Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Week 3 Action Research Plan


Action Plan
Goal: To evaluate the use of “Writing Workshop” portfolios in the Writing Intervention program at Cactus Middle School, and monitor student progress.
Action Steps(s):
Person(s) Responsible:
Timeline: Start/End
Needed Resources
Evaluation
1.Seek approval for possible action research topic
 
Gretchen Lutz
Deanna Smith-Stout
December 2012
Action Research Plan
Agreement from Site Supervisor
 
 
2. Modify the specific action research topic if needed
 
 
Gretchen Lutz
Deanna Smith-Stout
December 2012
*Questions
*Proposed issues on campus
Approval from site supervisor
 
3. Collect writing  benchmark assessment data
 
 
Gretchen Lutz
Amy Powell
Deanna Smith-Stout
 
January 2013
*Galileo testing data 
Target low performing
objectives.
Record and chart student scores
4. Collect 2011/ 2012 AIMS writing test scores for each student
 
Gretchen Lutz
Amy Powell
December 2012
AIMS data
Target low performing
objectives.
Record and chart student scores
5. Survey students regarding their confidence in writing
 
Gretchen Lutz
January 9,10, 2012
 
Create surveys
Record initial data
4. Interview target students Language Arts teachers
 
Gretchen Lutz
 
6th, 7th and 8th grade LA teachers
January 2012
Student schedules
Record data
4. Survey students about their knowledge the components of writing workshop: prewriting, rough drafting, edit, final copy
Gretchen Lutz
 
Writing Intervention focus students
January 2012
Create surveys
Record data
5. Ongoing collection of formative and summative writing assessments and data
Gretchen Lutz
 
January-May 2013
Collect Galileo assessment and benchmark data
Target 6-trait writing objectives improvement. Track and Record progress
6. Survey students confidence in writing
Gretchen Lutz
May 2013
Use same survey to collect valid data
Determine if confidence was built in certain areas
7. Gather 2013 AIMS writing data
Gretchen Lutz
Deanna Smith Stout
TBA (AIMS) might not be released until summer
Collect AIMS data
Analyze and record areas of student progress
8. Present findings of research project  to district  principals and district office.
 
 
 
 
Gretchen Lutz
 
TBA (after receiving AIMS data, compose presentation. I will need AIMS scores to make this research meaningful)
Written
Presentation
 
Disseminate the
results of the action plan with the school district and possibly publish

6 comments:

  1. Gretchen: My action research project is on building vocabulary for ELLs which is difficult for students but another subject students struggle in is in writing. Your action research should be very rewarding and if you are able to publish your findings so that others might be able to replicate your research. Good luck and thank you for sharing. jv

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  2. Gretchen are you going to collect the test results of all students or only on a specific grade that are in the intervention program? You might want to have a sign in when you meet with teachers. This can be noted on the evaluation part. I would also recommend you adding a row describing the purpose of your research to your writing teachers, in a meeting of some sort. Also adding a beginning and end date for all your action steps. :)

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  3. May I suggest also surveying teachers as well? Also, if you're going to target all grade levels, the workload would probably be a problem you may encounter. May be target one grade level as well? I know one of our peers changed her from all grade levels to just 8th grade, and chose 8th grade because that is when students need to pass their EOC to advance (at least in Texas).

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  4. I agree that targeting one grade level might be more doable. Also, is Writer's Workshop something new that will be implemented or is it already being used? That could maybe be clarified in the template.

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  5. Gretchen, I think you are on the right track. After seeing all your steps I now feel like I did not do enough in my plan. I am not too familiar with the AIMs program as I work in an elementary but we are kinda doing the same. I will also evaluate the effectiveness of a program in raising our math scores in the STAAR test.

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  6. I find your topic very interesting and different from many I have read. I teach reading remediation and throw in a few writing assignments, but my students fight me tooth and nail over it. Good luck with your project. I do have a question. What kind of questions will be on your survey to determine student confidence in writing? Also I see that you will be interviewing the Language Arts teachers of the students. What data will you expect to gather from these iterviews?

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