Action Research Plan, Week 3

Week Three Assignment, Part 1 – CARE Model Analysis of District/Campus Improvement Initiatives or Action Research Plans

Please review your intern plan. In the first course, students were encouraged to engage in some action research, or participate in district or campus improvement initiatives. Each of you has had some experiences with such initiatives or action plans. Please review those experiences and complete the following analysis:

Concerns – Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and list at least three concerns that you have identified from these experiences – a concern may be any matter that engages your attention or interest.

1.  Attendance at High School is 95% compared to the district average of 97%

2.  Block schedule at High School, split on regular schedule versus block

3.  Schools adjusting to new safety requirements, ex. #’s on windows

Affirmations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and affirm or identify at least 3 actions that must be sustained and supported to achieve the District/Campus improvement initiatives.

1.  Administrative support for High School administrators involved with attendance

2.  Research on block scheduling to see what is best for student learning

3.  Needs assessment per campus on what is needed for new safety initiatives

Recommendations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and describe at least 3 recommendations you would make regarding the District/Campus Improvement plans or action research plans.

1.   Attendance initiatives on the positive side, ex. Semester exam exemptions, is good; set a maximum amount    of parent notes, once they reach that threshold, cut off parent notes, then file if they get 3 more

2.   Adopt a straight schedule with zero hour plus more opportunities for credits in the summer

3.  Approve money in budget to support each school and classrooms

Evaluate - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and identify at least 3 strategies for evaluating the improvement plans or recommendations.

1.   Evaluate each 6 weeks attendance compared to last 5 years average

2.   Evaluate based on standardized test scores

3.   Evaluate through teacher feedback through drills, etc.

Week Three Assignment, Part 2 – Part C of the Comprehensive Final Report

Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

Review the above analysis, and write at least one page thoroughly describing recommendations and lessons learned from experiences with the improvement initiatives or action research plans.

Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post your above reflection on your Recommendations and Lessons Learned to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.

Action research is a type of research that uses quantitative and qualitative methods to solve an immediate problem for an entity such as a school district.  This is probably the most practical and most used form of research.  If a school or district had an issue at hand, the researchers or problem solvers would not be too worried about seminal works or theory, they would want to use current research to develop an action plan to come up with a solution.  The three issues that I choose to address in my action plan were: attendance at the high school, block scheduling versus a straight schedule at the high school, and new district-wide safety requirements.

The first issue that I want to address through action research is the attendance at the high school.  After meeting with the district attendance officer, and looking at the data, we both agreed that attendance throughout the district is overall very good.  The lowest attendance rate in by far is the attendance at the high school at 94.23% where the rest of the district is above 95%.  The first thing I would do in order to help with this issue is to first find out the many factors involved.  On the positive side of attendance, ex. incentives, the high school kids who miss less than 3 days and have an average above 80% are allowed to exempt their final exams in the classes where they qualify.  I do believe that this incentive works for the top students with good attendance.  It makes those think extra hard about missing an extra day or two during the semester.  The side that I think needs attention is the negative side.  Unfortunately, we have a small percentage of students that miss a large number of days.  The problem is when we notify the judge.  The middle schools and elementary have been doing a similar plan for a few years that seems to be working; however, the high school choose not to adopt the same system.  I would research other schools and decide on a maximum number of absences due to parent notes that I would allow.  For instance, Katy allows 5 per student for the year.  Once they’ve reached that threshold, the parent would receive a phone call and written documentation that we will no longer accept parent notes as an excuse, only doctor notes or administrative approval.  From this point forward, any absence without a note would result in an unexcused absence.  After three of these, the judge would be notified.  I believe that this would really bring home the point to the students that attendance is important and we are taking things seriously.  To evaluate the attendance, we would look at each 6 weeks attendance and compare to previous years.  I believe that this would lead to better overall attendance as it has at the alternative school where this past year we achieved the greatest attendance in the history of the school.

            The next issue that I would like to research is block scheduling at the high school.  This was a trend in many schools, dating back to the 90’s, but there seems to be a shift away from it recently.  Some research that I did last summer in looking a entry level college math showed that the block schedule was not good for kids in math.  Going to math every other day caused a drop in the retention of some concepts.  I would like to research this more and see if there are any similar effects in other subjects or the other way, where block is better.  In theory the block schedule allows for more expansion of lessons, so the first step that I would take is to visit classrooms and see if the lessons are truly being expanded or if the teachers are just giving more work time to account for the extra 40 minutes of class time due to the block schedule.  From the research that I have done, along with some observations at the high school, I believe that a straight schedule would be more beneficial for the students.  One of the downfalls of going to a straight schedule is that more than likely we would have to adopt a schedule where the students go to 7 classes instead of 8.  To counteract the students losing a class, I would like to look at 3 possible options: zero hour, night school, and additional credits offered in summer school.  Zero hour was something that PNG high school had when they first went to the block schedule.  These were classes that were offered an hour before school started.  It was voluntary, so students weren’t required, but it allowed them to get that 8^th class.  Also, it either allowed the teachers to pick up some extra money or for some teachers to have a staggered day where they started earlier, but also got out a period earlier.  The next option would be to offer a night school class.  This would typically be a semester class, like government or economics, and would be offered after school where a teacher would get paid extra for these classes.  Also, we need to look at offering more summer options.  Our summer school is just for students who have failed classes, but a few local districts have started offering extra classes so students can get ahead and still be able to take vocational or double block classes like band and not lose out on a recommended or preferred diploma.  Making the switch from the block schedule to a straight schedule would be a major change for the high school.  Many teachers, parents, and students would be upset about the change.  It would take a great deal of support from the administration to make it work.  The end result; hopefully, would be increased scores on the state exams.  This would be the basis for evaluating the switch to a straight schedule.

            The third issue that I wanted to look at through action research was the schools adjusting to the new safety requirements and initiatives.  Many events across the country have changed the ways we think about safety in schools.  The most recent event was the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.  As a result of this tragedy, our district had active shooter training this summer.  We learned a lot of things at this training that I hope we never have to use.  The theme of the training was run, lock, or fight.  In the event of an active shooter, we were first taught to run if you are able.  The next thing would be to lock your room if you were unable to run and barricade yourself and students in.  There are devices that you can make to bar classroom doors that make it almost impossible for someone to get inside.  I would like to do an inventory on each classroom, which way the doors open, and what device each teacher feels the most comfortable using if ever necessary.   Also, district-wide we need to renumber classrooms in our schools, according to law enforcement.  The numbering system needs to be consistent, such as odd numbers to the left and even to the right.  Hallways need to be labeled in a consistent way also.  We had a discussion about whether or not we should number windows on the outside of the buildings or not.  I would like to research this more by talking to law enforcement and seeing what other school districts do.  To carry out these new initiatives, it would take money and since safety is top priority, I would make sure that the proper money is allocated.  Once we had the materials, I would be sure to conduct drills, such as lockdowns, so every teacher would know what their plan would be.  I would receive feedback through the drills and through evaluation instruments filled out by the teachers.

Part 3

I have talked to Dr. Cavness on the phone and we plan on meeting during the 5^th week.  We did not set a date yet, since neither of us knows what that week will hold, but I know that he will be available for me during that time.  Also, I need to finish a few of my internship activities before we meet.