Action Research Plan

Goals and Objectives for research investigations: The goal of this research is to look at revamping the current tardy policy that is in place and to see if the changes made will affect classroom, hall and school management and will these changes lead to better productivity from teachers, students and administrators.
Activities designed to achieve the objectives:Surveys of teachers, administrators, students and parents will be administered and collected. The surveys will contain ratings systems as well as open-ended responses directed at feelings towards the current tardy policy, concerns about instruction time as related to discipline and current feelings of discipline in the classroom and in the school in general. Videotapes of daily passing periods will be evaluated with permission of our school resource officer and principal to determine relatively how many students are not in class due to being tardy.
Resources and research tools needed for data gathering: The resources that will be used will be teachers, administrators, students and parents. I will also be using videotape of daily passing periods to look at the different areas of the school that seem to have the majority of tardy problems.
Draft time line for completion of implementation of activities: The time line needed for this project will be one full school year. The information will be collected at three specific times during the year 1) At registration each parent and student will be surveyed on his or her feelings about tardies in comparison from the old system to the projected new system 2) Parents, teachers, students and administrators will fill out surveys after one full semester after implementation on its success or lack there of 3) Teachers will fill out surveys at the end of the school year on their perception of the new tardy policy compared to the old policy and answer questions on the affects it had in classroom management and instruction time.
Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan: The people that will be responsible for implementation of the action research plan will be myself along with the administrative staff at my school.
Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives: I will review students past tardy records as well as behavior records to find patterns in tardy behavior as well as non-tardy behavior problems. These will be identified and observed to see if there is any change within the group. Overall school discipline will be evaluated from the previous 2 years to see if there is any pattern that is prevalent. The amount of time allowed for students to move between classes will be evaluated for relevancy.
Assessment instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study: In a collaborative effort among 9th grade teachers (where 10 of 12 are in the same hallway and separate from other grades) a panel of teachers will review the data gathered at all of the survey collections and compare pre-implementation policy and the data gathered one semester at implementation. I will also talk with administration and look at the amount of detentions that are being issued from past years through the current time and see if any progress has been made.

Action Research

After reading about Action Research I have learned that it will be able to involve not only the person who is doing the research, but also let the other teachers, administrators and even students get involved as well. Action research will allow us to search for specific solutions to the everyday real problems that we encounter and experience in school. This will give us a chance as a staff to think and develop ways that we can improve areas that we feel are hindering instruction and student achievement. It will give us a chance to make changes in areas that are of real concerns to the staff and allow us to make and put into practice these changes. I feel that action research will also give a better morale among the staff knowing that their input and thoughts can be used to make changes and also assist them in assessing the true needs of the students, how to document these steps, analyzing the data that is collected and use it to make the best decisions that can lead to a specific outcome. The staff will get a sense of ownership in the policies and not feel as only administrators have the final say so in all policies.

Educational leaders can benefit from blogs by not only getting ideas and gathering data, but also allowing others to take ownership in outcomes and success of actions put into place. I really feel that by allowing all to be involved and taking action and giving some input, it helps make a working environment run more smoothly and happily. When others feel part of any idea or solution they tend to take more pride and believe in it. Blogs are a great way to be able to get many people openly involved and share ideas with each other and feed off of one another.