Action Research Project Report - Draft

Action Research Project Report

Same Gender Classrooms at the Middle School Level – Does it equal Higher Achievement on Standardized Tests?

Needs Assessment – On our sixth grade campus, parents are given the choice of whether or not to place their child into a same gender classroom.  This campus has been exemplary for the past 3 years.  When they get to our middle school campuses, something happened.  For some reason, these students aren’t performing as well.

Objectives and Vision of the Action Research project – The inquiry question that I will ask will be “Does same gender classrooms affect student achievement and performance on standardized tests?”  Through gathering data of students involved in this program on the sixth grade campus, I will attempt to determine if there is a correlation between these same gender classrooms and standardized test scores.  The middle school age is an awkward time and I have often wondered if the distraction of the opposite gender were removed, would it affect achievement.

Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy - Marsh, Pane, and Hamilton (2006) state that “information becomes actionable knowledge when data users synthesize the information, apply their judgment to prioritize it, and weigh the relative merits of possible solutions.”  They also stated that local assessments done more frequently were more valuable in providing diagnostic data than the once-a-year standardized test.  By using district benchmarks in my data, it will be more helpful in determining a more true observation.

My mentor and myself agreed that information on this topic would indeed be valuable.  If we see a correlation, it can help drive the planning of our master schedule.  Together, we decided to gather information of our 8^th grade students this school year.  I received data from our sixth grade campus which informed me of the students involved.  I am in the process of gathering benchmark scores and AKS scores from 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th grades.  This process has been a little slower because my district is transitioning from DMAC to Euphoria this year.

Marsh, J., Pane, J., and Hamilton, L. (2006).  Making Sense of Data-Driven Decision Making in Education. Rand Education.

Articulate the Vision – The vision of this research will be communicated to administrators and counselors.  IF there is a need for some changes in next years’ master schedule, we will address them upon completion of data disaggregation.  There would be no need to give the research results to the parents, students or community, unless our campus decided to try this process.  In that case, the parents would receive information from the study.

Manage the Organization – I will collect data from several sources.  First of all, I will need a list of students that participated in these groups at the 6^th grade campus.  Secondly, I will need access to benchmarks and TAKS scores from 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th grades.  I will compile the information gathered and look at trends.  I asked for help from the counselor at the sixth grade campus as well as our campus counselor.  I will not be using and money since I can access the information through my district.

Manage Operations – Talking with administration and counselors will be my main strategy in the operation of the project.  Thus far, there has not been any conflict arising from the process of collecting data.  There may be conflict later when results are being discussed.  Most of this research is done by me so there really would not be any consensus.

Response to Community Interest and Needs – My district is comprised of many economically disadvantaged families and has a growing minority population.  IF this research shows benefits from same gender classrooms, then students will be serviced and their needs will be addressed.

Final Reflection EDLD 5301 Week 5

Prior to this course, I was not aware of what action research actually was. I just thought it was a new term given to the traditional research that I grew up doing. After the first week of this class, I realized that action research is a way for educators to perform research in their field of work in order to answer questions and deal with issues that are on a more personal level. In other words, you are researching an area within your school and trying to make it a better place for staff and students alike. Action research is done in order to bring change or make something better. Dana stated, that action research, “focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages practitioners in the design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question.” (Dana, p. 5, 2009)

During week 2, I had to think about a wondering that I wanted answers to. If you think about it, there are always things at school you stop and ask yourself, “I wonder...” A few of my wonderings were: 1. How does tardiness affect student achievement? 2. What affects do long term In School Suspensions (ISS) assignments affect student achievement? 3. Can same gender classes benefit student achievement? After talking with my site supervisor, we decided that #3, How do same gender classes affect student achievement? All of these are still topics that I would like to know more about, but for now, I will focus on the same gender class topic. During the video interviews, I realized that action research is more interesting to do because the topic relates to your situation. (Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent of Pasadena ISD).

Another insight I gained through this course is the importance of reflection. By creating a blog and posting thoughts for others to see is and will continue to be a great help throughout my action research. It is a great feeling to have a whole support group to bounce things off of and to gain their knowledge on their experiences with the topics.

