all feel that “if you build it, they will come” mentality does not work with parental involvement.  We have to go to the parents. But, we want to make sure that we don’t violate any privacy acts and district policies in making these visits.  Also, our district has implemented a new and improved RTI (Response To Intervention) initiative and I feel like this research will run parallel and in partnership with this initiative.  I plan to meet with the coordinators of this program soon to discuss how my project can work cooperatively with their initiative.

EDLD 5301 Research Class Reflections:

This research course was a very informative course.  I learned a lot of new action research skills that I plan to use throughout my career as an administrator.  What I am mostly excited about is my current action research project and how implementation of these skills will make it very profitable to our students. Even though I foresee some potential challenges due to the broad scope of my project, continued communication will my site supervisor and the ability to fall back on my resources (blogs, discussions, textbook, etc.) should culminate this action plan into one that will move our campus to a higher level of success.  The ability to share ideas was a great tool to use when I was trying to solidify a topic for my action research plan.  Even though I had an idea for my action research, my colleagues helped me to see the high level of importance of it and they encouraged me to stay focused on the goal. The action research blogs and discussion board were great venues for sharing.  From these two resources, I was able to quickly and easily dialog with my colleagues and receive some positive feedback that effectively helped to make my action research plan a success.  Also, the blogs will allow for ongoing discussions and communication after the discussion board is closed.  Reflection is a key for leadership success and absolutely necessary for professional growth.  I received some very good feedback on my assignments and was able to look back and reflect on my assessment of what I had learned. As I reflected about the pros and cons of my action research, I realized the importance of data collection and analysis in a successful research project. I feel these two pieces of the process are the foundation and the research will only be successful if done by following the steps taken in this course.  Aspiring administrators, teachers, and students can use action research to build successful social and academic growth on their campuses.

Site Supervisors Review of my Action Research Plan

I met with Ms. Muzzicato to discuss my action research plan.  She is very excited about my research and is anxious to see the outcomes.  We both feel that student achievement at all levels education and socio-economic status is a direct correlation with parent involvement.  But, the research is going to provide educators and administrators ways improve parent involvement and thus increase student success in the classroom. We discussed my possible challenges (1) assembling the group of members for my action research committee because it’s a busy time for teachers and the possible lack in passion for the project, (2) making sure that we get an equally likely and fair sample of the student population. At this time, we agreed not to make any changes to the initial action research plan until after the campus in-service ends on August 24.  This will give me an opportunity to provide some professional development so that the perspective participants can see the benefit of the research and hopefully buy-in. During this time, I can also discuss the scope and sequence of the project and attain some feedback on ways to scale down the scope if needed. I left the meeting feeling very good about the prospect of the research.  I felt supported by Ms. Muzzicato and this will allow me to press on even when the project becomes difficult or has potential snags.

Week 3 Assignment: Actions Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Increase student achievement and retention through parental support and involvement.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create an Action Research committee composed of teachers, administrators, counselors, and technology support staff.	I will request committee membership with the assistance of my site supervisor and campus principal.	Beginning of Campus In-service activities to be completed by the middle of the 1st grading cycle.	Professional input from site supervisor and principal	Weekly Committee Meetings
Break students into groups based demographics: ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status (At-Risk), grade level, then create sample space	School Counselors	Middle of the 1st cycle to the end of school	Mapper, Student Data Sheets	Weekly Committee Meetings
Survey the sample of students to determine if they live in a one or two parent home	Teachers	Middle of the 1st cycle to the end of school	Survey forms	Weekly Committee Meetings
Make parental contact via phone, email, parent conference Chart student Achievement in the classroom and extra-curricular activities every grading period	Action Research Committee Action Research Committee	Throughout the school year Each grading cycle	Mapper, Student Data Sheets, Student Schedules Progress notices, report cards, standardized test, formal and informal assessments	Weekly Committee Meetings Weekly Committee Meetings
Chart student attendance including absences and tardys	Action Research Committee	Entire school year	Attendance profiles, Tardy station reports	Weekly Committee Meetings
Chart parent contacts: responses to teacher phone calls, emails, attendance to parent conferences, PTA involvement, Extra-curricular activity involvement	Action Research Committee; Classroom Teachers; PTA, Coaches; Activity Sponsors	Entire school year	Teacher contact logs, PTA committee, meetings with coaches and sponsors	Weekly Committee Meetings
Formulate an analysis of the data collectively and broken down by demographics	Action Research Committee, Site Supervisor	End of each grading cycle	Data collected throughout the action research	Weekly Committee Meetings
Create and Action “Change” Plan to increase student achievement through parent support and involvement	Action Research Committee, Administration, Counselors, Support Staff	Entire school year	Parent conference, PTA, Teacher support of the parent, Parent support of teachers, Parent and teacher support of students
Increase student achievement and retention through parent support and involvement	Action Research Committee, Administration, Counselors, Support Staff	Entire school year	All stakeholders	Progress notices, report cards, standardized test, formal and informal assessments
Reflection: Is the action research plan providing the directives needed for action “change”	Myself and Site Supervisor	Endo of 1st Semester; End of school year	Conferences with stakeholders
Determining direction for sustaining improvement	Action Research Committee	End of the school year	The committee will create, copy, and distribute a survey all stakeholders involved in the research	Collect and analyze data received from the surveys. Propose additional action research to improve the research project and implement those improvements for subsequent school years.

Week2 Assignment Reflection:

The Principal.....is he just a leader of the building and the staff or is he responsible for modeling action research and continuous learning from staff and students?  The answer to that question come clear in the reading from the Dana text and my own personal experiences.  I believe the principal, just as the rest of the administrative staff and all educators, should model any and everything they expect from students and each other.  The nine common Action Research topics fit well in any school climate and should be an integral part of increasing student achievement and teacher success and retention.  I am encouraged by the idea of pursuing my action research project and working with my site supervisor and peers in fostering inquiry and wondering that will produce change.

How Educational Leaders Use Blogs

Blogs are an efficient way for educational leaders to share inquiries and work.  It's very important that the inquiries are placed in a professional conversation that will contribute to the knowledge and teaching and administration.  That's the only way that change will take place!

What I Have Learned About Action Research

Action research is the most productive and efficient way of collecting data, analyzing, and implementing change that can effectively produce positive and compelling results.  Unlike traditional research that is usually performed through university study and research, action research is initiated through questions of wondering by the by individual desiring the change.  It is similar to reflection because we actually seek out change and reflect by posing our own questions, collecting the data to gain insights about our questions, analyze the data, then make changes in practice based on the new findings from the inquiry and share them with others.   Action research is preferred over traditional research because, by design, it is a system that is not conducive to optimal results because traditional research may not specifically address school needs because the finders are typically defined as outsiders to the school and do not have a clear understanding of the daily needs of the classrooms. For this reason, action research and administrative inquiry are the best method for change because it addresses the immediate needs for specific campuses.

There are several areas were action research is used by principals and administrators to try to improve school quality, professional development, and ultimately student achievement. These areas include university coursework, professional learning communities, and leadership teams.