Regalado's Ramblings about Action Research
Monday, April 1, 2013
Update on Action Research Project 4-1-13
I chose this topic because we are piloting this program on my campus this year. We are only using two teachers this year. A second and third grade teacher. The second grade teacher teaches the Language Arts, Reading and Social Studies component for the second and third graders. The third grade teacher teaches the math and science for both second and third grade students. For the most part, the survey results were mostly positive for both teachers. The teachers enjoyed the fact that these students belonged to the both of them. Whenever intervention strategies had to be completed or implemented, they felt they had a partner to collaborate with about every aspect of that student. When a serious issue or concern had to be presented or confronted to a parent, they would do it together. By doing this they felt they had an even bigger voice and parents were always acceptable of their concerns when two teachers approached them about the same issue and both provided documentations of concerns whether it was academic or behavior.
Some of the concerns they voiced were in regards to grading procedures. In our district, the minimum grades allowed are six per subject. Of course, they recommend more to have a broader representation of that child, but having six grades is acceptable. The teacher that teaches math and science is required to have a minimum of 12 grades. The teacher that teaches three subjects is required to have 24 grades per students. You’d think it should 18 grades since it’s three subjects. The component of Language Arts has four subgroups, composition, grammar, spelling and handwriting. Each of these requires at least three grades. One way I thought of fixing this problem or making it a little even is to require the math and science teacher to have at least 12 grades per each subject so that this situation can seem fair and balanced.
For the most part, the teachers love this teaching arrangement. Next year on my campus, all of the second and third grade teachers will be participating in this teaching arrangement. As far as benchmarks and STAAR test results, I am still gathering data on that. They won’t take STAAR until later in April so we will have to wait and see how much more successful the students were that participated in this model.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
5326-Posted After Graded
Week 2 Assignment, Part 1: Gathering Data
To complete Part 1 of this assignment, answer the questions
provided.
Current Reality: Identify a current student
issue or need that interferes with academic achievement at your school. Cite
data that supports the need. This could be data that relates to academic
achievement, student attendance, discipline, or other sources. Look at trends
of data and disaggregated data, where available.
One
current issue on campus is that we did not meet our Annual Yearly Progress
requirement. We did not meet this goal due to our reading growth. For awhile, we struggled in math and focused
a lot our energies and resources on that and although I feel that we didn’t
forget about reading, now we are struggling with reading. The data that I
used was the yearly report by TEA and NCLB report for our campus. I am on the
Campus Improvement Committee and we looked and analyzed the data at our
meetings.
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Vision: How
will the family-school-community partnership that you are proposing resolve the
issue by meeting the demonstrated need, and how will it support student
achievement?
I
am proposing to improve a partnership that we already have on our campus. On
week one’s assignment, I mentioned, “Second Cup of Coffee.” These are monthly
parent meetings that provide parents information on various school-related
topics. Topics recently presented include,
making nutritious snacks and learning what is bullying. We’ve had topics related to reading, but I
am proposing that we have more topics that provide more insight on reading
and the different aspects of reading.
We will teach parent the different terminology related to
reading. Provide informational list or
brochures and include different resources on that topic as well. This will support student achievement by
equipping parents with knowledge and skills that they can reinforce with
their children and thus supporting student achievement on our campus.
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Week 2 Assignment, Part 2:
Initial Partnership Proposal
The first step in
establishing either a new family-school-community partnership, or strengthening
an existing one, is to clearly articulate your idea. While your idea will
probably evolve as stakeholders contribute their perspectives, you will use
this assignment to solidify your initial concept.
To
complete this assignment, fill out the chart.
Describe the need for
the new or improved school-community partnership. Summarize the strategies/
activities you are recommending.
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Our campus failed
to meet the AYP requirement due to reading scores. As a result, I am proposing to strengthen
an existing program. I am recommending that we incorporate more strategies
directly related to improving reading and comprehension skills. We have
monthly parent meetings where parents can come learn about different
school-related topics. I propose that in each meeting we teach and discuss
one reading/comprehension strategy and tell parents the reason as to why
there is a big focus on reading. At each monthly meeting we can discuss one
skill and provide examples as to what it looks like across grade-levels. Grade level chairs and or Reading
Specialist teachers can provide materials and resources that parents can take
home and begin to use and support their child/children at home. We will also reiterate the fact that we are
doing the same thing in the classroom.
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Reference
the research that supports the strategies/ activities you are recommending.
