Action Research Report
Abstract or
Executive Summary
I can’t complete until I have the results and conclusions
of my research study as the template suggests.
Title and Author
Student Retention of Science Concepts for Success on
the 8th Grade STAAR
Candace Davis
Introduction
/ Background (Section One)
My action research plan
is set up for a long and ever-changing collection of data through various
assessments. I first begin this plan last year when I realized that it was a
combination of the teachers and the students who were a part of the problem in
retention of science concepts. Things appeared stagnant and for a 2 year old
school it shouldn’t have been that way. I begin asking questions about some of
our extremely low performing kids because it was way to easy to say that it was
their environment at home that was affecting their production in class. I
remembered hearing about Quantum Learning methods and how it is changing the
face of teaching. It doesn’t necessarily change the student but instead it
changes the mindset of the teacher. During this summer long training they
talked about something known as your “circle of control.” They wanted us to
list all of the issues we had at school and then realistically look at it and
see what things we could control. It came to a about the same few things: you
can control your classroom environment, your attitude/mindset, and how the
students learn.
My action research plan
deals with a specific area of school performance. The STAAR is the new name for the testing
originally named TAKS. Although new, its testing windows still remain the same
and much more difficult for middle school science students. They are expected
to learn a wide curriculum but only test on a few “supporting standards” that
are visited in each grade level. Our school has found that the lack of
retention of 3 years of science information has caused STAAR test to only show
students strong in the concepts learned in 8th grade and weak in the
concepts learned in 6th and 7th grade. We begun
collecting precise data last year, implemented learning styles into our
lessons, and trained over the summer to ensure our students were in a
brain-based learning environment. My inquiry question is as follows:
- How
will the science department increase retention of science concepts from 6th
– 8th grade in preparation for the STAAR. Also…
- How
do we review and revise the current 6th and 7th
grade science curriculum in order to fit the needs of students
transitioning into middle school.
Data has already
started to improve with the implementation of brain based learning and class
incentives for success. We have begun what we would like to call “constant
review” meaning that no matter where we are in content, we will always take the
first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes of our class time to review previously
taught content. With the exclusion of one teacher, our scores were aligned with
the district passing percentage on the student formative assessment. However,
we did find that abstract concepts are proving to be the hardest for students
to hold on to. Students were tested on a previous concept (gravity) but only
received about 50% passing. We aren’t sure if it was the question or the concept
so we will be collecting data on gravity via small assessments throughout the
year.
Literature
Review (Section Two)
This
study helped me to understand the benefits of action research in several
different mediums.
Staff
Development
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
Staff Development is
required in most school districts. Teachers need to earn a set amount of hours
each year and action research takes this requirement a step further. It
systematically guides teachers and administrators into staff development that
is meaningful and productive for a set environment (i.e. classroom, campus, or
district). It creates a team of teachers and/or administrators that are
life-long learners. As long as teachers and/or administrators are growing through
self-reflection and data review with implementation, then it will serve as a
benefit to that class, campus or district. When teachers stop growing, so do
their students. (Dana, 2009)
Example(s)
of action research
Several examples are
listed in the text but I do want to include an example that our campus will be
implementing. The state of Texas has recently added a new law in education that
allows any student that fails to show mastery on an assignment the opportunity
to makeup that assignment until mastery is shown. Basically stated, if a
student fails an assignment for any reason they are now legally required to be
allowed an opportunity to redo it. Our campus first begun with an Academic
Standards Committee (ASC) which I joined. I joined the ASC because I already
had a redo policy put into place in my classroom. I felt that as a teacher, it
was extremely pompous of me to hold a worksheet or test as the “end all, be
all” of a student’s success. Was I grading them on mastery or was I grading
them on responsibility? It even goes further into any major, career deciding
exam such as the Bar Exam, MCAT, PRAXIS, or TEXES exam. We are allowed multiple
opportunities to redo these exams over and over until we show mastery, yet in
our classrooms we are willing to fail a student after once chance. The ASC was
formed by our Director of Instruction and was open to any and all teachers who
wanted a voice. We will then be taking it a step further and implementing a
book study for all staff members that involves them changing their mindset from
fixed to growth. Every year we plan to go back and review and implement
development that will develop our teacher’s outlook and cause them to
self-reflect. In order to create a smooth transition into the new redo policy
we realized that we must first look into ourselves as instructors and realize
that even students require a chance to have success.
