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
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Goal: Improve School Attendance
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Action Steps(s):
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Person(s) Responsible:
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Timeline: Start/End
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Needed Resources
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Evaluation
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Inform students, parents, and staff about the program. Hold a “Bubble Party after every nine week grade period for those with perfect attendance.
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Myself, site based committee, teacher, students. (students have to try to take responsibility or ownership as well)
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Starting the end of 2011-2012 school year continuing through 2012-2013
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Supervision and bubbles. Supervision provided by myself and staff. Bubbles provided by the PTO.
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The program will be evaluated after the first full semester.
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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.
This looks like a great action research plan. I think it was well layed out and easy to follow. I am considering using positive incentives in my classroom to influence student attendance between now and the end of school.
ReplyDeleteSarah your action plan looks really well thought and greatly layed out. One thing that worked for my campus is home visits to parents who the school was not able to reach through phone or online. We explained these parents the importance of their child's attendance for the child and the school. This really improved our attendance rate. I truly think you will see a great success with incentives. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteYour action plan looks great and nicely planned out. I am very interested in your findings and research because my research plan is also about attendance. I think it's great that you have involved the pto and I might have to involve the pto in my action research as well.
ReplyDeleteYou action plan is nicely done and I can see you have put a lot of thought into it. Handling of excused and unexcused absences can sometimes be tricky, but seeing what plan in place is a good start. How do we motivate or give incentives to get kids to come to school. Kid have lost that intrinsic motivation just to do "things rights" just because they should. They feel that they always need to be rewards from extrinsic motivation. I am doing my research project on Attendance as well; it will be interesting to see all the data that is collected.
ReplyDeleteYour research will be very valuable to your campus and your students. Getting parents to understand the need to make school a priority is very important. Since you are offering a bubble party as an incentive, can I assume you are in an elementary school?
ReplyDeleteAt this age, parents influence the children's decision to go or not to go to school. By the time they reach secondary, they have adopted the priority of the family and 'skipping", if you don't feel like going, becomes acceptable.
Have you considered collecting data from the parent notes or excuses, anonymously of course, to look for patterns and commonalities. It could reveal some reasons for the attendance problems. Some you may have control or influence over, some you may not.
Weather, community events, days before or after long holidays or weekends, full moon, movie releases, harvest schedules, etc., usually showed a higher rate of absenteeism at my school. How many actually had doctors appointments or documented illness and how many just didn't feel good. Translation- "I don't want to get out of bed and go to school."
Ice cream with the principal works well, too!
ReplyDeleteAttendance is so important! We can't teach them if they aren't there. Unfortunately, at the elementary age it is difficult to hold the student accountable when they rely on their parent to get them to school. Yet, in reality it is the student who is held accountable because it is their grades that suffer.
I like the plan and the way you have laid out how you are going to go about doing it. Have you thought of how you will handle an absence where the student has not brought a note from the parent explaining the absence or do you really on the attendance secretary (or equivalent) to talk with the parents? It would be interesting to see your results, I am in a high mobility school and we face many of the same issues.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteYour action research topic is very interesting. I believe that students need that motivational piece at school so they can continue succeeding. This year at my school they started to implement an Award Ceremony for those students that have perfect attendance every nine weeks. So in case they did not receive an award the first nine weeks, they have the opportunity for the second nine weeks to be part of that award ceremony. The award ceremony is held in the auditorium and parents are welcomed to come. Students get so excited because the teacher is going to announce their name in the microphone and students will receive a certificate. They like to make their teacher and their parents proud. It seems that it is working and students are motivated to be part of that award ceremony. Also if the student had perfect attendance for the whole school year, then they will be part of a special ceremony to receive a trophy. I hope all works well with your action research. Good Luck!