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.

This class seems....................

My 5301 research class seems to be spawning new forms for tracking student performance on my campus. As previously posted I have created a form to track students loss of seat time. I submitted the form to my principal and she asked for a few minor modifications. I made the final corrections and provided the attendance clerk with several copies of the form to begin tracking students that are missing seat time. This afternoon the principal was looking over the simple form I created and made a new set of suggestions. This time she asked I move some columns around and change a few headings. This time the form will be used to track conversations administrators have with students. These are not your typical write-up situations, but rather tracking conversation dates and topics with students. this will help eliminate redundant correspondence between staff and students. There will no-longer be the line "didn't we talk to you about this already". Any administrator can pull the alphabetized, grade level binder and retrieve past conversations. It can be a useful tool to help stay consistent with students. Believe it or not many students need consistent input in order to succeed.

Do you agree? What could we do different? What have you tried on your campus? 

My action research project has come together

Keep my fingers crossed and read my reports

I am pursuing an action research project that will help my campus track students that are missing seat time. I created a form based off a meeting with my principal; I then made revisions based off of our continued conversations. The final draft will be used by the attendance clerk to mark students as: tardy 1^st period, absent the entire school day, or leaving school early, and the reason for time missed. The goal is to locate students that are habitually missing seat time due to the three previous responses. I will reflect on the number of students that are listed and compare these students lack of seat time and grade performance. This will allow me to establish a suspected correlation of low grades and missed classes. I will also be able to help show students that being late disrupts class and affects other students. Lastly I wish to compare student’s reasons for missing class and formulate rebuttals that can be used to redirect students. An example of a rebuttal would be telling a student that can’t get their ride to leave on time, their correlating bus number.  We could then sign an educational contract that would encourage the student to utilize their provided options. This is a work in progress and I will need to view a few of these forms filled out to reflect and determine the best direction to take. With this information all members of our educational community will benefit. Teachers will be less likely to be disrupted first period. Teachers will also be able to have more students in the same class on the same lesson due to increased attendance. Students will benefit from better grades due to more seat time and participation. The campus will ultimately reflect better attendance scores. Lastly the administrators will have a tool that can be used to stay informed about student attendance beyond the conglomerate of reports this single form replaces. I have the full support of my principal and the attendance clerk. It was imperative that these individuals be willing to help in order for this to be successful. I will meet with my principal with updates and suggestions on a regular basis.

My Action Research Topic

After tonight's web conference I wanted to blog about the topic my principal and I discussed this week. We have struggled to understand why our student’s attendance has begun to suffer. This school year started out with satisfactory attendance percentages, but lately they have plummeted.  As I met with my campus mentor we discussed campus issues and possible action research topics. Needless to say the conversation evolved into an action research project that will involve staff and students. My principal, who is my mentor, has allowed me to begin creating a form that will track student tardies, absences, and leaving campus early. The registrar’s office will mark students accordingly on a daily log and provide the information to the principal and myself. I am also creating a questionnaire that will inquire about the reasons behind the lack of attendance.  This questionnaire along with the log will allow staff to reflect on recurring themes that students use as justification for missing school. My job is to formulate rebuttals that can be used to redirect students and help encourage better attendance. For example a student that chronically misses due to appointments could be asked to schedule new appointments after school hours.  The information collected will be used to further develop a plan that can be used to benefit all the members of our campus. Our ultimate goal beyond improving attendance is to implement a form students will need to complete in order to leave early, arrive tardy, or miss school. When the form is turned in, an administrator can use our formulated methodology to redirect students and increase their seat time. This is a work in progress and reflection on results may take me in a whole new direction, but this is a start.