Behold... my action planning template!

My Action Planning Template
Goal:   How can changing teacher’s roles to “Educational Facilitators” impact student academic achievement by emphasizing content exploration at home while using class time for practice and re-teaching in terms of passing rates, state test scores, and student engagement?.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Setting the Foundation: 1.  Presented my action research idea to district superintendent, outlining final expectations and planned course of action. Plan will be outlined in staff meeting, soliciting teachers to volunteer for project. Professional development time will be allotted for staff blog page construction.	Self, Staff	October- November 2012	List of ideas Action Planning Template Computer lab	Notes and suggestions
Analyzing Data 2.  Teachers will rely on periodic benchmark testing to ensure that students are learning material.  Surveys will be provided to both teachers and students gathering opinions on ongoing project.	Staff, students, self	November 2012- April 2013	Computers, classroom resources	Benchmark assessments, opinion surveys, staff input
3.  Gather quantitative date for standardized scores in the participating areas from the 2011 and 2012 school year.	Self, Counselor, Principal	November 2012- April 2013	TEA reports AEIS reports	Compare scores from previous year to current year benchmarking. Chart progress throughout the year.
4.  Pre and Post survey of teachers and students to assess their expectations of the project prior to its beginning vs. their opinions of how the project	Self, Staff, Students	November 2012, May 2013	Surveys	Summarize finding using charts and summary.
5. Monitor teachers’ blog pages, reminding staff to keep pages updated	Self	November 2012- May 2013	Computer	Periodically record quality of teacher blog updates and student participation
6.  Send home monthly parent surveys regarding homework levels, student morale and ease of use.	Self, Parents	November 2012- April 2013	Surveys, postal resources	Summarize finding using charts and summary.
7.  Monitor progress of students without internet access at home.	Self, Staff, Students, Parents	November 2012-April 2013	Surveys, grade checks	Notes and summaries.
8. Obtain standardized test scores for the 2012-2013 school year. Compare current scores to both benchmark scores and scores from 2011-2012 school year.	Self, Counselor, Principal	May 2013	TEA reports AEIS reports Computer	Summarize comparison through charts and summary.
9.  Share project findings with district administration and staff. Post final conclusion on blog site.	Self All staff/teachers on campus	May 2013	Findings binders Computer Power Point presentation	Share results at two different locations: final staff meeting and course blog site.

NEW Action Research Project Proposal

Goal: How can changing teacher’s roles to “Educational Facilitators” impact student academic achievement by emphasizing content exploration at home while using class time for practice and reteaching in terms of passing rates, state test scores, and student engagement?

essentially, I'm looking at flipping "homework" and "teaching" in our classes.  The students will be responsible for content info at home.  this can be in the form of text reading, accessing teacher blogs to find links to video clips or teacher notes, etc. 

 the student will then arrive to class the next day to find a short assessment that measures content understanding.  the remainder of class is then used for practice and reteaching.  students who demonstrate understanding will be used as peer tutors during the class period.

this SHOULD reduce the hours of homework time and grading involved in normal school settings. it also shifts the role of "knowledge collection" to the student. daily grades SHOULD dramatically improve. think about how many times a student goes home, doesn't understand what's being taught, wastes an entire night, then is behind the next day. Now you have to take time out of TODAY's class to fix YESTERDAY'S situation.

Under my proposal, the wasted time should disappear. Students can ask questions via the blog page. Parents now have visual confirmation on what their child should be doing each evening. Students without internet access would have to have a folder where a hard copy blogpage is printed out for them to take home each evening. This would be their "homework folder".

Tentative Project Proposal

My initial action research plan is/was to study the effects of school uniforms on a RURAL, LOW INCOME school district.  My superintendent and I are in discussions on whether or not we will proceed with this project or change direction to a different project that would solve any more pertinent district needs.

My school district has black polo shirts that the students are to wear when they leave school grounds (field trips, extra-curriculars, etc).  My plan is to have the students wear the shirts to school 2 days a week (mondays and thursdays) and monitor conduct, attitude and classwork on those specific days.  These would be done primarily through weekly teach surveys.  The students will also be surveyed three times (beginning, middle, end) during the study.

With so many migrant and low-income students, our student population struggles to find it's place in the world.  With only 120 total students in our district, it's difficult for us to suceed in most extra-curricular activities.  Even the smallest districts around Texas have double or triple our population.  Also, a high percentage of our students are either transfers from nearby districts or live out in remote areas away from the school.  This leads to a poor sense of community.  My hope is that my research shows that the use of school uniforms would boost student esteem, help with classroom issues such as grades and conduct, and project a positive school image within our community.

Possible uses of Action Research by educational leaders

One of the items we studied in our first course is how campus leaders were continuously dealing with communication issues.  Blogging could offer a solution to communication issues, not only on a school-parent level, but also between administration and staff, students and teachers and between various administrators at different campuses throughout the district.  It can be set up to limited audiences, as sources of one-way information or as collaborative sites.  As a future administrator, I look forward to experimenting with the various ways blogging can be used in education.

What I have learned about Action Research and how I might use it.

Initially, I was pretty apprehensive about starting a blog.  I mean, who was going to be interested in what I had to say and how was it going to be beneficial to anyone, including myself?  But then I realized that this could be a great tool for self-reflection and thought organization.  These will be essential as I proceed though the process of earning my masters degree.

It turns out that Action Research wasn't anything for me to fear.  I've already been using this type of systematic inquiry in my coaching for the past 20 years.  Researching offensive and defensive schemes, studying film, crunching data, experimenting with line-ups, evaluating the results, then making fine-tuning adjustments based on what I've learned.  Sometimes schemes are tweaked, sometimes they are trashed, all in the name of forming a better functioning product (team).

With more and more data becoming available through assessments and standardized testing, educators are flood with pages and pages of information but have limited time and means to put it to use.  Action Research provides for ONGOING research based on continual spiraling of it's investigative nature.  One only needs to get the process going in order to reap the benefits.  Just analyze, understand, reflect, explore, determine direction, act, then sustain any improvements.  You just have to give it the proper time necessary in order to provide the planning and examination that the process needs in order to lead to a successful solution.



Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools. (pp. 5-7). Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education, Inc.