Draft of Action Research Summary

How do I help to better identify and serve diverse populations which include economically disadvantaged, Hispanic, and African American students on the campus and district level? 

This is an important question as it relates to the LISD district plan.  Leander’s District performance goal is to, “Reduce the performance gap between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged students in Math and Science across all grade levels while continuing to increase the performance of all students as measured by district assessments.”    

(http://www.leanderisd.org)

In order to follow the district plan of closing the gap of the diverse demographic population of students in our district, my plan was to analyze the Readistep data from the Readistep test given this fall to 8^th grade students in our school district. I began specifically with Wiley Middle School.  I focused my efforts on the diverse population of students, which includes economically disadvantaged, Hispanic, and African American students, who scored 80% or higher on Critical Reading and/or Math.  Besides myself, those responsible for the success of the implementation of this are the counselors at the middle and high school, The Director of K-12 programs, the Director of College and Career Readiness. Those students were academically advised and encouraged to take an advanced level class such as a Pre-AP or Pre-IB course in high school.  I looked at STAAR data for those students who scored Advanced Academic Performance in these diverse populations.  I looked at the 90%ile in the Critical Reading and Math as a gifted and talented screener as well. My plan is to follow this established cohort group through grades 9-12 to track and follow their academic progress on district assessments, STAAR and classroom performance. Additional scheduling into advanced classes may be needed as well.

My ultimate goal is to bring the achievement gap closer not only in using the Readistep data as it applies to my high school, from Wiley Middle school to Rouse High School, but taking it district wide and applying it to all of the middle schools in LISD. That is the real need for change.

The score back process for the Readistep test is complete for the 2011-2012 school year. The data from the Readistep test has been gathered district wide and sorted into categories. After meeting with my supervisor she suggested that I contact the DOI’s at all of the high schools to see how they had handled the information/scheduling piece of the process.  In other words, once the high school got the list of students who were in the diverse pop groups who scored 80% or higher on Critical Reading or Math on the ReadiStep test, what was the course of action for them?  She suggested that I gather this information from all 5 high schools, not just mine, to share “Bright Spots”. The questions I will be asking them are: 1.  How are they identifying which kids need to be advised to take advanced courses other than self -selection? 2. What organizational processes are they using?  I plan to meet with the high school DOI’s as we begin the ReadiStep process for the 2012-2013 schoolyear.  I have already met with the ReadiStep Coordinators at the middle schools, discussed the value of the test, discussed the process of accommodation and discussed the testing day.  One testing has completed, we will meet to discuss the score back process and how the results can then be used in academic advising. I think it is important for the Coordinator at the middle school to understand how the counselors at middle school and high school are using the results so this can be communicated to students and parents.

One question that I already have is a potential for future use of the ReadiStep data with Gifted and Talented screening.  I would like to use the data in the 90^th %ile as opposed to the 80%ile as a potential screener for GT identification.

My action research project is timely in my job and my supervisors are excited about it and are actually quite eager for me to finish it! It is pertinent to my job and meets the needs of my district and my supervisors.

Final Reflections

My final reflections on EDLD 5301Research course started in the beginning of the course when I first listened to Dr. Arterbury’s video lecture. I felt as if the Action Research Project was attainable and reachable because of the way he so clearly laid the project out.  I was apprehensive at first because I thought it was going to be something that I wasn’t going to understand or be able to achieve, but as he and Dr. Jenkins unfolded the course I felt like it was a goal I could reach.  The planning of the weeks that followed with first meeting with my supervisor to generate a list of questions, and then exploring ideas, was a perfect avenue to building a successful research plan. I was able to tap into an idea that useful to my current position at work and develop a plan that was practical and useful.  

During week one of the course we learned to build blogs.  While I found this to be incredibly challenging at the time, I have gained useful and valuable feedback from my classmates regarding my action research plan. During this week we also asked inquiry questions regarding the reasons why inquiry based action research is valuable and useful. The discussion board provided useful feedback in this area.  I have formed valuable connections from the discussion board and from the blogs that I hope to carry into future courses. My classmates have given me feedback and suggestions for improvement that I found valuable.  Cooperative learning is vital in the classroom setting.

In subsequent weeks the lectures provided deeper insight and guidance. Both professors helped build confidence and understanding in my ability to complete my action research project. Each week the video lectures added greater depth to the text by supplementing  the text and adding insight to the readings. I enjoyed the nine passions in the Leading with Passions and Knowledge book. This helped me see how action research can be used in a variety of ways in my educational career. It gave me a richer understanding of why several things were done in the past and how I can better improve my presentations of staff development in the future. I also enjoyed Chapter 3 in this book (Dana, 2009), describing the various ways to collect data. I had not really considered  all of the possible options in data collection. I am considering other possible ideas for data collection in my action research plan, such as using STAAR data. I plan to discuss this with my supervisor.