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All of the readings
that I’ve had to complete state the importance of family involvement and the
direct correlation to student success. In this week’s reading, “Critical
Issue: Creating the School Climate and Structures to Support Parent and
Family Involvement,” it states that “Evidence shows that there is a strong
connection between parent and family involvement in schools and children’s
academic achievement, attendance, attitude, and continued education.” Joyce
L. Epstein also states that good family and school partnerships lead to
school improvement and student success.
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Compose
three or more measurable goals for the school-community partnership.
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How will the school-community
partnership increase student achievement?
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Parents will be better equipped in how to
increase and improve reading skills for their child. The relationship between teachers and
parents will strengthen and thus help improve student achievement.
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Identify the school-community partnership’s stakeholders.
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The stakeholders
are the school, teachers, community, parents and students.
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What
are the steps to approval and implementation of the partnership? What are
possible sources of funding?
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What
resources are required for the partnership?
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Most of the
resources that are required for these proposed activities have already been
established since I plan on strengthening an existing program. The resources needed to effectively
implement are input from teachers from all grade levels. Help from reading
specialists in drafting good, solid, and researched based reading improvement
strategies for all the grade levels and all types of readers. Parents will also be needed to provide
input for the reading plan/draft.
Also, parents will need to implement these skills at home.
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How will you market your
school-community partnership idea?
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I will use what we
have in place already. About a month
to three weeks before the actual date, a letter is sent home explaining the
next topic for discussion. The parent
then reserves their spot. This helps
ensure that our campus has enough materials at the meeting and also to be
sure we have enough coffee and pastries for all attending. For the new topic of reading skills and
strategies, I would send out a message to parents (we have instant messenger
that sends a prerecorded message to their phone), to be on the lookout for
attending this meeting so that they can provide input in devising a
comprehensive reading plan to help ensure reading improvement and success for
all grade levels on our campus.
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How
will you evaluate your partnership’s outcomes?
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I will use the
parents attendance at the, “Second Cup of Coffee,” that will be used to
implement these strategies.
I will use monthly
results from reading I Station in English and Spanish. Results from district benchmarks and
results from teacher Progress Monitoring will also be used.
After several
months, we will send a survey to parents and teachers to see if they felt
this program/process was successful.
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
Final Reflections on Action Research Course
Final
Reflections:
I
truly have enjoyed this course and have learned so much in these past five
weeks. At first I thought, that online
college would be difficult, but I find that I have learned a greater deal
than I did when I took a masters course in a building. Not to say that that was not great, I just
find this online class more interactive. Using the blogs and discussion
boards, email and even face book, I feel that I have connected and
communicated with a large amount of students and professors.
I
enjoyed all the lectures, but the ones that stood out were the ones from Week
two. Principal Johnny Briseno from
Angleton ISD really made an impression on me and served as a great model
implementing an action research situation.
He seemed totally available and approachable for all his teachers. Mr. Briseno mentioned to use the internet to
help aid in solutions for problems that may arise on your campus. The solution may not be an exact fit, but
at least will guide you in knowing what worked and what did not work for some
campuses. Basically he was talking
about the transfer-ability of previous research inquiry without actually using
those words. I took his advice and did
a Google search on my action research inquiry. I found some interesting dissertations related
and unrelated to my topic that I plan to use in my inquiry research.
The
web conferences were a huge help as well.
Questions were answered promptly and the sessions felt very intimate
and like we all knew each other as if we were in the same physical classroom. Being able to discuss what we were doing
made the assignment more clear.
What
I have learned from action research is that it is a cyclical method and that even
though you may get to a stopping point, your research doesn’t end. One may choose to research another aspect
that has come up and/or begin researching another pondering. In learning
about action research, I realized that my principal has done this on several
occasions and is still doing this. I learned that the most important thing an
administrator can do is to build an inquiry stance. Not so much to complete one or two action
research inquiries, but to make inquiry a part of administration.
The
discussion boards and blogs provided great insight as to what others were
doing and the unique and universal situations going on at their campuses. It also provided opportunities to have colleagues
comment and question our positions.
This helped make our stances or beliefs stronger and clearer. It was fascinating to see how suggestions
helped and refined our action research plans to be the best that they can be.
I
felt that the assignments followed a sequential order and built on what was
previously learned. The textbooks for
this course were very easy to follow and read. I plan on keeping these textbooks and putting
them in my professional library. I am
excited about continuing my action research plan full force and this course
has provided me the tools to do just that.
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
Tool 8.1 CARE Model: Planning Tool
Identify Concerns that must change (look to
the future)
(Assign points to concerns from 1 to 3 in the
order of the most important issues to consider.)