Curriculum
Development
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
Conducting action
research in curriculum development serves as a great benefit because a good
curriculum is important in achieving success in education. By reviewing more
than 3,000 studies of student achievement, Fraser, Walberg, Welch, and Hattie
(1987) identified the quality of the curriculum as one of ten factors
influencing student achievement. (Dana, 2009)
Any good change in how students learn take place with reviewing data along with
the curriculum to see where changes can be made. It is usually the first thing
that is reviewed side by side with data.
Example(s)
of action research
A great example
involves something that has been coming to the forefront for years now.
Improving our environment so that future residents will have cleaner and
fresher living. A principal in Pennsylvania used her resources to help create a
curriculum that involved a yearlong Schoolyard Project at Park Forest
Elementary. She started by attending a course on field natural history with her
teachers and then devising a plan that allowed students to use the nearly 22
acres of wooded schoolyard as their laboratory. She lead the introduction to
the students with a PowerPoint and the reading of a book called Windows that
describes the changes to land over years by someone just observing out of a
window. 2.2). Classroom teachers then helped students collect and make sense of
their observational data over the course of the school year, thus meeting the
state standards. (Dana, 2009) Another
example involved a middle school principal in Florida who was challenged with
the change in the state standards that now required students to complete a
career-based class to graduate from middle school and enter high school. But
this principal was haunted by a tension developing between creating a
developmentally appropriate career-based curriculum course that would meet the
unique needs of young adolescents and fitting this newly developed course
within the already overwhelming curriculum demands at her school. Her wondering
became: In what ways can a career pathways curriculum be developed at my school
to simultaneously satisfy our state’s new requirement for career education,
meet the developmental needs of our middle school students, and integrate
seamlessly into our already established middle school curriculum? (Dana, 2009) My suggestion would be to allow
students the opportunity to choose them as an elective during their 7th
and 8th Grade year. Although it would be an elective course, it
would need to be listed as a requirement that all students take at least one
full year. It could be offered in rotations where students could even take one
career-based course in one semester and then travel into another career-based
course after Christmas Break in order to see the options that are available to
them in the not-so-distant real world.
Individual
Teacher(s)
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
Besides students,
individual teachers are the most important factor in a school’s success. Given
that people, not programs, determine the quality of schools, many principals
find their first wonderings by looking closely at individual teachers within
their buildings and ways they can serve as mentors for both new and veteran
teachers. (Dana, 2009) Teachers are
directly in the field every day and understand in-depth how their students run,
which students don’t have the necessary home support, how the students are
performing on a daily basis, and the list goes on and on. Conducting action
research in this area is a benefit because it gives administrators a direct
line into the inner-workings of their school.
Example(s)
of action research
I absolutely loved the
action research that was done that mentored veteran teachers, mid-career
teachers, and new teachers. While a typical assumption by many administrators
is that only new teachers need mentoring, “effective principals recognize the
importance of continued mentoring of teachers in mid-career” (Matthews &
Crow, 2003, pp. 94-95). Mid-career professionals have their own unique set of
special needs, including the challenges of remaining fresh and energetic as
teaching becomes more and more routine with years of experience and of
confronting a sense of urgency as they realize their careers are half over. (Dana, 2009) I am at the 3rd year mark of
teaching and I am still highly-motivated but often find myself looking for the
support that I hoped would develop as I got deeper into my field. I found that
I often had to go looking for it but also have noticed that other teachers deem
themselves as weak instructors if they have to ask for help or advice. Often, they
are left to the negative atmosphere of the teachers lounge to discuss their
issues and ultimately driven into a vortex of negativity that leads to the
death of their careers. It’s easy to give up when you look at the large picture
but implementing a way to mentor teachers every two years may be something I
also want to look into as my own action research plan. How do we hold onto
great teachers in our district? After two years of great support, your
ultimately left alone in your world and it is easily penetrable by the negative
factors that are out of our circle of control (i.e. budget cuts, increases in
Low SES, etc.). Sometimes allowing veteran teachers the opportunity to lead is
enough to spark their motivation. We often place young children with our senior
citizens and come to find out they both end up learning things about each other
and life that sparks their intrinsic motivation to stay positive and keep
pushing forward.
Individual Student(s)
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
The benefit of
conducting action research in the area of individual students is primarily led
by the fact that most individuals became an educator because of some drive to
change a child’s life and therefore will usually be the most motivated in this
area to see a change take place. All things are led by our students. From
data-driven research to AYP, the student is the most important factor in our
field. By adjusting to them we become powerful educators and administrators.
