Saturday, August 21, 2010
Weekly Update on action research-Aug. 21, 2010
Just wanted to do a weekly update on the progress of my action research. I went back to school this week for in service before the children return on Monday. My principals had us sign up for committees. I will be the chair person for the Parental Involvement Committee. Per an e-mail, we will begin meeting with our committees soon. I want to send out a questionnaire to find out what parents would like us to focus on this year at our Parent Nights. Until the committee meets, I will be working on such questionnaire and post it on this blog.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Final EDLD 5301 thoughts....
As stated in my discussion post for week 5, the biggest revelation I have had during this course is the actual working definition of action research. Research, in the past, has been done in the library with traditional books and also on the Internet. Reports were written detailing what others have found out about the subject at hand. Action research is so much more than the research process of my past education. Dana states action research “focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages [them] in the design, data collection, and interpretation of the data around their questions.” (2009, p. 5) Action research is personal. The researcher, most likely, will have a vested interest in the posed question/s and the implications for change that will come from doing the research.
An action research plan is a working, flexible, buildable document. As my colleague, Carol Cullen posted on the discussion board for week 5, action research plans can be modified and adjusted to fit the needs of a campus and/or district and also as situations arise and develop.
Action research can also be challenging. First, it is very time consuming. It cannot be completed in a day, much less a week. It is also, sometimes, difficult to narrow down your research to just one topic of interest and/or need. The researcher has to first find out what drives their passion for the journey. (Dana, 2009) Dr. Kirk Lewis, of Pasadena ISD, believes in practical research-finding out what you are interested in and then applying it to improving student learning.
Through all the hard work of action research, the end goal to any plan is student increased achievement. The students are the heart of all action research. Better practices can be uncovered, policies can be amended and/or created, and relationships can be built all as a result of action research and leading to student success.
An action research plan is a working, flexible, buildable document. As my colleague, Carol Cullen posted on the discussion board for week 5, action research plans can be modified and adjusted to fit the needs of a campus and/or district and also as situations arise and develop.
Action research can also be challenging. First, it is very time consuming. It cannot be completed in a day, much less a week. It is also, sometimes, difficult to narrow down your research to just one topic of interest and/or need. The researcher has to first find out what drives their passion for the journey. (Dana, 2009) Dr. Kirk Lewis, of Pasadena ISD, believes in practical research-finding out what you are interested in and then applying it to improving student learning.
Through all the hard work of action research, the end goal to any plan is student increased achievement. The students are the heart of all action research. Better practices can be uncovered, policies can be amended and/or created, and relationships can be built all as a result of action research and leading to student success.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Agreed Upon Action Research Plan
After meeting with my site supervisor, we have agreed upon this action research plan. If I ammended my plan due to our conference, I have highlighted it in red. Please feel free to look and make comments and suggestions.
Thank you!
Genny
Research Goals and Objectives:
Goal: To increase parent involvement at the academic functions held at Cedar Creek Elementary
Objective 1: To determine the reasons behind parents’ lack of attendance at academic functions at our school
Objective 2;To uncover what we, as the staff of CCE, can do to encourage parents to attend
Objective 3: To determine if implementing suggestions made by parents will raise the attendance at family education nights in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.
Activities to Achieve Goal:
·Cedar Creek Elementary will establish a parental involvement committee, which will be responsible for planning functions to involve families. Some possible topics for family nights are: Math, Literacy Nights, and Science.
·Cedar Creek Elementary will continue to host family education nights throughout the 2010-2011 school year.
·After each educational family event, a link will be set up off of our campus website for parents to take a survey. Our campus newsletter will contain a brief description of my action research project and the link. Parents may also request a paper copy if they do not have access to the internet. The surveys will focus on the reasons parents attended and also why there were not able to come. Questions will also be asked to get recommendations on how we can improve the recent family night and also things we can do to help them attend next time.
