Sunday, August 8, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
On the Nominal Group Technique
The Nominal Group Technique is a way to get new ideas and good discussion among small groups of teachers. I think that I am going to try this in the math department meetings this year. Many of our teachers are attached to their own ideas and we need to start being a little more open-minded about new strategies. We can look at how we are using SMN and see what suggestions we can make to increase student achievement using the afterschool tutorial program. We have several teachers who do not use the program and I think that they need to hear from other teachers who are successfully providing additional help for their students. I think that this technique could be beneficial. I am going to have to ensure that teachers know that their comments and suggestions should not be sarcastic or hurtful and there is no need to defend their own suggestions. I think it could work.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Do After-School Tutorials Really Help?
1. Examining the work: Setting the Foundation –
School performance is at the front of the accountability movement. Newspapers and television news programs are waiting each year to present school results to the public. In recent years, our school had improved from academically acceptable to a recognized campus. Our school district status has moved from acceptable to recognized to exemplary. However, the math scores have been and remain the lowest of all of the core subjects. Our campus and district goals are focused on student achievement in all of the core subjects with additional focus on mathematics improvement. In January 2010, we began an after-school tutorial program called Sandcrab Monday Night. I am going to research the effectiveness of this program as measured by the passing rates for Algebra 1 and mathematics scores of at least 2100 on the ninth-grade TAKS tests for Algebra 1 students.
2. Analyzing data –
My data will be all quantitative. I will randomly choose 15 students who attend the after-school tutorials and compile the scores for passing rates each six weeks. I will use the district six weeks tests and final exam grades as intermediate assessment scores while the final statistic to determine effectiveness will be the state assessment test given at the end of the school year. As an additional measure of the perception of effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program, I will survey the teachers. I would like to survey the teachers before the research results are compiled and then again afterwards so that I can determine if perception has changed based upon the action research results.
3. Developing deeper understanding –
My initial research has indicated that student tutors should have training on effective tutoring strategies. The members of the National Honor Society at our school often volunteer to tutor students in coursework during the after-school tutorials. The sponsors of the NHS will be asked to give the student volunteers guidelines for good tutoring techniques and possibly even have the students available for training as necessary. We occasionally have community members who will volunteer to tutor students who are struggling. These community tutors will also receive additional guidelines for tutoring strategies. The Algebra 1 teachers will be invited to provide specific teaching strategies to the tutors when necessary for particular objectives.
4. Engaging in Self-Reflection –
· Can I convince teachers who refuse to participate that the after-school program is effective in improving student achievement?
· Can I convince students who are struggling with mathematics concepts that the after-school tutorial program will improve their understanding of difficult concepts?
· If the action research program shows positive results, will I be able to convince the school board, administration, teachers, and students that additional days of after-school tutoring will continue to improve student achievement?
· Will the success of the program encourage more community tutors to volunteer for after-school tutorials?
· Will the community tutors become mentors to students who regularly attend tutorials?
· As the TAKS tests give way to End-of-Course (EOC) assessments for high school classes, can we continue to maintain the level of student achievement and even show improvement?
· As the tutorial program helps students improve mathematics understanding and the ability to apply their learning, will the perceptions of the difficulty of mathematics change for the better?
5. Exploring Programmatic Patterns –
· Some teachers have not participated in Sandcrab Monday Night because they do not see the necessity of additional tutorial time.
· Teachers who are asked to staff the tutorial session should be knowledgeable about all of the classes in their department. Some teachers only know their own subjects and cannot help students in every subject.
· Students with attendance problems are often assigned to mandatory SMN. These students are not always the ones who need additional help so much as they need to come to school. Some of them will do well on the TAKS tests in spite of attendance issues and so the positive results cannot be attributed to SMN tutorials. On the other hand, some of the students with attendance problems will also not come to tutorials either.
· Some teachers will wait until the end of the six weeks to assign SMN and the large number of students in tutorials during this time period will create difficulties for the teachers and tutors at SMN. Students have numerous assignments due immediately instead of allowing the students time to complete the work.
· Some of the students who are assigned to SMN are there because of language barrier issues in the classroom. The TAKS scores for these students who are refugees from a war in South America who have never attended school are improving but not passing. These students may have to be excluded from the research study.
