Course 2 Down...

This action research course has opened my eyes in both a positive and negative way.  After reading comments on the discussion board I have a feeling that I am not alone in how I feel.  Many of the comments I have read I can appreciate in my own situation.

The course has opened my eyes in a negative way because I can see how much I do not know and how much I do not understand.  The process of an action research is not what I expected it to be for the most part.  Another negative impact I have discovered is the fact that I am short on time to put into this.  As an acting principal, coach, husband, father I was already stretched thin.  Then I added the hat of being a student.  Now I will be working on classes AND an action research project.  My time management skills are going to have to improve in order for me to fulfill each of the duties for each of those responsibilities. 

The positives for me start with being exposed to the different methods of gathering input.  I was especially intrigued by the Delphi Method and the Force Field Analysis.  In trying to come up with ways to change the perceptions of others, I can see the force field analysis being very productive.  Knowing the road blocks to being able to implement new ideas and coming up with ideas around those road blocks ahead of time will be beneficial.  With the Delphi method, giving committee members a problem and allowing for anonymous contributions should help give me honest answers and allowing them to rank the ideas will help me see which ones they can get behind the easiest.  The nominal technique will be useful in trying to come up with the problems to address with to begin with.  Again, allowing the group members to rank the problems will help me to see the issues our school is facing that are causing the most damage. 

Another positive for me was discovering that I would be able to use the help of others in my action research.  I am relatively new to the community and being able to call on the people who have been in Paducah for years  will give me a wealth of information at my fingertips.  Being able to use other people also brings to mind, no pun intended, “Two heads are better than one.”  In this case, multiple heads are better than one.  Finally, it takes a village to raise one child.  For our school, it will take a community to raise our children and give them the education they deserve and to change the perception of the community members that has resulted in students leaving our district based off of incidents that happened in the past.

Finally, a  crucial part of this class has been the discussion boards.  Being able to read about the issues being faced by my peers has shown me that there are similar problems all across the state.  Being able to share these problems will allow us to see how others attack these problems and the results that they realize through their action research.   This will allow us an opportunity to see tested methods and modify them to be utilized at our own campuses.

Action Research Plan

Goal/Objective

The goal of this action research project is to help improve the perception of the school within the community and to increase the educational standards of the students.

Activities

The activities that will begin the project will include surveys and interviews, followed by data disaggregation, formation of committee to review data and plan implementation of recommendations, and finally reevaluation of school through surveys and interviews.

Resources

Surveys and interviews will be used to collect the majority of the data, standardized testing, and classroom evaluations.

Timeline

My initial time line is to use the remainder of this semester to plan effective surveys and interviews and then conduct them.  The summer will be used to review the data and plan for improvements.  The fall semester of 2012 will be used to implement the strategies used to improve the perception of the school.  The spring semester of 2013 will be used to reevaluate the perception of the school.

Persons responsible

I will be responsible for creating the surveys and interviews to be used.  A committee will be formed from students, faculty members, parents, community members and business leaders to review the data and to brainstorm ideas for improvement.  Implementing these ideas will include more people from these same subgroups.  Finally I will be responsible for the surveys and interviews at the end.

Process for monitoring achievement

Monitoring the achievement of recommendations could be as simple as visiting with our different stakeholders, data from testing, having stakeholders complete school report cards.

Assessment instrument

Interviews

Surveys

School report cards

Standardized Testing

Classroom evaluations

Choices, choices, choices

My plans for the action research have slightly changed after watching the video and after the past week and some of the issues that presented themselves. At this point in time I feel like I need to separate the issues of parental involvement and the perception of the school in the community. Both of these would present a challenge that needs to be addressed for our school to move forward and reach the potential walking our hallways daily. If I choose the parental involvement, I will be looking at the benefits of having a greater involvement on the individual students and on the school as a whole. I will also be looking at methods of improving the rate of participation by the parents. Teachers will benefit from having parents who have a greater awareness of what goes on at school and the needs of the teachers in having parents reenforce the lessons being taught. Students will benefit from having parents that are actually modeling the importance of an education - something that will have long lasting effects on the overall quality of life of the students. PARENTS will benefit by seeing their children more involved in their education. As a principal, I expect that I will see fewer repeat offenders in my office as parents are more frequently seen in the hallways. If I choose to do the community perception of the school, I will begin by surveying everyone that will answer - students, teachers, parents, business leaders - anyone! After going through the data and coming up with the "reality" of the school situation, coming up with a plan to address the areas of concern will help us plan on ways to improve. After implementing some of the changes, I will challenge those that were surveyed to come in and take an honest look at the school and evaluate the change that has taken place. In a small community, the coffee shop talk can make or break you. We have lost students due to this talk - which ultimately has cost the district much needed funds. I believe that this project could impact students by creating a better learning environment. Teachers will be affected because the community will have a greater sense of what they are accomplishing - not what they have been told, but what they have witnessed first hand. My goal is to stop the students who are leaving and hopefully have some of those that left return home. This would impact our funding which allows us to offer more for our students. In a grand dream, I hope that an improved school perception would attract people who are relocating to the area and possibly bring in business owners looking for a place to raise a family. My third option, based off of issues from the previous week, would be to research the impact of uniforms on the school day. For a small school, we have had more than our share of bullying. Our dress code is not enforced in a consistent manner. Can something like uniforms help eliminate these two problems AND have a positive impact on student success? I can see students benefitting from greater self esteem, higher achievement scores, and hopefully a more friendly learning environment for those students that have been viewed as different. Teachers would benefit from having fewer areas of the dress code to address and more time to focus on the teaching. I would benefit GREATLY because I would not be dealing with the issues of short shorts, shirts that are too revealing, sagging... I have never felt like uniforms were an answer until last week!

Administrative uses of action research

Administrators could use action research to unite a faculty in addressing issues that are preventing a campus from reaching its potential.  When the faculty is forced to work together on a local problem and research possible solutions, they will be invested in developing and implementing the strategies.

Action Research - Paving the way for school improvement

Action research is a process used to help the learning of students while simultaneously improving the skills of the teachers.  A group of educators would come up with a problem that needs to be addressed at the classroom, campus or even district level.   Researching possible solutions and analyzing data help the group focus on the most effective solution.  Following the research the group would share their results with a wider community.  I am looking forward to following the steps involved as I try to come up with possible solutions to the issues of parent involvement and public perception of the school district.  These two issues have a detrimental effect on the performance of our school.  I intend to use studies showing the positives of parental involvement as a basis for the research project.  Surveying the parents of our students, contacting other schools for ideas to help improve parent performance, and identifying measurable goals that can help show improvement made.  Improving public perception will benefit from a more informed group of parents that will begin to happen when the parents are more involved at the school.  A part of this process will be researching ideas of improving the perceptions of different groups - seniors, parents, business leaders.  This process could have a long lasting effect on our present students and our future students.