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. 

EDLD 5326- School and Community Relations

On Sunday, September 9^th, at 6pm, I was a member of Dr. Kay Abernathy and Dr. Steve Jenkin’s Web Conference.  I have worked with both of them in the past during my previous classes.  The web conferences, even though sometimes difficult to attend, are always very beneficial.  There are always questions that are answered for your peers and it gives time to ask questions for the current class and internship as whole.  There are going to be over 100pts in this class with only 15pts being from the midterm.  There will be an ILD training that is given through Lamar online.  This certification is required by many districts to apply for an Athletic Director or Assistant Principal position.  I was also worried about the carryover from my last position to now and how that affects the internship process.  Many people are in similar positions and our concerns were all addressed.  Lamar also offers an online doctoral program that has the same sequence as the masters program.  Each class is 5 weeks and there are no requirements for number of years in administration.  I actually met another RISD employee last week that was going completing the Lamar doctoral program.  There were also many small concerns in regards to midterm and the final exam that were address.  I left the meeting feeling much better about the class on my progress on my internship. 

JJ Pearce HS, Action Research Project

JJ Pearce H.S. English 1- EOC Tutorials
School Vision: Engage, inspire, and empower lifelong learners to lead with integrity and innovation.
Goal: Create a tutorial and pull out program for students that were unsuccessful on the 9th grade English Language Arts STAAR EOC.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create ELA- EOC Task Force	Principal intern, Administrator, ELA Department Chair, Teaches	08/12/12- 09/07/12	Principal intern, Administrator, ELA Department Chair, Teachers	Does ELA EOC Task Force understand tutorial vision for academic year?
Meet with Tutorial Task Force, administration and teachers on tutorial curriculum	ELA- EOC Task Force, teaching staff, administration	08/27/12-09/27/12	STAAR EOC data, teacher input	How do we use curriculum to unsure success on STAAR EOC retest?
Design Tutorials Schedule based on teacher input, TAKS data, and student failures	ELA- EOC Task Force, teaching staff	08/27/12-09/27/12	STAAR EOC data, teacher input	Can tutorial schedule accommodate assigned students and staff?
Survey administrators, staff, students, and shareholders on tutorials effectiveness	ELA- EOC Task Force must create a survey for all students and staff involved in ELA EOC tutorials.  Then must analyze positive and negative feelings and hoped outcomes on future and past tutorial programs.	08/27/12-09/21/12	Time during SOS/ SOC or other during PLC to ensure active participation in study.	What new information have we learned from survey?
Conduct Staff development	ELA- EOC Task Force will conduct a staff development for ELA staff on tutorials curriculum, design, and implantation	08/27/12- 09/21/12	Staff development time, ELA teachers and administration	Does staff understanding curriculum and implementation of tutorials program?
Conduct walk-through	ELA- EOC Task Force must conduct walk through and record best teaching practices, random moment in times studies during pull-out and tutorial times.	09/13/12- 12/02/2012	Ability to leave designated assignment to review teaching strategies	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and effective writing practices across all curriculums?
Conduct random moment in time studies	ELA- EOC Task Force will effectively communicate directions and focus of moment in time study to other teachers	09/13/12- 12/02/2012	agreement from administrators to ensure completion of random moment in time study by teaching staff	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and effective writing practices across all curriculums?
Survey administrators, staff, students, and shareholders on tutorials effectiveness	ELA- EOC Task Force must create a survey for all students and staff.  Then analyze the effectiveness of the focused tutorials program.	12/01/2012- 12/21/2012	Time during SOS/ SOC or other during PLC to ensure active participation in study.	What new information have we learned from survey?
ELA- EOC Task Force semester analysis	Principal intern, Administrator, ELA Department Chair, Teachers	12/01/2012- 12/21/2012	Principal intern, Administrator, ELA Department Chair, Teachers	How has ELA- EOC tutorial curriculum increased student achievement at JJ Pearce?  What changes need to be made in the future?