6. Determining direction –
The math teachers at our high school are accustomed to participating in a team effort. The Algebra 1 teachers have already agreed to participate in the action research study. The two ladies were both advocates of the after-school tutorial program and they both assigned students to SMN. The algebra 1 teachers are willing to try everything that could help their students improve their understanding of mathematics. We are going to try to extend the research results to all core department teachers in an effort to convince all teachers to use the after-school tutoring program to the benefit of all students.
7. Taking action for school improvement –
My action research plan has been revised to include an additional survey that will be used to measure teacher perception of the after-school tutorial program, Sandcrab Monday Night. I added the survey to attempt to determine if the action research results will alter teacher perception about the SMN tutorial program.
Action Step(s)
Person(s) Responsible
Timeline:
Start/End
Needed Resources
Evaluation
1.Compile class lists for Algebra 1 that includes only ninth-grade students
Jan Kirchner Dana Dworaczyk
Final week of each six weeks:
October 1, 2010
November 12, 2010
January 14, 2011
February 25, 2011
April 15, 2011
June 2, 2011
Gradebook and Pentamation computer programs
Student lists for each teacher and each class
2. Compile teacher assignment tutorial forms mandatory attendance and voluntary attendance sign up charts for SMN for ninth-grade students
Sherry Phillips Nicole Amason Dana Dworaczyk
Wednesday of the final week of each six weeks:
September 29, 2010
November 10, 2010
January 5, 2011
February 23, 2011
April 13, 2011
May 25, 2011
SMN folder with attendance information kept on file in assistant principal’s office
Compilation of ninth-grade students and the number of tutorial sessions attended by each student
3.Randomly choose the 15 students for data collection and analysis based upon the student attendance during the first and second six weeks
Dana Dworaczyk
August 23, 2010 – November 12, 2010
Compilation list of students in attendance for SMN during the first and second six weeks periods
List of students for data collection and analysis
4.Compile student grades for six weeks tests or final exam or TAKS tests and six weeks averages for the 15 selected students who attend SMN tutorials and the 15 students chosen for control group who do not attend SMN tutorials.
Dana Dworaczyk Amber Caylor Patti Scharschmidt
Each week following the official grade submission:
October 8, 2010
November 19, 2010
January 21, 2011
March 4, 2011
April 21, 2011
June 4, 2011
Grade sheets for ninth grade Algebra 1 students
Columnar Excel spreadsheet with statistics combination:
Test grade, course average, tutorial attendance tally
5. Compile student grades for six weeks tests and six weeks averages for the the 15 students chosen for control group who do not attend SMN tutorials.
Dana Dworaczyk Amber Caylor Patti Scharschmidt
Each week following the official grade submission:
October 8, 2010
November 19, 2010
January 21, 2011
March 4, 2011
April 21, 2011
June 4, 2011
Grade sheets for ninth grade Algebra 1 students Six weeks tests scores
Final exam scores Ninth-grade TAKS scores
Columnar Excel spreadsheet with statistics:
Test grade, course average
6. Survey core teachers to determine perception of the effectiveness of SMN tutorial program.
Dana Dworaczyk
June 3, 2011
Survey instrument for teachers
Compilation of teacher responses to survey
7. Compare student success for tutorial group against the student success in the control group
Dana Dworaczyk
Two weeks after the official grade submission to allow for incomplete grades to be official:
October 15, 2010
November 30, 2010
January 28, 2011
March 11, 2011
April 29, 2011
June 11, 2011
Compilation lists from all six weeks during the 2010-2011 school year
Excel data analysis with statistical plots of combinations of like data between the two groups of students.
8. Final analysis of data comparisons between the two student groups to indicate the effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program: Sandcrab Monday Night to improve student achievement as measured by the final course grades and the state-mandated mathematics TAKS test.
Dana Dworaczyk
June 18, 2011
Excel comparisons of student data
Final report on effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program
9. Report research results to teachers and then reissue the survey about teachers perceptions of the SMN tutorial program
Dana Dworaczyk
September 2011
Research report and Survey instrument
Compilation of teacher responses to survey
8. Sustaining improvement –
· After the action research plan has been completed, if the results are positive and mathematics student achievement has increased, we will extend the results to all core departments. We will make the recommendation to all teachers that after-school tutorials will benefit all students in TAKS-tested curriculums. In addition to this recommendation, we could add more days of tutorial session to each week so that students will have even more opportunities to get help from qualified personnel.
· Investigating the effectiveness of SMN will be a year-long process. I think that our teachers will begin to see how action research is helping to verify and support improved student learning. These teachers will find other areas in need of improvement and they will begin an action research project of their own.
