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.