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

First Week of School

I met with Liz Svadlenak, ELA department chair, on 8/24.  We discussed that there are 8 students re-taking the English 1 EOC on December 3^rd and 4^th.  There are 36 students who did not pass the Reading and Writing exams, 22 who only missed the Writing, and another 23 who only missed the Reading exam.  The district has purchased a specific curriculum by Pearson, but we have not received the materials yet.  We are going to use our SOC time on Wednesdays and Thursday s along with before and after school tutorials. 

New Plan Taking Shape

I met with my campus internship coordinator, Mary Cagle yesterday.   I will be working with Liz Svadlenak an English teacher at JJ Pearce.  We will be designing a focused tutorials program for our 9th and 10th grade students who did not pass the 9th grade EOC for ELA.  The largest portion being those that did not pass the writing section of the test.   They will retake their exam on December 3^rd and 4^th.  I will be meeting with Liz later this week after she meets with the department heads to begin formulating the implementation plan.

New Campus Meeting

I met with my new campus supervisor this week to discuss changes to my internship and action research plans.  My campus supervisor, Mary Cagle, is the assistant principal who oversees the special education department at J.J. Pearce High School.  They are currently making changes to their tutorials and freshman orientation program, Starting Off Strong (SOS).  Mrs. Cagle is going to discuss my possible role with the SOS committee and administration team.  We will meet again before school starts to finalize my plan.  I think a lot of the brainstorming and initial discussions I had at Long will help me to bring new ideas to Pearce.

Change

I have accepted the Head Wrestling Coach/ Social Studies Special Education position at J.J. Pearce High School.  I will miss the great administrators, staff, and especially students at Dan F. Long Middle School and R.L. Turner High School.  I will be taking a break from my action research as the tutorials and pull out program at Pearce are significantly different then at Long.  I have discussed my action research with my new campus principal and I will find out who my new site supervisor is when school starts. I may continue to work on tutorial development or possibly a new action research project.  I will keep you informed.

Week 5- "What have I learned?"

     Action research is significantly different than the research I competed as an undergraduate finance and marketing major.  Traditional research is reading what experts in the field think and then trying to understand how you can use their concepts and ideas to further your understanding.  Action research is the process of inquiry and self-reflection in order to better understand the situation or world around you.  Action research is especially important in the career as an educational administrator.  It can be used to make any part of your school more efficient and effective in order to increase student achievement. 

     I learned that blogs are very effective way to communicate with students, staff, and stakeholders.  Blogs can also be used as an online discussion.  They can be used as an information board, but are extremely effective to show the process of inquiry of a change to our campus.  Administrators can also make blogs open to gain insight from stakeholders to collaborate ideas with others action researchers.  There are many ways that blogs can help gain insight and increase collaboration during the action research process and increase communication in my campus.  I plan to create a blog for my wrestling team and classroom along with my action research project. 

    The administrator interviews were very helpful to understand how others have used action research to increase student achievement on their campuses.  Dr. Timothy Chargios said to never stop learning.  He also spoke about how there are always things that can be done better when we are examining a topic for action research.  As long as the end result will increase student learning, it is a great topic for action research.  This idea was very interesting to me.  All campuses have specific ways of doing things, but if examined further, many times there are ways of doing it that can make a greater impact on our students. 

     The discussion board and peer comments on our blog were extremely helpful in our process of action research.  I was able to see others’ action research process and gain insight to develop my own research plan.  Mrs. Guy and Mrs. Klemen both commented about how I would evaluate my results.   I realized that there might not be a quantitative answer to my action research project.  This took a lot of reflection to answer.  I can, however, by surveying, doing walk-throughs, and group discussions, understand how having focused tutorials can have a positive affect on the staff, campus culture, and our students academic achievement.  I also did not think of including parents’ input.  Based on Mrs. Stephens’ comment, I plan on offering the survey to parents during report card pick up and putting a link on our home page to also receive feedback from our stakeholders.  This process of peer evaluation has helped me to not only analyze my research but also add activities and other opportunities for action research in my internship plan and administration career.  

     My action research plan has been a continued discussion with my site supervisor, who is also my campus principal.  I feel that this has helped me gain respect and helped me to collaborate with our administrative team.  I have been able to gain his insight and include ideas of my own on how we are going to evaluate the successfulness of our focused tutorials program.  This has also giving me insight into how change is implemented and discussed as an administrator. 