School performance is at the front of the accountability movement. Newspapers and television news programs are waiting each year to present school results to the public. In recent years, our school had improved from academically acceptable to a recognized campus. Our school district status has moved from acceptable to recognized to exemplary. However, the math scores have been and remain the lowest of all of the core subjects. Our campus and district goals are focused on student achievement in all of the core subjects with additional focus on mathematics improvement. In January 2010, we began an after-school tutorial program called Sandcrab Monday Night. I am going to research the effectiveness of this program as measured by the passing rates for Algebra 1 and mathematics scores of at least 2100 on the ninth-grade TAKS tests for Algebra 1 students.
2. Analyzing data –
My data will be all quantitative. I will randomly choose 15 students who attend the after-school tutorials and compile the scores for passing rates each six weeks. I will use the district six weeks tests and final exam grades as intermediate assessment scores while the final statistic to determine effectiveness will be the state assessment test given at the end of the school year. As an additional measure of the perception of effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program, I will survey the teachers. I would like to survey the teachers before the research results are compiled and then again afterwards so that I can determine if perception has changed based upon the action research results.
3. Developing deeper understanding –
My initial research has indicated that student tutors should have training on effective tutoring strategies. The members of the National Honor Society at our school often volunteer to tutor students in coursework during the after-school tutorials. The sponsors of the NHS will be asked to give the student volunteers guidelines for good tutoring techniques and possibly even have the students available for training as necessary. We occasionally have community members who will volunteer to tutor students who are struggling. These community tutors will also receive additional guidelines for tutoring strategies. The Algebra 1 teachers will be invited to provide specific teaching strategies to the tutors when necessary for particular objectives.
4. Engaging in Self-Reflection –
· Can I convince teachers who refuse to participate that the after-school program is effective in improving student achievement?
· Can I convince students who are struggling with mathematics concepts that the after-school tutorial program will improve their understanding of difficult concepts?
· If the action research program shows positive results, will I be able to convince the school board, administration, teachers, and students that additional days of after-school tutoring will continue to improve student achievement?
· Will the success of the program encourage more community tutors to volunteer for after-school tutorials?
· Will the community tutors become mentors to students who regularly attend tutorials?
· As the TAKS tests give way to End-of-Course (EOC) assessments for high school classes, can we continue to maintain the level of student achievement and even show improvement?
· As the tutorial program helps students improve mathematics understanding and the ability to apply their learning, will the perceptions of the difficulty of mathematics change for the better?
5. Exploring Programmatic Patterns –
· Some teachers have not participated in Sandcrab Monday Night because they do not see the necessity of additional tutorial time.
· Teachers who are asked to staff the tutorial session should be knowledgeable about all of the classes in their department. Some teachers only know their own subjects and cannot help students in every subject.
· Students with attendance problems are often assigned to mandatory SMN. These students are not always the ones who need additional help so much as they need to come to school. Some of them will do well on the TAKS tests in spite of attendance issues and so the positive results cannot be attributed to SMN tutorials. On the other hand, some of the students with attendance problems will also not come to tutorials either.
· Some teachers will wait until the end of the six weeks to assign SMN and the large number of students in tutorials during this time period will create difficulties for the teachers and tutors at SMN. Students have numerous assignments due immediately instead of allowing the students time to complete the work.
· Some of the students who are assigned to SMN are there because of language barrier issues in the classroom. The TAKS scores for these students who are refugees from a war in South America who have never attended school are improving but not passing. These students may have to be excluded from the research study.
6. Determining direction –
The math teachers at our high school are accustomed to participating in a team effort. The Algebra 1 teachers have already agreed to participate in the action research study. The two ladies were both advocates of the after-school tutorial program and they both assigned students to SMN. The algebra 1 teachers are willing to try everything that could help their students improve their understanding of mathematics. We are going to try to extend the research results to all core department teachers in an effort to convince all teachers to use the after-school tutoring program to the benefit of all students.
7. Taking action for school improvement –
My action research plan has been revised to include an additional survey that will be used to measure teacher perception of the after-school tutorial program, Sandcrab Monday Night. I added the survey to attempt to determine if the action research results will alter teacher perception about the SMN tutorial program.