Example(s)
of action research
As a first-year
principal at Anderson Elementary School, Denee Hurst (2007) believed strongly
that to succeed in the principalship, one of the first things she needed to do
was to familiarize herself with the available data on every kindergarten
through fifth-grade student in her school. (Dana,
2009) The principal first begin with data that focused on students that did not
reach a certain goal on their annual acheivement test and begin to focus on how
to improve these students performance. She found that their struggle was in
reading and begin to focus her efforts on what students are doing in
kindergarten to help their retention. The kindergarten had a remediation
program but she begin to wonder how effect it is. My suggestion would be to
reach out to the community first. Perhaps send out a summer reading list, offer
1st time reader programs to entering kindergarten students and
parents, or possibly even initiate a pre-K program where students visit the
same concepts in reading that they will in kindergarten. Another great example
is principal Lynette Langford (2008) who noticed from the school’s discipline
reports that a large percentage of exceptional student education (ESE) students
were receiving out-of-school or in-school suspension as a consequence of discipline
referrals. (Dana, 2009) She led an entire plan that would require a lot of buy
in from the teachers. They hosted Friday and Saturday School for students.
After going back and inquiring they also adjusted Saturday school to include
parents which resulted in students having to stay in Saturday School for 2
hours with a parent instead of 4 hours by themselves. It gave students and
parents a chance to have ownership in their educational success, reduced the
number of referrals, and created an overal better climate and atmosphere for
learning and acheivement.
School Community/Culture
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
This hits home to me
because I remember my interview with the school I am teaching at now. A key
thing was said by our principal. Although they received children from areas
reputable of having troubled students with many behavioral problems, the
culture and climate created in that school somehow was molding and changing
these students to become better citizens. Beneath the conscious awareness of
everyday life in any organization there is a stream of thought, sentiment, and
activity. This invisible, taken-for-granted flow of beliefs and assumptions
give meaning to what people say and do. (Dana,
2009) The schools community/culture is probably the underlying factor to
any schools success in the transition into an action-research based school. Given
that school culture undergirds everything teachers and students in a school
building say and do, understanding school culture and reflecting on the role
one plays as principal in shaping it is critical to the success of the daily
functioning of a school. (Dana, 2009)
Example(s)
of action research
A great example of
action research comes from my very own school. We implement Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support (PBIS). PBIS has a committee of teachers who look at
discipline data and implement plans to improve this. For instance, last year we
recorded the hot spots for inappropriate activity that takes place in the
school. This year, each teacher is designated to stand in a certain hot spot
during passing period as students travel to their next class. It has done
wonders to prevent students from grouping in areas, fighting, and do other
inappropriate activities that can happen in middle schools. We have decreased
the number of hallway referrals by almost 75%! Another parallel example is the
use of the Responsive Classroom approach which is geared mainly for elementary
schools. It seems strikingly similar to PBIS where students have Morning
Meetings instead of Advisory Period in middle school. Morning Meetings consists
of gathering as a whole class each morning to greet one another, share news,
and warm up for the day ahead. (Dana, 2009)
After discovering through inquiry the previous school year that engagement in a
cross-school curriculum project helped students in her building meet the state
standards in science, environment, and ecology and, as a by-product, affected
her school community in a positive way, principal Donnan Stoicovy set out to
capitalize on the positive cultural outcomes the following school year by using
the Responsive Classroom approach and implementing Morning Meetings.
Leadership
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
The benefit of
conducting action research in the area of leadership is that leaders can get
extraordinary things accomplished in a class, campus, or district. Many
principals find the process of inquiry a prudent way to continue to explore and
develop their own leadership skills over the course of their administrator
lifetimes. (Dana, 2009)
Example(s)
of action research
A great example was led
by administrator Fran Vandiver and colleagues. A group of thirteen elementary,
middle school, and high school principals from the North East Florida
Educational Consortium began meeting on a monthly basis in support of each
other while implementing an important reading initiative that would become a
model for the entire state of Florida. (Dana,
2009) The most interesting part about this is that the principals
discovered the value in meeting together to solve problems and run ideas across
each other before implementing them. They ultimately led themselves down the
path to inquiry and/or action based research to help find new focuses that
needed the use of a collective group. Another great example is from principal
Amy Hollinger. She was attempting to define what a teacher leader was in order
to implement a “guaranteed curriculum” which meant that no matter what teacher
a student had, they would go on to the next grade level with a certain amount of
“guaranteed” knowledge. She realized she needed “expert” teachers in each field
to help guide this process and begin the inquiry process to be able to
determine what characteristics a teacher leader should possess. After much
reflection, some of the characteristics that came up repeatedly were:
collaborating with administrator, shared decision making, curriculum ownership,
student ownership, professional growth, high level of professionalism, focus on
student achievement, and teacher roles including choosing curriculum and
textbook materials, shaping the curriculum, setting the standards for student
behavior, making decisions about whether or not students are tracked into
special classes, designing and implementing staff development, setting
promotion and retention policies, and deciding school budgets. (Dana, 2009) She didn’t just focus on her teachers
but she also focused on developing herself as an administrator that was capable
of developing her teachers into teacher leaders. It’s a great example of action
research because not only did she study her school and it’s needs but she was
able to study herself and her areas of needed growth to reach her goal.
