Weekly Webconference Reflection

After some technical difficulties, Dr. Borel demonstrated flexibility and continued her web conference through another channel. Emails were sent to our site supervisors. My site supervisor indicates that she filled mine out and sent it back. Questions were also clarified concerning the internship logs. Dr. Borel used an old Power Point since the new one would not save correctly and she could not show us. The old one was beneficial to us, but she let us know this was not up to her level of expectation. She seems to like to run an expedient meeting that sticks to a purpose. This week’s purpose was to review expectations and help us answer a few of the APA questions. Her guidance was helpful, but using the APA style is difficult and cumbersome. It took quite some time to look up how to do the citations and then I’m still unsure of myself.

Research Action Project Update March 2013

The focus of this action research revolves around this question: What is the relationship between students who were part of a Transitional-First Grade (T1) class or retained in elementary and their success at the end of middle school or in high school? During the last few weeks the process of gathering data has started. I meet with the middle school principal who is also interested in the data and conclusions that may be drawn as the research progresses. The middle school counselor provided access to the testing data. Data from 2009 state test was not located at that time, but it can still be found through individual results. I have begun to organize the data by student and student’s birth date to compare with the normal age for the class. Then I will be able to determine the reason for the age discrepancy. Next, I plan to list the achievement data by grade. I hope that trends will develop as more data is gathered. I still need to meet with the high school principal and counselor to acquire data from that site. I have scheduled a meeting to begin that portion of the data gathering process. Everyone involved in the process thus far has been curious about the action research question and helpful in the process. I plan to do the bulk of the research and analysis during the summer months. At this time there are no changes to this plan. I am considering whether it would be wise to focus on a single subject area for achievement results, or whether possibly Math and Reading would provide sufficient data and results.

EDLD 5326--Partnership Presentation

5326 School Community Relations--Partnership Timeline

Task	Who?	What?	When?
Write plan	Stacy Williams	Write and submit the plan for approval to school administration and the Site Based Decision Making Committee.	March 2013
Plan approval	Stacy Williams	Obtain approval from school administration and the Site Based Decision Making Committee.	March 2013
Form committee	Stacy Williams	Form a committee of teachers, administrators, and community members to implement plan.	April 2013
Elicit volunteers	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee	Elicit volunteer tutors from high school students, parents, and citizens throughout the community social media, community billboards, and fliers.	April 2013-August 2013
Elicit Partners	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee	Elicit community/business partners by presenting at PTO meetings, churchs and civic organizations and social media.	April 2013-August 2013
Title I funds	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and Site Principal	Obtain funding from Title I sources.	May 2013-allocation August 2013-funding
Community Partner funds	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee	Obtain additional funding from community partners.	May 2013-August 2013
Organize tutor training	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and Site Principal	Organize initial training for tutors.	June 2013-August 2013
Secure Facility/Technology	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and Site Principal	Secure facility and technology for tutoring use.	May 2013
Arrange snacks	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and Food Service Director	Arrange snacks for tutoring from school Food Service Program.	May 2013 and August 2013
Arrange Transportation	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and Transportation Director	Arrange transportation for tutoring.	May 2013 and August 2013
Identify student/Permission forms	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and classroom teacher, site school counselor	Identify students and obtain permission from parents to provide tutoring services.	August 2013
Student Needs Reporting Procedures	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and site administrator	Hold meeting to inform teachers of procedures for reporting student needs.	August 2013
Grouping	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee and teachers	Match students, needs, and tutors in pairs or small groups.	August 2013
Begin Service	Stacy Williams, Chairman of the Tutoring Project Committee, teachers, and tutors	Begin tutoring services and review student needs weekly.	September 2013

Reflections on Action Research

My greatest insight is that action research never stops for an administrator who wishes to improve his/her own practice. I learned that action inquiry does not have a start and completion date, but is an area an administrator must make time to do. It is a continuous and ongoing process. As one wondering concludes, it spurs new questions. I learned that collaborating and sharing my ideas is key in action research. While viewing and commenting on research with my colleagues through our blogs, there are multiple perspectives on the research and considering the viewpoint of others will strengthen my research and provide different perspectives validity to the research.  Lamar cohort, Lori Ramsey, comments on my blog, “We have to keep parents informed on the child's academic performance. Their support of retention or passing is vital. Also, comparing the data of the retained group to the group that was passed on will help show whether or not your tools for deciding on retention are a good predictor. And finally, teachers have to pay close attention to the performance of the children that were retained otherwise it is a waste to hold the child back.” (Ramsey, 2013) Lori Ramsey’s comment on my blog reiterates the need to back up our stances on our action research and work with parents so the parents, as stakeholders, understand our reasoning. A theme throughout the course has been the administrators must exemplify learning.   “Principals, like teachers, need and treasure collegiality and peer support.  Yet, perhaps even more than teachers, principals live in a world of isolation…” (Barth, 1990)  I can be a part of Professional Learning Communities to accomplishing this goal.  I will need the support of a working group of administrators, whether in a monthly meeting forum or through online collaboration.   Teachers’ and other administrators’ action inquiry can be transferred to my own practice by using the five quality indicators to assess their action research (Dana, 2009).  As my colleagues work through their action research, I can reflect upon their inquiries to make informed decisions in my educational practice. As I become an administrator, I must be a “Head Learner” as referred to throughout the Dana text.  I can also work with teachers within Professional Learning Communities utilizing Nominal Group Technique (Harris, 2009, pg.96) to provide support for strategies that work well within our school and problem solve and build consensus.   As a part of this collaboration, I want to inspire action research within my own school and among my own peer group of future administrators. To add support to action research, I will lead by sharing my own research when it is finished by using some of the techniques for oral presentations and write-ups discussed in Chapter 5 of the Dana text. I enjoyed the planning process of the research and I am anxious to dive into the research element of the inquiry. I am interested in sharing this process with teachers and think it may be a fulfilling way of professional development.  I could begin by coaching others through the action research process to help others inquire about their own wonderings. As teachers begin their own research inquiries, the benefits will multiply and the wheels of educational improvement will turn. References Barth, R. S., & Guest, L. S. (1990). Improving schools from within: teachers, parents, and principals can make the difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, a Joint Publication with the American Association of School Administrators. Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. P. (2010). Examining the Work: Sustaining Improvement. Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action (pp. 91-103). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.   Ramsey, Lori.  (2013, February 10) Re:  CARE about Action Research [Web log comment].  Retrieved from  http://stacywilliamsok.blogspot.com/2013/02/ CARE about Action Research.html

Ready for Action

While meeting with my site supervisor in her office this week, we both felt confident in the draft plan and it was approved as written.  However, she gave me free access to add other interesting sub-questions if I see data that is relevant to late-start students.  We also discussed crunching the data at a later time for low students who were recommended for retention but not retained.  This would become a much longer project so it is not included in the scope of this action research since we may not be able to find accurate records for retention recommendations during the last decade.  Since I had already edited the plan to include interviews or surveys, both of us feel confident that the data can be accessed and stakeholders involved can be interviewed or surveyed.  Interviewing all the stakeholders is not necessary to acquire numerous viewpoints on retention for both the parent and student perspective.  My site supervisor had just returned from a meeting concerning the state’s grading system for all schools in Oklahoma so we discussed how retention may affect our state testing score and our report card grade given by the state.