Action Step(s)
Person(s) Responsible
Timeline:
Start/End
Needed Resources
Evaluation
1.Compile class lists for Algebra 1 that includes only ninth-grade students
Jan Kirchner Dana Dworaczyk
Final week of each six weeks:
October 1, 2010
November 12, 2010
January 14, 2011
February 25, 2011
April 15, 2011
June 2, 2011
Gradebook and Pentamation computer programs
Student lists for each teacher and each class
2. Compile teacher assignment tutorial forms mandatory attendance and voluntary attendance sign up charts for SMN for ninth-grade students
Sherry Phillips Nicole Amason Dana Dworaczyk
Wednesday of the final week of each six weeks:
September 29, 2010
November 10, 2010
January 5, 2011
February 23, 2011
April 13, 2011
May 25, 2011
SMN folder with attendance information kept on file in assistant principal’s office
Compilation of ninth-grade students and the number of tutorial sessions attended by each student
3.Randomly choose the 15 students for data collection and analysis based upon the student attendance during the first and second six weeks
Dana Dworaczyk
August 23, 2010 – November 12, 2010
Compilation list of students in attendance for SMN during the first and second six weeks periods
List of students for data collection and analysis
4.Compile student grades for six weeks tests or final exam or TAKS tests and six weeks averages for the 15 selected students who attend SMN tutorials and the 15 students chosen for control group who do not attend SMN tutorials.
Dana Dworaczyk Amber Caylor Patti Scharschmidt
Each week following the official grade submission:
October 8, 2010
November 19, 2010
January 21, 2011
March 4, 2011
April 21, 2011
June 4, 2011
Grade sheets for ninth grade Algebra 1 students
Columnar Excel spreadsheet with statistics combination:
Test grade, course average, tutorial attendance tally
5. Compile student grades for six weeks tests and six weeks averages for the the 15 students chosen for control group who do not attend SMN tutorials.
Dana Dworaczyk Amber Caylor Patti Scharschmidt
Each week following the official grade submission:
October 8, 2010
November 19, 2010
January 21, 2011
March 4, 2011
April 21, 2011
June 4, 2011
Grade sheets for ninth grade Algebra 1 students Six weeks tests scores
Final exam scores Ninth-grade TAKS scores
Columnar Excel spreadsheet with statistics:
Test grade, course average
6. Survey core teachers to determine perception of the effectiveness of SMN tutorial program.
Dana Dworaczyk
June 3, 2011
Survey instrument for teachers
Compilation of teacher responses to survey
7. Compare student success for tutorial group against the student success in the control group
Dana Dworaczyk
Two weeks after the official grade submission to allow for incomplete grades to be official:
October 15, 2010
November 30, 2010
January 28, 2011
March 11, 2011
April 29, 2011
June 11, 2011
Compilation lists from all six weeks during the 2010-2011 school year
Excel data analysis with statistical plots of combinations of like data between the two groups of students.
8. Final analysis of data comparisons between the two student groups to indicate the effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program: Sandcrab Monday Night to improve student achievement as measured by the final course grades and the state-mandated mathematics TAKS test.
Dana Dworaczyk
June 18, 2011
Excel comparisons of student data
Final report on effectiveness of the after-school tutorial program
9. Report research results to teachers and then reissue the survey about teachers perceptions of the SMN tutorial program
Dana Dworaczyk
September 2011
Research report and Survey instrument
Compilation of teacher responses to survey
8. Sustaining improvement –
· After the action research plan has been completed, if the results are positive and mathematics student achievement has increased, we will extend the results to all core departments. We will make the recommendation to all teachers that after-school tutorials will benefit all students in TAKS-tested curriculums. In addition to this recommendation, we could add more days of tutorial session to each week so that students will have even more opportunities to get help from qualified personnel.
· Investigating the effectiveness of SMN will be a year-long process. I think that our teachers will begin to see how action research is helping to verify and support improved student learning. These teachers will find other areas in need of improvement and they will begin an action research project of their own.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Choosing an Inquiry
This week we learned how to choose a "wondering." When a school leader is looking for ways to improve student learning there are many areas to choose from. Dana (2009) suggests nine different areas to look at to get ideas. She suggests staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers, individual students, school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice. There were so many different examples of good action research studies that I started to think more deeply about my own school and school experiences. And finally I have settled upon one area that I know we need improvement on and that is our math TAKS scores and the passing rates for the required math courses. The following describes the purpose and significance of my action research study.
The purpose of my action research study will be to investigate the effect of Sandcrab Monday Night (after school weekly tutorials) on our TAKS math results and the retention rate for the three required high school math courses (Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2).
