Action Research Update

     My action research project is The Effects of Parental Involvement and Parental Instruction on Students’ Academic Performance.  I have begun the initial background part of this program but our framework for really starting the program is scheduled to begin in October.  I have analyzed our 2013 STAAR data for the current year’s 4^th and 5^th graders.  The students who have been identified as RTI or students who are in need of Math Intervention have been selected and assigned to me based on both district and RTI campus guidelines.  Throughout the month of September, my goal was to determine which students will be a part of my action research plan.  My principal and I want to make sure that we choose students and parents who will continue to work on the demonstrated strategies and teaching techniques at home.  I have researched a variety of other schools to have an idea of how they run some of their parental involvement activities.  This class has actually been a huge asset to me, as it has provided various websites and articles  at the end of class readings that have been a wealth of information.

     Within the next two weeks, I will begin calling parents and inviting them to work with me during school hours.  I have already spoken to several students about their parents work status to determine whether they would be able to come up during the day.  I have adjusted some times in my schedule that will allow for me to have only a few students in the room so that the parent can truly watch the instruction and eventually model instruction without intimidation by others in the room.  At this point I have completed about 8-9 hours on my action research plan.

Week 5 Reflection

As I began this course I thought this would be another typical research class that would involve me visiting libraries and online resources to accomplish yet another written task.  I quickly realized that action research was not the ordinary type of research that I envisioned.  It quickly excited me that I was going to be responsible for accomplishing a task that I was already planning on for this school year.  However, now it would be even better, as I would have to support it with more formal research as a solid background, data would be tracked more thoroughly, and formal graphs and information would be presented to the team.  In short, having to create this for school makes me more "on my toes."

This course did a good job of consistently building from the previous week's assignment.  I feel that the initial foundation for my plan has been built and thoroughly established.  We are lucky as a class that this course fell during the summer months and we can now implement our plans.

I love technology but was leery when I realized all the collaboration and feedback that was going to be necessary in this class. I am very open to feedback but I am not use to freely expressing my ideas to people I do not know, especially over the WORLD wide web.  However, I quickly learned the value of group collaboration.  The feedback that was given to me as well as seeing the formatting and ideas of others enabled me to be more thorough in my own action plan.

I have enjoyed this course and I am anxious to begin my plan!

Action Research Plan-Effects of Parental Involvement and Parental Instruction on Students’ Academic Performance

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIMELINE	BENCHMARKS/ ASSESSMENT	REVISIONS TO SIP/PIP MONITORING AND ASSESSMENTS
Increased Parental Involvement	During school and after school program that invites parents to the school.  Parents will learn how to instruct and work with their children on academic work in the math intervention classroom.	*Research the data    of increased    performance    with parental    involvement *Research    activities/    program that    other schools    have used to    increase parental    involvement *Choose struggling    students that will    benefit from this    program.  Focus    on lower 25%    and choose 15    students/parents    that will be able    to be involved. *Talk to their    parents to    ensure that they    will be able to be    involved and    come to school *Create schedule	*Research    ideas *Choose    students *Discuss and    collaborate    with    principal *Talk to    parents *Create    schedule *Collaborate    with    principal    again *All Respon-sibilities will be between the principal and myself.	September 2013- May 2014	*Unit Tests *Six Week Tests *Teacher informal    Assessments *Standardized State    Assessment **Create table and graph to display information each 6 week assessment period.	None at this point
Increased Student Achievement	*Same a    above	*Same as above * Utilize informal    assessments ,    software    programs, and    surveys	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	None at this point

SCHOOL VISION:  To achieve academic success for all students.

GOAL:  To improve parental involvement with student academics which will also create overall higher student academic achievement. 

Action research is an insightful tool that reminds us how beneficial change can occur.  It is an active approach that seeks to make a genuine difference and provide a solution to a possible problem.  Action research requires the participation of everyone that it affects; thus, making it practical and realistic.  The first step in action research is to reflect.  As educators, we are often overworked and have difficulty finding the time to complete all necessary and desired tasks.  We simply attempt to get through our “to do” list and do not have the time to truly reflect on our teaching and the needs of our students/school.  If we look at this from a learning perspective, we are only becoming “surface level” educators.  We are not truly learning from mistakes, colleagues, students,   and possibly other districts.  We are doing exactly what we teach our students not to do.  As educators, we attempt to develop creative, engaging lessons hoping that the students enjoy these and perceive learning as enjoyable.  We all know that if learning is enjoyable and positive, the students are more likely to become lifelong learners.  We continually encourage the students to learn a concept instead of simply going through the motions of memorization.  Contradictory to this, we are often going through the motions of our profession.  We do not take the time to reflect and learn from each other.  If we take more time to reflect, then we become overall better learners.  Reflection opens the soul and the mind to various problems that may exist.  We must take the time to reflect on the day, the lesson, the students, the school, and each other to continue to have a well balanced and successful campus.

 Since I am currently a teacher and department chair, I am going to reflect from that perspective and then incorporate that view into the entire school as though I might be the administrator.  Our math scores have seen a steady increase over the last few years with various changes we have made. It has taken several years, but we are excited about this.  After the second administration we are at 92% for our 5^th grade math.  We very much want all of our students to succeed so we are looking for the final piece to our puzzle.  We realize that we must think beyond the norm to accomplish this final challenge. Some of the action research that I am interested in would be:

1. The benefits of our new math computer programs

2. Inviting parents to come and observe their child in intervention classes so that the parents have a better understanding of how they need to help instruct their child at home. 

3.  This is also the first year that we will have a math interventionist on our campus.  This, too, might be an area of interest.

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There are many ways that an educational leader might use blogs.  Department chairs and team leaders can use blogs to communicate ideas and changes within their department, helping to create a more cohesive team.  Administrators can use blogs as a key source of communication among parents, teachers, and between other district administrators.  Teachers can use blogs to communicate with both students and parents.  Blogging is an important tool that allows reflection among all and the opportunity to better communicate concepts that a busy day might not allow time for.