Leadership for Supervision Web Conference

I was able to actually participate in this week’s web conference and so glad that I did! Dr. Borel was wonderfully helpful with the assignment for this week as it pertains to APA citations. I had already tried several of them earlier in the week, but working through some of them together was so helpful.

 

In addition to helping us with our assignment for this week, Dr. Borel addressed our concerns that our site supervisors had not yet received the emails from TK20 with the PISE and Dispositions for Educators Survey. She assured us that she would let us know when the email goes out or she would provide us with alternate directions if TK20 is not able to get them sent out to our site supervisors.

 

Finally, Dr. Borel was very clear on what we need to upload to TK20 by the fifth week of class so that we do not receive an incomplete grade. She also strongly suggested that we get started this week on our week four assignment as it will take us quite a while to complete.

Action Research Status for April 2013

Homework and student achievement…does it make a difference for our students? This was the topic my site supervisor and I settled on as a topic of interest for my Action Research project. After my site supervisor attended a viewing of the film “Race to Nowhere,” the issue of homework and students’ ability to find balance in life bubbled to the surface. Is homework something that really adds value and impacts learning? If a school does not give homework at the elementary level, does that then hinder students when they transition to junior high when they will encounter multiple teachers, homework and balancing extracurricular activities?

 

There is much debate regarding the value and effectiveness of homework as it relates to student achievement. This was a topic we felt I would be able to compile both primary and secondary research through literature, surveys and data evaluation around district benchmarks and state testing. My working question at this time has evolved, thus far, to the following:

 

As a result of viewing the film “Race to Nowhere,” we are left to question what is the impact and effectiveness of homework on student achievement as measured by district benchmarks and state testing?

 

My progress to-date has been slow at best given my travel schedule for my current job. In fact, work on my project was postponed from January through April until I will be back in town to conduct the surveys I have planned. However, a few steps in the Action Plan have taken place. One, the parent survey was sent out and I have reviewed the results from that survey. Based on those results, I have created questions that need to be programmed into Survey Monkey for campus teacher response. I have also created the student survey questions that will be programmed into Survey Monkey.

 

Once the teacher and student surveys are programmed and sent out for response, I will collect and analyze the data/responses. This may net enough information to create a proposal; however, it may require some follow-up with in-person focus groups. I don’t know that it will be realistic to collect classroom specific data on homework completion on this phase of my action research due to student privacy issues and simply the time it might take for me to work with teachers to create an anonymous method of reporting and then for them to actually complete the reporting. Therefore, I may need to revisit my project with my site supervisor to streamline and simplify the focus for this initial stage of the research project. I am looking forward to my travel schedule slowing down just a bit so I can get back on campus and re-focus on completing my project.

A Final Reflection on Action Research

Throughout this Action Research course, I have learned some new strategies, had some ah-ha moments and solidified some current thinking along the way. We have had the opportunity to watch video lectures, read from two beneficial pieces of literature, engage in collaborative discussion boards and blog feedback, and apply our learning through weekly assignments/activities.

The concept of action research versus traditional research was an initial ah-ha for me as I read through Leading with Passion and Knowledge (Dana, 2009). The benefits of engaging in principal inquiry to identify current best practices, engender the principal as a model learner, assure principals do not become isolated and slow the whirlwind pace are compelling reasons to engage in inquiry and reflective practice.

I found the process of developing my action research plan as a part of our coursework a rather nice challenge and look forward to continued improvements/modifications as I engage in the implementation of the plan. I was intrigued as we read about strategies for sustaining improvement and how we might incorporate those strategies into our action research plan. I was able to embed Force Field Analysis, the Delphi Method, Nominal Group technique and the CARE Model from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps from Analysis to Action text (Harris et al, 2010, pp 94-99).

Building interpersonal trust is something I think will be critical for those of us embarking on the journey of educational leadership and possibly principalship. Without trust, you can’t engage in the inquiry process and be open to positive change. Trust will be a topic about which I will choose to do more research and independent readings. The questions provided to take an organizational “trust reading” is a nice start to the process (Harris et al, 2010, p. 9).

I most appreciated the comments and feedback from my colleagues through our weekly discussion board prompts and on our blog postings. Their feedback led to some critical questions that needed to be considered as I developed my action research plan. Questions posed by my counterparts helped me hone in on areas of refinement with my data collection plans and identified variables that need to be addressed before I engage in conducting my surveys and collection of quantitative data.

I never thought of myself as a “blogger” and never considered the possibility of even creating a blog. I was intimidated at first when we were assigned the task of creating a blog. However, I found the process quite easy and look forward to utilizing the blog as a personal/professional reflective journal of sorts. I plan to follow fellow classmates via their blogs to keep tabs on their research process and hopefully continue to gain insight and ideas for my own research as well.

 

As was mentioned in our readings as well as my own personal experience, I know that making time to reflect and inquire will be a challenge, but a very necessary practice in which to engage. I will need to build specific time into my calendar that is dedicated to reflection and inquiry in order to accomplish this task. The most challenging aspect will be to engage in assessing the quality of inquiry through the five quality indicators provided in the Dana text (2009, pp 179-186). However, I feel ready for the challenge and look forward to my action research findings.

