End-of-Course Thoughts

This has been one of the most interesting courses of the program for me. I have been fascinated with the new concept I now have about research. I had previously thought of research in terms of articles and data sent out in formal publications by university researchers. In this course I learned to think of research in a completely different way. I now know that research can, and should, be done at the campus level by administrators and teachers who actually know the issues and concerns of the school (Dana 2010 p. 4).
Furthermore, I learned that sources of data for research can consist of less formal and traditional types of “data” such as surveys, interviews, field notes, teacher feedback, and work samples (Dana 2010, p. 181).
One of the highlights of the course for me was learning to create a blog. I now have fellow students following my blog to learn about my ongoing research project. In addition, I have the privilege of following the research developments of my classmates by reading and responding to their blogs.
I learned about several strategies for sustaining improvement. One such strategy is a tool known as Force Field Analysis. This consists of seven steps for a district to work through in order to determine if change is needed. The steps are a series of questions ranging from describing the current situation and any proposed changes to deciding if change is viable and what steps would be needed for implementation (Harris, S., Edmonson, S., Combs, J. 2010, p. 94). Another tool I learned about is the Delphi Method, in which a series of questionnaires is sent out to those who would be affected by the decision (Harris, S., Edmonson, S., Combs, J. 2010, p. 95). Another strategy for sustaining improvement is the Nominal Group Technique. In this process, small groups determine and prioritize needs. My campus used both the Delphi method and the Nominal Group Process last year in our first year as a new campus.
Perhaps most importantly, I developed an action research plan to use at my campus this school year based upon and inquiry I found relevant to the needs of my students. I am researching a new reading program implemented by my district partway through last school year. It is a Leveled Literacy Intervention program for struggling readers in the primary grades. I am attempting, through my research, to determine if the program is effective and if it may have more far-reaching effects than reading improvement. I will be looking for evidence of growth in reading and in other subject areas as well as behavior, social skills, and confidence. I look forward to conducting my action research project throughout this next school year.

Sources:
Dana, N. (2010). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Harris, S, Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Action Research Template

Here is my research template. Scroll down.

Action Steps Person(s) Responsible Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation 1.Disseminate TPRI scores. Renee Cook Sept. 2010, Jan. 2011, May 2011 TPRI Kits and Palm Pilots for each teacher Students will be ranked from highest to lowest, based on a compilation of TPRI benchmark scores. 2.Select lowest-performing 3 to 4 students per classroom,based on TPRI scores. First Grade Teachers Sept. 2010, Jan. 2011, May 2011 TPRI scores The lowest performing 3 to 4 students will be instructed using Leveled Literacy Intervention. 3.Begin LLI instruction with selected groups. First Grade Teachers Sept. 2010 LLI kit for each teacher/Teacher notes and observation from LLI instruction. Informal teacher observation, student reading level on LLI books. 4. Determine whether students’ reading skills are improving as a result of LLI. First Grade Teachers/Renee Cook/Jen Martin Sept. 2010- May 2011 TPRI, Rigby, Dolch, LLI reading level throughout year/PLC meetings to discuss findings. Teachers and administrators will view TPRI, Rigby, Dolch, and LLI results to assess whether reading improvement was made with LLI and whether it should be continued. 5.Look for growth in other areas such as other academic subjects, behavior, or social skills, or confidence to see if reading improvement may have led to other improvements. First Grade Teachers, Renee Cook, Jen Martin Sept. 2010- May 2011 Grades, informal teacher observation. Additionally, teachers will need PLC meeting opportunity to discuss findings. Teachers and administrators will determine if there were any other areas of growth noted among LLI participants.

Action Research Template

I was not able to copy my plan in the correct format. This is the most readable version I managed to accomplish. I hope this makes sense. Please see my previous post for a description of the plan.


1.Disseminate TPRI scores.
Renee Cook
Sept. 2010,
Jan. 2011,
May 2011
TPRI Kits and Palm Pilots for each teacher
Students will be ranked from highest to lowest, based on a compilation of TPRI benchmark scores.
2.Select lowest-performing 3 to 4 students per classroom,based on TPRI scores.
First Grade Teachers
Sept. 2010,
Jan. 2011,
May 2011
TPRI scores
The lowest performing 3 to 4 students will be instructed using Leveled Literacy Intervention.
3.Begin LLI instruction with selected groups.
First Grade Teachers
Sept. 2010
LLI kit for each teacher/Teacher notes and observation from LLI instruction.
Informal teacher observation, student reading level on LLI books.
4. Determine whether students’ reading skills are improving as a result of LLI.
First Grade Teachers/Renee Cook/Jen Martin
Sept. 2010-
May 2011
TPRI, Rigby, Dolch, LLI reading level throughout year/PLC meetings to discuss findings.
Teachers and administrators will view TPRI, Rigby, Dolch, and LLI results to assess whether reading improvement was made with LLI and whether it should be continued.
5.Look for growth in other areas such as other academic subjects, behavior, or social skills, or confidence to see if reading improvement may have led to other improvements.
First Grade Teachers,
Renee Cook,
Jen Martin
Sept. 2010-
May 2011
Grades, informal teacher observation.
Additionally, teachers will need PLC meeting opportunity to discuss findings.
Teachers and administrators will determine if there were any other areas of growth noted among LLI participants.

