EDLD 5301: Week 5

This course has been insightful in that I have learned the importance and action based research as an administrator.  Action based research enables me as a future administrator to scientifically explore relevance educational topics and solutions.  The literature that I have read as a result to being in this class has functioned to serve as a creative model for conducting and analyzing data.  Being in the middle of my research project, has provided a unique opportunity to develop hands-on experience while exploring a topic that is currently impacting my campus.  

The blogs that we have used in this class offers a window into salient educational topics that are currently impacting my peers.  By participating in this process I not only have access to some of their concerns that may also be relevant to my situation but may also be avenue by which potential solutions can be shared.  Although scientific theory is vital to research, real world relevance is often an important aspect that is missing. 

Overall I do plan to continue this research project and I think by using a predetermined time frame will aid in my being successful. When this class is over and I no longer have set deadlines or assignments that are due it will be important for me to have assistance with dates and benchmarks in order for me to keep my momentum and maintain my focus. 

Adding to my action research plan....Parental Involvement vs Parental Support

We in public schools tend to overly generalize about parental involvement without examining the specific circumstances that may be relevant to each case. For example, there should be a distinction made between parental involvement and parental support.  Many of these same parents are often faced with difficult choices requiring them to accept jobs that will not allow them to have work hours that are conducive to their children’s educational hours.  Though not an ideal situation, many of these parents in between their work duties and other primary  responsibilities that are often necessary to keep the family functioning, does attempt to be as involved in the educational process as is possible and therefore they do provide parental support , they simply cannot provide parental involvement.

Sharing the Process of Research...

“Because you can name something does not mean that you understand it.  Because you understand it does not mean that it can be named” (Halcolm as quoted in Patton, 2002 p.429).  Analyzing, interpreting and reporting of the data collected for this action research project is key to allowing the stakeholders to become an integral part of the process.  By clearly articulating both a need and a plan for remediating the existing problem of low parental involvement and support stakeholders who may have once considered themselves outside of the school process will now consider themselves part of the solution.  Using a qualitative design will require me as the researcher to use methods that are designed to solicit individual true feelings on this topic.  As the primary investigator I will have to move between varying degrees of discovery mode and verification mode in order to understand the phenomenon under review.  After the data has been collected and analyzed, the data will be displayed in a variety of formats (i.e. charts, graphs, PowerPoint) to address various learning modalities.  I intend on sharing my research using my blog, school newsletter, and presentations to the staff, parents and all stakeholders.  Furthermore as I see this is an on-going process, data collection and analysis will continue to be gathered and in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions.    

My Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Increase Parental Involvement and Support on Campus
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Identify reasons for lack of parental support and involvement	Shanaya Kuykendahl; C. Stewart; Existing Parental involvement committee	1/2012 thru 2/2012	Teacher, staff and parent surveys with prepared interview questions or survey monkey	Is parental involvement supported on campus?  What are the effective ways of communication with parents?
Identify what needs to be implemented to increase level of parental support and involvement	Shanaya Kuykendahl; C. Stewart ; Parental involvement committee	2/2012 thru 3/2012	Teacher, staff and parent surveys; discussion forum at parental involvement committee; CD/Book: Love and Logic	What does the data display from teacher, staff, and parent surveys? How effective is the CD/Book: Love and Logic?
parental support and involvement meetings focusing on parent attendance	Shanaya Kuykendahl; C. Stewart ; Parental involvement committee	3/2012 thru 5/2012	Discussion and implementation of new ideas to enhance parental support	Are there sufficient ways for parents to provide feedback?  Are they effective?  Are there other resources to increase parental involvement?
Assess success of parental support and involvement	Shanaya Kuykendahl; C. Stewart ; Parental involvement committee	3/2012 thru 5/2012	Survey Results, Parental Involvement Meetings Sign-In sheets: campus activities Sign-out sheet; Teacher feedback	Do the parents have a clear understanding of the need for parental involvement on how it relates to the campus’s vision? Do they understand their role in the process and are they supportive? 4. Have the parents’opinions and ideas been validated by stakeholders at the campus level?

Reflection of Week 2

I have learned this week that ation research can be used on many topics involving education.  Action research is an on-going process and it is practical versus theoretical.  Aciton research aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in a problematic situation and to further the goals of the campus.  Action research is described by learning by doing such as a person identifying a problem, doing something to resolve it, and seeing how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, trying it again. 

How educational leaders might use blogs...

Educational leaders can use blogs as an online journal and a support tool to promote reflective analysis.  It is a way to document frequent, chronological publications of your thoughts and ideas with a way to view feedback and ideas from others on specific topics.

Action Research

Action research is an inquiry done by an educator with the intent that the person will inform and change his or her practices in the future.  It is a reflective process to improve the way of addressing issues and solving problems.  Overall it is to find a new course of action to improve the organization as a whole and improve its work practices.  Action research involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies.  As an educator, it is about how we can change our instruction to impact students learning.

As an educator, I feel I can use action research by doing a self-evaluation, team evaluation and an evaluation of my campus as a whole.  An analysis of how things are currently operating is needed and whether the process is successful.  After obtaining this data, I can decide with other staff members on the steps and processes to improve my campus overall.  For instance, one way action research is utilized for my school is to examine the state test scores (TAKS) to identify areas that need improvement, and then determine a plan of action to improve student performance.  We design an educational plan including pull-outs and tutoring to address learning deficits.