Reflections on My Parental Involvement Action Research Plan

My Action Research Project was on increasing parental involvement at our elementary school campus.  As a teacher I have always known when a child’s parent is actively involved in his or her education including setting good homework practices, that child would succeed at a faster rate than his/her peers, who do not have that much needed parental support.   

Our superintendent came to our campus and asked us some specific questions on what is getting in the way of academic success and what would help our students to be more successful.  Our number on problem was the lack of parent support and involvement.  I soon found out that this problem was the number 3 problem across the district.  So my main focus was to start at our early childhood campus and find ways to make our school climate so positive and encouraging for parents they would be more than willing and excited to be a part of our team.  I started by surveying the other staff members on campus as well as the administrators.  Then I complied the data with all the different suggestions to get our parents to school so they would feel more actively involved.  I used that information and teamed with another teacher and presented an idea for a parent involvement committee across the district with 2 members for each grade level to facilitate new and inventive ideas that would be appropriate for each level.  I am still in the process of starting this committee.  This will be an ongoing process through this year.   

Week 5- Reflection on what I have learned during this course

When I first started this course I felt a little overwhelmed but as it is coming to a close, I realize just how much I have learned about action research. First of all I had no idea what action research really was.  Being in this class has taught me how principals figure out ways to solve campus problems while moving their campus and professional learning forward. 

As I reflect on this course and the time I have spent I have to mention the creation of my first BLOG.  This is an amazing tool.  As a teacher in her fifties, I feel I am pretty good with classroom technology, but I have not really looked into blogging before.  I love how you can gain insight into the works of other educators dealing with a lot of the same issues you are experiencing at your campus or district. 

Reflection is another important skill in leadership I have learned.  I finally understand why refection is a must.  As a classroom teacher I have automatically reflected on lessons taught, ideas that went well or failed, and the various ways to handle class management given the class I have each year.  Now I realize when I become an administrator this refection skill will need to be in place so I will not be a “stagnant” leader.  I do not want to be a leader who just puts out fires but a leader that make the changes needed so the fires will not happen in the first place.

Finally, I would really appreciate it if you all would help me, as I go through this process of action research.  I need your comments and input,so I can do my best work possible.  Thank you, in advance for your comments and I wish you all the best of luck in this and all following courses in this master's program.

Week 4 ED 5301 Updated action research plan with explanations about changes.

I met with my principal about my action research plan. After our conference I feel like I have a solid direction for my action research project dealing with parent involvement.  My principal said she would like to see this action research data in preparation of developing needs assessment for the campus improvement plan.  Parent involvement of the lack of it, is a real problem at our campus.  After my supervisor reviewed my plan I drafted, she felt I should first determine what the campus definition of parent involvement would be. She felt to really address the needs of our campus I should first compile a list of ideas to motivate parent involvement.  This can be done on an email survey campus wide.  One of my questions would be “How can we get parents up to school to be taught how to help their child with homework and other academic needs?” This survey will be done before the current year is finished.  This will give me time over the summer to research other districts attempts to get parents to school and compile a list provided by my initial survey. At the beginning of the next school year I will then conduct a group interview of teachers across the grade levels and discuss the results of this year’s survey.  I will let them know the suggestion given and discuss what they think should be put into action for the new school year. Instead of asking for all at risk students to follow and use to monitor improvement  my principal suggested I take a random sample of at risk students and follow them to see if they improve after the campus implements the updated parent involvement strategy.  After the first semester is completed I will organize my updated data from the teachers and the random group of at risk students, to see if there was actually positive improvement with  our problem of poor parent involvement. I could at this time report to the staff about the updated data.  If there is a positive outcome we will continue with the updated plan, but if we do not see improvement with our at risk students then we will have to go in a different direction.

