Action Research Plan

Goal:  The goal of this action research plan is to investigate and improve the current formative teacher evaluation and summative revision at our campus to provide more efficient and relevant teacher improvement and excellence.  The goal is paired with the desire to provide the best possible educational experience leading to student life change.

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Involved	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation Method
Interview with the current campus administrators. Goal: Gain insight into the current teacher evaluative practices and regulations.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Principal 3. Campus Vice Principal	Start Date: September 2011 End Date: September 2011	1. Interview questions. 2. Appointment time and location.	I will use one-on-one interviews with each of our campus administrators and compare the results of the interview questions.
Observe a series of core area teacher evaluations under the current system. Goal: Learn from first-hand experience the methodology of our current teacher evaluation.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Administrators 3. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: October 2011 End Date: December 2011	1. Permission from campus administrators and core area teachers. 2. Observation forms. 3. Time and location of teacher evaluation.	I will observe the formative teacher evaluation and following summative meetings and will critique the effectiveness and relevance to our campus situation.
Research a variety of literary sources on the types and styles of teacher evaluation practices available. Goal:  Discover potential evaluation practices that have proven beneficial in school districts that are similar to Kaufman ISD.	1. Grant Miller	Start Date: October 2011 End Date: December 2011	1. Literary sources (i.e. books, journals, and internet sites).	I will research several literary sources and evaluate their effectiveness based on the data included in the source evaluation.
Survey all junior high teachers. Goal: Gain insight into the perceived thoughts and recommendations of the core area teachers.	1. Grant Miller 2. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: October 2011 End Date: October 2011	1. Meeting time with junior high teachers. 2. Teacher surveys.	I will compile the data from each survey and compare the results with the data found in the literary research.
Survey a select group of junior high aged students. Goal: Gain insight into the student’s thoughts on the facets of an excellent classroom experience.	1. Grant Miller 2. Select Group of Junior High Students	Start Date: November 2011 End Date: November 2011	1. Meeting time with junior high students. 2. Student surveys.	I will combine the student survey responses and rank the responses based on frequency and relevance.
Compile and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of all gathered data. Goal: Select the criteria for the creation of a blueprint for a new evaluative method.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Administrators 3. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: January 2012 End Date: January 2012	1. Interview transcripts. 2. Evaluation forms. 3. Literary data. 4. Teacher surveys. 5. Student surveys.	I will combine the results of all data and search for areas of overlapping need and solution.  I will also find commonalities in evaluative strengths and weaknesses across all areas.
Collaboratively create and test a prototype teacher evaluation method. Goal: Institute a new, efficient, and relevant evaluation method.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Administrators 3. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: February 2012 End Date: March 2012	1. Meeting time with campus administrators and core area teachers. 2. All gathered data.	I will help to lead a collaborative group of administrators and core area teachers.  Evaluation of the collaborative effort will come in follow-up interviews.
Follow-up with interviews of campus administrators. Goal: Check for further needed revisions to the prototype.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Administrators	Start Date: March 2012 End Date: April 2012	1. Interview questions. 2. Appointment time and location.	I will use one-on-one interviews with each of our campus administrators and compare the results of the interview questions.
Follow-up with interviews of junior high, core area teachers. Goal: Gauge the thoughts and feelings of the new evaluative method.	1. Grant Miller 2. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: March 2012 End Date: April 2012	1. Interview questions. 2. Appointment time and location.	I will use one-on-one interviews with each of our core area teachers and compare the results of the interview questions.
Revise the prototype teacher evaluation method and test the revisions. Goal: Make the needed changes to further improve the new process.	1. Grant Miller 2. Campus Administrators 3. Core Area Teachers	Start Date: May 2012 End Date: May 2012	1. Meeting time with campus administrators and core area teachers. 2. All gathered data.	Again, a collaborative effort will be made to revise the prototype teacher evaluation and results will be discussed amongst the team.
Share results with relevant district stakeholders. Goal: Increase the effectiveness of teacher evaluation across all district campuses and gain insight from other campus ideas.	1. Grant Miller 2. Relevant District Stakeholders (i.e. Central Office Administrators, Campus Administrators)	Start Date: June 2012 End Date: September 2012	1. Action research summary and findings. 2. Relevant data. 3. Proposed teacher evaluation changes.	The final evaluations of the action research project will be opened to other district stakeholders.  Comments and suggestions will be taken into account for future changes.

People over programs...

As part of my EDLD 5301 class, I really took a hard look at which action research study would provide the most benefit to my campus and its stakeholders.  I threw around several ideas about technology use, classroom procedural changes, and teaching strategies.  The more I thought about our campus, the more I realized that the focus should start with the people and trickle down to the programs.

From an administrator's perspective, the greatest way to effect the lives of the students is to ensure that the teachers are at the pinnacle of their educational abilities.  If the campus goal is really centered on student success and providing the best possible educational experience, administrators must first invest in the lives of their teachers.  Programs are only as effective as the teachers that use them.  For this reason, I have decided to use teacher evaluation and revision as my action research study.

I know that, initially, this sounds like a boring topic, and I can already hear the yawns.  In part, I agree.  From an old-school evaluation perspective, I think this is a snoozer, but that is exactly why I want to pursue this topic.  If evaluation and revision are really crucial to the improvement of an educator, then the perspective of the process must be changed.  The days of an administrator sitting in the back row of a classroom with a pen and an evaluation form must become a thing of the past.  Administrators need to extinguish the negative stigma of evaluation by taking a hands-on, collaborative approach to evaluation.  It is absolutely necessary for teachers to feel like their administrators both have their best interest at heart and are on their team.  It must be clearly known on campus that people come first.

A few words on educators and blogging...

Technology has created an amazing opportunity for educators to communicate on a scale unheard of in our recent past. Blogging is just one of these tools. The world is changing at an unprecedented rate. This has created a generational gap between most educators and their students that is wider on a cultural scale than ever before. Technology, specifically blogging in this case, is an incredible tool to help bridge this gap. Educators can now communicate, learn from, and even collaborate with contemporaries across the globe to create effective and relevant classroom experiences. This is a resource that should not be wasted.

Action Research... Is it really worth the time and effort?

Before we can answer the question about the worth of action research, we must first take a look at exactly what action research entails. Action research is a break from an old style of educational improvement, which we will call traditional educational research. In a more traditional style, administrators and other educational leaders would utilize the expertise of professionals outside of their campus to bestow techniques and tools for educational improvement. This might look like professional development through speaker led conferences and/or seminars. The glaring problem to this style raises a question amongst school stakeholders. Can a cookie-cutter technique truly benefit my campus?

In response to the questions surrounding traditional educational research, action research was born. Action research is a systematic and cyclical approach to educational inquiry. In this approach, administrators must take a leading role in thinking critically about their actions and the practices on their campus. Instead of simply sitting through a lecture about needed change, administrators are digging-in to the inquiry process and identifying the specific needs of their teachers and students. Action research brings about customized change and constant reflection. The areas of impact are only limited by the creativity of the educator. A few ideas would include things like impacting education through the use of technology, transforming teaching styles through effective evaluation, and enhancing the classroom experience through real-world application of lessons taught. There is at least one drawback to this approach. Action research requires much more energy, resources, and time than it's traditional counterpart. The question then must be asked, is it really worth the time and effort?

I will answer this question with another. Is seeing student lives changed through an exceptional educational experience worth the time and effort? Action research, when pursued with commitment and drive, has the potential to transform the way educators evaluate success. It pushes the educational process further than it could otherwise go. In my opinion, action research brings about interesting, engaging, and relevant classrooms that produce changed lives... and that is worth it.