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.