Action Research Draft Process Overview

Goal:  What are the passing rates of our LEP population on district assessments and the STAAR test over one year after instituting an online reading intervention program and do the results show a significant  close in achievement gaps between our LEP population and our “all students” category?

1.  Setting the Foundation--  After meeting with my site supervisor a few times to brainstorm topics for action research and align these topics to our school’s needs, we decided not to go with my original research topic of our school configuration and the research behind it.  Instead, we decided to focus on the reading scores of our LEP population and the gaps between our LEP scores and our “all students” category.  My site supervisor and I were particularly curious about whether or not our district-purchased online reading intervention programs would make a positive difference in our LEP reading scores and lexiles.  The two reading programs promise marked improvement in student achievement in reading and language arts, and we wanted to utilize the test data to see if it was worth our time. Right now, the main online program that we are using for all students has been purchased for grades 5-8 within our district.  Our superintendent and school board are considering purchasing the program for all grades if we show significant gains in reading in grades 5-8.

2.  Analyzing Data—The main program I will be analyzing is called Classworks.  It has numerous data reports that it runs, but these reports seem to be less specific than the data we run on Eduphoria (our district data tracking program) because Eduphoria is specific to every student expectation at each grade level.  However, Classworks does break activities according to our state standards, and then it monitors that work accordingly.  Teachers can pull the data by classes, individual students, grade levels, etc.  Students can also track their own individual data and can earn “badges” for completing and mastering standards.  I will compare the activities and task data to the student expectations data in Eduphoria for our LEP student population and our “all students” category.  We will compare the breakdown of last year’s LEP and all student scores on the STAAR 8^th grade reading to this year’s data (2013) as well as the student scores for both categories on all district assessments for this year to see if the reading intervention program is having a positive impact on our LEP scores—specifically, is it helping us to close this critical achievement gap.  We will look at the qualitative data that deals with student engagement as well such as whether or not the students enjoy the program and are perhaps doing some of the modules and work at home.

3.  Developing Deeper Understanding—I will rely on Eduphoria and the Classworks data programs in order to import critical data on student reading scores and achievement into Excel spreadsheets to share regularly with my team of 8^th grade teachers.  I will rely on my committee of 8^th grade teachers for qualitative data on our LEP students to measure student engagement in the planned interventions and to survey the teachers’ feelings about whether or not the program is beneficial and the overall usability of the program.  We are attempting to implement the program with fidelity, and have been using classroom “stations” three times a week to make sure that students get both small group instruction, independent practice, and time on the computers to work on their reading intervention program.  We will compare our data from this year to last year’s data with a focus on the two groups, LEP and “all students”. I plan to contact other Texas schools who have used Classworks to gather information on whether or not they found the program beneficial and at what level.  It would be interesting to also find out how long the program had been in effect within other middle schools. 

4.  Engage in Self-Reflection—After surveying the 7^th and 8^th grade language arts teachers about their thoughts on the reading program, I will write up my own reflections and share them in our committee meeting.  We will invite our administrators to this meeting.  I plan to also share these reflections and discussions on my blog.  I will take some time to reflect on the data, both quantitative and qualitative (at a midway checkpoint at the very least), as well as the processes I have used to evaluate the program.  I also plan to have a formal meeting with my site supervisor during this time so that he can give me critical feedback on my progress.

5.  Exploring Programmatic Patterns—I will work closely with our ELL secondary specialist and director of secondary instruction to analyze ways in which this reading program can support the sheltered instruction expectations of our district as well as research about how online or computer programs can help assist our LEP student achievement rates and test scores.  I want to see how broader student data in reading can help us identify and assist struggling students earlier and in a more comprehensive fashion.  I know that secondary teachers struggle with teaching students to read as they lack the training that elementary teachers often have in this area.  Having the assistance of a solid online program could potentially make all the difference in terms of what the teachers can do to help students in the classroom and what students will be able to do on state tests.

6.  Determining Direction—It is at this point that I will conduct another needs assessment to determine if everything from my research questions, resources, and committee/administrative input are up to the task of fully evaluating this reading program.  I will look at the data, the feedback, and the other information gathered and analyze it to determine whether or not it gives a full picture of what the implementation of the reading intervention program is or is not doing to help our LEP population.  I will meet with my site supervisor (and perhaps also my colleagues in my EDLD 5301 cohort) to see if there are any other facets of my research that I need to focus on.  At this point I will need to reflect on and determine whether I am utilizing the input and involvement of enough people with whom to collaborate.  Any changes or shifts that need to be made to my plan to ensure its success will happen at this point.  I will share my reflections and findings on these issues on my blog.

7.  Taking Action for School Improvement— In my draft action plan, I have included my goals, my action steps, dates for completion, persons responsible, and so on.  The ongoing data on district assessments broken down by student populations—particularly “all students” and LEP for comparison purposes—will be gathered and shared with stakeholders on my campus, particularly our administration and my committee of 8^th grade language arts teachers.  These are the people to whom I will report all findings (formative data—both quantitative and qualitative).  Should our implementation of the reading intervention program be successful, I will share our data and findings with the two local high schools and sister middle school for their input and perhaps follow-up implementation of the reading program utilizing our model or a version of it—integrated into the curriculum as assessments/instruction/mini-lessons by stations with the data used regularly in PLC meetings.

8.  Sustain Improvement—I plan to present the findings of this action research plan with our ELA team and administrative team first.  Then, I will share my findings with our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and our director of secondary instruction.  My supervisor’s plan is that this information be shared with our district principals after this should we be able to implement this in grades beyond the 5-8 grade band.  My principal would also like this information shared in a stakeholder’s meeting of parents, teachers, students, and other staff to keep everyone in the loop and to get their input on how to fine-tune the process.  Should the implementation of the Classworks reading intervention program show positive results and student growth on state assessments, my original research question would be answered—that is, will Classworks help us close the achievement gap between our LEP students and our “all students” category and show growth on the district and state assessments?  I will be able to answer this question and share my findings once I have finished analyzing all data, working with my committee on the implementation of the program, and reporting the results at the school and district level.