Management
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
I feel I will learn the
most from developing my own action research plan in the management area as well
because this is where I found throughout my self-reflection surveys to be my
area of much needed growth. The benefit of conducting action research in this
area is being able to find the balance between managing and leading. Although
these two are often separated, a great balance between the two creates a more
effective leader. Distinctions between management and leadership are useful for
theorists and help to clarify and sort various activities and behaviors of
principals. For practical purposes, however, both emphases should be considered
as necessary and important aspects of a principal’s administrative role. The
choice is not whether a principal is leader or manager but whether the two
emphases are in balance, and indeed, whether they complement each other. (Dana, 2009)
Example(s)
of action research
One example of a
wondering borne out of the managerial duty of “scheduling” for an administrator
comes from Amy Hollinger’s colleague at P. K. Yonge Developmental Research
School. As the assistant principal for the Middle School Division, Brian
Marchman had been intrigued for the past five years with how block scheduling
was playing out in the Middle and High School divisions. (Dana, 2009) I teach science and have often mentioned how having
the students in science for longer than 50 minutes would benefit their science
processing skills when it comes to conducting lab practices. Our district has implemented
block scheduling for the Language Arts and Reading but it was created in an
effort to save funds and reduce teacher jobs. I’m not convinced that it was
done to increase performance because it has never been an area our district has
struggled in. The teachers and administration of P. K. Yonge Developmental
Research School made the decision to restructure the schedule in which
instruction was delivered beginning in the 2000-2001 school years. They used
research to implement a later starting time that was more conducive to academic
learning for the age group they were working with; they reduced the number of
classes in high school from 7 to 6, and most importantly implemented a block
scheduling that allowed for three 100 minute classes instead of 50 minutes each
day. Five years later, it was revisited with a new action plan that served to
discover how middle school teachers were using the 100 minute class periods and
if it was a successful tool for student success.
School
Performance
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
This is the main area
of concern for most principals and conducting action research in school
performance would benefit the other 8 areas of wonderings for leadership
inquiry. It’s all a part of the ever growing accountability movement that
always wants to create a great separate education for each child, with no money
in the budget. It goes along with the change in our society where education is
now placed on the backs of principals and teachers who realistically are struggling
to provide these things with little to no funds (especially in Texas). The
expectation that the principal will lead the school to levels of student
achievement that are unprecedented for that school, for students from that
social background, for children for whom English is not their native language,
with budgets that are meager—all this seems to be the stuff of fantasy for the
principals in the vise. If the principal and faculty had known how to produce
unprecedented improvements in student performance before, they would have done
it. What, they want to know, makes anyone think they can do it now, with little
or no more money than they had before? (Dana,
2009) A principal that can devise a working plan in this area should
definitely share their findings and collaborate with others because it could be
the one plan that ultimately changes the face of education.
Example(s)
of action research
A great example comes
from principal Jimmy Camp who found his research being based on the great
homework debate. He began inquiring to understand the relationship between
assigning homework and student measurements of achievement. At the end of the
2005-2006 school year, a committee of faculty in his school had developed a
research-based policy that had been approved by his entire faculty for
implementation during the 2006-2007 school year. It was determined that a
data-based approach was needed to implement changes in the policy and determine
the overall effects on homework completion rates and student achievement. It
was also determined that the use of the targeted homework concept would be
utilized via a professional development module for all instructional staff. (Dana, 2009) They ended up using the “targeted
homework” developed by Heitzman. It is rooted in the belief that homework can
make a significant difference in student achievement. To accomplish this goal,
Heitzmann groups homework assignments into four categories: practice,
preparation, extension, and creative. They then begin to implement it but still
left it open with several inquiring questions that would cause them to revisit
their plan throughout the school year to ensure that it was reaching their
requested goal. The specific questions they wished to address through this
continuing inquiry were:
• What are students’
perceptions concerning homework and school success?
