Action Research Plan Blueprint

For my action research plan, I will be determining what factors contribute to low reading levels.  After analyzing data, self-reflecting, and collaborating with the teachers who this action research project will be affecting, I will propose a solution to the problem and we will implement the solution at the beginning of the next school year.  Below is the blueprint for my action research project as of March 16, 2013.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions for me!

Action Planning Template
Goal: Determine the factors that contribute to the low reading levels of the current first grade students?  What can teachers do to help improve the low reading levels?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Step 1: Gather the EOY reading kindergarten levels for all of the students that are now in the first grade and determine the percentage of students that entered first grade below reading level.	Laura Littleton-first grade teacher	Start: April 1st. 2013 End: April 3rd, 2013	EOY DRA levels for all of the first grade students, excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 2: Gather all of the first grade BOY reading levels for all of the first grade students and determine which students scored below reading levels at the beginning of the year.	Laura Littleton-first grade teacher	Start: April 3rd. 2013 End: April 5th, 2013	BOY DRA levels for all of the first grade students, excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 3:  Gather all of the first grade MOY (middle of the year) reading levels for all of the first grade students and determine the percentage of students that scored below reading level.	Laura Littleton-First grade teacher	Start: April 8th, 2013 End: April 12th, 2013	MOY DRA levels for all of the first grade students, excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 4: Gather all of the EOY (end of the year) first grade reading levels for all of the first grade students and determine the percentage of students that scored below reading level.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher	Start: June 3rd,  2013 End: June 5th, 2013	EOY DRA levels for all of the first grade students, excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 5: Create an excel spread sheet and determine who the kindergarten teacher was for all of the current first grade students and determine the percentages of low reading levels for each kindergarten class.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher/ Secretary	Start: March 20th, 2013 End:  March 20th, 2013	A list of all of the current first grade students kindergartens teachers from the secretary.	Analyze the data
Step 6: Look at the discipline referrals for the first graders and determine the percentage of students that have discipline referrals that have low reading levels for the beginning, middle, and end of the year.	Assistant Principal and Laura Littleton- First grade teacher	Start: March 27th, 2013 End: March 27th, 2013	Review all of the first grade discipline referrals for the school year of 2012-2013 from the assistant principal. Excel spreadsheet.	Analyze the data
Step 7: Look at all of the first graders birthdates and determine the percentage of students that have a late birthday that contribute to the low reading levels in first grade at the beginning, middle, and end of the year.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher and the secretary	Start: April 17th, 2013 End: April 19th, 2013	Birthdates of all first grade students from the secretary, and an excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 8: Determine the percentage of students that are ESL that contribute to the low reading levels in first grade at the beginning, middle, and end of the year.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher and the ESL teacher	Start: April 17th, 2013 End: April 19th, 2013	The number of ESL students there are in the first grade and which ones are below grade level, ESL teacher, excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 9:  Determine the percentages of low reading levels for different ethnic groups at the beginning, middle, and end of the year.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher and the secretary	Start: April 24th, 2013 End: April 26th, 2013	Different ethnicities for the first grade students from the secretary and an excel spreadsheet.	Analyze the data
Step 10: Gather data from the Pearson’s Waterford program to see if the students who are using Waterford throughout the year as an intervention are improving with their reading.	Principal and Laura Littleton- First grade teacher	Start: April 24th, 2013 End: April 26th, 2013	Waterford data from Pearson, principal, and an excel spreadsheet	Analyze the data
Step 11:  Determine which students received interventions in kindergarten and the percentages of those students that still receive interventions in first grade at the end of the year.  Determine which interventions are successful and which ones are not.	Laura Littleton- first grade teacher and the counselor	Start: April 24th, 2013 End: April 26th, 2013	The students that received interventions when they were in kindergarten as well as the students who receive interventions in first grade, the counselor, and an excel spreadsheet.	Analyze the data
Step 12: Interview key Stakeholders (First grade teachers) to discuss their possible solutions to the low reading levels in the first grade	First Grade teachers	Start: March 18th, 2012 End:  March 20th, 2013	Interview questions made by me and an excel spreadsheet	Interview Questions
Step 13: Self-reflect on the interventions that I am using in class and determine which ones commonly seem to work and which ones do not.  Determine what interventions I should continue in my plan.	Laura Littleton (myself-first grade teacher)	Start:  March 18th, 2013 End: May 2013	Journal with self-reflection questions	Self-reflection questions answered
Step 14: Exploring Programmatic Patterns- Begin to determine a reasonable solution and meet with the site-supervisor to discuss this.	First Grade Teachers and the principal	Start: June, 2013 End: June, 2013	All of the data, self-reflection questions, interview questions from the other teachers effected, possible solutions	Analyze the data
Step 15: To determine direction of my action research plan, I will analyze all of the data collected, interviews given, self-reflections, meetings with site-supervisor and determine what teachers in kindergarten and first grade need to do differently in order to help the issue of low reading levels.	Laura Littleton- First grade teacher, the principal, the first grade team (teachers)	Start: June 2013 End: July 2013	All of the data that I have collected and entered into an excel spreadsheet, the principal, the first grade team, and the final report document	All of the data that I have collected over all of the different topics, the interviews that I have done, my own self-reflections,
Step 16:  Implement the action research plan that is approved by my site-supervisor and the first grade team.	First grade teachers	Start: August 2013 End:  October 2013	Interview questions, plan design	Interview Questions for all of the teachers to determine if the plan is working
Step 17: Share my results of my action research plan with the principals and all of the first grade and kindergarten  teachers.	Principals. First grade and kindergarten teachers	Start: November 2013 End: November 2013	Power Point presentation/oral presentation	Power Point