My Action Research Plan

I have settled on a new action research topic. I thought about how I could really make the research part of my existing situation like the Dana text suggested. With this in mind I am focusing my research on a Leveled Literacy Intervention program that my district purchased last year. We only received training and materials partway through the school year so we didn't have a full year of assessment data. However, as I think back I remember many such programs which were purchased in the past only to fall by the wayside in a few short years. Here is my inquiry question. In what ways can struggling first grade readers benefit from consistent Leveled Literacy Intervention instruction? This program is really designed for the severely struggling readers who often may wind up being retained. As a result it is crucial to be able to reach them.

My campus takes our beginning-of-year TPRI results and ranks students from highest to lowest based on a compilation of TPRI data. Each teacher will identify the three or four lowest performing students based on this assessment data. These will be the students who will receive LLI instruction. As a grade level, along with our administrators, we will monitor these students throughout the year based on the TPRI results as well as Rigby running records and Dolch sight words. Additional data will be the LLI reading level. The LLI groups may be fluid based on progress. If a student improves to the point of reading on grade level he or she may be exited from the program and another student may receive LLI instruction.

At the end of the year we will assess whether students tended to make reading improvements across the board in reading. Additionally, we will discuss during PLC meetings whether we found any other areas of improvement among participants. We will look for growth in other academic subjects, behavior, social skills, confidence, etc. Some of this will be based on data such as grades. For other areas we will use informal teacher observation to determine growth or progress.

I initially thought I would pursue, through action research, the study of what effect, if any, teacher experience has on student achievement. This topic is something that I am very curious about. However, I think for the purposes of this course I am going to focus on using action research to explore possibilities for expanding our current Accelerated Reading Instruction program. Since the current program, in conjuction with our guided reading, results in one hour and 45 minutes of instructional time being spent with the teacher providing small group instruction (4 days a week), I would like to expand the program to involve more adults in the form of parent volunteers and soldier volunteers from our Adopt-a-Unit. The problem with our current system is that we focus most of our efforts on struggling students. As a result, high-achieving students have much fewer interactions with adults during the course of their day than do low-achieving students. I understand that in order to receive the desired AEIS ratings, we have to focus on getting the low-achieving students on grade level. I am saddened that in the process of doing so, we often ignore our high-achieving students. They wind up working independently or in unattended small groups so that teachers can spend inordinate amounts of time with struggling students. I think this particularly bothers me as a parent of high-achieving students. I believe that our educational system should meet the needs of all students, not just those who perform below grade level. High-achieving students deserve adult interactions as much as low-achieving students.

Action Research and How I Might Use It

One of the main things I have learned about action research is that it occurs on campuses and within campuses by people who work at that campus and know the particular issues faced by that campus. Basically, administrators and teachers have the freedom to become action researchers as they pursue a topic or question that pertains to their students or faculty. Action research is the process of looking at the situation and, as participants (administrators or teachers) pose questions about the best way to proceed, they are really in essence coming up with potential topics which may benefit from action research. In the action research process, they would formulate a clear question that is open-ended, rather than one with a yes or no answer. Next, they would look for ways to approach this topic of inquiry with more concrete assessment such as test scores or some other measurable data. Then they would follow through that inquiry process and gather the data or conduct the interviews necessary to find the sought-after information.

The thing that appeals to me about action research is that, in addition to concrete data, action research can use more informal measures such as questionaires or interviews. This interests me because I am more of a people person than a numbers or data person. In the past I have had a connotation that "research" means measurable numbers or hard and fast data. And while that is certainly a valuable aspect of action reasearch, it is not the only factor. I love to think that I would also be conducting action research as I seek feedback from campus personnel and students.

With what I have learned about action research I now know that I have already been participating in it at some level in weekly PLC meetings with my grade level and administrators. I will now be able to approach those meetings with a better grasp of what we are really doing and the impact that our inquiries and action research can have on our students. I can see myself building upon this further in an administrative setting and can really use what I have already learned from my principal in our PLC format to involve teachers in the process as well. The PLC incorporates action research so that it is part of the school week, rather than something in addition to already busy schedules. In this way action reasearch is already built in to the school week.

Uses of Blogs for Educational Leaders

I think educational leaders would enjoy being able to reach out to other school leaders through blogs. According to Nancy Fichtman Dana in Leading With Passion and Knowledge, "professional isolation ...is pervasive in administration." A blog would be a great way to get feedback from administrators with whom they would never come into contact with otherwise. It would be an effective way to reach out to administrators from places other than our local districts.