Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Updated Action Research Plan

GOAL: To find if there is a relationship between student involvement in extra-curricular activities and success in the school environment.


OUTCOMES
ACTIVITIES
RESOURCES/
RESEARCH
TOOLS
NEEDED
RESPONSIBILITY
TO ADDRESS
ACTIVITIES
TIMELINE
BENCHMARKS/
ASSESSMENT
Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
Finalize Action Research Project with guidance from Site Supervisor
Meet with Site Supervisor to discuss and finalize Action Research Plan
Template
Trent Jones
Gretchen Scoggins
December, 2012
Finalize Action Research
Make changes based on meeting with Site Supervisor
Create Student Surveys
Develop questions regarding student involvement in extra-curricular activities
Computer, word processor
Trent Jones
Gretchen Scoggins
Shane Reyenga
January 2013
Provide an opportunity for the student to state whether they are involved are not and why.

Administer Student Surveys
Distribute student surveys to the sample group
Computer, word processor
Trent Jones
January 2013- November 2013
Gather feedback from the sample group regarding their involvement in extra-curricular activities
Disaggregate Data gathered from Student Surveys
Disaggregation of Failure and Attendance Reports for 1st 6 week period 
Collect and Analyze the failure and attendance reports for the sample group
Failure and Attendance Reports
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Shane Denman
February 2013
Obtain academic and attendance data for the 1st 6 weeks of the Spring Semester
Disaggregate Data collected from Failure and Attendance Reports
Disaggregation of the Discipline Report for the first 9 week grading period.
Collect and Analyze the Discipline Report for the sample group
Discipline Report
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Janet Davis
February 2013
Obtain Discipline Report for the first 9 week grading period.
Disaggregate Data gathered from Discipline Reports
Disaggregation of Failure and Attendance Reports for 2nd 6 week period 
Collect and Analyze the failure and attendance reports for the sample group
Failure and Attendance Reports
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Shane Denman
March 2013
Obtain academic and attendance data for the 2nd 6 weeks of the Spring Semester.
Disaggregate Data collected from Failure and Attendance Reports
Disaggregation of Failure and Attendance Reports for 3rd 6 week period 
Collect and Analyze the failure and attendance reports for the sample group
Failure and Attendance Reports
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Shane Denman
May 2013
Obtain academic and attendance data for the 3rd 6 weeks of the Spring Semester.
Disaggregate Data collected from Failure and Attendance Reports
Disaggregation of the Discipline Report for the second 9 week grading period.
Collect and Analyze the Discipline Report for the sample group
Discipline Report
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Janet Davis
May 2013
Obtain Discipline Report for the first 9 week grading period.
Disaggregate Data gathered from Discipline Reports
Disaggregation of Failure and Attendance Reports for 1st 6 week period 
Collect and Analyze the failure and attendance reports for the sample group
Failure and Attendance Reports
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Shane Denman
October 2013
Obtain academic and attendance data for the 1st 6 weeks of the Fall  Semester
Disaggregate Data collected from Failure and Attendance Reports
Disaggregation of the Discipline Report for the first 9 week grading period.
Collect and Analyze the Discipline Report for the sample group
Discipline Report
Trent Jones
Tina Hall
Janet Davis
October 2013
Obtain Discipline Report for the first 9 week grading period.
Disaggregate Data gathered from Discipline Reports





Write Conclusion, displaying the results of the project





Disaggregation of all the data collected throughout the project to support my conclusion





Computer, Word Processor, Power Point





Trent Jones





November 2013





Analyze Attendance, Discipline, Academic Data, Student Surveys to draw a conclusion

Present findings to High School Faculty
Present Power Point to High School Faculty providing the results to the Action Research Project
Computer, Power Point
Trent Jones
December 2013


Monday, December 10, 2012

Week 3 Reflection

I have begun to worry about the vagueness of my question. What is the relationship between student involvement in extra-curricular activities and success in school? Success in school can be defined many different ways and success to one student may not be success to another. In saying that, I do think that I have targeted a distinct group in the student population by including discipline in my definition of success. Another concern I have is should I limit my study to a certain type of extra-curricular activity such as band or athletics?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Week 2 Reflection

The biggest thing that I learned from the week 2 is the same thing I learn from every week. Man, I have a lot to learn! I am very excited about the topic of my action research project. This is a topic that I feel very passionate about. My mom is a retired teacher. She used to say "that boy needs football, more than football needs him." I think sometimes this is a very true statement. Extra-curricular activities provide so many things, but just a few of them are; Structure, that may be missing otherwise. Guidance, many times the coaches, teachers, or sponsors are the only adult male or female figure that a student may have in their life. Pride, many times students do not have a lot to be proud of in their life. Being involved in an extra-curricular activity may fill this void.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Purpose and Significance of My Action Research Project-

The purpose of my action research project is to confirm the relationship between student involvement in extra-curricular activities on our campus and success in the school environment. At our campus  I am charged with the responsibility of the In-School-Suspension program. I am lucky enough to get to see a small part of the student population over, and over, and over again. Is hard as it is to believe at times, I begin to build a relationship with some of these students an am interested in their success as a person. As a coach, obviously I have a particular interest in student involvement in extra-curricular activities. During this project, some of the ways I plan to collect data is from the discipline list, failure reports, student schedules, teacher and student questionnaire's.


The significance of my action research project is, I believe that the results will show that there is a great link between student involvement in extra-curricular activities whether it be athletics, band, ag, choir, or something else and them being successful in the school environment. I hope that with these results, encouragement from teachers, administration, and parents to be involved in SOMETHING will rise.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

My analysis of how educational leaders might use blogs

In the world that we live in blogs have become the norm. They are a part of the news, education, and expression. Blogs are used by administrators to communicate with each other for research or simply how they handled certain situations. Administrators are also using blogs to enrich student learning. Students post on the blogs and other students can read them. This allows students an outlet for communication and sharing their ideas. The most common way I have seen blogs used is for administrator reflections. It gives them a way to express themselves and discuss their thoughts on any given subject.

What I have learned about Action Research and how I might use it.

I have learned that action research is an invaluable tool for the administrator. It is different from traditional educational research because it includes the people that deal directly with the students. Traditional educational research relies on data or university professors and does not take into consideration the people that deal with the students on a daily basis.
Action research should not be thought of as one single event. It should be an evolving part of the leader’s daily routine. It is the process of a principal engaging in systematic study of his/her own administrative practices. The leader should also seek out change and reflect on their practice by posing questions, collecting data, analyzing data, reading relevant literature and making changes in practice based on new understandings developed during the inquiry.
 Action research can be used in many different ways in a school district. I am a part of the RTI (Response to Intervention) Team on our campus. My role is to take the data and identify the at-risk students. I try and pinpoint a common theme in their struggles and look for ways that might make them more successful in the school environment.