Action Research Plan - Take 2

Okay - I know that I will make changes to this as I go through the process of data collection and data analysis.  I feel like I am working in a vacuum with this even though I know where to get the information.  Thanks for your feedback earlier.

As I go through this process, I realized (thanks to comments) that my first draft is just data analysis and I need to include the ACTION.  This is where I am struggling.  I know that there is more I can do from this starting point.  I just need to go through the process before I get there.  Several of the examples throughout the Dana text included questions or wonderings that turned into more action during the data analysis.
Question:  “Do students who are enrolled in CTE courses perform better on state and local assessments than their peers who are not enrolled in any of these courses?  What can CTE instructors do in their classrooms to enrich the student’s experience in the regular classroom and help increase state assessment scores?”
Goal:  To show that CTE courses enhance the learning experience in core classes and help student performance on state and local assessments.  Study will focus on freshmen (Class of 2016) and sophomores (Class of 2015) and their performance on EOC and local benchmarks.  Juniors and Seniors and TAKS testing will not be considered for this inquiry.
Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources:	Evaluation:
1.  Meet with counselor(s) to get list of 9th and 10th grade students enrolled in CTE courses.  Will look at students enrolled in one or more CTE courses for the fall and spring semesters for the current school year.  May be necessary to pull sophomore schedules from previous year as well.	B. Brandon School counselors	April 2013	Infinite Campus and counselor access to schedules.	Create database of students to be followed.
2.  Meet with all CTE instructors and explain inquiry.  Ask for cooperation and assistance in gathering data.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor	April 2013	List of students; copy of TEKS from each CTE course and from each Core class.	Meeting notes
3.  Meet with 9th and 10th grade core curriculum teachers and explain inquiry.  Ask for assistance and cooperation in gathering data.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor Campus Principal	April 2013	List of students; copy of TEKS from each CTE course and from each Core class.	Meeting notes – ask for benchmark results
4. Obtain local benchmark and state assessment (EOC) data for 2011-2012 school year. (10th grade only)	B. Brandon Counselor(s)	April 2013	Access to all CTE students in Aware (Eduphoria testing data)	Enter findings in database created for inquiry
5.  Create control group of 10th grade students not enrolled in CTE courses for 2011-2012 and record state assessment results	B. Brandon Counselor(s)	April-May 2013	Access to student data in Aware	Create another table in database for control group
6.  Create and distribute survey to CTE students about CTE courses and what they like/dislike about course.	B. Brandon CTE Instructors	April-May 2013	Access to student schedules (Survey Monkey – all CTE students have computer access)	Record results in database
7.  Read professional articles about CTE courses and benefits to student education.	B. Brandon	June-August 2013	Journals and online resources	Find and record thoughts about 5 articles pertaining to CTE and benefits of the program.
8.  Look at scores from 2012-2013 EOC exams for focus and control groups.  Compare to previous year’s results.	B. Brandon Counselor(s) Site supervisor	This depends on when score are available…maybe during summer 2013 or September/October 2013.	Test results	Enter data into database.  Compare to previous year and control group of non CTE students.
9.  Share results with other CTE and core curriculum instructors at faculty meeting or special meeting.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor Campus Principal	Once again, depends on score availability.  I will amend after talking to counselors.	Meeting time, test scores Power point presentation	Create database report and presentation to share findings with faculty.  Use literature review and students surveys to support findings.
10.  Survey core teachers about what CTE can do to help support CScope and core curriculum instruction.	B. Brandon Department Heads Campus Principal Curriculum Director Site Supervisor	November 2013	Survey Monkey	Share results with CTE instructors and curriculum director
11.  Using survey data from teacher survey, TEKS from core curriculum and CTE curriculum, develop collaboration/integration plan and groups.	B. Brandon Dept. Heads Curriculum Director Site Supervisor Campus Principal	November 2013-January 2014	TEKS, survey results, spreadsheet and databases	Put integration plan into action in select teachers’ classrooms.
12.  Monitor student success on benchmarks, course grades, and next year’s EOC results.	B. Brandon Counselors Site Supervisor	January 2014 – June 2014	Test results (Aware), report cards (access online – Infinite Campus)	Compare to original results from beginning of study.  Use charts and graphs.  Present to CTE instructors first for feedback.  Then present comparison to rest of faculty.  Get feedback.
This plan will be ongoing. Since our program is always reevaluated for federal funds, our contribution to student achievement is imperative.

Action Research Plan - 1st Draft (sort-of)

