Action Research Update

How do we improve special education student’s performance on district wide Texas History assessments? As a former Texas History teacher I saw a huge gap in performance between my special education students and my general education students. This gap only increased as the year went on. Many of my special education students stopped trying, because they felt that they were so far behind. I began to work with a few of my special education students individually and I noticed that their performance in my class improved. Because of this I began to believe that my special education student’s performance on district wide assessments would improve with extra help in this subject area. From doing research tier III of RTI is implemented to help keep students from being referred for special education services, but I believe that it can help students that have already been referred. I have implemented mandatory tutorials for a group of my special education students to see if extra help will close the gap in performance between special education students and general education students. I also provided these students with additional study material to help improve their scores on district wide assessments. This project had two purposes for me, it was intended to satisfy the requirement of an action research topic for this course, and to also help me improve instruction for this sub population. I believe that I succeeded in my goal of not only coming up with an action research topic, but also improving instruction. As a current assistant principal I have used the data gathered in my action research project to help make decisions on how to best improve performance of my students now.

Action Research Draft Plan

GOAL: How do we improve special education student’s performance on district wide Texas History assessments?

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
Find special education students that struggle on Texas History district wide assessments.	Study previous assessment data to find students to target.	Raw assessment data gathered through school net.	Thurman Brown	March 17, 2012	Six weeks district assessments from the current school year.	Possibly look at performance on classroom assessments not created by the district, but by the teacher.
Select ten students to participate in action research.	Select ten students from my list of special education students that struggle on district assessments.	School net assessment data.	Thurman Brown	March 18, 2012	I will choose students based on failing two or more district assessments.	Possible adjustment of the number of students used depending on parental consent.
Get consent of parents and students to participate in tutorials.	Ask parental permission for students to attend tutorials and notify them of the days that tutorials will be held.	Parents/Students, parent contact information.	Thurman Brown	March 18, 2012	Explain student performance on previous assessments to parents in order to gain consent for their child to participate in mandatory tutorials.	Choose other students based on parental response.
Teacher assesses where students need help the most.	Students are given a pretest to assess their areas of weakness.	Computer, assessment created based on the TEKS.	Thurman Brown	March 19, 2012	Assessment given to get a starting point for tutorials.	Modify the test based on the students selected.
Students are present and ready to receive extra help.	Begin tutorials.	Textbook, previous district assessments.	Thurman Brown	March 22, 2012	Verbally assess if students are grasping the concepts.	Ask the students what will help them to succeed.
Students show progress from the starting point.	Assess student progress.	Computer, assessment created based on the TEKS.	Thurman Brown	April 6 , 2012	Students’ scores have improved since the pretest.	Adjust strategies used based on assessment.
Students feel more prepared and confident in their ability to pass the assessment.	Administer six weeks district assessment.	District assessment.	Thurman Brown	April 13, 2012	District six weeks assessment.	Monitor students while completing the test to see if they seem confident in answering questions.
Students’ performance has improved since the last assessment.	Disaggregate data from assessment.	Computer, school net,	Thurman Brown	April 14, 2012	Identified students’ scores have improved from the last assessment.	Evaluate questions missed by sample group to judge the quality and clarity of questions.
Continue to work with students on improving test scores.	Mandatory tutorials	Textbook, review materials.	Thurman Brown	April 16,2012	Students can complete review material with at least 70% accuracy.	Increase the number of morning tutorials based on the needs and performance of the students.
All sped students involved in this research will pass the district semester exam.	Administer semester exam	Semester exam.	Thurman Brown	May 29, 2012- June 1, 2012	District semester exam.	Decrease the passing rate to 90%.
Students’ scores have improved.	Disaggregate data from semester exam.	Computer, school net.	Thurman Brown	June 1, 2012	All identified students have improved from the initial assessment.	Depending on passing rate present findings to principal for school wide implementation.

Week Two Reflection

This week was very informative for me in many different ways. After reviewing the videos for this week I learned how important research is in the field of education. I then began to reflect on how decisions are made on my campus, and this further made me truly understand the importance of research. I also heard a statement made on two of this week’s videos that caught my attention, and that was “don’t try and reinvent the wheel”.  This is a statement that I have heard many times throughout my life, but it really forced me to think about many of the things that I am currently doing in my classroom and in my coaching. I am a person that enjoys working really hard and at times I tend to make my job more difficult than it has to be. This statement caused me to stop and reevaluate some of the things that I have been doing.

How educational leaders might use blogs

I believe that educational leaders can use blogs in a multitude of ways. One way in which blogs can be used by a principal is weekly information blogs to staff. A principal could create a blog that only staff members have access to, and provide staff with all the information they need about events and issues concerning the staff for the upcoming week. Another way that blogs can be used is by creating a parent blog that allows administrators to keep parents informed about issues and events at the school. This parent blog would allow all parents to have access to up to date information without having to send out letters or mass phone calls to inform parents of different events at the school.

What I have learned about action research

Before starting this course I did not know much about research. I thought all research was the same, and it was the process of finding information about a specific topic. After reading the text for this course I was introduced to the idea of action research or administrator inquiry. Action research is the process of studying your habits and finding more effective ways in which to operate. This type of research allows for administrators and teachers to study what is going on at their campus, and find real solutions to these problems. Action research is different from traditional research because it does not utilize an outside expert to diagnose problems and generate generic solutions to those problems. Action research involves those individuals that are dealing with the everyday situations that occur on a particular campus, and allows them to diagnose the problems that are plaguing them, and work towards a solution to those problems. With traditional research an outside person finds issues that they perceive as problems, and direct staff towards a solution that may or may not work. Every school campus is different, and what may solve a problem at one campus may not solve the exact same problem at another. In my opinion action research is the equivalent of purchasing a handmade tailored suit versus purchasing a suit from a store rack. When purchasing a suit from a store rack it may fit you perfectly or it may not, but the handmade tailored suit will definitely fit you perfectly because it was made specifically for you.