Action Research Plan - revised September 2011

After meeting with my Site Supervisor and reviewing my previous Action Research Plan, we decided a new Action Research Plan would better reflect the needs of my campus. The new plan is posted below.

Action Planning Template
Goal: To determine the impact of Career and Technology (CTE) career pathways on high school student course selections.
Action  Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Discuss Action Research topics with site supervisor	Site supervisor (Katie Laza, Angleton ISD CTE Director) and myself	September 2011	Discussion Notes Intern Plan	Prepare Action Research topic and supporting inquiries
Research online articles and other resources regarding selected Action Research topic	Site supervisor, myself, Angleton High School (AHS) principal, AHS librarian, various Angleton ISD (AISD) administrators as needed	September 2011 – February 2012	Internet, library, input from AISD administrators	Evaluate data, review relevant information to begin formulating action research inquiry activities
Survey surrounding school districts as to CTE career pathways offerings	CTE Director/Site supervisor, myself, CTE Directors from surrounding school districts	December 2011	Survey/Questionnaire	Compile data and examine correlation to Angleton ISD – are we offering relevant career pathways? Are there additional pathways/classes other school districts are offering that would/could be beneficial to our students?
Survey current students through Social Studies classes as to their knowledge, interest and use of CTE career pathway courses. How do they plan to use these classes in their future plans after graduation?	AISD teachers, myself, students in Social Studies classes	November 2011	Survey/Questionnaire, Interviews	Compile data and examine results – are students knowledgeable and utilizing the career pathways we offer?
Survey Angleton ISD CTE teachers as to value and relevance of career pathways in their subject areas. Survey AHS teachers on their knowledge of CTE courses and how they think these career pathways assist our students	Myself, Angleton ISD CTE teachers, AHS teachers	December 2011	Survey/Questionnaire, Interviews	Compile data and examine results – is AISD offering relevant career pathways for college, technical school or work placement? Are students taking advantage of these career pathway courses?
Compilation of data in report form	Site supervisor, myself	February 2012	Tables, charts, spreadsheets, reports, PowerPoint – time, computer	Review, critique, revise as needed to complete inquiry in report format
Review wonderings/ inquiries for further evaluation	Site supervisor, myself	February 2012	Data, discussion	Add additional information to report as needed
Share/ implement findings	Site supervisor, myself, AHS principal, counselors, CTE teachers and faculty, AISD administrators	February 2012	Final summative report, discussion	Evaluate results for continuation of relevant CTE course offerings, elimination of courses not utilized and addition of other constructive career pathways/courses as needed. In addition, review the need to in-service faculty on CTE career pathways and course offerings.

EDLD 5345 - Week 4 Web Conference Reflection - July 31, 2011

The web conference began by discussion of the implications and responsibilities, especially as teachers and administrators, of social networking sites, particularly Facebook. Also discussed was the ability to have religious items in your classroom or on your desk. Sometimes it comes down to whether or not someone complains about it. Addressed were the PDAS issues concerning evaluation of former teaching colleagues and veteran teachers who have become ineffective. Pros and cons of PDAS were also debated. The different styles of walkthroughs and how each school conducts these were also discussed. The different exams and classes associated with the principal certifications, such as ILD, LCE and PDAS and questions concerning these classes and tests were discussed.

EDLD 5333 - Web Conference Reflections for June 1, 16 and 22, 2011

These web conferences were very helpful in outlining the steps in completing not only the graduate program I am currently enrolled in, but also the principal certification. TK20 has been a source of discussion in many of our web conferences and this assists in clarifying the requirements of utilizing this archiving tool for our work. I was not aware that we needed to complete the ILD training before we can take the principal certification, so this was an important piece of information received. Clarification of internship and PDAS certification was also addressed in these web conferences. We were also introduced to a new program being offered at Lamar University, the online doctorate program.

Blog Reflection - EDLD 5301 - Week 5 - Insights/Future Implementation

There are so many areas of interest in this course on action research. As I have stated before in my discussion postings, just the connotation of “research” brought on some negative feelings and past experiences of digging through books in a library and spending hours on the computer looking up various information sources. However, after learning about the process of action research, this reference was quickly erased and replaced by the eagerness to inquire and study a topic that not only interests me, but even more importantly, could lead to possible change and improvement in my school.

