Action Research Plan

Sorry for the formatting issues, I was unable to post the table in correctly!

Goal: The goal of transition camp is to introduce incoming 9th grade students and their parents to the expectations of high school in order to increase success among all students.


Action/ Steps
1. Create a campus transition team
2. Hold a transition camp for students.
3. Hold an information night for parents and students.


Person(s) Responsible
1. K. Tuomey

2. K. Tuomey
K. Jackson
L. Newton
Transition Team

3. K. Tuomey
K. Jackson
L. Newton
Transition Team


Timeline
1. July 2010-August 2010
2. August 2010-May 2010
3. August 2010-May 2010

Needed Resources
1. I will email the entire staff and faculty on my campus and speak at our back-to-school professional development sessions in order to peak interest and gain volunteers.

2.
-Presenters (counselor, teachers, former 9th grade students, administrators)
-Presentation materials (optional packets, PowerPoint presentations, videos, etc.)
-Volunteers to serve as school tour guides
-A layout of the tour route.
-Donated give away prizes (school supplies, school spirit gear, etc.)
Several transition team meetings will take place prior to our first event in order to establish any further needs.

3.
-Presentation boards/powerpoint presentation/videos by each department and extra-curricular activity that would like to participate
-Volunteers to speak (members of the faculty and staff)
-Former student volunteers to provide a fashion show of expectations for Crowley ISD’s stardardized dress code
-Handouts of information
-Microphone and speaker

Evaluation
1. We will evaluate our team’s progress at the completion of the school year.
2. We will evaluate the smoothness of how the event worked and how effective it was in informing the students.
3. We will evaluate our success based on feedback, comments and concerns from all stakeholders, and at the end of the year their success rates (by how many credits were earned).

Assessment
1.We will evaluate ourselves based on the goals that we decide upon together at the beginning of the year. We will use a plus/delta method.

2.
-Feedback from students, transition team members, and other faculty and staff
-Plus/Delta transition team meeting
-Feedback from the counselor after class scheduling. This will tell us if the students are more informed about credits and expectations than in years prior.

3.We will take feedback from parents and students at the event, and will send out a questionnaire by email following the event.
Plus/Delta among transition team members.
At the end of the year we will compare credits earned by ninth grade students in comparison to the last two years.

Research: Week 2 Reflection

The second week of my Education Administration course, Research, has been an interesting one. I was given the opportunity to brainstorm on how I could use action inquiry (or research) to positively affect my campus. I came up with three things that I would like to learn more:

1. successfully transitioning 8th graders into high school

2. positive community mentorships for at-risk males

3. instilling cultural awareness on campus

Through much thought and guidance from my supervisors, I have decided that the area that I am most passionate about and that will most immediately impact my campus is the topic of transitioning students in to high school effectively.

I am interested to see what I find; I will keep you updated!

What I Have Learned About Action Reasearch Thus Far, Summer II: Research

This is the first week of my graduate class entitled, Research. The name of the class, I will admit, is a little intimidating. However, after my readings from this week, I have learned a lot about what action research or inquiry really is, and I am interested. Action research is a type of research that involves personal questioning and reflection in order to make changes and improvements. This can be done on a personal level by a teacher or administrator, or on a larger level by examining the school as a whole. Action research is different that the traditional research that we are all accustomed to, because it is done by the actual participants. For example, action research at a school would be performed by the teachers and administrators on the campus, rather than academic scholars and experts. I like this idea; to me, the real experts are the ones involved in the action everyday! I feel that I will be able to use action research based on my experiences teaching on a 9th grade campus. I want to understand what we, as teachers, administrators and parents, can do more effectively to help students make the difficult transition from middle school to 9th grade more successfully. The work load and rigor, along with the social and academic aspects of high school are vastly different that the prior 8 years of a students educational career, and the first year of high school often catches many students (and parents) by surprise. By researching what can be done to minimize the shock of the transition process, I think I could see a positive change in the amount of 9th grade students that receive credits for their 9th grade year, and therefore stay on track for high school graduation.

How Administrators Can Effectively Use Blogging, Summer II: Research

Blogging can be used in a variety of ways to communicate with stakeholders. It can enable administrators to relay information to teachers, parents and students, without dealing with the complicated computer science involved in managing a school website. This information could include the school's mission statement and goals, updates on the school's progress and state report card, expectations and TEKS for all courses of study, and general announcements such as yearly calendars, weather closures and sporting events. I also think it would be very neat to see a school administrator provide a weekly or monthly blog based on his or her opinions and sitings, updating stakeholders on what is going on at the school. A blog could also be used as an open forum for ideas and suggestions from stakeholders upon the administrator's prompting. This can be done safely on a blog, as posts can be viewed by the administrator before they are visible to others. There are many different ways to a blog could be used effectively by a school administrator!