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.

What I learned about action research

Thus far, I learned just how important action research is to aspiring administrators such as myself and veteran administrators. With the never ending demands that are place on administrators, along with possessing the ability to respond, lead others and manage the day to day operations in the pursuit of school improvement, one must actively engage in intentional studies of their own administrative practices. I learned that action research is a great professional development tool to be used to gain a clearer understanding of why various issues and concerns are existing in classrooms and in schools today, where as it creates opportunities for administrators to focus on goals and where viable solutions can be researched, identified, and implemented as practitioner’s practice to improve what’s wrong or to better understand what works (Dana, 2009). Another aspect of action research, which I learned and am looking forward to using, is its reflective practices. In order to grow as a strong leader, you must be able to reflect back on the decisions and actions you make. In making future sound decisions in an effort to improve learning, I want to be able to competently, make decisions and take actions based on my ability to reflect back on my prior experiences and make adjustments as I go forward. Martin (2005) states that “Expertise is gained as one learns to adjust the performance based on the factors and one’s experience with them.” (p. 104). In the end, the use of action research will undoubtedly help me with the goal of school improvement by focusing my attention on the following questions: Where are we now? Where do we need to be? And How do we get there?