Week 3 Assignment, Part 3

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

 

·        Using the following eight outline elements, write your paper at the end of this assignment document in the space entitled Draft Action Research Project Report.

a.     Title – Provide a clear, brief title that describes your Action Research Project. This title should describe what you are trying to find out, not what you think you will find. 

 

Necessary Steps to Improve State Standardized Test Scores in Reading for Third and Fourth Grade English Language Learners at Two Different Campuses.

 

b.     Needs Assessment – Indicate how the need for an improvement was determined. Note the data collected to support the need. Present the data in a disaggregated manner in terms of ethnicity, and gender.

 

Determined by poor performance – 69% Passing (Lvl 1 + Lvl 2)

 

 

 

3rd Grade Reading Scores STAAR 2012 (Two Campuses)
Summary	Lvl II Satisfactory %	Lvl III Advanced %	Lvl I Unsatisfactory %
All Students	71	15	29
Grade 3 LEP	58	11	42
Male	69	13	31
Female	74	15	26
Hisp/Latino	64	12	36
Ame. Ind./Als. Nat.
Asian
Blk/Af. American	75	8	25
Nat. Haw/Pac. Isl.
White	79	25	21
Two or More Races

 

 

c.      Objectives and Vision of the action research project. – After completing the needs assessment, develop a vision relating to the improvement needed and develop an action research project that includes measureable objectives in terms of expected results.

 

A steady growth over one, two, three and four years of 5 – 8% would place the LEP percentage at a minimum of 88 % passing in the year 2016.

 

 

 

d.     Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy – Apply Best Practice to Student Learning – Review recent literature related to the topic of your research project. The research should support why your action research plan would be described as a best practice or possible solution to improving achievement or culture. The review of the literature should be written in APA style with a reference page listing the sources. Explain the decision making process for implementing the action research project. Who was involved? What was considered? What decisions were made?

 

As I reviewed English Language Learners (ELL) performances in Reading, there seemed to be a spike at which poor performance was occurring and that was at third and fourth grades.  I reviewed a study by Thomas and Collier that outlined how our current program, Early Exit was one of the poorest performing ones.  The study also spoke of the top performing model, Dual Language that was being adopted with great success. As Thomas and Collier (Thomas & Collier, 2002) study charts clearly illustrate, the Dual Language Model is the most effective.   From one popular Program, the Gomez and Gomez Dual Language Model is the one we as a district are aiming to adopt. The Gómez & Gómez Dual Language Enrichment (DLE) Model was originally developed in 1995 and first implemented in 1996 in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD in South Texas.  The implementation of this model has since expanded to over 450 schools across 3 states. Today, it continues to demonstrate its effectiveness based on successful short and long-term student achievement (Gomez & Gomez, 2012)

 

(Thomas and Collier, 2002)

Gomez, L., & Gomez, R. (2012). Dual language training institute. Retrieved from http://dlti.us/3.html      

 

Thomas, W., & Collier, V. (2002). Thomas and collier research. Retrieved from http://www.thomasandcollier.com/index.htm

 

 

 

Articulate the Vision – Describe how you communicated the vision of the action research project to staff, parents, students, and community members.

 

As I began to research the data, I was able to reach out to administrators, teachers and parents.  We held parent education meetings in both English and Spanish to help describe the benefits of Dual Language and how it would improve Reading and others academic areas.  Doctors Leo and Richard Gomez were scheduled for an administrative overview that brought our superintendent on board.  Our population of ELL’s were growing and something needed to change.

 

Manage the organization – Describe the strategy used for organizing the implementation of the project noting responsibilities given to self and others and how you managed any monies, time, materials, and people. Give examples of how you put a priority on student learning and safety. (5 points)

 

When I was developing our annual board report to present, the thought crossed my mind that there had to be a better way.  Research and data gathering was somewhat overwhelming, but I was able to use our departmental aide to assist since this was part of a board presentation.  Student learning was the driving force as I want to see Reading scores increase.  Student safe guards were in place, such as securing all data each day, not releasing data that was so small that would easily reveal the students. FERPA was followed.

 

Describe the strategy used to lead the operations of the project and set priorities. Include a brief description of how you used the needs assessment, data, group process skills, built consensus, communicated, and resolved conflict.

 

The data spoke for itself.  I conducted a district and community wide survey that showed 89% were in favor of the change.  Some monolingual teachers were concerned that implementing a Dual Language Program would lead to downsizing.  I was able to explain that the demand for high achieving ESL teachers would be in demand.  We made site visits to other districts that were successfully implementing the model.

 

Respond to Community Interest and Needs – Describe how the action research project will serve the needs of students with special and exceptional needs and students with diverse backgrounds (cultural, ethnic, economic, or special interest groups) Elaborate on methods used to address any specific needs of the school or community.

 

The Dual Language Two – Way Model not only serves the Spanish English Learner, but also serves the native English speakers.  We do not test for access into the program.  All students whose parents sign a consent form at the Kindergarten level are allowed to participate.  This is a long term understanding between the district and parents, that if funds are available to continue the program, it will through the 5^th grade. The cohort DLE group will grow one grade level each year as the class moves.