Research Action Plan

The goals of this action research project are:

• To improve the performance of economically disadvantaged students on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)
  
• To facilitate economically disadvantaged students in developing the skills necessary to become successful learners
  
• To encourage teachers to reflect on their attitudes concerning the efficacy of medications and interventions for economically disadvantaged students
  

Research Action Plan

ACTION STEPS	PERSON RESPONSIBLE	TIMELINE START/STOP	NEEDED RESOURCES	EVALUATION
Obtain approval for campus research project	Building principal, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum	January of the school year preceding the study	Research proposal, action plan time line	Approval to conduct research
Recruit and obtain background checks community volunteers, create database of volunteers	Local community faith based and service organizations	January as soon as research proposal is approved	Volunteer criminal background check forms, volunteer guideline packets	Volunteer database created
Obtain approval for monthly professional learning community meetings during instructional time and substitutes	Building principal	January of the school year preceding the study	Research proposal, action plan time line	Approval for meeting dates
Solicit teachers for participation in research project	Building principal/assistant principal   Teacher conducting research	May of the school year preceding the study	Copies of research proposal	At least two teachers will be recruited to participate
Obtain approval for 12 hrs summer in-service hours for participating teachers	Building principal/assistant principal   Teacher conducting research	May of the school year preceding the study	Copies of research proposal	Approval for in-service from curriculum director
12 hrs summer in-service hours for participating teachers (Needs of under-resourced learners, professional learning communities, and working with community volunteers)	Teacher conducting research Service center specialist Participating teachers	Summer preceding research year	A Frame work for Understanding Poverty (Payne, 1995) Under-resourced Learners: 8 Strategies to Boost Student Achievement (Payne, 2008)	In-service feedback/ reflection forms
Monthly learning community meetings	Teacher conducting research Participating teachers	Begin August tear of study/ end May year of study	Eduphoria! School Objects: AwareTM (2004) data disaggregation software (Disaggregation of student bench mark data, and TAKS results)	TAKS data improvement for economically disadvantaged students
Disaggregation of data from research study	Teacher conducting research Participating teachers	May, after results from TAKS released	Eduphoria! School Objects: AwareTM (2004) data disaggregation software	TAKS data improvement for economically disadvantaged students
Presentation of research project results	Teacher conducting research Participating teachers	August in-service prior to year subsequent of study	Data disaggregation presentation from study	TAKS data improvement for economically disadvantaged students

 

Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs, 2010, p. 85)

Research Proposal

I began as an educator 20 years ago. I came into education from a middle class family where education was not only expected of me, it was made a priority for me. I had a tremendous exposure to a plethora of world cultures and was taught to appreciate the value each had to offer. I attended an extremely culturally diverse high school of 1500 students. However, it was not until I began working as a high school athletic trainer that I truly became aware of the diversity that exists in the households in which many students live. I became aware of the reality of the culture of poverty, as described by Payne (1995), five years ago while teaching in a high school of 300 students in a small North Florida rural community. I had a unique experience weekly to travel to some of the homes of our most economically disadvantaged students. I was subsequently hired at a suburban Texas high school experiencing an unprecedented increase in economically disadvantaged students. Professional development for the district focused on attempting to change the campus culture and pedagogical methodologies aimed at improving the performance of these students from the culture of poverty.

Payne (1995) recognizes distinct difference between the cultures of the affluent, middle class, and economically disadvantaged. She asserts that students from any one class seeking an education in the culture of another class would face challenges and difficulties due to the cultural differences inherent within the classes. Epstein (National Network of Partnership Schools, 2009) lists several benefits of community involvement or mentoring on student performance: increased skill in communicating with adults, increased learning of skills that receive tutoring, awareness of careers and educational options for the future, connects the student to the community, provides students with needed resources for learning, and awareness of skills, talents, occupations, and contributions of volunteers. Increased academic performance, increased self esteem, increased motivation, and decreased discipline incidences are cited by Ferrara & Ferrara (2005) as benefits of stake holder involvement and interventions in schools.

I propose a project researching the effects of research based classroom interventions on the performance of economically disadvantaged students on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test compared to the results for the same grade level and test for previous years.. Preferably, I would like to use a teacher from each of the core subjects committed to learning for all to form a professional learning community centered around the improving the performance of economically disadvantaged students. The professional learning community would use the books A Frame work for Understanding Poverty (Payne, 1995) and Under-resourced Learners: 8 Strategies to Boost Student Achievement (Payne, 2008). The learning community will also be involved in seeking out research based interventions from other sources. I feel certain that I can find at least one teacher from each core subject to participate. If I cannot find a teacher from each of the core subjects, participation by two teachers in their classrooms should yield adequate qualitative and quantitative data from which to draw conclusions.

It is my expectation for the interventions to demonstrate an increase in student performance on TAKS. The climate and culture of our campus is mixed in its approach to dealing with economically disadvantaged students. Some teachers feel that interventions and modifications for economically disadvantaged students enable them to perform at a lower level of rigor. They hold these ideas in the belief that the interventions are ethically wrong as they violate a sense of equity among the students. Other teachers recognize the culture of poverty and seek to use the interventions and modifications to scaffold the students into the mainstream learning culture of the campus. I understand that I cannot change the actions or ideas of another person. I am fully aware that the probability of convincing some of these teachers to change their minds is at zero. It is my desire that the skepticism of some of those towards the center of the two poles on the issue of interventions and modifications for economically disadvantaged classroom students will diminish as a result of this research. Perhaps they will then feel comfortable within their own sense of educational equity to begin applying some of the interventions suggested in the literature for the economically disadvantaged students in their classrooms. .

References

Ferrara, M. & Ferrara, P. (2005). Parents as partners: Raising awareness as a teacher preparation program. The Clearing House, 79(2), 77.

