Action Research Project Update

Update: After initiating the AIM Center student attendance tracking report forms, our campus has been able to document and review student attendance more efficiently. Prior to the creation of these office forms, our campus had to run three separate computer reports per student in order to identify attendance trends. Since the adoption of this hand written form the staff has been able to review recorded responses of why students have missed classroom seat time or left school early. After identifying trends and common student clusters our administrators were able to review and present supporting data to the students. Presenting students with their data trends and providing specific data to parents/guardians has help reduce attendance issues with many students. The principal is satisfied with the form booklet and wants to produce a new report booklet for each school year. The support staff, who were hesitant at first, have welcomed the use of a secondary attendance tool. The benefits far outweigh the costs when dealing with student attendance issues. I have not had to make any major changes to the form and have offered to share the idea with the standard high school campus, but they felt it would be too difficult to maintain with a far larger campus population. I have to disagree with their opinion and feel that if each grade level attendance staff person were to keep their own tracking form booklet, it may help reveal trends in student attendance. Our campus has found that identifying tardies and developing a lunch time detention to recoup lost seat time has reduced several habitual offenders. We also found that communicating concerns to parents/guardians has more merit when we are able to present the student responses for missing classroom seat time. We have even been able to reveal that a student falsified a parent note by cross-referencing what the student’s reason was for missing school and the note they had prewritten. In that case the old adage of it is easier to remember the truth that all your lies came into play. At this point in time the action research project that has tracked our students' attendance has been very successful and will continue to beneficial. Any future changes can be easily adopted and the entire program can continue to grow with the support and input from the campus staff and administrators.

My Week 5 Reflection

There were so many aspects of this class I could reflect upon and write about. I felt that most of my focus has been on my action research project and input from outside sources. These outside sources have been colleagues both on my campus and my online classmates. As I reflect on these past 5 weeks, I will identify the individuals that helped me to keep pushing myself in order to be successful.    

The action research project that I am conducting for this class has already been seen as a benefit by several administrators on my campus.  I have been told by my campus administrator that what we are doing looks “good” and proves that our staff works well as a team. The week three assignment “Draft Action Research Plan and Blueprint” has helped me build this collaborative team on my campus that before now never seemed possible. As a team, we have looked at and talked about issues that are affecting our campus and how we could address these problems. Prior to this project we talked about issues but we never really worked as a team on one singular goal. At times I feel it has been a morale booster for several of us on campus. I feel confident that our collaborative efforts will continue well beyond this single action research project. As for my action research project, it has created a form that is being used by the attendance office to track student’s loss of seat time and the reasons for missing seat time. I posted a copy of my attendance data recording sheet on my blog in order to get insight from my fellow colleagues. Mrs. Jordan commented on my blog that, “Your form looks great; I can't wait to see how you incorporate it into your action research plan” (2012). Another blog response quote about the validity of my data form and action plan came from Rollan Hadsell. Mr. Hadsell said, “Looks good. I like all the forms that you have created to go along with your plan. It looks like you are ready to go” (2012). Some people may ask why is it important to receive praise when working on any project. The answer is that it is rewarding to have fellow educators give praise for the hard work we have done. Sometimes it feels like education is a thankless job. I know that we should never seek praise, but to receive just one line of praise encourages me to put forth more effort. To get multiple responses that indicate I am on the right path helps me believe that what I am doing will be successful. Another online blog response I received didn’t give me praise but did provide me with redirection to better complete my action research plan. The quote from Shannon Johnson read, “You're going to want to go into design and change the layout format of your blog in order to fit your entire action plan draft without it doubling over. You might also want to add a bit more detail. Good luck!” (2012). Where praise of my work provided me with the energy and will to be more successful, Mrs. Johnsons response gave me better focus. Therefore, I went back and reflected on my plan and I read it as if I were a stranger with no prior knowledge of the action research project. What I saw made a difference. My colleague’s comment on my blog was accurate and it needed more detail. It took an outside view and further reflection to realize what needed to go in each step. A new personal step I have added not only to my action research but activities on my internship plan is true self-reflection. I have started to take a step back and look at issues as if I were an outside spectator. This has enabled me to identify materials I need to further define and study. Lastly, I remember the week 3 live lecture as a specific high point for this class. I was lost and frustrated as how to complete the week 3 assignment. The directions to me were not “user-friendly” and didn’t clarify what exactly was expected. It was during the live lecture that I asked if the assignments could be clarified. I was amazed that other students were able to explain the expectations in a way that enabled me to fully understanding them. Had I not attended that session, I would not have received the input needed to complete the assignments. Once again, it took an outside perspective to allow me to better see expectations. This just strengthens my belief that collaboration is an instrumental tool that must be utilized. Through blog, class, and discussion boards, I find that we are a collaborative team that can simplify and improve the vision needed to complete any task.

