Action research template

Action Planning Template Goal: Does the implementation of a freshman academy ease the transition for students between middle school and high school thus improving student success on EOC scores and overall GPA from the 2012-13 to the 2013-14 school year?     Action Steps(s): Person(s) Responsible: Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation Review EOC scores for the 2012-13 Freshman in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies                 Sara White and (Academic Dean) Aug 26th, 2013-Sept 6th, 2013 EOC results Create a chart of the EOC scores for each subject area Review lists of freshman students with discipline referrals, extensive tardies and to see how this correlates to the EOC scores from 2012-13                     Sara White Attendance AP Martha Cortinas-Fernandez Aug, 2013-November 2013 2012-13 discipline and tardy reports 2012-13 Failure report 2012-13 EOC reports Create a chart that shows the correlation of students who failed EOC and Courses to discipline referrals and tardiness   Gather 1st Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman               Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez   October 4th,2013 October 11, 2013   Failure report Referral report Tardy report   Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data Gather 2ndt Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman             Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez November 15th, 2013- November 22nd, 2013 Failure report Referral report Tardy report Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data   Gather 3rd Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman             Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez January 17th, 2014- January 24th, 2014 Failure report Referral report Tardy report Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data   Gather 4th Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman             Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez February 28th, 2014- March 7th,2014                       Failure report Referral report Tardy report Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data     Gather 5th Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman               Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez   April 17th, 2014- April 24th, 2014   Failure report Referral report Tardy report   Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data   Gather 6th Six Weeks Data: Tardies, grades, and referrals for 2013-14 freshman             Sara White Martha Cortinas- Fernandez June 5th,2014- June 13th, 2014 Failure report Referral report Tardy report Create spreadsheet based on six weeks data   Review EOC scores for the 2012-13 Freshman in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies                 Sara White and (Academic Dean) June 13th, 2014- June 17th, 2014 EOC results Create a chart of the EOC scores for each subject area     Survey teachers To find out what they liked/disliked about freshman academy and collect any suggestions made to change for the better Sara White Freshman teachers June 1st, 2014- June 7th, 2014 Create survey on Survey monkey.com Create survey And print gathered information Analyze and Interpret data Sara White June 17th, 2014- June 21st-2014 EOC results Failure lists Tardy reports Discipline reports Correlate EOC by creating an Excel Spreadsheet of EOC failures to Discipline referrals, tardiness, and course failures     Share results with administration and make recommendation Sara White June 28th, 2014 Paperwork presentation, schedule on calendar for presentation Handouts and presentation

What did I learn in week 2?

Brain overload aside there is actually quite a bit of useful information learned this week.  The nine areas of passions presented to us by Nancy Fichtman Dana were new to me.  It's not that I wouldn't have looked into any of these areas on my own but it being presented the way it was is a new process for me.  Curriculum and staff development, teachers and even students are all areas I would have thought of for action inquiry.  I will say that social injustice and management are not areas I would have directly gone to for action inquiry.  After my readings this week I now see the importance of each of the nine areas.
Reflecting on this week I can say that I now realize the biggest lesson I have learned so far is that this program is not only teaching me the material needed to be an administrator in the future it is also teaching me the skills needed to be an administrator.  Earlier in Dana's book Leading with Passion and Knowledge, I remember reading something she said that hit home to me and I didn't quite understand until this week, "I think it's hard for any principal who's effective to sit down and focus on one thing at a time, because the nature of our job is many things all at one time." (Dana, 2010, pg.14)
I'm a mom.. this quote humored me because of course I can listen to two children playing in the background while having the tv on, doing my schoolwork and cooking dinner at the same time.  I excel at doing more than one thing at a time.  Now I am laughing at myself.  Though motherhood is still very important we are talking apples and oranges here and you can't really compare the two.  I am thankful that these skills are being learned and at our own pace so that it is becomes a self discovery as opposed to being directly taught by the professor.  I think it means more when the light bulb comes on and someone is actually home.

'Til next week,
Sara

My Action Research Plan

Here is the action research plan that my site supervisor and myself agreed upon.  I am really excited about this project because the Freshman Academy is new to my campus this year so I will be conducting this research during our first year.  The results of my research will be used to proactively work on the academy for next year.  So as Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent, Pasadena ISD suggested for action research it is "practical" for what it happening now.

Does the implementation of a freshman academy ease the transition for students between middle school and high school thus improving student success on EOC scores and their overall GPA?

     Over the last couple of years my campus has been having problems with freshman attendance, tardiness, and discipline.  To add the icing on the cake, the state of Texas has now implemented EOC tests, though these tests have been drastically reduced in the last couple of months to only five, three of them will occur during the freshman year. The administrators on my campus are concerned and with good reason about our scores.  Though our scores are not the lowest in the state there has not been much improvement.  So, the question is why and how can we fix it?

The question posed would be answered by comparing the characteristics of a freshman academy to a regular school situation and analyzing the tardiness, attendance, and discipline to see if this made a difference in EOC scores and their overall GPA.

                      

Solving this wondering will hopefully decrease tardiness, absences and failure rate, increase EOC scores and GPA, and help the freshman to feel better about their transition from middle school to high school to ensure the overall success of the freshman academy.

Educational leaders and blogging

Educational leaders can use blogs in two different ways for collecting data.  The first way is through journal creation.  If the educational leader were to journal thoughts relating to concerns, or advantages and disadvantages of how programs/ideas worked they would have a day by day account for self reflection.  The second way is to create a blog and allow it to be interactive to receive answers or questions from other administrators, teachers, parents, and even students.  This data can be collected and analyzed for future reference or ideas.