Action Research Plan Activity

For my action research plan, I am going to be determining what factors contribute to the success and non-success of first grade reading levels.  After gathering and analyzing that data, I will come up with a plan on how to solve the issue of low reading levels in the first grade.  I think that pinpointing certain areas that need improvement will allow the first grade teachers to use the data to drive their instruction.  We will be able to know what things or skills we need to focus more on and hopefully help solve our issue.  I can't wait to see what I can come up with to help out my team!

Week 2 Reflection-EDLD 5301

After reading chapter 2 in the Dana text, I feel like I really now have a grasp on what action research is and how it can be used by teachers and administration to help improve their practice.  Action research does not have to be done over just one topic, there are a broad amount of topics that you can cover.  I like how the text gave examples of action research that has been done previously by principals in the nine major areas of school leaders.  It showed my how important action research is and that if I want to see improvement in my practice as an administrator or in my school, then it would be best to self-reflect and inquire in action research projects to improve.  I learned that participating in action research is something that needs to be done to see improvement in your schools and to grow as an administrator.

Action Research

After reading the book, Leading With Passion and Knowledge, The Principal as Action Researcher by Nancy Fichtman Dana, I learned a great deal about action research.  I learned that action research is done when a principal or  leader reflects on their practice and decides on an issue that they need to improve on in their practice.  After self-reflecting, the principal or leader has to come up with a plan on how they are going to address that issue they want to improve.  They will collaborate with their peers on that issue to get ideas, they will collect data and analyze that data they collected, and then they will implement a plan based on their studies.  Action research is not a quick process, but it allows the principal or leader to take control of their practice and make a change and it allows for them to continue to grow and learn in their practice because it forces them to be actively involved in the implementation of the research rather than just listening and trying to implement tools from what other people have found in their research.  In action research, the principal or leader is able to focus on just their concerns that they are having in their practice and allows them to address their concerns hands on.

I know that if I was a principal, I could be an action researcher and choose an issue at my school that we might be weak at and collect and analyze data to implement a change to help the school improve on that issue.  For example, if my school struggles with communication between the staff and the parents, I could conduct a survey  that asks multiple questions in regards to communication for the teachers and the parents to fill out so that I could have data as to what might be the reason why communication barriers are occurring.  After looking at that data and analyzing it, I could develop a plan that would help improve or eliminate the problem of poor communication.  If I had that data, I would know exactly what we would need to focus on as a school to improve our communication for the next year.

Educational leaders might use blogs so that they can capture their own thinking when they are reflecting about a certain issue. The use of blogs also allows them to to receive feedback from anyone around the world or from their peers in the same field.  It allows the leader to grow because they are constantly hearing different perspectives on issues and reflecting on their own thinking.