1. Teacher’s negativity toward a different model of
teaching. Teachers would be teaching two
grade levels, but only two subjects, for example, Language Arts/ Social Studies
or Math and Science.
2. Teacher’s concern over what grade level they have to
teach.
3. Concern over how many parts/sections each subject has,
for example, writing has four sub groups of grades that need to be assigned.
Identify Affirmations that must be sustained
(look to the present)
(Assign points to affirmations from 1 to 3 in
the order of the most important issues to consider.)
1. The belief that
we do what is best for the children and not necessarily the grown-ups.
2. Positive working relationships with colleagues helps make
this model more efficient. The teachers piloting this model this year have a
great relationship professionally and personally.
3. For the most part, the staff has a positive working
relationship and must maintain those relationships to allow this model to be
successful.
SMART Recommendations that must be
implemented:
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant,
Timely)
(Assign points to recommendations from 1 to 3
in the order of the most important recommendations to implement.)
1. In teaching multiple grades, allow teachers to have one
of those grades be a grade-level that they are currently teaching.
2. I will look at benchmark data and curriculum assessments
to see how these students are performing compared to classrooms that are not
using this model.
3. During faculty meetings, allow for concerns and ideas to
resolve any issues that may arise using this model.
EVALUATE – Specifically and Often
(Identify the best ways to evaluate the
implemented recommendations.)
1. One way to evaluate
would be to look at benchmark testing and assessments.
2. Provide online
surveys to provide another avenue to voice concerns.
3. Provide parent
and student surveys and/or interviews to see what the public and intended
audience thinks about this model.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Action Research Plan
Action Planning Template-Maria Regalado
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Goal: To find
out if students perform better academically with the implementation of a
multiple grade-level departmentalization model.
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Action Steps(s):
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Person(s) Responsible:
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Timeline: Start/End
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Needed Resources
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Evaluation
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Survey teachers on my
campus about how they feel about this model.
Survey other teachers in another campus that implemented this model
campus wide this school year.
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Maria Regalado
Wendy
Williams-Principal and Site Supervisor
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February 2013
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Online Survey such as
Survey Monkey.
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Compare results with
the results of the two teachers that are piloting this model this school
year.
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Decide which teachers
and grade levels to follow/research from other campus. Will definitely research and follow the two
teachers participating on my campus.
Decide on other
methods of receiving and analyzing data.
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Maria Regalado
Laura
Ledbetter-colleague
Rebekah
Jones-colleague
Principal and Site Supervisor,
Wendy Williams
Assistant Principal,
Jo Morast
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March 2013
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Permission or approval
required from other campus’ principal.
Survey-for other
campus teachers
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I will choose grade
levels that are administering STAAR tests as well as grade levels that are
not. The two teachers on my campus are doing 2nd and 3rd
grades. So they both are dealing with a STAAR grade level and one non-STAAR
grade level.
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Begin collecting data
on students on my campus. Teachers and
administrators will provide results from Benchmarks, Curriculum-Based
Assessments and I-Station.
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Maria Regalado
Laura Ledbetter
Rebekah Jones
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March 2013-April 2013
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Printouts from class
summary reports from various tests and diagnostic measures.
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Using the various
summary reports, decide any specific areas/subjects to research and follow.
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Continue analyzing
data from the participating classrooms. Analyze data and interview
participating teachers to discuss any other issues or feelings that have come
up now that STAAR test is about to be administered.
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Maria Regalado
Laura Ledbetter
Rebekah Jones
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April 2013
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Interviews from
teachers and possible surveys if needed using Survey Monkey.
Student interviews and
conversations.
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How is this model
affecting teacher feelings as the STAAR test is nearing administration? Have
students voiced any concerns?
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Compare STAAR results
of students in the departmentalized model and the results of the students in
the traditional classroom setting if the results are available at this time.
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Maria Regalado
Laura Ledbetter
Rebekah Jones
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May 2013-June 2013
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STAAR Results
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Analyze and document
results from STAAR. Are there
measurable differences in the findings?
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Provide a questionnaire
for students and their parents that participated in the departmentalization
model.
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Maria Regalado
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May 2013
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Survey/Questionnaire
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Compare parents and
student views/feelings on this model.
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Plan strategies for
long term research since this model will more than likely be implemented on a
larger scale or even campus wide for the 2013-2014 academic school year.
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Maria Regalado
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June 2013-July 2013
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Results from surveys
and interviews.
Classroom summary
results.
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Compare pros and cons
of this model. What adjustments could
be made before implementing campus wide?
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