Draft Action Research Project Progress Report, Week 3 of EDLD 5397

Title – How will a focused tutorial program increase 9^th Grade ELA STAAR EOC re-takers passing rate?

Needs Assessment – JJ Pearce had a total of 104 students that did not pass either the Reading or Writing sections of the ELA 9^th grade EOC exam last year.  There were a total of 532 students that took the exam, with a passing rate of 80.5% in writing and 91.2% in reading.  This is the lowest passing rate of any EOC exam. 

Objectives and Vision of the action research project. (ELCC 1.1) – Create a tutorial and pull-out program for students that were unsuccessful on the English Language Arts STAAR 9^th grade EOC. 

Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy – I need to review more literature on how focused tutorials have increased student achievement at other campuses.  The decision making process at JJ Pearce included the site based decision making committee and the 9^th grade English team.  Previous before-and after-school tutorials programs have been unsuccessful because of low attendance. In 2011 our campus instituted a pull-out program designed to help 9^th graders transition into high school.  This was based on a faculty intervention.  Second semester last year, all grade level students that were receiving below a 70% in any class were assigned that subject’s tutorial program.  The flextime program was based on a study that was done on the national level and our campus principal instituted the program on our campus.  (Cagle, 2013)

Cagle, M. (2013, February 1). Interview by B.K. Kenney [Personal Interview]. Action research done before I was hired.

Articulate the Vision (ELCC 1.2) – The focused tutorials for our at-risk students was a section of our SOS/SOC rollout.  The SOS/SOC program was designed to ensure students were receiving added transition and instructional support.  The program was articulated to the staff as they were designing the program, but the staff was trained on how it could help all subjects and grade levels as a professional development session before school started. 

Manage the organization (ELCC 3.1) – The Tutorials Task Force was comprised of the principal intern, administrators, ELA department chair, and instructional specialist.  Mary Eisenmann, Dean of Instruction and Facilities, is responsible for coordinating busses, assigning teacher classrooms, and other building management.  Bryan Kenney, Administrative Intern/Special Education Teacher/ Head Wrestling Coach, is responsible for analyzing STAAR data and coordinating student deficiency groups.  Liz Svadlenak, English Department Chair, is responsible for creating the curriculum and teacher training.  Jordan Capetta, Instructional Specialist, is also responsible for teacher training.  Mary Cagle, Assistant Principal of ELA, is responsible for identifying and placement of students based on STAAR data analysis. 

Manage Operations (ELCC 3.2) – Implementing the program was easy as there was already time in our daily school’s schedule for tutorials.  The problem we had was that many of the students who needed Reading help, also needed Writing help.  We decided as a team to have the Writing tutorials after school.  We made this decision based on the time necessary to teach and then practice a writing lesson.  There was not any conflict when we explained the program to the staff.  Our ELA staff understood that this program was necessary to help our at-risk students. 

Respond to Community Interest and Needs (ELCC 4.2) – All 9^th grade students that took the 9^th grade ELA EOC were analyzed.  We included those that did not meet the standard for Writing or Reading.  Any special education students that were administered the Modified or Alternative STAAR tests were not included in this tutorials program.  The special education department has their own tutorials curriculum for their students.   Students that receive special education or 504 services that receive accommodation, but not modifications, were included in our program.  We did not change anything in regards to backgrounds or economic status. 

The Results are Here

We have received the STAAR data for the 9^th grade EA EOC re-tests.  Our results are not at the level that we had expected.  The Reading EOC exam was retaken by 47 students, with 23 of them passing the test.  That is a 48.93% passing rate for the re-test.  The Writing EOC exam was retaken by 104 students, with 40 of them passing the test.  That is a 38.46% passing rate for the re-test.  We have already begun planning on how to improve these numbers.  A large problem with our program was attendance.  The after school tutoring sessions had extremely low attendance and even the during the day pullouts was a constant battle.  We need to improve the motivation of our at risk students. 

Tests Completed

We have finished all EOC retakes and absences as of this afternoon.  There was a lot of planning and teacher collaboration to make it successful.  I feel that the students that attended tutoring improved significantly from the beginning of our program.  Now we continue to improve in order to be successful on this year’s EOC tests.  We are going to continue or focused pull out program for our at-risk students and current class failures.  I am excited to see the test results when they become available. 

Focused Tutorials in Progress

The JJP English EOC tutorials program is in full swing.  I have been able to observe some of the during school tutorials.  I can tell they are making a difference with the students.  The problem we are having is will the after school portion.  The attendance has been low, but the students who are consistent are making improvements.  I have not been able to observe as many sessions as I would like because of my other responsibilities during our tutorials times.  I am continuing to work with the Tutorials Task Force in any way I can.  I will also be administering part of the testing, so I will be able to observe students reactions during the test.

The Planning is Complete

 We had a last minute meeting yesterday to finalize the plans.  There were a couple of students who had transferred to Pearce along with students that did not pass their re-take in the summer I had to update in the master list.  Mrs. Cagle then took my data and organized students by the subtopic that is their greatest need.  This way we will use specific lessons for each group.  The writing tutorials will be after school for 1hr on Thursday.  This will give the students an extra 6 hours of specific study.  We will then be using our SOS and SOC time during the school day for reading tutorials.  We made this choice because the 20 minute SOC and SOC time was not enough to cover a writing lesson.  Reading and Writing tutorials will begin on Thursday, October 18^th. 

Scheduling

September 16^th – September 29^th

I have created the final spreadsheet of all re-testers for the English 1 EOC on December 3^rd.  I went through and broke down each student’s grades per competency.  I also color coded which students have already take the retest in the summer.  This way we are able to assign each student to specific tutorials that will focus on struggling competencies or topics.  This was time consuming, but will make scheduling much more efficient. 

Putting the pieces together

September 9^th – September 15^th

Now that the dust has settled from starting school, it was time to get work.  We had a total of 105 students that need to retake the STAAR English 1 End of Course Exam.  The ELA-EOC Task Force that is comprised of Liz Svadlenak (English Dept. Chair), Jordan Cappetta (Instructional Specialist), Mary Eisenmann (Dean of instruction and Facilities), Mary Cagle (Assistant Principal – English) and I (Administration Intern, Special Education Teacher, Head Wrestling Coach).  Our first meeting of the week was on Tuesday, September 11^th.  We discussed total English teacher workload and created a tutorials schedule.  I have attached the schedule below.  There will be a total of 20 days instruction that additional instruction will be provided.  We decided on Wednesday/ Thursday for after school, because there is an after school bus.  The second meeting was on Thursday, September 13^th.  We delegated that I would create a spreadsheet based on objective deficiencies.  We would also need to separate by reading, writing, or both.   The third meeting of the week was just between Mrs. Cagle and I on Friday, September 14^th.  We discussed how the spreadsheet would be designed and the relevant information that was needed.  On Saturday I created the spreadsheet and entered all competency scores.