Final Action Plan Draft

I bet you were hoping to see my Action Research Plan formatted into a cool SIP template. Well, I never could get that accomplished because I could not save my information on those templates. So I created one on my macbook and saved it as a pdf. That didn't work either. So I guess I'll work on it as I have time. sorry to disappoint.

Action Research Plan - The Real Deal

So here is the plan for my research:

Action Research Plan EDLD 5301

Research Goal: To determine how the Discipline Center has affected school discipline and school climate at Jacksonville High School.

Objective 1: Determine the numerical difference in the total number of office referrals from 2008-2009 year (year prior to the implementation of the Discipline Center) and 2009-2010 year (year Discipline Center was implemented).

Objective 2: Determine the numerical difference in the referrals for student versus student and student versus teacher confrontations from the 2008-2009 school year and the 2009-2010 school year.

Objective 3: Determine if students perceive improved school discipline and climate as a result of the implementation of the Discipline Center.

Resources Needed

*Discipline records for 2008-2009 school year
*Discipline records for 2009-2010 school year
*Survey Monkey - to survey teachers and students

Person Responsible for Implementation of Research Plan
*Tammy Jones - Principal
*J. David Adams - Researcher
*Marvin Acker - Chief - JISD Police Department

Timeline for Completion of Tasks
*Assimilation of 2008-2009 discipline data - 09/2010
*Assimilation of 2009-2010 discipline data - 10/2010
*Survey of teachers assigned to JHS campus since 2008 - 11/2010
*Survey of incoming 11th and 12th grade students - 10/2010

Process of monitoring achievement of goals and objectives
*Monthly assimilation of discipline data throughout the 2010-2011 school year

Instrument to evaluate effectiveness of study
*Review of the plan by committee of administrators and department heads to measurement of the desired questions.

Action Research for Action-Oriented Administrators

Each school in the United States has problems that are unique to that school. For an administrator, the use of action research allows the administrator to reflect on his or her campus' issues, propose solutions, actively collect data on on his or her proposed solution, and ultimately discover if the solution was effective or if more changes need to be made in order to improve.

Action Research in Action

What is action research? The opposite of "inaction" research? No. Action research, as far as I am concerned, is a way for me, as a teacher and school administer, to monitor what I do in my classroom and school building, collect data on my current practices, and make adjustments to improve my practices. I have unknowingly used informal action research for many years. Most recently, I questioned how students took notes in my class and how effective their notetaking was. I created what I thought was a quality notetaking form and gave many copies to each student. Over the next for weeks, I collected data which included success on assessments of material covered in the notes and feedback from my students as to their comfort level and ease of using the notetaking form.

From this data, I redesigned the notetaking form and repeated the process. After the second 4-week period, I redesigned the form once again. The third design was far and away the best of the three forms. Student success on daily assessments was 8-10% higher, depending on the class, and the students reported being better able to not only take notes efficiently, but also to listen to the lecture, which resulted in better retention of the material.

The steps utilized in action research can benefit all school teachers and administrators for two major reasons:
1. The topic being researched is one that specifically addresses a problem or concern of THAT teacher or administrator. Before I designed the first notetaking form, I scrutinized numerous published forms and scholastic websites in search of an effective generic form. The forms I found were good, but apparently were not the best fit for my personal students. By using my student opinions's and assessment results as data, I was able to generate a form that best suited my students.
2. A teacher or administrator can conduct action research on numerous topics simultaneously. There are so many different things going on during a school day: instruction, discipline, assessment, etc. I have also learned, through informal action assessment, that I am not accomplished at creating multiple choice assessments. I either make them too difficult or too easy. As I am researching which notetaking form is best for my students, I can also research and monitor what style of assessments fits my teaching style and results in maximum retention.

For administrators, one can monitor most all goings on of his or her school via action research. I personnally intend to utilize action research through out the remainder of my Master's program regarding what time of day I work on it. As an undergraduate, I was most effective when I studied in the early morning. Now being 42 with three children, that still seems best but is not always possible. The data I will analyze will include the quality of work I produce and my frame of mind while working on it.