National Network of Partnership Schools. (2009). Epstein’s six types of involvement. In Epstein, J.L., Salinas, K. C., Sanders, M.G., & Simon, B. S.
(1997). School and community partnerships: Your handbook in action. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin Press Retrieved May 28, 2010, from:
http://www.cpirc.org/vertical/Sites/%7B95025A21-DD4C-45C2-AE37-D35CA63B7AD9%7D/uploads/%7B1310DD65-F94A-457D-A680-9EE824084458%7D.PDF

Payne, R. (1995). A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.

Payne, R. (2008) Under-resourced learners: 8 strategies to boost student achievement. Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.

Action Research: You can Lead a Horse to Water but You Can't Make Him Drink

     The purpose of  the school is to educate all students. All of the functions of the school should be focused on maximizing learning for all students to the fullest extent of their inherent potential. When considering all the areas that avail themselves to campus based action research, they all eventually affect the learning of the students.

      When I rode and trained horses for the public, I was once chastised by an older, more experienced horse training mentor for worrying too much about "why" a horse behaved or responded in a certain manner instead of simply getting on them to fix them. He told me to quit worrying about why and focus my energy and resources on changing those things. He was attempting to impress upon me the importance of not making excuses for the behaviors and work towards changing them. The same man taught me the key  to riding and training horses is through "feel" or two -way communication between every part of the horse and rider. A stream of constant data feed back and reassessment that allows  the rider to answer the why question at the root of the problem. He was telling me that what appears to be the problem and solution cannot be determined until I get up on the horse and research closely what is actually occurring through the data about the horses body movements collected via "feel". In the end, it can all be boiled down to a cue and a response relationship between the horse and rider based upon "feel". The rider can give a cue, modifying its intensity, duration, and location in order to receive a response. In the end, no matter how skilled the horseman, how strong the cue or how sweet the reward the response is entirely the horse's decision. You cannot make an 1100 pound animal do what is dead set on not doing, no matter how simple the task.

Action Research & Principal Inquiry: The Scientific Method Meets the Art of Teaching

     The connotation of the word research brings to mind images of a bleary eyed academic holed up in the stacks of a university library pouring over bound versions of journals. It also bring to mind endless sets of data and tables related by statistical analysis and other mathematical manipulations akin to voo-doo in the mind of the educational practitioner. Traditional research paradigms typically seek to either effect a change in educational methodology or to study a particular relationship within the educational environment. It tends to view the education practitioner as either a device to facilitate the change in question or as a subject of study. In essence, traditional research views the education practitioner as either a beaker or a lab rat, not a scientist. This traditional research is generally conducted by researchers far removed from the daily practices of education and student contact. Any or all of these factors may serve to sour the educational practitioner to the idea of research as a necessity and effective tool for change in education.
       The action research paradigm places the educational professional in the role of researcher. The beaker becomes the scientist. Like traditional research, it involves the basic steps of the scientific method learned by students throughout their school career: identify a problem or question, research the problem or question, propose a hypothesis (educated guess) or possible action plan based on the research, implement the plan (experiment), monitor the results (collect and analyze the data), evaluate (draw conclusions), and reflect on the outcomes (report the findings). The difference is that it occurs within the educational setting and the researcher/ educator is a part of it. The the beaker, lab rat and scientist are essentially one in action research. Interestingly , the concept of action research is a part of every good teacher's lesson cycle. He or she presents the material, checks for student understanding, then reteaches if necessary. When students have difficulty grasping concepts, the artisan teacher strives to find the most effective way to relate it to the students. Classroom artisans intrinsically understand  that if learning does not occur, neither has teaching. They change their approach until learning occurs.
        Reflection is a key component of action research. In traditional research, publication of results allows for other researchers to learn from and scrutinize the results. Reflection allows the education practitioner/ researcher to do the same, but with a focus on personal professional development. Reflection in physics refers to waves bouncing off of an object back towards their source. Refraction is the change in wave direction as a wave passes through a medium such as a lens. Perhaps the term professional refraction is better suited to action research than reflection. Professional refraction, if you will indulge me, serves as an agent of change for the future actions and ideas of the professional as they pass through the lens of the current action research process and its outcomes.
        Professional refraction can be accomplish via many mediums. A daily journal housed in a spiral notebook is an effective low cost method. The smart person learns from his or her mistakes, the truly smart person learns from the mistakes of others. In light of this axiom, would also not be true that the truly wise educator would seek to favorably alter their actions based on refractions from the lenses other educators research? This idea of group refraction lends itself to the use of blogs and on-line resources. Blogging and social media groups provide quick and easy access to the refractions of other professionals. They can also create virtual learning communities of professionals, These professional, who may be thousands of miles apart and would not have otherwise ever met, can now effectively engage in, and reap the benefit of group learning with a minimal amount of effort.
       Learning the cognitive fundamentals of teaching  or leadership can be challenging but is an obtainable goal. Obtaining and possessing the knowledge does not make one effective in its implementation. The is because the nature of education and people make each situation unique. A rigid unadaptable flow chart or trouble shooting manual is not an effective problem solving tool in the educational setting.The art of teaching and educational leadership occurs when one learns the nuances of applying the knowledge. This art of application can only occur as a result of modifying and adapting practices based upon the past applications of the knowledge, professional refraction.

References

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

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from action to analysis. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Martin, G., Wright, W., Danzig, A., Flanary, R., & Brown, F. (2005). School leader internship: Developing monitoring and evaluating your leadership experience (2nd ed). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Ringler, M. C. (2007). Action research an effective instructional leadership skill for future public school leaders. American Association of School Administrators Journal of Scholarship & Practice, 7(1), 27-43.