Ok - here is the first draft of my plan that I am willing to let anyone see.  I have been trying to do things the hard way on this blog and now I am frustrated.  Please give me some feedback and make some suggestions so I can do the revision.  I will post the final draft later this evening.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Question:  “Do students who are enrolled in CTE courses perform better on state and local assessments than their peers who are not enrolled in any of these courses?”
Goal:  To show proof that CTE courses enhance the learning experience in core classes and help student performance on state and local assessments.  Study will focus on freshmen and sophomores and their performance on EOC.  Juniors and Seniors and TAKS testing will not be considered for this inquiry.
Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources:	Evaluation:
Meet with counselor(s) to get list of 9th and 10th grade students enrolled in CTE courses.  Will look at students enrolled in one or more CTE courses for the fall and spring semesters for the current school year.  May be necessary to pull sophomore schedules from previous year as well.	B. Brandon School counselors	April 2013	Infinite Campus and counselor access to schedules.	Create database of students to be followed.
Meet with all CTE instructors and explain inquiry.  Ask for cooperation and assistance in gathering data.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor	April 2013	List of students; copy of TEKS from each CTE course and from each Core class.	Meeting notes
Meet with 9th and 10th grade core curriculum teachers and explain inquiry.  Ask for assistance and cooperation in gathering data.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor Campus Principal	April 2013	List of students; copy of TEKS from each CTE course and from each Core class.	Meeting notes
Obtain state assessment data for 2011-2012 school year. (10th grade only)	B. Brandon Counselor(s)	April 2013	Access to all CTE students in Aware (Eduphoria testing data)	Enter findings in database created for inquiry
Create control group of 10th grade students not enrolled in CTE courses for 2011-2012 and record state assessment results	B. Brandon Counselor(s)	April-May 2013	Access to student data in Aware	Create another table in database for control group
Create and distribute survey to CTE students about CTE courses and what they like/dislike about course.	B. Brandon CTE Instructors	April-May 2013	Access to student schedules	Record results in database
Read professional articles about CTE courses and benefits to student education.	B. Brandon	June-August 2013	Journals and online resources	Find and record thoughts about 5 articles pertaining to CTE and benefits of the program.
Look at scores from 2012-2013 EOC exams for focus and control groups.  Compare to previous year’s results.	B. Brandon Counselor(s) Site supervisor	This depends on when score are available…maybe during summer 2013 or September/October 2013.	Test results	Enter data into database.  Compare to previous year and control group of non CTE students.
Share results with other CTE and core curriculum instructors at faculty meeting or special meeting.	B. Brandon Site Supervisor Campus Principal	Once again, depends on score availability.  I will amend after talking to counselors.	Meeting time, test scores	Create database report to share with faculty.
Inquiry will probably change at this point and will develop into something else pertaining to curriculum and CTE courses.

Format for template provided by Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

UGH!

I did not post anything on my blog last week and I am behind this week.  I hope I get everything completed for tonight.  I didn't get to attend the web conference and I still have not had time to watch it.  I should have asked for an extension.  I can do this!  I can do this!  I can do this!  Dorothy had to click her heels three times, right?  Penny always answers the door after Sheldon knocks three times so surely I will get done sometime this afternoon.  Please come back later and comment on my blog that will contain my action research plan.

Action Research - What is it?!?

First of all - the title for my blog is a little cheesy, but I think that's because I was more than a little stressed out when I created the blog.  So, please try and get past the title and feel free to offer any advice you can think of as we go through this process.

What have I learned about action research?  I like to think I am someone who uses common sense more often than not.  As I read through the Dana text, the journal article, the Harris text, and the Martin text, I realized that I do an informal version of action research in my classes on most days.  The students vary in ability in my classes and I am constantly making adjustments to learning styles and teaching style even within the same class period.

I have decided that I want to focus my action research project on determining the correlation between students enrolled in CTE courses and their performance on the EOC exams.  Obviously there will be more to it than that, but that is my jumping off point. 

Here are a couple of the obstacles I will need to overcome to successfully complete this project:

1. Time management.  One of the main points that stuck out as I read the reading is this is something you take on in addition to other parts of your job.  As I am writing this, I am thinking about the grades that are due that I have yet to enter as well as the weeks of lesson planning that I need to get done.  I also am thinking about UIL, prom, and any other commitment I have made.  Oh yes - and the rest of this master's program!
2. Cooperation and buy-in from my peers and administrators.  My site supervisor is not on campus with me, but she is the CTE Coordinator for our district.  We work closely together, but I will also need the cooperation and collaboration of the campus principal, the counselors, and the teachers who are preparing the students for these exams.  Because I am not a core teacher, I do sometimes feel isolated. I don't know much about CScope or the EOC, and I want to use this inquiry to broaden my knowledge base so that I can be a leader and learner at my campus. 
3. Being in charge of my own learning.  I want to make a difference.  I want to help my students and my colleagues, but sometimes I doubt my ability and/or my impact on others.  If they don't care, why am I doing this?  I do not want to have this attitude.

As apprehensive as I am about this process, I look forward to what I learn and how our school can use this information to improve student performance.

How can educational leaders use blogs?

As I created this blog, I realized I had created a blog several years ago to use in my classroom, and for whatever reason never posted a thing.  Not a single word!  I don't recall what my plan was with the blog at that time, but now I realize I should have used it to post assignments, remind students about project due dates and upcoming quizzes and tests, get student feedback on projects, and share with parents the success of their students.

An administrator or educational leader can use a blog in the same way.  He or she can post announcements for staff, recognize student and teacher achievement, post pictures of events, and also use the blog to keep the community updated about projects and happenings at the school.  An educational leader can also use a blog as his or her journal.  Being able to reflect on decisions made and get feed back from others (if an open community blog) keeps the educational leader from feeling isolated.

Leadership groups or PLC's could create blogs to keep members up-to-date, post reminders of deadlines, and comment about the progress of the project.  Also, members can post links to journals and other literature that would be helpful on the project.

Blogs can be used in a variety of ways.  Some may be restricted to certain members (such as a class blog) and others can be public.  

I hope you enjoyed this very technical entry to my blog.  Please feel free to comment.  Constructive criticism is welcome - negativity is not :)