Week 3 Action Research Plan

Goal: To analyze research and data to determine which techniques would best motivate students who are categorized as Economically Disadvantaged. We also want to influence their perspectives on academic subjects and the school environment to create a positive learning atmosphere through motivation techniques

The following are the steps of my action research plan:

#1
Outcome: To determine what motivates students on my campus to do well in school.

Activity: Online surveys and interviews with randomly selected students. Five boys and five girls will be selected from each grade level and the survey will ask students to describe what motives them to do well.

Resources: Computers with internet connections. The survey will be placed online for students to complete. The survey will be online because the students on my campus show more interest in technology, which will lead to better results than traditional paper and pencil surveys.

Responsible parties: The technology liaison on campus and me will be responsible for this activity. I will create the survey online, but I will need him to allow the students to take the survey in his classroom and assist with any technical issues that may arise.

Timeline: This activity will be completed at the beginning of the school year, no later than the end of September 2010. This needs to be completed early so that the results can be analyzed. Another survey may be administered toward the end of the school year to see if the responses are different.

Bnchmark or Assessment: The results of the survey will be the benchmark. We want to have 100% participation from the randomly selected students.

PIP/SIP: Based on the results of the surveys, teachers can create new motivation techniques to apply in the classroom.

#2

Outcome: To analyze motivational techniques that teachers who are successful have used in the classroom.

Activity: I will analyze data from benchmark exams and AEIS data to determine which teachers have seen the most success with students in the classroom. These teachers will be asked to complete a survey about motivational techniques that they use in the classroom.

Resources: Benchmark data from the past three school years, AEIS data from the past three school years, paper and pencils for the surveys, computer with internet for emailing, classroom and time to meet for those who do not wish to email me.

Responsible Parties: I will be responsible for creating and administering the survey, analyzing the data, and analyzing the results of the surveys. The teachers I will most likely contact for the survey are: Ms. Lois Turner, Mrs. Doris Wilson, Mr. Earl Walker, Mrs. Petula Whitfield, and Ms. Angelia Joseph. These teachers have had consistently high academic scores and performances from students.

Timeline: This activity will also be completed at the beginning of the school year. This activity should be completed early so that teachers can be presented with ideas on how to motivate students in the classroom.

Benchmark/Assessment: Benchmark exams will be analyzed to determine if students are showing improvement in the teacher’s classes who are using the motivation techniques. If a student is doing poorly in a class with no motivation, and excelling in a class that does use motivation, then this can be an example of success with motivation. Also, AEIS data and discipline referrals or attendance records may be analyzed for additional assessment.

SIP/PIP: Student performance can be increased by finding motivation techniques that have been proven successful on our own campus.

#3

Outcome: To discover new techniques that can be used to motivate students on campus.

Activity: This activity will involve reviewing literature to determine some methods of motivation that have been successful on campuses similar to mine. I will read journals, articles, other action research plans, and other literature sources that may give me insight into what encourages Economically Disadvantaged students to do well in school.

Resources: The resources I will need will come from a variety of sources. I will use the internet, the Lamar library, online references, ASCD magazines and website articles, and readings from other sources. I will have to research in order to locate these sources that I will need. My main tool will be a computer with internet and printer.

Responsible parties: I will be responsible for completing this activity, but I have been referred to other people in the district with who I may talk to gather more data. These people will participate in interviews or email conversations, and will acted as additional sources of information.

Timeline: This activity will take place throughout the 2010-2011 school year, and throughout the duration of my internship program.

Benchmark/Assessment: I will set goals for myself on how much data I need to collect by a certain time. I will pose inquiry questions that I will answer through the use of the literature. Reaching these goals will act as a benchmark for me.

PIP/SIP: Discovering new, unique motivation strategies will help all stakeholders. The stakeholders that will be the most affected are parents, students, and teachers.

#4

Outcome: To determine the role that parents play in motivating students about school, and find out how we can improve that motivation at home.

Activity: This activity will involve me researching this subject using literature and electronic sources. I will also talk to teachers about the performances they see in students with actively involved parents versus students with parents who are not involved.

Resources: The resources I will need with be a time and place to meet with teachers, a computer with internet, literature on the topic of parent involvement and encouragement, and questions to ask teachers about parent involvement.

Responsible parties: I will be responsible for the majority of this activity; however I will gather input from teachers on campus. I will try to choose teachers who did not participate in the first survey, but still maintain a positive relationship with parents and students.

Timeline: This activity will also occur throughout the course of the 2010-2011 school year. The interviews with teachers will probably happen before the Mid Winter Break.

Benchmark/Assessment: The assessment will be conducted by pinpointing students with actively involved parents and tracking their success in school. It is expected that students with involved parents will do better in school than those students whose parents are not involved in their education.

PIP/SIP: If it is determined that parents play a large role in a student’s academic success, then this avenue or link should be explored more and expanded.

#5

Outcome: To determine if the motivation strategies and methods that have been gathered will be successful on my campus.

Activity: Once a variety of motivation techniques have been gathered, I will ask two teachers to implement some of the techniques in their classrooms. The teachers will be selected if their students have shown a lack of growth or success on benchmark exams.

