Saturday, June 30, 2012

My peers have made three recommendations for my current Action Research Model.  The first two involve projects that I have researched and will consider implementing these as my results from data are compiled, disaggregated and reviewed.

The third however is most interesting to me because it makes the most sense right now.  I will be changing my project to reflect only Tier II students to further tighten the results and make the study more manageable.

1       Project G.L.A.D.  http://www.projectglad.com/

2       Grand Central Station

3       Limit study to Tier II students.

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template Greg Bridges
Goal: What action steps are necessary to improve ELL state standardized test scores in Reading for 3rd and 4th grade students at two campuses? Posted on discussion board. Operational definition of target population: The target population is third and fourth grade ELL students at two different campuses with each campus housing third – sixth grades. The ELL target population at each campus is 78 – 85 students.  How will you select your sample? Evaluation of ELL 3rd and 4th grade student performance on state standardized reading scores that fall below the state average. Brief rationale for your sample size: These are the initial grade levels when state reading achievement is measured and it will include all ELL’s within our district that are entering fourth and fifth grades for the 2012-2013 school year. Briefly describe how you will conduct your research: I will use state STAAR scores (Raw), OLPT, Tejas Lee, DRA, TELPAS, teacher interviews, teacher resources, LPAC placement, district benchmark tests and grades to form categories to help gain insight based on data.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Develop Spreadsheet with all 3rd and 4th grade ELL’s along with corresponding category headers	Bilingual/ESL Program Facilitator	July/August	Infinite Campus, a PEIMS program our district uses. Develop an Ad-Hoc Report that will extract the necessary data to begin the spreadsheet and transfer to an excel spreadsheet	Compare to LPAC records and fall PEMS submission to ensure all students have been included.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Compile raw STAAR Reading scores of all 3rd and 4th grade students in a spreadsheet and align from highest to lowest.	BE/ESL Program Facilitator BE/ESL-F), Director of Accountability and Testing	July/August 2012	Eduphoria-AWARE, student CSR from TEA, Excel,	Since TEA is only providing raw scores, I will need to decide along with our testing director the lowest third of students based on state cut points.
Gather latest Oral Language Proficiency Testing data and post next to students name	BE/ESL-F, two campus LPAC representatives, Bilingual LPAC Aide	August/September	District LPAC Records	Does a low OLPT correlate to low STARR scores?
Gather Tejas Lee scores and post on chart	BE/ESL-F, Campus LPAC Reps., bilingual and ESL teachers, LPAC Aide, Assistant Principals	August/Sept	Reading data submitted at EOY 2012	Do Tejas Lee scores correlate to low performance on STAAR?
Gather DRA scores and post on chart	BE/ESL-F, Campus LPAC Reps., bilingual and ESL teachers, LPAC Aide, Assistant Principals	August/Sept	Scores submitted at EOY 2012	Do DRA scores correlate to low performance on STAAR?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Gather TELPAS data including all four domains (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing)	BE/ESL-F, Campus Test Coordinators, Director of Testing	August/Oct	District and individual TELPAS results	How does TELPAS progression along all four domains affect or correlate to STAAR Reading scores?
Assign a column to student rows on spreadsheet that lists Years in US Schools.	BE/ESL-F, LPAC records	August-November	LPAC Reps., BE/ESL-F	Does years in US schools correlate to performance on STAAR Reading scores?
District benchmark scores on reading assessments	BE/ESL-F,	August-Nov.	Eduphoria-AWARE	How does benchmark scores relate to STARR results?
What are the main resources used by teachers for Reading education throughout the school year	Teachers, BE/ESL-F, Assistant Principals	August-Nov	Teacher questioning	How does resources compare from teacher to teacher campus to campus?  Is there a correlation between scores and resources used?
Based on all of above spreadsheet and comparable research, what will be the exact recommendations to principals, and district administration personnel to improve reading scores for 3rd and 4th grade ELL’s?	BE/ESL-F, District Testing Director, Assistant Superintendant of Curriculum, Executive Director of Special Programs, Principals	December 2012 –February 2013	Completed Spreadsheet with several recommendation	Based on results of disaggregation, what areas or specific TEKS were identified to be the strongest areas of growth?  What are the intervention options?

Week 2   5301

This week, the three school leader interviews proved the importance of decisions that are supported with data.  All three echoed that data driven decisions are best.

As I move through the research cycle, I hope to understand the data and gain insight as I share it with leaders. 

I hope to nourish a positive change that can be felt and reflected throughout the district.  Sometimes positive change is difficult to define, but it usually shows in some way.

Action Research 

A Journey Through Data with a Slight Twist

I wish the plan I had in mind was supported by data.........Did I discover the exact problem or a symptom of something else.......If I had looked deeper, then these problems might not have occurred.

If these statements look familiar to you, then Action Research can be the solution!

Action Research can be an altering experience that can inspire the participants to make monumental changes necessary for success.

As educational insiders inquire, gather data, initiate conversations of collaboration, desegregate data, and begin to find solutions, it's clear Action Research can guide the path.

The cycle of Action Research is at the heart of its success:

1) Clarify and Diagnose
2) Insiders Become Collaborators/Investigators of Own Problems
3) Vested Interest by Insiders thus more likely to initiate change based on research THEY conduced
4) Evaluate Effectiveness

As I read these steps, I realized that we all go through these to some degree in many areas throughout the day as we make decisions.  However, with a team of action researchers, this can go much more in depth and complexity if necessary to discover hidden secrets that otherwise might never have been identified.

I believe Action Research will continue to aid schools in raising the bar to the next level by discovering unique ways to identify, solve and assess student success for effectiveness.