Action Research Plan

DISTRICT/SCHOOL VISION: “Navasota ISD in partnership with students, parents, and community members, dedicates its efforts to creating a passion for excellence. As a multi-cultural, professional community, the district provides equitable experiences for students to participate in a rigorous curriculum using the latest technology in premier facilities. With stability from the past and a vision for the future, students are prepared to excel in a progressive and changing world.
GOAL: Evaluate how the new reading program will ensure student achievement at High Point Elementary in order to make changes to ensure the best student results.

1. Outcome- Evaluate the surveys to see what the teachers thought was the best thing about previous program and make a spreadsheet of previous year’s test results
1. Activity- Complete a survey about the previous reading programs pros and cons
1. Resources- Survey completed by last year’s first grade teachers
1. Responsibility- 1st grade teachers, Sarah Graham
1. Time Line- August 2010 before the first day of school
1. Benchmarks/Assessments- TPRI results, benchmark results, Level one test results from the previous year

2. Outcome- Discuss what makes a successful reading program. Answer any questions about the focus group and new program
2. Activity- Have a meeting with a focus group
2. Resources- List of pros/cons from last year’s reading program
2. Responsibility- 1st grade teachers, Sarah Graham, Leah Russell
2. Time Line- August 2010 before the first day of school
2. Benchmarks/ Assessments- n/a

3. Outcome- Evaluate the success in students reading from previous year to current year. Note complaints or concerns or benefits of new program compared to previous program.
3. Activity- Complete a second survey with teachers about new reading program
3. Resources- Survey
3. Responsibility- 1st grade teachers, Sarah Graham
3. Time Line- December 2010
3. Benchmarks/ Assessments- previous/current year’s TPRI results, benchmark results, DRA reading levels

4. Outcome- Evaluate the success in student’s scores, compare to previous year’s scores. Note any concerns or benefits of new program noted in the survey.
4. Activity- Complete an end of the year survey with teachers about the new reading program
4. Resources- Survey
4. Responsibility- 1st grade teachers, Sarah Graham
4. Time Line- June 2011
4. Benchmarks/ Assessments- previous year’s TPRI results, benchmark results, DRA reading levels and current year’s results

5. Outcome- Use reflection to think of any other items that have not been addressed, come to a overall conclusion about the program.
5. Activity- Self reflect about the results from the new reading program.
5. Resources- Lesson plans, assessments
5. Responsibility- Sarah Graham
5. Time Line- June 2011
5. Benchmarks/ Assessments- Current and previous year’s TRPI results, benchmark results, DRA reading levels

6. Outcome- Compare the survey and overall reading scores to see if improvement was made with the implementation of the new reading program. Brainstorm new ways to solve concerns about new program to make it more successful next year.
6. Activity- Share results of the year long comparison and survey results with the principal.
6. Resources- Survey results, self reflection notes
6. Responsibility- Sarah Graham, Leah Russell- principal
6. Time Line- June 2011
6. Benchmarks/ Assessments- current and previous year’s TRPI results, DRA scores, benchmark scores, Level 1 scores

Reflections...

This week I really started to understand how action research is used in education. The Dana text broke it down into 9 categories that principals will be dealing with daily. It was easy to understand how beneficial action research was in each of the nine categories. I can see how with a little reflection, drive, and dedication major changes and minor changes can be implemented into almost any situation to change the educational experience to meet the needs of the staff and the students.

Using Blogs

The Blogs in Plain English Video caught my attention when it stated that blogs are important because they reach a high number of small audiences. What an awesome way for educators and principals to share their findings, their research, their goals with other school as a method of action research, collaboration and support.

Action Research

I didn’t know much about action research before I read this week’s readings (8 Steps from Analysis to Action and Leading with Passion and Knowledge). Now I understand what action research is all about. It is a process of reflection and collaboration in hopes of making a positive change about a concern in your professional style or about any problem within the district or school. The process includes many steps such as data collection, data analysis, and research, collaboration with coworkers about your findings or ideas, making a change, evaluating the change, starting the process over again. There are so many areas in education that I feel action research can be implemented, some of which were discussed in the reading this week. Action research has been used in this Lamar program and is used in many other higher educational programs as it prepares potential principals on how to implement this style of solving problems. It can also be used in meetings such as district meetings, grade level meetings, school wide meetings, or any other meetings where there is constant change and where excellence is the goal. Action research can be implemented any almost any school environment because it gives people a chance to collaborate together and work together in means to find the best possible solution to reaching a common goal.