·As the year progresses, we will collect the surveys and compile the answers to find common themes. Recommendations for next year will be based off of these surveys.
Resources Needed
·The teachers of Cedar Creek Elementary-to lead the activities during the family nights
·The parents of Cedar Creek Elementary-to be the research groups
·The parental involvement committee-to facilitate the family nights and collect and analyze data
·The administration-to support the activities with faculty and resources
·Survey Monkey-to conduct the surveys sent out to parents
·Paper copies of the survey for families with no access to the internet.
Person/s Responsible for Implementation of the Action Research Plan
·Genny Wessels-Researcher
·The parental involvement committee-to be determined in August of 2010
·Kathy Cawthron and Kelly Doyle-administration of Cedar Creek Elementary
Timeline for Completion of Tasks
·Establish a parental involvement committee-August 2010
·Hosting family nights at Cedar Creek Elementary-2010/2011 school year
·Survey parents in selected classes-2010/2011 school year
·Compile data from surveys-2010/2011, to be completed in May 2011
Process of monitoring achievement of goals and objectives
·I, along with the parental involvement committee, will utilize the information gathered from each survey in order to increase participation. After implementing new methods, we will continue to survey the parents on what is working and ways to improve our family education nights.
Instrument to evaluate effectiveness of study
·To evaluate the effectiveness of the study, I will use surveys, as mentioned previously. Also having informal conversations with parents and teachers will provide information on how effective the study is going.
Thank you!
Genny
Research Goals and Objectives:
Goal: To increase parent involvement at the academic functions held at Cedar Creek Elementary
Objective 1: To determine the reasons behind parents’ lack of attendance at academic functions at our school
Objective 2;To uncover what we, as the staff of CCE, can do to encourage parents to attend
Objective 3: To determine if implementing suggestions made by parents will raise the attendance at family education nights in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.
Activities to Achieve Goal:
·Cedar Creek Elementary will establish a parental involvement committee, which will be responsible for planning functions to involve families. Some possible topics for family nights are: Math, Literacy Nights, and Science.
·Cedar Creek Elementary will continue to host family education nights throughout the 2010-2011 school year.
·After each educational family event, a link will be set up off of our campus website for parents to take a survey. Our campus newsletter will contain a brief description of my action research project and the link. Parents may also request a paper copy if they do not have access to the internet. The surveys will focus on the reasons parents attended and also why there were not able to come. Questions will also be asked to get recommendations on how we can improve the recent family night and also things we can do to help them attend next time.
·As the year progresses, we will collect the surveys and compile the answers to find common themes. Recommendations for next year will be based off of these surveys.
Resources Needed
·The teachers of Cedar Creek Elementary-to lead the activities during the family nights
·The parents of Cedar Creek Elementary-to be the research groups
·The parental involvement committee-to facilitate the family nights and collect and analyze data
·The administration-to support the activities with faculty and resources
·Survey Monkey-to conduct the surveys sent out to parents
·Paper copies of the survey for families with no access to the internet.
Person/s Responsible for Implementation of the Action Research Plan
·Genny Wessels-Researcher
·The parental involvement committee-to be determined in August of 2010
·Kathy Cawthron and Kelly Doyle-administration of Cedar Creek Elementary
Timeline for Completion of Tasks
·Establish a parental involvement committee-August 2010
·Hosting family nights at Cedar Creek Elementary-2010/2011 school year
·Survey parents in selected classes-2010/2011 school year
·Compile data from surveys-2010/2011, to be completed in May 2011
Process of monitoring achievement of goals and objectives
·I, along with the parental involvement committee, will utilize the information gathered from each survey in order to increase participation. After implementing new methods, we will continue to survey the parents on what is working and ways to improve our family education nights.
Instrument to evaluate effectiveness of study
·To evaluate the effectiveness of the study, I will use surveys, as mentioned previously. Also having informal conversations with parents and teachers will provide information on how effective the study is going.
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