Action Research Plan in Action!

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Develop a Master Schedule that is conducive to teacher collaboration (by class period, grade level, and core subject)	Brittany Stivers Counselors (Beth Wells, and Charlotte Ward) Principal: Dr. Yearwood	Start: July End: August 1, 2010	Allotted time to develop the Master Schedule, and Action Research Plan	Continued re-evaluation of the Master Schedule before implementation by accommodating all stakeholders.
2. Meet with the department heads to discuss data and express expectations for Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s)	Brittany Stivers Dr. Yearwood	Start: August 2, 2010 End: August 3, 2010	Action Research Plan, data to support the implementation of the Action Research Plan	Open ended discussions referencing the Action Research Plan
3. Have department heads attend a staff development/training on how to effectively implement and engage teachers in PLC’s	Brittany Stivers Department Heads Dr. Yearwood	Start: August 9, 2010 End: August 11, 2010	Funding from central office for teachers to attend staff development	Conduct a survey specific to the effectiveness of the content discussed
4. Department heads plan a day where their team of subject teachers can meet to discuss PLC’s and collaborate to set expectations for themselves and students	Department Heads Department Teams Dr. Yearwood to oversee implementation of meetings	August 16-18 at teams discretion	Facility Resources gained from the staff development	A written report from each department head summarizing the expectations developed from their subject meetings
5. Progress Reports to determine if teachers and students are meeting the expectations and goals established in PLC’s	Dr. Yearwood Brittany Stivers Department Teams	Weekly PLC meetings throughout the 2010-2011 school year.	Student work, and assessment data	An increase in student performance, attendance, behavior, and academics.
6. Walk Throughs in classes and PLC meetings	Dr. Yearwood	Conduct classroom and PLC walk through’s once every six weeks	Notes in regards to the actions of teachers and students	Classroom Observation notes, and a scheduled meeting with individual teachers once a semester.
7. Conduct an assessment to evaluate lesson plans to determine if lessons are vertically aligned	Dr. Yearwood	Teachers are to have lessons plans turned into Dr. Yearwood every friday for the following week	Lesson Plans Curriculum	Curriculum comparison to check for vertical alignment
8. Dr. Yearwood meets with the department heads to determine if any changes need to be made to the action research plan, and to discuss further wonderings that have stemmed within PLC’s	Dr. Yearwood, Brittany Stivers, and Department Heads	December 17, 2010 and May 26, 2011	All data collected, evaluations, notes taken, observation data, student achievement reports	Look over and openly discuss the Action Research Plan to determine if it was effective

Week Two Reflection...

This week I have really learned the value and importance of conducting action research projects within your school. We focused on nine major areas that administrators and teachers often wonder that inspired a variety of action research projects to aid in student’s academic success. The following nine areas described in Leading with Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Dana are:

1. Staff Development

2. Curriculum development

3. Individual teacher(s)

4. Individual student(s)

5. School culture/community

6. Leadership

7. Management

8. School performance

9. Social justice or equity issues

One of the areas of study that interest me as an aspiring administrator was curriculum development and it's example of cross grade collaboration. Here is the action research project posted by Lacy Redd, and my reflection.

Curriculum Development:

Lacy Redd, the principal at Newberry Elementary School, developed a wondering that relates to the writing curriculum across her campus in an effort to increase their fourth grade writing assessment scores: “How can I build my own knowledge of exemplary writing practice? and How do I use learning communities as a tool for teacher and me to utilize in the transformation of the writing curriculum at Newberry Elementary?” This example o action research is important to all campuses in that it allows for teacher to collaborate across all grade levels and build a writing curriculum that is aligned with the best practices that are advocated by a variety of leaders within that field. Lacy’s action research project is important in that it allows for teachers to coherently create a language that will be used universally within the school. In doing so not only do teachers speak the same language, but students as a result have a better understanding of what their expectations are for writing within the school.

Why Use Blogs?

Blogs allow for educational leaders to transform something that is professional to something personal by capturing and storing ones thoughts and recollections so that he or she can share their unique perspectives. Educators can use blogging to provide a two way street of communication that can inspire, motive, and create unities among like minded individuals to share ideas to different audiences, and receive feasible feedback pertaining to certain areas of interest.

The Core of Action Research

The core of what action research is and how it can be used stems from utilizing the resources that are within your school. By principals working from the inside out by asking the question, “In what ways can I as an administrator help facilitate professional growth of the teachers so that they are empowered,” and allowing teachers to answer through inquiry, the result is then that the entirety of the campus is subconsciously being engaged in action research. Action research includes the “voices of the people who work in the trenches of the school building on a daily basis and are therefore best positioned to understand and better the educational experiences for all members of the schoolhouse-administrators and teachers.” In Leading with Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Dana, Elliot (1988) describes action research as a “continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action,” which ultimately is the type of research that brings about change. As an administrator, I will be stretched simultaneously by a number of constituencies, but through the use of inquiry in action research, it will be easier to untangle the intricate web of demands while leading and inspiring the teaching and learning that must occur within my school.