1st Revision of my Action Planning Template

 

Action Planning Template
Goal: Reduce the amount of lost seat time during the school year.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create a single attendance tracking form that can be filled out quickly and easily interpreted.	Teacher-myself   Principal   Head Attendance Clerk   Teacher group	We were given one week to have the final form completed so that the office personnel could begin to filling out student's information. 5 school days.	Conglomeration of previous attendance reports.   Variations of the new form.   Input from the principal, teachers, and attendance clerk.   Review examples from online resources.	Does the newly created form eliminate the need to run multiple reports in order to track lost seat time? If so, is the form quickly accessible and deliver required information?
Implement the accepted form in the attendance office.	Teacher-myself   Attendance personnel   Head Attendance Clerk	Two days to go over the need training on how the forms need to be filled out.	Copies of the accepted form.   Time to train staff.   Samples of what reports this form can replace.	Does the staff understand the need for the form and share the vision required to diligently complete the forms? Have the staff been properly trained in order to fill out the all the necessary sections?
Review the complied data from a 6 weeks' worth of documentation.	Teacher-myself   Principal   Attendance personnel   Head Attendance Clerk	6 weeks worth of school to collect adequate data.	Principal   Completed forms   Standard attendance reports	Does the data recorded on the new form simplify the amount of paperwork required to track the loss of student seat time? Does the form provide a better understanding of issues affecting student's attendance?
Reflect on the data contained in the new form and create a list of students that need intervention and options for those students.	Teacher-myself   Principal   Teacher group	3 school days to go over material and identify students and responses.	Principal   Completed forms   List of students habitually missing seat time.	Are there rebuttals and options that can be provided to students to help improve attendance? Is the problem large-scale or a few repeat offenders?
Schedule meeting with students to provide results of the collected data.	Teacher-myself   Principal	5 days to schedule meetings and meet with students.	Principal   Teacher   Student   Report   Recommendations list	Are the results clearly presented to the students?   Are the students given options that will help them better take ownership of their time in class?
Make any necessary changes to the attendance tracking form and reinstitute the form.	Teacher-myself   Principal   Attendance personnel   Head Attendance Clerk   Teacher group	1 day to review form and suggest changes.	Previous form   Possible new form   Input from members working on project.	After reviewing the outcome of the report and the meeting with the students is there any new criteria that need to be added to the form? EX. Add a section that shows what students were consulted concerning lost seat time.
Reflect on the data contained in the form and create a newer list of students that need intervention and options for those students.	Teacher-myself   Principal   Teacher group	3 school days to go over material and identify students and responses.	Principal   Completed forms   Previous list of students habitually missing seat time.   New list of students missing seat time.	Compare the results from the first six week's worth of data and track any improvements from previous conversations with students.
Schedule new meeting and review results with students.	Teacher-myself   Principal	5 days to schedule meetings and meet with students.	Principal   Teacher   Student   Report   Recommendations list	Does the list of students required to meet with administration concerning loss of seat time diminish?
****Review each step as they take place****	All members involved	Through entire process	All materials	If for any reason a step does not address its goal or does not provide the desired results are we willing to make changes to this document? We have agreed to make all the necessary changes in order to benefit our campus goals.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Action Plan Template 7.1

Action Planning Template
Goal: Reduce the amount of lost seat time during the school year.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create a single attendance tracking form that can be filled out quickly and easily interpreted.	Teacher-myself Principal Head Attendance Clerk	I was given one week to have the final form completed so that the office personnel could begin to filling out student's information. Friday/Following Friday.	Conglomeration of previous attendance reports. Variations of the new form. Input from the principal and attendance clerk.	Does the newly created form eliminate the need to run multiple reports in order to track lost seat time? If so is the form quickly accessible and deliver required information?
Implement the accepted form in the attendance office.	Teacher-myself Attendance personnel Head Attendance Clerk	Two days to go over the need for the inquiry and how the form needs to be filled out.	Copies of the accepted form. Time to train staff. Samples of what reports this form can replace.	Does the staff understand the need for the form and share the vision required to diligently complete the forms?
Review the complied data from a 6 weeks' worth of documentation.	Teacher-myself Principal Attendance personnel Head Attendance Clerk	6 weeks worth of school to collect adequate data.	Principal Completed forms Standard attendance reports	Does the data recorded on the new form simplify the amount of paperwork required to track the loss of student seat time?
Reflect on the data contained in the new form and create a list of students that need intervention and options for those students.	Teacher-myself Principal	3 school days to go over material and identify students and responces.	Principal Completed forms List of students habitually missing seat time.	Are there rebuttals and options that can be provided to students to help improve attendance? Is the problem large-scale or a few repeat offenders?
Schedule meeting with students to provide results of the collected data.	Teacher-myself Principal	5 days to schedule meetings and meet with students.	Principal Teacher Student Report Recommendations list	Are the results clearly presented to the students? Are the students given options that will help them better take ownership of their time in class?
Make any necessary changes to the attendance tracking form and reinstitute the form.	Teacher-myself Principal Attendance personnel Head Attendance Clerk	1 day to review form and suggest changes.	Previous form Possible new form Input from members working on project.	After reviewing the outcome of the report and the meeting with the students is there any new criteria that need to be added to the form? EX. Add a section that shows what students were consulted concerning lost seat time.
Reflect on the data contained in the form and create a newer list of students that need intervention and options for those students.	Principal Teacher-myself	3 school days to go over material and identify any new students and evaluate progress of previously identified students.	Principal Completed forms Previous list of students habitually missing seat time. New list of students missing seat time.	Compare the results from the first six weeks worth of data and track any improvements from previous conversations with students.
Schedule new meeting and review results with students.	Principal Teacher-myself	5 days to schedule meetings and meet with students.	Principal Teacher Student Reports Recommendations list	Does the list of students required to meet with administration concerning loss of seat time diminish?

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Week Two Action Research Tagxedo

Forms I have created to track students for action research project

These are two forms I have created to track students. Feel free to use these layouts or ideas to create forms to help you organize your project. If you need a functioning copy, let me know and I can email you these simple templates.

Tracking student attendance

Here is a form to keep track of conversations with students and if a referral was issued.