Action Research 2010-2011

Action Research Plan Draft:

Goal: The action research plan will examine the impact of lengthening the school day on elementary age students in order to gain more instruction time in the classroom. The action research plan will determine if the longer school days actually provide more time on quality instruction and the benefits to the students’ academic achievement.

Activities: 1) Locate 10 schools with similar demographics.
2) Examine the hours of each campus’ school day.
3) Examine the AEIS and AYP data, TAKS tests results, student failure rates, and attendance rates.
4) Examine other forms of data about each campus from the school districts’ websites and conduct interviews with campus administrators.

Resources: AEIS Reports, AYP reports, district websites, tests results, campus profiles

Timeline:
1) Locate 10 schools with similar demographics-complete by the end of September 2010
2) Examine the hours of each campus’ school day.-complete by the end September 2010
3) Examine the AEIS and AYP data, TAKS tests results, student failure rates, and attendance rates.-complete by the end of October 2010
4) Examine other forms of data about each campus from the school districts’ websites and conduct interviews with campus administrators.-complete by the end of November 2010

Persons Responsible: Brenda Schaffer is responsible for implementing the action research plan.

Process for Monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives: I will schedule regular check-in periods bi-weekly to update my internship supervisor on the progress of my action research plan and discuss changes or adjustments if necessary.

Assessment to Evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study: After completion of my action research study I will report to my supervisor the results of the study and begin implementation of an action plan. The action plan will depend upon the results of the action research. At the end of the action plan implementation year, I will evaluate the effectiveness of the plan by examining TAKS tests, AEIS and AYP data, failure rates and attendance rates and overall student success. I will also interview teachers, parents and students to determine their feelings about effectiveness of the action plan.

This week I was able to examine many different areas of action research in education. I did not realize until researching the different areas how critical this concept is in being a successful administrator. I also feel that it needs to be something that eventually becomes natural as a leader to do on a regular basis. Finally, as an educational leader, I want to not only lead by example but to train my teachers how to conduct action research in their jobs as well.

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Blogging is an excellent way for educational leaders to build a professional learning community. A principal could using blogging among staff members to conduct inquiry and engage in action research on a specific campus. An administrator could also use blogging to communicate and learn from other professionals in the same administrative positions and gain insight from others" experience and expertise.

Action Research

Administrative inquiry or action research is the process of looking at your own leadership practice in a very systematic way by collecting data, asking reflective questions, talking and collaborating with other professionals, then using what you learned to make changes that will be effective in school improvement. School leaders need to engage in action research in order to improve their schools and increase student success. It is a key practice to effectively change and meet the needs of a specific campus. Action research can help an administrator focus on what is important. Many times school leaders get lost in the many day to day duties of their jobs and forget why they are there. Reflecting on how you lead your campus, examining data, talking and sharing with your staff members, and collaborating to find solutions to problems that are campus specific is beneficial to all. In the long run the students will reap the greatest benefit which is success in school.
During this week's study I learned the difference between action research and traditional educational research. Traditional education research typically comes from outsiders that are not involved directly with schools but make provide solutions based on educational theory. Action research comes from within. It is a practice that can be conducted not only by new administrators, but veteran administrators. Action research can be practiced by teachers as well in order to examine their own teaching and make improvements in their individual classrooms. Action research is a continuous, ongoing process that can be used in professional development opportunities as well. I believe that action research greatly empowers an administrator. It allows the adminisrator to be a true leader for their campus.