Action Research Process

Goal: Determine if an increase in GT services increase academic achievement for students receiving services.
Step 1
Create a parent survey based on beliefs about the GT program and the achievment impact it has had on students.
Step 2
Begin seeing district GT students for one full day of instruction each week and complete tracking sheet on students learning.
Step 3
Collect data such as GT report cards from last year, school report cards from last year, TAKS scores for 3rd and 4th grade students, commended rates for 3rd and 4th grade students, and Cogat scores for 2nd grade.
Step 4
Compile last years data and this years data. View data and look for trends and connections in data and whether or not achievement is increasing.

Does achievement increase...

Well, it is settled. I have decided that my research project will answer the question... Does achievement increase in Gifted and Talented students when their time in gifted and talented services increase? I am looking forward to completing this project this year.
At the board meeting Monday night a busing proposal was approved for the gifted students in our district to come to one campus for services. We will have the students divided by grade level on different days of the week. This will allow my partner and myself to increase service time from 90-120 minutes to nearly 4 and a half hours of services. This will give our team and our district the information they need to know if the changes in our program were positive or negative and help us to develop the next steps in become a program of excellence.

Blog uses for action research

Blogs could allow leadership teams and professional learning communities a place to collect data, store thoughts and wonderings, and keep everyone engaged in the process between times when the groups can get together.

Action Research

I have learned many things about action research and the power that it can have in creating positive school change. Action research is a process that follows the scientific method of inquiry to find problems and create solutions in a meaningful and systematic way. By examining our own practice in reflective manner and examining the data while asking quesitons that get to the heart of the issue at hand, we can have a significant impact on students and teachers alike. Once the issue is discovered the process of understanding the issue, determining a direction and creating the plan of action begins. From the action plan, as steps are implemented monitoring and evaluation then lead to beginning the process again to further refine the solution.
Action research is a grassroots movement. It involves those that work in schools day in and day out with students to look at practice and create action plans that have significant impact on a school community.
As a teacher who worked for a distict that implemented continuous improvement, I am reminded of how this impacted my practice in the classroom, my students and also how it impacted me as a school leader. We used our model systematically in a way that mirrors the things we have learned this week about action research. As we put our practice under the microscope and make the time necessary to reflect and improvement, great things lie ahead for us as leaders.