This study will be significant for all of the math teachers in our department. If regular use of Sandcrab Monday Night (SMN) weekly tutorials yields positive results in the area of TAKS math scores and passing rates, then more teachers will be likely to participate. The study would also have implications for all of the core classes who need improvement with TAKS scores or failure rates. Sandcrab Monday Night is a three hour tutorial session in the library from 4 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. The tutorial sessions are staffed by teachers who are paid for their time. Sending students to SMN is currently voluntary for teachers to use at their own discretion. Students can be assigned SMN if they are missing homework or test grades and they are allowed to leave when they have completed the work. Students who need transportation are allowed to ride the late athletic bus if they choose. The teachers who have bought into this program have reported positive results in an informal manner but an actual research study would make all of the results incontrovertible. Before initiating this program in January 2010, we studied a similar program done on a larger scale (five nights a week) at another school and we soon decided that the budget would not stretch that far. Our principal would be able to use this action research study to justify the money that is currently spent on SMN and even ask for additional funds to include more evenings if the results indicate the need.
The purpose of my action research study will be to investigate the effect of Sandcrab Monday Night (after school weekly tutorials) on our TAKS math results and the retention rate for the three required high school math courses (Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2).
This study will be significant for all of the math teachers in our department. If regular use of Sandcrab Monday Night (SMN) weekly tutorials yields positive results in the area of TAKS math scores and passing rates, then more teachers will be likely to participate. The study would also have implications for all of the core classes who need improvement with TAKS scores or failure rates. Sandcrab Monday Night is a three hour tutorial session in the library from 4 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. The tutorial sessions are staffed by teachers who are paid for their time. Sending students to SMN is currently voluntary for teachers to use at their own discretion. Students can be assigned SMN if they are missing homework or test grades and they are allowed to leave when they have completed the work. Students who need transportation are allowed to ride the late athletic bus if they choose. The teachers who have bought into this program have reported positive results in an informal manner but an actual research study would make all of the results incontrovertible. Before initiating this program in January 2010, we studied a similar program done on a larger scale (five nights a week) at another school and we soon decided that the budget would not stretch that far. Our principal would be able to use this action research study to justify the money that is currently spent on SMN and even ask for additional funds to include more evenings if the results indicate the need.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Action Research - The Beginning
Everyone in education is buzzing about action research projects and using the inquiry method to improve student learning. Action research is when teachers and administrators identify a school issue, study the formal publicized research available on the issue, then decide upon which strategy would be best to address the problem. Or the school could have implemented a new strategy and the principal wants to study its effectiveness. After the strategy has been implemented, the team collects data from actual students in the school. Then they analyze the data to determine the effectiveness of the strategy. The team can make changes if necessary until the results show that the process is helping to increase student achievement. And finally, the team will share the information with others so that teachers who are facing the same difficulty can benefit from the research study. One of the most exciting things about action research is that the teachers are also learning as they reflect upon what strategies in their classrooms are working and what strategies need additional revision. Because the teachers are so involved in the process, the school change is owned by those involved. We can all agree that schools need to change to keep up with new society norms and current technology. Action research is one of the most effective ways to help teachers keep the excitement of learning in their own careers.
I am looking forward to using some of these new techniques as we begin the new school year. Our math department may become a PLC. We meet weekly during our planning period so I am going to propose a change to our agenda. Most of our math teachers are ready and willing to learn new techniques. I think that the reflection exercises may be difficult at first but as they see the results, we should have less resistance.
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Harris, S., Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps to improve our schools. Eye on Education Press.
I am looking forward to using some of these new techniques as we begin the new school year. Our math department may become a PLC. We meet weekly during our planning period so I am going to propose a change to our agenda. Most of our math teachers are ready and willing to learn new techniques. I think that the reflection exercises may be difficult at first but as they see the results, we should have less resistance.
Many educational leaders will be able to use blogs to share the results from personal and school action research studies. Many schools are facing the same issues every day. When a group finds an effective strategy to address this problem, then, using the communication tool of blogging, others will also benefit. If every school were the same, then solving problems would be so much easier. Blogging will allow schools from everywhere to connect and share information. Blogging is also a great way to reflect upon what is right and what is wrong with your own teaching or leadership style. It is often through reflection that we find new ways to approach a problem.
References:Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Harris, S., Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps to improve our schools. Eye on Education Press.
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