This is what my action research plan looks like at this time. I am sure through the use of some of the strategies for sustaining improvement it may change. Allot of times we just think about the problem and what we can do to change it. We don't consider the opposition or even the people that are affected by the changes that we want to make.

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

STUDENT ATTENDANCE IMPROVEMENT

1.      SETTING THE FOUNDATION- Through collaboration with my principal with regard to our site base goals, there has been an issue with meeting our attendance goals. I have proposed using an incentive program to promote attendance. I met with PTO to get them on board and to get them to fund the project.

2.      ANALYZING DATA- Looking at current and past year attendance records. See what needs to happen in order for us to meet the campus improvement goal. We need to raise attendance by one percent from last year.

3.      DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING- Surveying students, staff, and parents about their feelings toward the current incentive program. Meeting with the site committee for addition impute as to how they think we can go about improving the program. Using literature and articles focused on improving school attendance to see if how we might be able to improve this program.

4.      ENGAGE IN SELF- REFLECTION- Questions include:

·         What other factors are out of our control that affects attendance?

·         How do we handle excused absences?

·         How are excused absences counted in the attendance process?

·         What else could we do to improve the incentive to motivate kids to continue to come to school every day?

·         What does the other literature say about promoting attendance?

5.      EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS- After collecting data to see if the new program is successful look into the additional information about improving attendance and see what could be done to improve the program. Consult with site committee, PTO, and students again.

6.      DETERMINING DIRECTION- Students who have perfect attendance for the nine week attendance period will attend a bubble party. Student will go at their scheduled time to the playground and spend twenty minutes enjoying their own bottle of bubbles as well as running through the bubbles made by the two bubble machines provided by the PTO.

7.      TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT-

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improve School Attendance
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Inform students, parents, and staff about the program. Hold a “Bubble Party after every nine week grade period for those with perfect attendance.	Myself, site based committee, teacher, students. (students have to try to take responsibility or ownership as well)	Starting the end of 2011-2012 school year continuing through 2012-2013	Supervision and bubbles. Supervision provided by myself and staff. Bubbles provided by the PTO.	The program will be evaluated after the first full semester.

8.      SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT- Continue to promote, reflect and change incentive program as needed to sustain improvement. Things may change along the way so it is important to always be looking at the data to insure continued success.

The nine passion areas that we look at with regard to school improvement really gave me insight into different things that I could be used on my campus in the future. It is so important to be sure that we not only invest in improving our staff and students but that we are always trying to improve our selves as well.

            When talking with my principal about my research plan he agreed that it would be good to see if the program is successful and how we could improve upon it. He feels that attendance is something that is difficult to improve because some of it is out of our control. Kids get sick, parent plan trips and choose to take students out of school for a day here or there, deaths in the family may cause a student to be absent. If an incentive program can make students want to come to school it’s worth researching and giving it the time and resources needed. He also mentioned that no teacher has come to him before and said “I have an idea on how to improve attendance if I can get the support from PTO will you allow me to try it.” This is a subject not to many people try to tackle, although it is a very important subject. He feels if I have a desire and passion to try to make this program better then that is what my action research should be about. 

          This week I learned that an action research plan is not a program that I will implement but truly a questioning that will allow me to improve something that we are already doing. It’s funny because I read the literature but until I really started looking at the sample action research questions I don’t think I really got it. The subject that I have chosen will make finding literature difficult but I am determined to take something I am interested in improving and make it better through action research.

 Recently I created a program to increase school attendance per our campus improvement plan. The purpose of my proposed research plan is to see if this incentive program is getting the results that I hope that it will. Through research of this program we will see if we will continue the program or discontinue it. If it is not successful we may have to look at other things that promote better attendance in schools.

Having a successful outcome will benefit our campus, the students, and the teachers. It will benefit our campus because we will meet our campus improvement goal or hopefully exceed them. It will benefit the students because they will not miss valuable learn and it benefits the teacher as they don’t have to go back and re-teach several times due to absentees.

The action research will be beneficial in determining if this program is successful or if we need to go back and look at other options for promoting better attendance.

The action research plan is very important to me because I am the one that implemented the incentive to improve attendance and I want it to be successful. It is important to have goal and be able to achieve these goals. As a school our goal is to try to improve student attendance and through this program I hope we will be successful in meeting our goals.

          

          Educational leaders might use a blog in various ways. It can be a way to share the things that are working for you in your classroom. There are times when I teach a concept and re-teach and re-teach again in different ways and the students are just not getting. I am missing the mark and am unsure why or what to try to get the concept across. A blog could be a way to communicate what I am trying. What is successful and what has not worked. As a newer teacher I go to my colleges often to bounce ideas off or just to get a fresh look at something

          You could use blogs to integrate technology in to the classroom. This can be done in several ways and should always be done under close supervision. One of the ways one could use a blog it to communicate with students about current events and personal outlook on those events. Another way is allowing the students to use their blog as a journal, to express feelings, to show what they are passionate about. It is a good way to get students to be reading and writing, work together, and participate in class activities.                
          According to the Text “Leading with Passion and Knowledge”, by Nancy Fichtman Dana, Principals might use a weblogs to capture their thoughts as they unfold.  The blog serves as a “online dairy” in which the principal can share thoughts and receive feedback that might be helpful. Blogging in this case would be used as a form of data that to review and reflect upon.

I am in a Masters program and am learning about action research. If you are not familiar with this you’re in luck, because I wasn’t sure about it in the beginning either. Action research is more than just researching something and finding a better way to tell others how to do a task. Action research is about examining one’s own practices in a systematic way. Many times people that don’t work in the education field come in and tell us how we could do things better, what materials work best and how to handle different situations. In most cases these people are removed from the day to day workings of schools or classrooms.

Action research in education provides the opportunity for us as educators to look at things that we may want to improve and work toward through inquiry, data collection, reflection, and finally finding a course of action.  It has to start with you and from there you can try to get others involved in creating the resolution or outcome that you are trying to achieve.  The first step is to think about or “wonder” what you think could use improvement in your school. Collect data about this subject, read different materials, send surveys, ask more questions to understand the issue. Then reflect on what you have learned and work together to find the best solution and continue to reflect and see if what you have implemented worked or if it needs to be adjusted or changed.