Resources: The resources will be the information that has been gathered from the literature reviews, surveys, interviews, and other observations. I will also need time to meet with the two teachers. I will need to meet with them multiple times to analyze their student’s achievement data, go over the motivation techniques and determine which techniques would work best for their students. We also brainstorm ideas on how they can successful implement the strategies in the classroom.

Responsible parties: I will work with the principal to select the two teachers who will help with the project. I will also work with the two teachers that are selected to determine how we can successful utilize the motivation strategies in the classroom. I will then work with the principal to observe the teachers and analyze the data from benchmark exams.

Timeline: The activity will take place in a school year following the 2010-2011 school year. This activity will probably occur over the course of the 2011-2012 school year, beginning after the first district benchmark exam and culminating after the AEIS data has been returned and the final district benchmark exam has been administered.

Benchmark/Assessment: Success will be determined if students who are taught by the two teachers show improvement over the school year. The students will need to have shown improvement from the first benchmark exam to the final benchmark exam. This can be determined not only by their grades, but also if they strengthened skills in objectives in where they needed improvement.

PIP/SIP: This activity will help improve the school because it will determine if motivation techniques are truly effective and what teachers can do to improve student achievement. This activity may also create teacher buy-in when the results are presented.

#6

Outcome: To present teachers with the results of the action research and determine their interest in applying the strategies.

Activity: After the project with the two teachers has been completed and the data has been analyzed, then the results will be presented to the entire staff. These results will be shown using data and other proof that demonstrated student achievement.

Resources: The resources I will need will be presentation equipment, (i.e., data projector, computer, pointer, microphone, etc.), time to meet with the principal and teachers, a place to hold the meeting, and paper for handouts.

Responsible parties: I will be responsible for presenting the information after working with the two teachers and the campus principal. The teachers on campus will be responsible for attending the meeting.

Timeline: This meeting will take place at the end of the 2011-2012 school year of at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

Benchmark/Assessment: The data will be presented to the teachers as evidence of the success. We will determine if the presentation was successful by determining if teachers are using motivation techniques in the classroom and if students are showing improvement on a school-wide scale.

PIP/SIP: This activity and teacher buy-in can create overall success for the school and the student population as well as create stronger teachers and more parent involvement.

Week 2 Action Research Reflection

This week, I learned about nine areas in which major wonderings may occur throughout my career as an administrator. These areas are: social justice or equity issues, school performance, management, leadership, school culture/community, individual students, individual teachers, curriculum development, and staff development. All of these area greatly affect the success of the school and the students who attenda that school. Within each area I had to think of an example of action research that could be conducted for the subject. This was helpful because it allowed me to fully grasp each concept by creating a wondering of my own. I also tried to focus my wonderings on subjects that are relevant to my current campus or district.

The other aspect of the assignment that I felt was very important was the interviews with the three professional administrators. These interviews presented information about real-life action research projects that have taken place and told how the results have helped the campus or district in which the research was conducted. The information and advice given by these men is useful because it helped me to understand how action research can be used to solve problems that may occur at many different levels, from the classroom to the entire district. Understanding that action research is something that is frequently used within school districts also helped me to become full aware of how important the process is to school improvement and student achievement.

What I have learned about action research

Through the lecture and the assigned readings, I have learned exactly what action research is and the benefits of using this inquiry process. Action research is a process used to make improvements in the school system to benefit student accomplishment. Action research is very useful because it allows school personnel to solve a problem that is specific to their students or campus. I have been to several professional development sessions where I have thought, "These strategies will never work for my students." Action research avoids this pitfall by allowing school personnel to work together to find strategies that will improve student achievement for their specific group of students. The school community works together to improve their educational environment.
Action research is also useful in forming and utilizing PLCs and encouraging collegial relationships. The administrator works with teachers on campus or other administrators to help in the process of solving the problem or developing the improvement plan. This builds relationships among the staff and creates a positive school culture. Collaboration through action research may also lead to collaboration during other activities.
Action research and administrator inquiry will also lead to the development of stronger educational leaders. This is because the educational leader takes time to reflect on what they are doing to improve the school and which strategies are working and which ones are not. Personal reflection will help improve the skills of the educational leader because they are taking time to determine which of their professional skill areas are weak and formulate plans to improve those skills. Taking the time to reflect on which areas need to be improved and then researching ways to improve these areas is vital to continued school and personal improvement.

How educational leaders might use blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs to network with other educational leaders. In the text by Dana, she mentions that principals do not have time or opportunities to communicate with other principals who share their same responsiblities and concerns. (p.12) Using blogs to post these concerns and questions to a network of other professionals can help remedy this problem. Also, blogs can be used to communicate with teachers and other staff members on campus. The principal may post a journal entry or question on the blog and staff members can then gain insight into what the principal is thinking or give suggestions to the question that has been posed. This can cut down on meetings and allow for discussions to occur which can be more useful.
Educational leaders may read the blogs of other educational experts to help develop their skills as educational leaders. These blogs can serve as a type of ongoing professional development that can be accessed at a time that is convenient for the educational leader. Also, the wide variety of subjects that are addressed in the blogs will allow educational leaders to be exposed to a vast wealth of knowledge that they may not receive in district or campus professional developments.

Bibliography

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.