Rolling Along with My Action Research Plan (Progress Update)

As a reminder, by action research is researching the effectiveness of the use of student science journals towards student achievement. My action research plan is moving at a slower pace than my internship plan. I have logged many hours into my internship plan hoping to put it on the back burner, so that I could concentrate on my action research plan this summer. I am currently gathering the necessary data to complete my research. I want to do this while school is going on, so that if I run into a problem, I have the support of my school staff and administrators to help me. As I gather the data, I am formatting it into charts and graphs where the data can easily be compared. This summer, I will apply this data to my action research paper. I have established the selection of the bilingual and monolingual students that I will use in my research. I have already gathered the district benchmarks in science for the participating students from the school year 2011-2012. I have gathered the district benchmarks in science for this year 2012-2013 and am up to date with those results. I have copied the organizational skills used in the students science journals and will continue to gather more samples from this year towards the end of the year. I am researching on the web trying to find as much research as I can that pertains to my action research. I have found several good sources like foss.org and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) as a couple of examples. The NSTA has some great articles concerning the use of science notebooks and has documented some of the research that has been developed to study the use of the science notebooks. I have not ran into any obstacles yet, but I know that if I do, I can rely on my administrators, the staff and the professors to redirect me in the right direction.

EDLD 5326--Partnership Presentation

5326 School Community Relations--Partnership Timeline

Task	Who?	What?	When?
Seek Approval	School administrators	-Share & collaborate partnership idea -seek approval to proceed with development	March 2113
Establish Campus Base Site Committee (CBST) to oversee partnership development	School’s established planning committee -(Including but not limited to): -Counselor -Teachers from each grade level -PTO/parent org. representatives -Teacher aid -Nurse -Community representatives -Administrators	-Organize members for campus base site committee to oversee development of partnership -Inventory current discipline practices -Ensure need for partnership align with school/student goals -Ensure school’s need with cultures—schedule school personnel to use the Self-Assessment Checklist on the NASPW, (National Association of School Psychologists Website	April 2013
CBST to collaborate on development of partnership	CBST Members: -School psychologist(as guest if possible) -Administrators -Teachers from each grade level -Nurse -Community representatives -Parent representatives -Counselor -PTA/other parent org. representatives	-Develop 3 year outline broadly defining goals of partnership for each year including ideas of behavior workshops, guest speakers, parent child activities, family/student take home activity bags, evaluations, etc. -Produce 1 year action plan including activities, resources, funding, and evaluation -Develop the SOS (Success of Students) Plan which is a step by step procedure plan for severe behavior interruptions that all staff will use -Establish reward system for no severe behavior outbursts -Mentoring including upper grade students,  parents, special visitors (Houston’s professional sports players, etc.) -Establish chairperson/co-chair to coordinate, schedule meetings, & share information	April – May 2013
CBST to collaborate funding sources,  resources, marketing, supplies	Established CBST members	-Make decision of how guest speakers(if needed for workshop will be obtained/funded -Funding of supplies: PTO, grade level funds -Send out help call to community & parents via, school newsletter, website, established weekly communication from classroom teachers for reading books, puzzles, math flash cards, etc. for Take Home Book Bags	May 2013
Make Take Home Activity Bags	CBST members Teachers Parents	-Make Take Home Family Activity Bags: use canvas bags to fill with 2-3 activities including a book activity	June  2013
Collaborate on development of partnership	Established CBST	Meet to tie up loose ends on any of: -3 year broad outline -1 year action plan -SOS (Success of Students) Plan -Family Activity Bags -Begin planning and marketing of the first year Behavior Workshop that will occur in January 2014 -Any relevant issues	End of June, July 2013
Plan & collaborate on Behavior Workshop for February 2013	-Established CBST -Other Community members -Parents	-Plan for 1st year guest speaker for 1 hour informational session regarding behavior issues as it related to medications, disorders, food allergies, etc. and parenting tips -Plan how (in person, video, website, etc.) it will be implemented -Plan when (Open House, on a Saturday, with Meet the Teacher Night, etc.) -Finalize funding (if any) for speaker	July 2013
Planned Parent Activities	-CBST members chairperson & co-chair - Teachers -Teacher aids, assistants	-All grade levels with SOS Plan students will plan to incorporate parents to be involved with their child, their grade level, or class -Teacher will have a generic list of pre-planned activities planned by the CBST that she/he will individualize toward her/his class and or students to meet their academic needs.	August 2013
Collaborate & Share w/Staff	-CBST chairperson -CBST co-chair -Administrators	-Review staff of established discipline guidelines for campus -Explain & collaborate refining step by step procedures between school/parents regarding severe behavior issues which is the SOS (Success of Students) Plan -Illicit commitment from staff for new SOS Plan	August 2013
Share SOS Plan w/ Community	-Administrators -Teachers -Students -CBST -Community	-Illicit commitment from parents-staff-students -Explain the SOS Plan steps -Share via use of school/student handbooks, school website, beginning of year grade level meetings w/parents to inform all members of SOS Plan	Beginning of school- August/September 2013
1st Year Behavior Workshop	- CBST members -Selected guest speakers (if any) - Community - Teachers - Administrators - Students - Other school staff	-1 scheduled 1 hour sessions to occur during 1st year involving speakers or information to discuss behavior issues that may be related to medications, disorders, food allergies, parenting tips, etc.	February 2014
Analyze Data & Evaluation of Behavior Exhibited w/Planned Activities and SOS Plan	-Participating Teachers -Administrators -Participating Parents	-Communicate & collaborate on successes of SOS Plan and gather feedback from parents on how to be more effective on SOS Plan -Check if reduction in behavior outbursts or severe behavior infractions	Monthly, possibly weekly depending on student’s issues beginning in August 2013
Evaluate overall partnership plan and review/update 3 year plan	CBST members	- Review and collaborate the 3 year outline of partnership - Review, update, improve SOS Plan to ensure it is linking to academic achievement - Reduction of Student’s Behavior Outbursts on an individual basis of each participating student	June 2014

