The Blueprint...

Thought this was an appropriate title and picture for the week...

Action Planning Template
Goal: The primary objective of this study will be to determine whether or not there are significant differences with regards to block scheduling compared to a traditional schedule in a high school setting.  The study will compare differences in: Attendance rates Failure rates Perception of success as viewed by teachers in their respective scheduling models The desired group of students to be compared are 10th grade students  that scored in the mid-range on the TAKS test (40th-60th percentile).
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Initial Meeting: Meet with Dr. Peirson about perceived differences in block scheduling vs. traditional school scheduling.  Also discuss why our school chose to go with traditional settings.	Dr. Peirson- Associate Principal McKinney Boyd High School	January 31st	Copy of action research plan.	Notes from the meeting.
Study Design: Identify participating schools and define groups that will be studied. Discuss time frames that will be observed for the different group.	James Ayres/ Dr. Pierson- Associate Principal MBHS	February 14th	Two schools similar in size (student population and staff population), that differ in scheduling models.  Copy of research plan for each principal.	Lists of the two schools, groups that will be compared within those schools and principal’s approval.
Data Collection: Attendance Rates	Registrar’s office/ Principals from participating schools	February 28th	Registrar’s office from each school.	Attendance rates will be compared and charted.
Data Analysis: Attendance Rates	James Ayres/ Dr. Peirson	March 31st	Data collected from each school on attendance rates.	Compare data and determine if there are any significant differences.
Data Collection: Test Scores	Principals	April 30th	TAKS Scores, Spreadsheet software	Collect Scores for groups that are defined.
Teacher Survey	Teachers that work at schools	May 31st	Survey monkey, email capabilities	Tabulate Results to determine the different perceptions amongst teachers.
Test Score Analysis	James Ayres, Dr. Peirson	July 15th	TAKS Scores	Compare test scores to see differences in failure rates.
Initial compilation of data and results:	James Ayres	August 31st	TAKS Score Analysis, Teacher Survey Results, Research from State, Attendance Data Analysis	Compile all of these results into an initial report and initial suggested findings.  This will be used to discuss with the two respective principals of each school.
Discussion of Results	James Ayres, Principals from each school	October 31st	Initial Compilation of Data.	Notes of thoughts from each principal
Final Results	James Ayres	December 31st	Initial compilation of data, notes from meeting with principals, research from state	Final results- this will be used to discuss with our own principal the findings of the study, and the validation of the study.  This could possibly lead to our school changing and implementing a different scheduling model.
Summary of Analysis
The purpose of this study is to determine if there are identifiable differences between the two different scheduling models of block scheduling and traditional scheduling.  If differences are present, then this might be validation for choosing one model over another, or simply be the means for further research.

Getting in on the action

This week I had the opportunity to substitute for one of our assistant principals for two days while he was out on a trip with a group from fine arts.  Over those two days I sent 7 students to after school detention, 4 students to ISS, 3 students to DAEP, and 2 students to JAIL!!  Justice served!

Just kidding about the "Justice served" part.  In reality, my principal left me 11 referals to take care of.  All I did was call the students to the office and put them in detention or ISS based on the suggestions of the principal.  Almost all of these offenses were for multiple tardies or skipping out on detentions.  Parents were contacted and I got to explain to them what was going on.

The students sent to DAEP were done so because they were caught on campus with illegal substances (pain pills) that they were distributing.  Two of those students were sent to jail for still having the pills on them! That was an ordeal that took up most of my afternoon the first day.  There is a ton of paperwork that needs to be completed as well as setting everything up with DAEP and the jail.  All of this is done before the parents are contacted.

(not a real picture from my school, but that's about what it looked like!)

I also got to deal with a parent (in Spanish) that claimed our soccer program was racist because her Mexican son did not make the team.  I dealt with a woman who was trying enroll her son in another high school.  I dealt with behavior referrals that came in over those two days.  I was assigned to monitor the basketball tournament that was going on during the latter half of Thursday at our school and make sure that teams and officials involved knew where they could and could not be while class was going on.  I even monitored lunches.

It was an interesting experience and really gave me some insight as to what an administrator has to deal with.  It was nothing like teaching a class.  No lesson plans, no assignments, and no set schedule to follow.  Things just kind of happened!  It was overwhelmingly busy at times, and then there were times where not much was going on. 

I would highly recommend the experience if you have the chance.  Our principal has told me that if an administrator is out he is happy to let me step in and the school will pay for a sub for my classes.  I am not sure if this is the unofficial policy on other campuses, but it sure doesn't hurt to ask.  I am hoping over the duration of our program that I can do this a lot more.  It was a great experience!