Staying busy with action research activities have really made these past five weeks go by very quickly. It is true that reflection is a huge part of this process. Have I developed a relevant action plan? Will I be able to review appropriate literature related to my topic? Will I be able to collect pertinent and significant data? Will the data support my plan? So many wonderings already and I have yet to truly begin my research! One area I have concluded is that I cannot go through this alone. I need to include others, including my site supervisor, campus administrators, my fellow teachers and students to assist me in a successful study of my action research topic.

Further sources of enlightenment on the subject of action research are the many discussion posts by me and my classmates. By having conversations via the discussion board, I have gained additional perspectives and knowledge about the other action research plans my classmates are working on, especially during Week 3. This really opens up a world of knowledge about various relevant topics affecting our schools in today’s technological age. Wonderings and inquiries about test scores, Internet safety, the affect of integrating various technology tools such as new web-based and software programs, laptops, Smartboards, iOS devices and Netbooks on the development of student learning. The possibility of action research in these areas is exciting and I look forward to following these projects as they progress to fruition.

Blog Reflection – EDLD 5301 – Week 4

As I reflect on this week, it seems like this class just began and it is almost over! I am pleasantly surprised that my action research plan seemed to fall into place fairly easily, thanks to the help of my site supervisor, Katie. Although I know that I have much work ahead of me in working through my project, I know that I have developed a good, workable plan and will hopefully lead to a process of continuing follow-up and information we can use at our campus. I am also grateful that I have classmates who provide their input so that I can grow as a student and action researcher.

Cohort 17 – you rock!

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: To determine the impact of Career and Technology (CTE) certifications on long-term career decisions by high school students.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Discuss Action Research topics with site supervisor	Site supervisor (Katie Laza, Angleton ISD CTE Director) and myself	January 2011	Discussion Notes Intern Plan	Prepare Action Research topic and supporting inquiries
Research online articles and other resources regarding selected Action Research topic.	Site supervisor, myself, Angleton High School (AHS) principal, AHS librarian, various Angleton ISD (AISD) administrators as needed.	February – March 2011	Internet, library, input from AISD administrators	Evaluate data, review relevant information to begin formulating action research inquiry activities
Survey surrounding school districts as to CTE certification offerings	CTE Director/Site supervisor, myself, CTE Directors from surrounding school districts	March 2011	Survey/Questionnaire	Compile data and examine correlation to Angleton ISD – are we offering relevant certifications? Are there additional certifications other school districts are offering that would/could be beneficial to our students?
Survey Angleton ISD CTE teachers as to value and relevance of certifications in their subject areas	Myself, Angleton ISD CTE teachers	March 2011	Survey/Questionnaire, Interviews	Compile data and examine results – is AISD offering relevant certifications for college, technical school or work placement? Are students taking advantage of these certifications pre- and post-graduation?
Assemble statistics of certifications received by CTE students during past 2 years	CTE Director/Site supervisor, myself, AISD teachers, AISD information database, CATEMA database	April 2011	CTE data from Angleton ISD	Compile data and examine results – what is the total number of certifications in each CTE area? Which certifications are the most prevalent?
Survey current students pre-graduation as to plans after graduation	AISD teachers, myself, students who have received certification during current school year	April – May 2011	Survey/Questionnaire, Interviews	Compile data and examine results – are students planning to use certifications after graduation?
Contact students who have graduated as to their use of certifications post-graduation	CTE Director/Site supervisor, myself, AISD teachers, AISD CTE information database, CATEMA database	May 2011-Summer 2011	Survey/Questionnaire, phone and/or email contact	Compile data and examine results – are students utilizing certifications post-graduation? If so, how are they using certifications? If not, why?
Compilation of data in report form	Site supervisor, myself	Summer 2011	Tables, charts, spreadsheets, reports, PowerPoint – time, computer	Review, critique, revise as needed to complete inquiry in report format
Review wonderings/ inquiries for further evaluation	Site supervisor, myself	Summer 2011	Data, discussion	Add additional information to report as needed
Share/ implement findings	Site supervisor, myself, AHS principal, AISD administrators	September 2011	Final summative report, discussion	Evaluate results for continuation of relevant certifications, elimination of certifications not utilized and addition of other constructive certifications as needed

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

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Web Conference – EDLD 5301 – Week 3

This week the discussion was centered on our action research topics and the decision process in choosing a topic that was not only applicable to our school and area of academic concentrations, but also a topic that was interesting and significant to our inquiries and wonderings. Dr. Abshire and Dr. Jenkins provided specific ways in which we could begin qualitative and quantitative study into our topics as we posted questions, and our colleagues provided additional insight into beginning our action research journey. I am looking forward to beginning the production of collecting data and continued evaluation as the action research begins.