• What are teachers’
perceptions concerning the relationship of homework and student learning?
• What are parents’
perceptions concerning homework?
• What is the
relationship between the use of a targeted homework approach and increased
homework completion by students?
• What is the
relationship between the use of a targeted homework approach and the number of
“F” grades received by students as a result of not completing homework?
• What is the
relationship between the use of a targeted homework approach and student
academic achievement as measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test
Social
Justice
Benefits
of conducting action research in this area
With an ever-changing
demographic in our schools this is one of the most beneficial areas to conduct
action research. Successful schools are no longer geared to Anglo-American
based instruction. Not all students learn the same and as educators we can’t
lean towards the differentiated instruction movement without making sure that
this differentiation is geared towards all students. Promoting social justice
is another ripe place for wondering development. Conducting action research in
this area brings you closer to your students and community.
Example(s)
of action research
An example of social justice action research is
being conducted by the school I currently work at. Last year, teachers were
instructed to read the book called “Teaching with Poverty in Mind” by Eric
Jensen. It was an amazing read to those who read it and the inclusion of its
practices can be seen throughout the school. Poverty affects our schools no
matter how much we change the zoning or attempt to remove these students from
our classrooms because of “behavioral issues.” Teachers were asked to use
moodle to discuss with each other across the district about what they learned
about themselves and also what they planned on doing to reach these students.
The district personnel in charge of this book study are currently looking over
the moodles in order to find some great inquiries to conduct and to also begin
implementing a plan to reduce the amount of poverty stricken students that end
up in our Alternative Learning Campuses. In the second example, Randy Scott (2006),
an African American administrator leading an almost all white high school
faculty in a school with a significant population of African American students,
worked with several of his faculty to select a book to help them examine and
improve their practices with the African American students they taught. The
group settled on Lisa Delpit’s 1995 book, Other People’s Children. By reading
this text together and meeting on a regular basis to discuss it, Randy had
formed an inquiry-oriented learning community that explored the following
questions together: How can we help meet the needs of African American
students? Do our instructional practices help or hinder these students? What
role has our own heritage and upbringing played in the lives of these students?
And What can we do to help close the achievement gap and improve our practice
toward African American students? (Dana, 2009)
These
strategies were studied in order to help improve my action research project.
Force
Field Analysis
In an attempt to find a
parallel to help me understand Force Field Analysis, I immediately pictured
Star Wars in which they always mention, “May the Force Be With You.” Seriously
put, Force Field Analysis simply refers to the balance of good and bad forces.
Kurt Lewin believes that in order for change to occur, the driving forces for
the change must exceed the resisting forces against the change. (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs, 2010) In
science I often teach my students about unbalanced forces and my initial
introduction always involves me comparing their walking around each day as an
overpowering force against a resisting force; gravity. Force Field Analysis is
a great way to face head on the resisting forces that may cause your proposed
change not to happen and also forces you to hear the opposing side and make a
more informed decision. The Force Field Analysis can be completed through a 7
step process:
- Describe
the current situation
- Describe
the proposed change
- Identify
what will happen if no change occurs
- Identify
the forces driving the proposed change
- Identify
the forces resisting the change
- Determine
whether the change is viable
- If
the change is viable, what is needed for implementation
I feel this form of
analysis will be the most useful in my specific research plan. In an attempt to
improve retention of science information for 3 years of a student’s middle
school career proves to be challenging but feasible. This will help me balance
between the things I can change and what is beyond my control (i.e. poverty,
bad home situation, etc.). I don’t feel as if this process has to be followed
in direct order simply because any good action research plan will constantly
revisit and adapt depending on its data. For my specific research plan I can
describe the current situation but not clear enough to propose the exact change
that is needed. I am anxiously waiting to see next six weeks results in order
to streamline my action research plan towards all science concepts or simply
the abstract ones.
The
Delphi Method
The Delphi Method is
something that I’ve consistently seen at my school. Our administration is great
for forming committees to help ease the transition of change within our school.
