Action Plan

 

 

 

Goal: To find a correlation between the educational levels of a student body’s caregivers and the student body’s academic success and provide a means for improvement.

 

                                      Person(s)               Timeline:                Needed                

Action Step(s)              Responsible           Start/End              Resources              Evaluation

1. Goals and Objectives- To use data concerning the educational level of the primary caregiver and the academic success level of the caregiver’s dependents to form a comparative data set reflecting academic success’ dependence on parental influence. This comparative data will then be used to create a program to help the caregiver to be able to provide needed assistance in the household.	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	November 12, 2012/ July 2013	Surveys-used to request information concerning the level of education the primary caregiver has achieved, spreadsheet for data collection, informational resource packets designed to assist caregivers in helping their dependents in the household. Campus location for meeting of caregivers to introduce idea and have them complete survey or schedule an interview.	Comparing grade data from the first half of the 2012-2013 school year to grade data from the second half of the 2012-2013 school year to note whether there has been an improvement in overall averages after parents have been informed of different study methods and techniques.
2. Activities to help achieve objectives- Data will be obtained from caregivers through surveys and interviews, parental impact meeting to complete surveys as well as schedule interviews and discuss the importance of home support of dependents. Distribute the resource “The Teaching Parent” to attending caregivers. Data concerning students will be collected from school databases. Only students who can be matched with data from their caregiver to form a complete data set will be utilized.	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	January 2013	Location to conduct meeting, snacks or meal, students to help (ask student council for volunteers)	N/A
3. Collect data from the end of the second half of the school year concerning students academic scores.  Analyze data collected from caregivers and students to form a growth chart for the first half of the school year compared to the second half of the school year	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	May-July 2013	Time	Use data to determine usefulness of educating caregivers on different methods to help their dependents with at home learning.

Template used is from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools, Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Julie Combs Copyright Eye On Education

Oh man, it's week two...

                Action research, it's not just for doctorates.

     Until I started this class, I had never even heard of the term "Action Research." Now every time I hear it, I think of a superhero. It takes someone with a lot of commitment, drive, and will to take on things such as writing an action research project. Not just because it requires constant and persistent work, but because it means that they are willing to "put it out there." Taking the time to research ideas to help our kids and then just throwing them out there for all to see and criticize, well, gutsy. I hope that I can get it right.

     During this assignment, I have learned that it isn't just something that a select few should try. Even if you are not wanting to create a multi-chapter dissertation based on research, anyone and everyone in the educational community should be willing to take a good hard look at what they or their district is doing and see if there is a way to make it better. Just think, what if you could be the one to make a difference in not just your students' life, but the whole campus or district. Wouldn't it be worth it to make the world a better place? Yeah, cliche, again. We all should be willing to take the time to at least look around at others' research and see if there is a way to "make it better." After all, we love these kids, lets do more for them.

Beans Blogomatic #1, Action Research

My encounters with action research have been brief, but in these encounters I have learned a couple of things. One is that I’m not necessarily doing it right, and two, I’ve already begun to do it. The “it” that I speak of is, of course, action research. At the moment, I am currently a member of a PLC (Professional Learning Community) as well as a campus leadership team. Which brings us to the part about what I’m not doing right, as part of the PLC, I feel as though I have been taking it too lightly. Dufour reminds us in his 2002 book Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities, that “Simply changing the structure of a school will not produce fundamental changes. The culture, the belief system of a school, must also change.” I have been avoiding the almost overwhelming idea that the whole culture of my school must be changed. Through action research however, I have come to the realization, that my denial is one of my problems. As far as the campus leadership team is concerned however, understanding how action research works a little better has brought me to believe that I am on the right track as part of this committee of collaborative efforts.

I feel as though having a blog as an educational leader would be beneficial in that it has the power to give insight as to what is taking place in the school. So much of what the principals, superintendents and other administrators do is seen as “behind the scenes” to so many of the stakeholders within the district community. Something as simple as sitting down at the computer a couple of times a week and putting out a few words on the schools website has so much power and can make anyone within the district feel enlightened.