Overall, I have this course to be incredibly valuable.  My action research project is timely in my job and my supervisors are excited about it and are actually quite eager for me to finish it! It is pertinent to my job and meets the needs of my district and my supervisors.  This has been a highly useful experience and I am grateful.

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge. Housand Oaks: Corwin.

The scoreback process for the Readistep test is complete. The data from the Readistep test has been gathered district wide and sorted into categories. After meeting with my supervisor she suggested that I contact the  DOI’s at all of the high schools to see how they are handling the information/scheduling piece of the process.  In other words, once the high school gets the list of students who are in the diverse pop groups who scored 80% or higher on Critical Reading or Math on the ReadiStep test,  what is the course of action for them?  She suggested that I gather this information from all 5 high schools, not just mine, to share “Bright Spots”. The questions I will be asking them are: 1. How are the identifying which kids need to be advised to take advanced courses other than self selection. 2. What organizational processes are they using?

Action Research Plan

SCHOOL VISION: GOAL:  Participation in advanced programs should reflect equal demographic representation of district and campus population. OUTCOMES ACTIVITIES RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES TIME LINE Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments To identify and serve diverse populations which include economically disadvantaged, Hispanic, and African American on the campus and district level Analyze Readistep data and STAAR data of 8th grade students to identify  diverse populations (economically disadvantaged, Hispanic and African American) who score 80 % or higher on Critical Reading or Math and encourage participation in advanced level courses in 9th grade. Resources and Research tools needed for data gathering:  Readistep data and STAAR testing data. List of students includes those testing 80%  or higher on Critical reading or Math on Readistep  and Advanced Academic Performance on STAAR. Besides myself, persons responsible for implementation are the counselors at middle and high school, Kathy Wood, Coordinator of Advanced Programs K-12, and Lisa Brittain, Director of College and Career Awareness. Spring 2012 – Fall 2012. To establish group. Ongoing with established cohort group until senior year. Report cards and District common assessments Follow established cohort group grades 9-12 to track academic performance on district common assessments, STAAR and classroom performance. Additional scheduling into advanced classes may be needed.

I enjoyed the readings this week...reading about the "passions" gave me lots of new ideas for inquiries.  As I read I would think of another action plan, and another.  It made it tough! I suppose this is a good thing...a good problem to have.  The passion on school performance gave me such a great idea that I actually wrote a plan idea  up that was based on it  and took it to my supervisor.  Again...a good problem to have...
It feels good to have a goal in mind...

action research...mystery solved

Action research is a tool that drives continuous improvement.  It is a necessary process in eliciting change. Without change, there is no growth, no development, no evolving into better practice.  Action research makes change possible because it forces the teacher or administrator (practitioner) to ask the tough questions about the success of a system or failure of such.  It then pushes into the collection of data that can be analyzed to try and glean an insight into factors driving and preventing success.  Action research helps get to the root cause of the problem by then having the practitioner gather reading material /literature from knowledgeable sources that can add  professional  and expert opinions and offer advice on the challenge at hand. These new ideas and solutions can then be formulated into a plan of action. After the plan is put into place, reflection is essential to think about the current situation, look back at the past situation and look ahead to the goals set.  Revisiting the action research plan is necessary as well so as to ensure continued success. Action research can be used in the classroom or in just about any educational setting involving teams and systems. This type of inquiry is effective in the improvement of processes of all kinds.

Upon reflecting on how I might use action research, I can apply it to my classroom in a variety of ways.  Examples might include turning in homework, improving the scores on short answer responses for the state assessment, decreasing late work. Outside of my classroom I would like to use action research to study the data on ReadiStep assessments and analyze the economically disadvantaged populated of students, looking at the gap between those students in advanced classes and those who are not eco dis.  My goal is to increase the population in advanced classes, thereby closing the gap.  Believe and action research project is the perfect way to study this issue and put a plan in place that will achieve success.

Educational leaders can use blogs to communicate and build a community of professionals that can motivate, inspire and share knowledge and insight with each other.  Learning communities are set up in blogs that create a support system. Additionally, blogs are “journals”, of sorts, for educational leaders that can be used to record thoughts, ideas, successes and journeys.  Just as in a journal, blogs can be revisited, or reread for further review and insight by the writer. Advice can be given by others reading the blogs and shared successes/failures can offer guidance and support.