EDLD 5326 - AR Project Update

The goal of my action research project is to determine the effect of changing a teacher’s assignment on teacher motivation and on student success.  So far, I have completed steps one through four.  Participants have been contacted and agreed to take part.  They are freely sharing their benchmark data through our Eduphoria! program to get a better view of student success.  I created a survey on surveymonkey for the participants to complete on their leisure (within a stated time limit).  The results are as expected, showing that the teachers that wanted their assignments changed are significantly more motivated than the teachers who were moved without asking. 

One problem has arisen at this point.  There are several participants that asked to be moved, but seem to regret that decision.  The problem that will need to be addressed in another survey is that our high school is divided into two parts, the high school and the 9^th Grade Academy.  The principal adminsters the entirety of both, but the 9^th Grade Academy really is run by the 9^th Grade Academic Dean.  The Academy has very little interaction with the principal, even though he is technically in charge.  For example, we recently completed a School Climate Survey for Texas A&M-San Antonio and we were told to treat the 9^th Grade Academy as its own campus and that the 9^th Grade Academic Dean should be considered as “principal” for the purposes of the survey.  Although we have only seen preliminary results of the survey, there seems to be a huge difference between the two campuses in teacher confidence in the administrative team.  The 9^th Grade Academy is significantly higher, so those that asked to move to the high school have a new administrator that may be affecting teacher motivation more than their new assignment.

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal:  To determine the effect of changing a teacher’s assignment on teacher motivation and on student success
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.  Determine which teachers’ assignments have been changed from the 2011-2012.	Hector Esquivel, Academic Dean 9th Grade Academy	Start: 12-10-12 End: 12-21-12	Master schedule for 2011-2012 Master schedule for 2012-2013	From the master schedules, a spreadsheet will be made to show teachers’ assignments that have been changed and which have not.
2.  Create and send a letter to teachers to determine those that will participate in the action research study.	Eric Pawkett	Start: 12-21-12 End: 1-7-13	School e-mail system	Determine the number of participants of both teachers that have stayed the same and changed.  All departments should be represented.
3.  Create and analyze a survey of study participants for current level of satisfaction and motivation.	Eric Pawkett	Start: 1-7-12 End: 1-18-13	School e-mail system	Determine current levels of satisfaction and motivation.
4.  Analyze teacher benchmark and standardized test results from 2011-2012.	Hector Esquivel Eric Pawkett	Start: 1-14-13 End: 1-25-13	Eduphoria! (Data system) ·         11/12 Common Benchmark Results ·         11/12 STAAR and TAKS Results	Determine the level of student success.
5.  Analyze benchmark results from 2012-2013 to determine changes in student success.	Eric Pawkett	Start: 3-22-13 End: 4-1-13	Eduphoria! (Data system) ·         12/13 Common Benchmark Results	Determine the level of student success on teacher and department created benchmarks.
6.  Create and analyze a 2nd survey of study participants for current level of satisfaction and motivation.	Eric Pawkett	Start: 5-20-13 End: 5-31-13	School e-mail system	Determine change in levels of satisfaction and motivation at the end of the year.
7.  Analyze teacher benchmark and standardized test results from 2011-2012.	Hector Esquivel Eric Pawkett	Start: 6-10-13 End: 6-28-13	Eduphoria! (Data system) ·         12/13 Common Benchmark Results ·         12/13 STAAR and TAKS Results	Determine the change in the level of student success.
8.  Create and analyze a survey of study participants for level of satisfaction and motivation for new assignments.	Eric Pawkett	Start: 8-26-13 End: 9-13-13	School e-mail system	Draw conclusions and make recommendations based on participant survey results and student achievement results.

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

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Research: Week 2 Lessons

In a video we watched this week, Dr. Timothy Chargois spoke about an old adage: "Oh, if I just reach one kid..."  Teachers in the lounge and in the hallways try to cheer each other up with that cliche and we tell it to ourselves when we have a class that just doesn't seem to catch on to something we are presenting.  He spoke about how much that saying can't be in the teachers' mind anymore because of accountability.  I truly feel that a teacher would not be happy just reaching one student in a class of 30.  That would be a frighteningly bad statistic that would make any teacher wince.

The assignment this week required us to find action research topics in 9 areas of "wonderings" of many school leaders.  Although I knew that I am extremely interested in the teachers because I feel that teachers are the backbone of any school, I was able to take something I found in the Dana text and mold my own research topic from it.  Our school's new principal made many changes to the master schedule and changed teachers' class assignments.  So far, this has had a variety of effects on the teachers.  Some are happy with the change, but the ones that are not are very unhappy, which is affecting the students.

It seems as I have arrived at my topic for research: What is the effect of changing a teacher’s assignment on teacher motivation and on student success?

Using Blogs

     Educational leaders can use blogs in a variety of ways.  Blogs can be a way of logging thoughts, ideas, and information.  It can be a sort of "diary" that is public, therefore can be commented on by outsiders and other researchers.  Therefore, it can also be used as a form of data collection, because others outside the school (and within!) can comment and leave information.
     Educational leaders can also use a blog as method of information distribution.  Rather than traditional e-mail or memo, the leader could have a blog as a way to distribute information and a forum for discussion.
     Educational leaders can also use their blog as a way to publish their own research findings with colleagues.  Rather than traditional methods like publishing in a journal, a blog allows for more frequent updates and a forum for discussion through comments.

Using Action Research

     Before this class, I had never heard of the term action research.  Action research, though, has been a part of my teaching career without me realizing it.  As I stated in my homework assignment, the definition of action research can be simplified to studying yourself and using what you learn to change.  To me, it is basically "trial and error."  In my experience as a teacher, this is the basis of any classroom teacher.  Teachers try new lessons, forms of presentations, evaluation processes, and many other things on an extremely frequent basis.  The teacher must then evaluate the effectiveness and then make changes or adapt to the lessons learned.
     Action research would be very useful as an administrator.  I would use it to affect change in any area of my school that needed change.  For example, I believe professional development and trainings are of utmost importance to the development of effective teachers.  As a principal of a school, I would evaluate the school's current system of professional development and come up with ways to improve the system.
     As an educator and future administrator, I am most interested in teacher development and motivation.  I believe that they key to a successful and effective school is the teachers.  As much as everything in a school needs to be student-centered, it is the teachers who make that happen.  Therefore, one of the areas of study I am most interested in is teacher motivation.  A motivated teacher can make magic happen in their classroom and inspire learning from even the most unmotivated students.  I truly believe that increased teacher motivation will lead to increase in student motivation.