 

An Effective Campus Looks at ALL Areas

Dana discusses nine specific effective inquiry and action research areas of responsibilities to guide school administrators in assessing their own practices that have a considerable impact on campus and student achievement (Dana, 2009). They are as follows:

1. Staff development
2. Curriculum development
3. Individual teacher(s)
4. Individual student(s)
5. School culture/community
6. Leadership
7. Management
8. School performance
9. Social justice

Staff development is critical to the growth of a campus.  Oftentimes staff development can be nothing more than a ‘shotgun approach’ to learning.  Fancy named topics and the latest teaching fad or technology piece are often used with hopes that a staff will benefit from something taught.  A good use of action research for staff development might be to do a staff survey at the end of a given school year on good motivational techniques.  Research could be done over the summer as well from an administrative standpoint, and when the staff reconvenes after the summer a session of professional development on motivational techniques in the classroom could be done.  This could be followed up throughout the year and monitored as well during classroom walkthroughs and observations.  Departments could also use this as topics for PLC discussions throughout the year as well.  Staff development is vital to individual and campus growth.

Curriculum development is the backbone to effective learning in the classroom.  In my view, creating a curriculum without doing research would prove very ineffective.  A good research project would be to research different sets of curriculum for a given subject.  Compare different performance goals and learning objectives throughout.  Then correlate these goals and learning objectives to the current ones in your specific departments within the district or campus.  Look at performance based assessments (if possible) that go along with these curriculums.  Discuss as a team of curriculum developers what aspects would be beneficial for your goals.

Individual teacher research should be done on a regular basis.  This is where self-actualization occurs.  Being able to identify areas of improvement as an individual and how to improve is vital to becoming an expert in a given field.  A good example of individual teacher research would be a teacher realizing that they need to be better with behavior management in the classroom.  The teacher could work with administrators to identify others on campus that are able to effectively manage a classroom.  Both the administrator and teacher could perform walkthroughs in these classrooms and identify common qualities each of these professionals possesses.  The teacher could work on implementing these qualities in their own classroom and then measure the results. 

The fourth area mentioned is individual students.  It is important to realize that each individual student is different and that their needs are thus different.  An example of action research for an individual student might be to look at effective ways to give an assessment for an ESL student.  The teacher might work with the ESL teacher and quite possibly the LOTE department to determine methods that would be appropriate.

School culture/ community involve looking at a campus as a whole.  An example of action research for the student community might be looking at the demographics of students involved in extracurricular activities to determine participation amongst certain minority groups.  This data could be used to determine whether these groups are involved substantially enough in activities at school.  Other case studies can be looked at as well to help determine why these groups might not be involved as much.

Leadership is one of the most important qualities in any practitioner.  An example of leadership research might be for administrators to do a book study using a text that a principal has found beneficial in the past.  The study could be done over a allotted time period in which the group of administrators would meet on a regular basis to discuss. 

Management, like leadership, is an important quality amongst practitioners.  A principal might research different quality management techniques employed by large corporations to determine which ones might be most effective on a campus of over 250 staff members. 

School performance is one of the areas that is looked at very frequently.  Oftentimes this comes in the form of standardized testing or a rating system for a school.  A principal might organize a committee made up of teachers and administrators to determine effective methods of helping students that have failed the TAKS test. 

Social Justice is justice exercised within a society.  It is important for all faculty and staff on campus to understand differences in social classes and how they interact.  A good example of action research in social justice would be to determine whether students from a low economic background are given equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities.  Social justice is important in that it gives every student the equal opportunity to succeed. 

Blogs- USE THEM!

With the new advances in technology it would seem silly for us to remain in the 20th century!  Blogs can be one of the more beneficial methods for educators when it comes to improving as a professional.  Now all educators, administrators, parents, and students can share ideas and strategies when it comes to education.  With almost endless amounts of information, blogs can help improve all areas of education.

Action Research... The jist of it!

Over the past week I have had not only the wonderful opportunity to spend time with friends and family, but also to learn about the wonderful world of "Action Research."  I would like to provide a brief summary of what I understand this to be. 

As professionals we encounter numerous problems and deficiencies throughout the year.  These problems might be personal in nature such as trying to create an engaging project that students can do to learn about how cultures differ amongst Spanish speaking countries.  These problems can also be of a larger nature such as trying to raise standardized test scores amongst minority groups within a school or even a district.  No matter the scope of the problem action research can help provide active solutions.

What is action research?  Well, to be brief... it is the action of coming up with a well thought out plan that offers a solution to a given problem.  It oftentimes is not black and white in nature, but must be a work in progress that includes constant evaluation and reflection. While action research can be done at an individual level it can be more effective when collaboration amongst peers occurs.  Forming groups such as leadership teams, professional learning communities, or site-based teams are good ideas for sharing ideas and creating an infrastructure that allows for problem solving. 

Maybe the most important thing that should be remembered about action research is that it should be constantly ongoing.  This is not something that we as educators should put into practice only when problems arise.  This is a quality of expertise that should be a constant part of our daily practice.