Action Research Planning Template

The following is a copy of my initial Action Research Planning Template. Feedback is welcome!

ACTION PLANNING TEMPLATE
Goal: Collect data to develop a position/answer the question…what is the impact and effectiveness of homework on student achievement as measured by district benchmarks and state testing?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create surveys for three target audiences: Students, Parents, Teachers	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Instructional Specialist, Campus Counselor, ILT team members	Develop surveys/questionnaires December 2012-January 2013	Survey Monkey for parent and teacher survey. Paper survey for students. Translator for Spanish version of the survey.	Completion and dissemination of survey to teachers, parents and students
		Conduct the survey again in September 2013 with new group of students and parents for a longitudinal multi-year study
Conduct Teacher Interviews as a possible follow-up to the surveys	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Instructional Specialist, Campus Counselor, ILT team Members, Teachers	February 2013-March 203	Create interview document based off of results of the survey and areas that require clarification	Completion of one-on-one interviews with teachers
Student Focus Groups as a possible follow-up to the surveys	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Teachers, Students	April 2013-May2013	Develop focus group discussion based off of results of the survey and areas that require clarification	Completion of focus group discussions with students
Compile results of qualitative student, teacher, parent surveys	Tiffany Tahu	February 2013 - October 2014	Returned surveys via Survey Monkey or hard copy	Calculate percentage completed and returned surveys to the number sent out.
Six Weeks Reporting – Teachers anonymously report student homework completion for each six weeks grading period.	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Grade Level Teachers	January 2013 – May 2013 (each six weeks grading period)	System for making student reporting anonymous, yet able to cross reference with district and state test results.	Create master tracking sheet that will track six weeks homework, benchmark testing and state test scores.
		September 2013-May 2014	Six weeks reporting document for consistency across grade-levels
Primary and Secondary Research (Literature, Film, Blogs, Video, Professional Journals, etc…)	Tiffany Tahu	December 2012-January 2014	Internet, Library, Professional Organization Memberships	Written summary of my findings on already published research and data on the topic of homework
District benchmark testing results	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Instructional Specialist, Teachers	*need to obtain district benchmark calendar for dates of testing/reporting	District benchmark calendar. Cooperation of Instructional Specialist and Teachers to report testing (via anonymous student reporting system)	Compile and compare district benchmark test scores to homework completion for each student.
State testing (STAAR) results	Tiffany Tahu, Laurie Taylor, Instructional Specialist, Teachers	August 2013 and August 2014	Cooperation of Instructional Specialist and Teachers to report testing (via anonymous student reporting system)	Compile and compare STAAR test results to district benchmark test scores and homework completion for each student.

This week in action research...

It's December 2 and as I reflect on this week in Action Research I really found our reading on the nine passions helpful in narrowing down my action research topic. The nine passions cited by Dana (2009) are staff development, curriculum development, individual teacher(s), individual student(s), school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance and social justice/equity.

In addition to the readings this week, the conference with my site supervisor resulted in the generation of several ideas for the action research project and helped to narrow it down a topic of interest for both of us around the topic of homework at the elementary level. More to come on that topic later...so stay tuned.

Blogging and the Principal

“Inquiry is the process of thinking and questioning that undergirds the Framework for Examining School Improvement.” I highlighted this sentence when reading Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps from Analysis to Action (Harris, Edmonson, Combs, 2010, p. 5) as it points to one of many uses for educational leaders in the realm of blogging.

According to many educational leaders, as well as Dana (2009), the role of the principal can be very isolating. Through the use of a blog, educational leaders can come together as a community that can span the globe. This can become a community to share ideas, problem solve, pose questions and generate ideas.

Blogs can also serve as a private, reflective journal that is not published for public consumption, but rather a personal diary of sorts for the principal (Dana, 2009). The content is more personal and reflective in nature and can serve as a tool when engaging in similar situations and analyzing past approaches and the net results to guide future decisions.

Principals could establish a blog for their campus that could potentially allow parents, teachers, students and possibly the community to engage in an on-line information and discussion forum. The possibilities are endless.

Musings on Action Research

Action Research differs from traditional research in that it isn't simply reporting facts and figures to support a theory or hypothesized outcome, but rather has the intended outcome of bringing about some form of change.

Through introductory reading from Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher (Dana, 2009), action research engages the principal in a productive form of inquiry based reflection through collaboration, not isolation. The context of the action research is authentic and based in real-time "wonderings" of the principal or even a committee to bring about positive change on the campus. What is challenging is finding the time within the day or week to engage in true reflection and inquiry in order to serve as a model for staff and students that we should all strive to be life-long learners.

A benefit of action research and inquiry based reflection is that the principal, staff and students will engage in best practices as an embedded part of the school culture. Whether it is the principal taking time to slow down their busy day to reflect, teachers working in PLCs or students engaging in reflective writing or discussion at the end of a lesson – these are best practices for long-term learning (Dana, 2009).

The concept of action research puts a new spin on my personal mind-set of conducting research in that it is systematic and outcome-driven with a focus on improvement and bringing about positive change on a campus.