Update on Action Research Plan

One of the biggest concerns that we currently have on our campus is a negative culture and climate among the students and a negative impression of the school by parents and other members of the community.  The students do not have much pride in their school and this attitude has a trickle down effect that causes the parents and community members to have a negative impression.  In truth, the bad reputation is not deserved, we have been a recognized campus for the past three years.  After discussing this concern with my site supervisor, we decided that it would be a good idea to figure out how to turn things around.  As a coach, I have noticed that my athletes seem to have more school pride than my students who are not involved in any extracurricular activities so I have decided to research whether or not this is actually the case.  I will also be researching how participation in extracurricular activities influences a students academic performance.  In order to determine this I will be comparing the grades and standardized test scores of students who are involved in at least one extracurricular activity with those who are not involved in any.  In addition to this comparison of test scores and grades, I will also be conducting surveys of mine and other teacher’s students in order to guage their level of school pride and how that correlates to their participation in extracurricular activities.  I will also try to determine whether or not there is a connection between how connected a student feels to the school community or their sense of school pride and how well they perform academically.  At the conclusion of my project, I hope to find that academic performance and sense of school pride are strongly connected to participation in extracurricular activities.  If this is the case, a follow up project would be to find ways to get more students involved in extracurricular activites.  So far I have not been able to get much work done on this project, mainly because I need to get standardized test results and end of year grades which will not be available for another couple of months.  The hours that I have gotten so far have been focused on developing the surveys that I will administer to students and identifying students who are involved in extracurrilcular activities.  The majority of my research will be completed in the summer when I have access to things like grades and standardized test scores.

Action Research Plan

OUTCOMES		ACTIVITIES		RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED		RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT
Investigate previous research on this topic		Literature review		Books or articles about this topic		Myself	Complete action research by April 2014	Finish the literature review by August 2013.
Determine the effects of participation on a student's grades.		Collect and analyze data regarding student grades.		Grade reports, spreadsheet software		Myself, Academic Dean, site supervisor	Complete action research by April 2014.	Finish collecting data by August 2013, analysis of data by December 2013, and final report by April 2014.
Determine the effects of participation on pass/fail rates on standardized tests.		Collect and analyze standardized test data.		Test data, spreadsheet software		Myself, Academic Dean, site supervisor	Complete action research by April 2014.	Finish collecting data by August 2013, analysis of data by December 2013, and final report by April 2014.
Determine how participation in extracurricular activities affects a student's sense of belonging to the school community.		Collect and analyze data from student surveys.		Student surveys, teacher volunteers		Myself, teacher volunteers, Academic Dean, site supervisor.	Complete action research by April 2014.	Finish collecting data by August 2013, analysis of data by December 2013, and final report by April 2014.

EDLD 5301 Week 2 Reflections

I found this weeks assignment to be most helpful in the area of identifying possible action research topics.  I had a few ideas in mind but seeing the many examples that were detailed in the textbook gave me many more ideas.  Many of the ideas may not have been suitable as is for use on my own campus but I could make a few small adjustments to make them fit the needs and concerns at my school.  One of the most important things that I think I learned this week was presented both in our introductory video by Dr. Arturbury and Dr. Jenkins and by Dr. Briseno in his video, which is the idea that we do not have to try and find completely unique research that has never been done before.  Some of the most effective action research projects involve taking research that was done elsewhere and applying it to the needs of one's own campus.

How can educational leaders use blogs?

Blogs can be a useful tool for educational leaders to communicate important information and especially to publish results of action research to all stakeholders.  Action research by itself is not enough to create needed change.  The findings must be implemented and all stakeholders should be in support of the changes in order for them to have the best chance of succeeding.

What is action research?

Action research is a systematic approach that a principal or other educator can take toward solving the problems that they face on their campus.  This approach should involve some sort of data collection and analysis that can be used both for identiying problem areas and finding solutions to those problems that will lead to improved performance among the teachers and students on the campus.  Action research is different from traditional forms of educational research in which most of the research is done by individuals who are not directly involved.  This leads to general "one size fits all" solutions which are not specific to any particular problem or demographic.  Action research allows the researcher (who also happens to be one of the individuals with the greatest level of concern for the problem areas being researched) to develop solutions that are tailored to meet the specific needs of the school or district which he or she serves.  The researcher also has a high degree of interest in making sure that the changes are implemented in order to improve the problem areas which increases the likelihood of success.  I plan on using action research as part of my internship project which will likely deal with one of the problems currently facing my campus which is a negative culture and climate.  I plan on researching ways to improve the culture and climate on our campus and also how to make the changes known around the community so that the overall image and reputation can improve.  Furthermore, I plan on using the process as I progress in my career.  I plan on moving into administration once I am finished with my masters and I am sure that I will use action research on a regular basis when confronted with problems on my campus.