Data collection

I've now completed my data collection instrument. My site-supervisor thought it would help to design it where it had (2) forms of data collection in one-survey and open-ended questions. I will be using a Likert Scale for the followling statements:

1. I feel welcome at my child's school.
2. My child’s school sees parents as important partners.
3. Employees in the front office are polite to me when I visit and/or call the school.
4. My child’s school wants to hear my ideas about how to make the school better.
5. My child’s school sees parents as important partners.
6. If I need help or have a question, I know whom to talk to at this school.
7. This school will help me assist my child with homework and learning.
8. In addition to report cards, this school tells me about my child's learning and grades.
9. Students at my child’s school are treated fairly by all teachers and staff, no matter what their race, cultural, or family background.
10. Recognizes that all parents, regardless of income, educational level, or cultural background, want their children to do well in school and are involved in their children’s learning.

I've added the following questions:

Are you a member of PTA/PTO?
What is your race or ethnicity?

How many school events do you attend a year? □ 0 □ 1-2 □ 3-5 □ 6-10 □ 11 +
Where do you get most of your information about school? Mark only one:

Please comment on each of the following.
I would recommend the following changes for how the school communicates with families:

Please list other ways that the school can assist you in your efforts to support your child’s academic and social success:

Please list other comments or concerns here:


Tell me what you think of it.

Insights of EDLD 5301

The following are some highlghts from the EDLD 5301 Research course.

I’ll admit, I’m not the one who would recommend the use of technology for receiving feedback from others, but after taking this course, I would like to rethink my position. Being without a site supervisor for this course and not actually sure of my own reflections, the feedback that I received from my peers via the discussion board and blog was of extreme value to me. After reading posted comments from my peers, it allowed me to rethink some of my research practices. As a result of the blogs and discussion board, I was able to make changes to my research study, which I believe I would have never considered without the feedback from my peers. This benefit is supported in the text, which states, “ Yet, capturing your own thinking over time can lead to critical insights that may only occur when you revisit a thought or when you string together that have come to you intermittently over a longer period of time.” (p.88).

As I travel through my action research, I now possess an increased level of confidence, which I previously didn’t have. This can be attributed to many factors. First, Week 2 lectures which included the interviews of the three school leaders provided me with several useful suggestions when conducting research. As I conduct my research, I plan on being more conscientious of when I actually conduct my research. The timing of implementing a project is just as important as the project itself. This point was supported by Dr. Chargois, when he stated that project should not be implemented during critical times, such as during standardized testing (Dr. Chargois, personal communication).

Agreed Upon Action Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improve parental involvement

Action Step(s): Administer parent response surveys written, electronically, and in person at Meet the teacher night

Person(s) Responsible: Intern, Administrator, committee members

Timeline: August 2010-Octobr 2010

Needed Resources: Time and team members to construct surveys, administer and collect them

Evaluation: Log of surveys completed and returned
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Action Step(s): Survey teacher’s current perception(s) of parent involvement

Person(s)Responsible: Intern, Administrator, committee members

Timeline: August 2010-September 2010

Needed Resources: Time and team members to construct surveys, administer and collect them

Evaluation: Log of surveys completed and returned

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Step(s): Conduct interviews of parents from the PTA

Person(s) Responsible: Intern, Counselor

Timeline: September 2010-May 2011

Needed Resources: Time, parent volunteers from the PTA, and support of campus staff to encourage participation in interviews

Evaluation: Log of scheduled interviews, written notes/reflections from interviews
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Action Step(s):Improving an select area of the communication system (i.e. newsletter, emails)used to inform parents
**Area will be determined by survey results**

Person(s) Responsible: Administrator, committee team, technology specialist

Timeline: November 2010-June 2010

Needed Resources: Time, parent trainer coordinator/IT-specialist-train staff in revised communication system

Evaluation: Parent/teacher communication logs, attendance records from trainings

Agreed upon blog

Classmates,
Currently,I do not have an agreed upon Action Research Plan, because of some site-supervisor technicalities. However, I do encourage you to post comments on m plan that was submitted in my previous blog. I really feel like I'm in a ship without a sail.

Thanks

Action Research Plan

Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template
Goal: What actions can our faculty take to improve parental involvement of parents who do not feel welcome at our campus?
(1) Action Step-Administer parents involvement response surveys

Person(s)
Responsible- Administrator, Counselor



Timeline- August 2010-October 2010
Start/End

Resources- Time and team members to collect completed surveys

Evaluation- Log of surveys completed and returned
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Action Step- Improve 2-way communication system
Person(s)
Responsible- Administrator, technology specialist, translator

Timeline- August 2010-June 2011
Resources- Staff (Parent trainer coordinator, IT-Specialist) for campus staff
trainings

Evaluation- Teacher/parent communication logs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) Action Step- Improve parent recruit system used to
extend parent’s opportunities to serve
on school committee(s) (i.e. SBDM, PTO, Curriculum Team)

Person(s)
Responsible- Administrator, department level chairpersons, PTO Chair
Timeline- August 2010-June 2011
Resources- Time (parent meetings and workshops), staff (leadership team to
conduct focus group meetings/surveys to learn of areas of interest
parents)

Evaluation- Increased parent membership on reform committees,
minutes from meetings documenting parents input, attendance
and volunteer logs from parent meetings and trainings

Week 2

One of the more insightful lessons I learned from week two was from Dr. Chargois video concerning the implementation of action research projects. He addressed the critical aspect of not implementing studies during critical times such a standardized testing (usually the month of May) , along with discussing the ethical delimmas that must be considered when conducting research. The protection of identity was a no brainer, however, I didn't think of ethics to the extent of what one maybe possibly researching would oppress the campus in any sort of way. I believe this is a good enough reason to seek out research that other campuses and districts have conducted on similiar areas of interest and take note of what worked and didn't work and more importantly of why it didn't work-possibly because of timing and/or some underlying ethical issue(s).

How educators might use blogs

Educators using blogs goes beyond providing support for one another in pursuit of the sames interest and/or goals. Educators can use blogs as an avenue to store their own ideas and others, along with referring back to them at various times (i.e. reflection). In addition the utilization of blogs allows educators to share ideas and seek insight from other educators (i.e. feedback) concerning the research and/or educational practices they are currently engaged in.