It’s often used in a committee that I’m in that ensures that staff and students
have a positive environment to teach and learn. A series of questionnaires are
sent out before, during, and after a change is implemented. It is an important
strategy for identifying ways to sustain improvement and looking futuristically
at school needs. (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs, 2010) It’s
similar to the Force Field Analysis but instead of one individual it involves a
group of individuals analyzing data from an entire staff. It also invloves a 10
step process that is recommended:
- Send
around a problem statement to staff
- Ask
staff to write down what he or she believe need to be done
- Retrieve
written comments
- Reproduce
everyone’s comments
- Return
all comments to the participants
- Participants
read comments and then individually write a synthesis of the various ideas
- Collect
everyone’s synthesis or you do this yourself
- Make a new list of all synthesized ideas
- Send
the new list back to participants and ask them to rank items
- Collect
and compute an average and frequency of ratings; then return tallies to
participants to re-rank
The Delphi Method will
be a great way to present my findings to the district during our annual content
specific meeting. It will help my action research plan transition from just my
school to hopefully all middle schools since it appears that the trend among
most of the middle schools is that science scores seem to be stagnant. It will
allow an increase in data and a great tracking method for me to see if my
action research plan could possibly help my entire district and not just my
school.
Nominal
Group Technique
I’ve also witnessed the
Nominal Group Technique. This has often been done by itself or in conjunction
with the Delphi Method. I’ve often seen this done in staff meetings. It is
another way to examine school improvement with an eye on future needs of the
school that builds consensus and leads to school improvement. (Harris,
Edmonson, & Combs, 2010) This is a 5 step process with a facilitator
leading the conversation:
- Have
each individual within a small group silently generate and write perceived
needs/issues. Do not allow discussion among participants at this point.
- Ask
each individual to share orally with the small group one perceived need/issue
at a time. The facilitator then writes these on a flip chart with no
discussion
- Lead
small group discussions of each need/issue for further clarification
- Ask
group members to rewrite and rate all perceived needs/issues listed in the
previous step. Numerical values can be assigned to each from 1-5 for
example.
This technique is great
for my school’s science department. It would definitely help to get a clear
perception of what each teacher feels their specific group of students needs in
order to retain information in science. It would help my action research plan
become grade specific and allow an open line of communication between the grade
levels. What is being done in 6th grade could be a slimmer parallel
to what is taught in 7th grade so students receive a constant review
in each grade level over previously taught content.
Action
Research Design (Section Three)
Subjects
My target population was middle school students in
grades 6 through 8.
Action Research Project Timeline
 |
Goal:
Increase retention of science concepts from
6th – 8th grade in preparation for the STAAR
 |
|
Action Step(s)
|
Person(s)
Responsible
|
Timeline: Start/End
|
Needed Resources
|
Evaluation
|
|
1. Collect and
analyze data from student formative assessments in 6th grade science and
track performance through 8th grade.
|
6th Grade
Science Team; Content Curriculum Specialist -CCIS (D. Jarvis)
|
August 22, 2011/May
30, 2014
|
Microsoft Excel or
some form of tabular program that allows graph and tracking information. I
also need specific meeting times to discuss data with my team and CCIS.
|
E.O.C. (End of
Course) Data collected at the end of each six weeks
|
|
2. Create lessons
that require constant review of concepts
|
6th Grade
Science Team; SFA Liaison (M. Laroussini)
|
August 22, 2011 - May
30, 2012
|
Lesson planning
meetings that productively incorporate previously taught concepts.
|
Student Formative
Assessment Data
|
|
3. Incorporate
brain-based learning techniques throughout the year.
|
6th Grade
Science Team
|
Summer of 2011 - May
30, 2012
|
Anchor Chart
Supplies; Music; Learning Styles Survey; Student Success Tracking Display
Boards
|
Quantum Learning Teachers
Guide;
|
Data
Collection
My academic achievement specialist provided several
reports on our student’s success. Paper and electronic copies are kept on file.
An example of one of our detailed reports can be found below:
Or see image in the findings section below if link
does not work.
Findings
(Section Four)
Conclusions
and Recommendations (Section Five)
Success has been small simply because we're only in
the 1st year of my action research project. We met our goal of at least 85%
passing on our student formative assessments in 6th grade science for our
honors/GT students and we saw significant growth in our at-level students
throughout the year. They started with an average of 40% passing and now are
ranging between 48%-59% passing. Any growth, is good growth in my principals
eyes. We are both very happy with the results so far. I recommend that behavioral
studies through the use of Positivie Behavior Intervention and Support or PBIS
be included as a correlation in the study.
References
(Final Section)
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading
With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand
Oaks: Corwin Press.
Harris, S., Edmonson,
S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8
Steps From Analysis To Action. Larchmont: Eye on Education.