Week 4- "Finalized my Research Project"

I have finalized my action research project with the help of my campus supervisor, university field supervisor, and other action researchers.  I am excited to see what changes we can make the for students at our individual campuses and what information I can learn from the other action researchers at Lamar University.  I have added stakeholders to the people I plan to survey which was suggested by one of my peers.  This suggestion can only strengthen my research and the confidence our stakeholders have in the education we are offering in their community.

Action Research Outline

Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create Tutorials Task Force	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	5/31/12- 8/31/12	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	Does Tutorials Task Force understand tutorial vision for academic year?
Meet with Tutorial Task Force, administration and interview teachers on tutorial curriculum	Tutorial Task Force, teaching staff, administration	08/27/12-09/07/12	Teacher input, TEKS	What needs to be included in tutorials curriculum based on TEKS and teacher input?
Design Tutorials Schedule based on teacher input, TAKS data, and student failures	Tutorial Task Force, teaching staff	08/27/12-09/07/12	TAKS/ STAAR data, teacher input,	Can tutorial schedule accommodate assigned students and staff for all core subjects?
Survey administrators, staff and students on tutorials focus	Tutorial Task Force must create a survey for all students and staff.  Then must analyze positive and negative feelings and hoped outcomes on future and past tutorial programs.	08/27/12-09/21/12	Time during Falcon’s read or other subject to ensure active participation in study.	What new information have we learned from survey?
Conduct Staff development	Tutorial Task Force will conduct a staff development for Long staff on tutorials curriculum, design, and implementation.	08/27/12- 09/21/12	Staff development time, entire staff and administration	Does the staff understand focused tutorials and how to implement them?
Conduct walk-through at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	Tutorial Task Force must conduct walk through and record best teaching practices, random moment in time studies at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	09/13/12- 12/14/2012	Ability to leave campus to observe other campuses, agreement from other campus administrators to visit their campus	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and increased tutorial effectiveness?
Conduct random moment in time studies at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	Tutorial Task Force will effectively communicate directions and focus of moment in time study to other teachers	09/13/12- 12/14/2012	agreement from administrators to ensure completion of random moment in time study by teaching staff	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and increased tutorial effectiveness?
Survey administrators, staff and students on tutorials effectiveness	Tutorial Task Force must create a survey for all students and staff.  Then analyze the effectiveness of the focused tutorials program.	12/01/2012- 12/14/2012	Time during Falcon’s read or other subject to ensure active participation in study.	What new information have we learned from survey?
Tutorials Task Force semester analysis	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	12/01/2012- 12/14/2012	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	How has focused tutorial curriculum increased student achievement at Long?  What changes need to be made for second semester?
Conduct Staff development	Tutorial Task Force will conduct a staff development for Long staff on tutorials changes for second semester	01/07/2013- 01/14/2013	Staff development time, entire staff and administration	Does the staff understand focused tutorials and how to implement them?
Conduct walk-through at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	Tutorial Task Force must conduct walk through and record best teaching practices, random moment in time studies at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	01/07/2013- 05/01/2013	Ability to leave campus to observe other campuses, agreement from other campus administrators to visit their campus	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and increased tutorial effectiveness?
Conduct random moment in time studies at Long and other middle school campuses in CFB ISD	Tutorial Task Force will effectively communicate directions and focus of moment in time study to other teachers	01/07/2013- 05/01/2013	Agreement from administrators to ensure completion of random moment in time study by teaching staff	What new teaching and coaching concepts can be shared with staff for increased student engagement and increased tutorial effectiveness?
Survey administrators, staff and students on tutorials effectiveness	Tutorial Task Force must create a survey for all students and staff.  Then analyze the effectiveness of the focused tutorials program.	05/01/2013- 05/13/2013	Time during Falcon’s read or other subject to ensure active participation in study.	What new information have we learned from survey?
Tutorials Task Force end of year analysis	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	05/13/2013- 05/31/2013	Principal intern, Behavior Resource Specialist, Teachers	How has focused tutorial curriculum increased student achievement at Long?  What changes need to be made for next school year?