5326 School Community Relations--Wk. 2--Gathering Data for Partnership Prosposal

Current Reality: Identify a current student issue or need that interferes with academic achievement at your school. Cite data that supports the need. This could be data that relates to academic achievement, student attendance, discipline, or other sources. Look at trends of data and disaggregated data, where available.

A current student issue that interferes with academic achievement at my interning school is the behavior of a 2nd grade male student that I will refer to as Needs2.  Since December Needs2 has outbursts involving disrespect to the teacher and other students. These outbursts involve some type of physical and verbal disrespect.  He has a daily behavior log that travels with him wherever he goes that has documentation of his good and bad behavior.  Teachers have documented his behavior in the Skyward computer system, which is an educational software program used by schools.  He has these behavior outbursts logged on forms, labeled “Outclass Conduct Notices” as well.  He has a cool-off spot in the classroom. Interventions from the school psychologist have been put in place for the teacher in dealing with Needs2.  Some of the behaviors he exhibits is running in classroom, making loud noises with his mouth, doesn’t stay on task, sings out loud, doesn’t follow simple rules, bangs on things in classroom, yells out, throws objects, talks back to teacher, refers to his teacher as “lady”, and has other inappropriate behaviors as well.  His behavior is detrimental to the other 2nd grade classmates and their learning as well as his own.  While this is just one student, there are more students at the school with severe behavior issues. The school does not currently have a program in place to engage with parents over the long-term to address these behavior issues. Whether it is one student with severe behavior issues or ten, these students have the capability of disrupting the entire classroom and lowering academic achievement for the whole classroom. Therefore, we must develop a program to systematically deal with these behavior issues.

Vision: How will the family-school-community partnership that you are proposing resolve the issue by meeting the demonstrated need, and how will it support student achievement?

I plan on building a model for engaging with parents of students with severe behavior issues, using the specific facts of Needs2 (outlined above) as the basis for the model.  Upon looking at this student issue, it has lead me to inquire about other students in this school that have had severe behavior issues within the classroom that have disrupted student achievement for the entire classroom. There are a couple more students that also have behavior issues that would benefit from a partnership with the community at this school.  Needs2 is definitely not the first nor will he be the last student with a strong behavior issue!  Therefore, my plan is to develop a discipline model plan that is implemented by all staff members.  This plan is a step by step process that allows the parents and the school to work together to resolve behavior issues that are occurring at school.  It will be beneficial for all other students-parents-school members when the occurrence arises with a different student.  It will help guide the parents and school towards successful behavior that will not deteriorate the learning environment.  This model program will be the standard for engaging families across the entire school year in addressing severe discipline issues. Applying this model for each family will not only increase the student achievement of the children with poor behavior, but will also provide a better learning environment for other students in the classroom and grade level.