All in all, this course has been very insightful. I look forward to my continued research and reporting the conclusions to my co-workers and administrators. Through it all I hope that my findings will move toward an improvement for my school.

Reference: Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

My Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan

Goal:  Through action research, determine if same gender classrooms can benefit student learning.

Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline : Start/End	Needed Resources:	Evaluation:
Request list of students	Jan Cowan Jana McClane	March 2011	Counselor’s time to generate list	Feedback from counselor
Segregate list for different middle schools	Jana McClane Carla Williams	March-April 2011	Counselor’s time	To assure proper separation of students
Research data from TAKS scores in 6th grade	Jana McClane Carla Williams	April 2011	Time Access to past records	This will provide data on the gender year instruction
Pull test scores from previous years TAKS	Carla Williams	April - May	DMAC program provided by school district	To assess scores before same gender classes
Check benchmark scores from current school year	Carla Williams ELAR teachers	May – June	Staff time to access records	To check progress
Receive TAKS writing scores from the state	Carla Williams Laurie Perry	May - June	DMAC program Staff	To compare past results to current
Receive other subject TAKS scores from the state	Carla Williams Laurie Perry	May - June	DMAC program Time Staff	To compare past results to current
Select students not in same gender classes to compare data	Jana McClane	June – July	Staff Team Members DMAC Time	To compare student’s scores
Pull scores from non-gender class students from 6th grade 2009/10	Carla Williams Laurie Perry Jana McClane	July	DMAC program Time	To compare scores from gender to non-gender groups
Collect scores from previous TAKS and current 7th grade TAKS	Carla Williams Laurie Perry	July	DMAC program Time	To compare past results
Use data acquired to compare same gender classes to non-same gender classes	Carla Williams	August – September	Access to data collected Microsoft Excel	Comprehensive presentation

5301 Week 2 Blog

During this week's assignment, I listened to 3 interviews of leaders from three different school districts talking on the subject of action research.  All three had interesting points and examples of action research that they had been involved in.  Also this week, it was interesting to read about the different examples of the nine areas of schools that one might perform action research.  The many examples in the text were interesting and made me think about issues in my own school that could use some action research. 
I visited with my site supervisor about possible topics for an action research that would benefit my school.  The three that we narrowed it down to were: 

 1. How does tardiness effect student achievement and scores on standardized tests?
2. Can same gender classes help with student achievement?
3. What affects do long term In School Suspension assignments effect student achievement?

All of the activities this week brought about some "wondering" on topics that might be interesting to do action research.

What I have learned about action research and how you might be able to use it...

When this course began, I was unsure of what the term action research meant.  I had heard of it but that was about it.  I was not sure how it differed from other types of academic research.  In just a few short days I have learned that action research is performed by administration and involves investigating issues or practices with an ultimate goal of changing those issues to better the teaching and learning at the school.  Administrators first think about a topic, gthen begin collecting and analyzing data, and develop a plan of action for needed change.  After this is done, the leader will then share the results with peers.  I also learned that action research allows personal professional development and allows the campus leader to become the "head learner" at his/her campus. (Dana, 2009, P.12)
Something else I have learned about action research is using team collaboration to gather information and to research problems in specific areas.  Teams work together to discuss ways to solve problems.  We practice team collaboration at my school.  My team meets at least once a month to discuss topics that the "team leader", principals, and other team leaders have proposed.  We gather imput from our teams and then all team leaders meet again with the principal to solve problems. 
Action research is a beneficial way of research in educational systems.  For many years, schools have just done what all other schools across the country have done instead of researching solutions to their own problems.  Certain ways of doing things are not always the best wys for everyone.  All schools have their own set of problems and issues and should work together to solve them with ways that will work for them.

How might educational leaders use blogs:

A blog can be an important asset for a leader involved in action research.  A blog allows leaders to reflect on information that they have collected as well as explore information that others may have contributed to the blog.  By blogging, a leader is able to explore and develop ideas and also reflect back on information gathered previously.  Nancy Dana says "reflecting on practice to become more intentional about what principals do is the foundation of engagement in action research." (Dana, 2009, P. 150)