Discussion with Site Supervisor

I had a discussion with my site supervisor regarding my action research plan. He told me that his main concern was the evaluation piece. With all of the additional action research plans that are being incorporated this year (PLCs, RTI, and Teen Biz) could "muddy" the results. He suggested that I include the lexile scores as an evaluation piece as well as a teacher survey. I had suggested a teacher survey to my department chair a little bit ago, so I am excited to add that component to the plan.

He also suggested that I investigate the data received by a new computer program that is being incorporated mid-year by our district. This was to replace the TMSFA scores. I will investigate the information received from the program and see if I can incorporate that information into the research plan as well.

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Increase 8th grade Reading STAAR scores
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Analysis of Low STAAR Reading scores	Academic Leadership Team	May 2012	STAAR data, library reading program data, Redistep scores, and any other data determined by administration to use, Readicide by Kelly Gallagher	Reading initiative needed in order raise the scores
Form different committees to address the needs to the creation and implementation of the program.	Dept. Chair and myself	May 2012	Teachers	Formed committees
Create a reading initiative program	Dept. Chair, myself, and committee	May 2012	Teacher from each content area, ideas, and goals	Reading program created
Creating classroom libraries of 30 books/14 titles for all core content classes.	Dept. Chair/ Librarian/ Myself	August 2012 – December 2012	$25,000 grant $15,000 Title 1 funds	Classroom libraries in all core content classes
Implement the reading initiative program O.S.C.A.R. (Our Students Care about Reading).	Reading Initiative Committee	May 2012 – May 2013	Reading Initiative Plan, Books	Successful award ceremony in May
Construct and give student surveys to evaluate the increased amount of reading and levels of joy with reading.	Reading Initiative Committee and myself	August 2012 – May 2013	Questions for evaluation	Increase in the amount of reading based on student response.
Create campus common assessments every three weeks in ELA.	8th grade team	August 2012 – May 2013	Common assessments created every three weeks, District common assessments	Increased data scores from previous year.
Evaluate the new STAAR data	Academic Leadership Team	May 2013 – June 2013	STAAR data	Increase in STAAR reading scores

Week 2

I'm only into week 2 of my action research class, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information I'm learning. I've always wondered as a teacher why the principal has so many different projects going on at once, and now I'm seeing why - because there are so many areas that action research can take place!

This week I learned about the nine areas of passion where administrators find their inquiries. I also watched three videos by former graduates of Lamar University that discussed their doctoral thesis regarding action research.

I'm glad I made the decision to pursue my master's degree, so I get to know the "other" side of education. I'm learning more about my passions that will drive me to be a better educator.