My revised plan is as follows:

Action Research Project
Goal: As an early childhood campus, parent involvement is a very necessary part of building the foundation of reading and math skills in our students.  Without that one on one support system and positive attitude about the importance of education many of our students will get behind their peers who have parent who are involved in the learning process.  So my main inquiry will be “How can I motivate all parents to become more involved in their child’s academic life?”
Action Step(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Resources/ Research tools needed	Person responsible for implementation and Process for monitoring  the achievement	Evaluation of effectiveness of the action taken
Meet with the principal to go over the best course of action to improve parental involvement in grade levels Pre-K-1st grade.	Principal: Jo McDonald Denise Mays	May 3, 2012- May 11, 2012	Create an email survey to all staff members to ask individual input concerning the lack of parent involvement and how to motive parents to come to school to learn how to help educate their child. This will be in preparation of developing a needs assessment for the Campus Improvement Plan for next year.	Denise Mays	Review final draft with principal of email survey
Send out a email survey campus wide to assess a need on our campus	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays	May 11, 2012- May 30, 2012	Email surveys and compile data as they come in to address the real need on our campus then present to staff at the campus plan planning session.	Denise Mays-	I will take the in-house data, and compile the information to be used during my action research.  I will look for a lateral pattern  across the grade levels
Research different ways of motivate parental involvement	Denise Mays	June 1, 2012 – Aug. 15, 2012	Online research sites, scholarly articles, blogs	Denise Mays Monitoring- Collect data found on parent involvement and compile.	.My compiled research will give me more information.
Hold a staff meeting that will discuss the data  both in house and external research	Jo McDonald- Principal Denise Mays	Aug. 25, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2012	Complete a Presentation based on the research results,	Denise Mays Monitoring- Conducting a staff meeting.	I will have signatures of staff members that attended the meeting
Ask Ms. Collins for a list of at risk students in all 3 grade levels.	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays	Sept. 1, 2012- May 30, 2013	Select a random group of students who are at risk to use those student to track for improvement  as the new parent involvement plan.	Denise Mays Monitoring-  Student progress	Evaluate any improvement through the study to track success.
Create a monthly tracking form to track success and/ or failure of the parent involvement plan with their at risk students.	Denise Mays All teachers at BES	Sept. 1, 2012	Create a monthly tracking form to track success  and or failure of the parent involvement plan with their at risk students	Denise Mays- Monitoring- Compiling data from  the monthly forms	The results of these surveys will be my evaluation
Collect monthly tracking forms on the students being tracked for this research.	All teachers who have students in the random tracking group Denise Mays	Oct. 1, 2012- May 1, 2013	Collect monthly tracking from and enter data to track the success or failure of the implemented parent involvement plan.	Classroom teachers Denise Mays Monitoring Progress:  Observation of student improvement.	The follow up data from the  monthly tracking forms on the implemented plan will be an additional evaluation.
Teachers and administrator will meet and discuss the follow-up data and decide if the updated  parental involvement plan was successful and if it will be used in the CIP  again.	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays All classroom teachers at BES	May 1, 2013- May 30, 2013	Bring notes from observations and overall data collected and present information to the staff	Classroom teachers Denise Mays Administrators Monitoring procedure:  Notes from staff meeting.	Signatures of teachers that attended the meeting and the results for the decision concerning ways to improve parental involvement.

My Action Research Plan for Week 3

I am posting my action research project plan as required by our week 3 assignment.  I know that this information will be subject to change as I do my research.  I would love to have any feedback so I can fine tune my plan.

Action Research Project
Goal: As an early childhood campus, parent involvement is a very necessary part of building the foundation of reading and math skills in our students.  Without that one on one support system and positive attitude about the importance of education many of our students will get behind their peers who have parent who are involved in the learning process.  So my main inquiry will be “How can I motivate all parents to become more involved in their child’s academic life?”
Action Step(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Resources/ Research tools needed	Person responsible for implementation and Process for monitoring  the achievement	Evaluation of effectiveness of the action taken
Meet with the principal to go over the best course of action to improve parental involvement in grade levels Pre-K-1st grade.	Principal: Jo McDonald Denise Mays	May 30, 2012- Jun 15, 2012	List of ideas to motivate parental involvement	Denise Mays Monitoring- notes taken during the meeting.	We prepare a list of action steps in addition to the ones I list below.
Arrange for a focus group of teachers in all three grade levels	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays	May 1, 2012- May 30, 2012	Focus group interview questions targeting the year- long success of students who have or do not have parental support at home.	Denise Mays-  Monitoring-  Interviewing focus group	I will take the  in-house data, and compile the information to be used  during my action research.  I will look for a lateral pattern  across the grade levels
Interview other teachers about specific students that are at risk in their classrooms.	Remaining Pre-k through 1st  grade teachers Not interviewed in the focus group at the end of the 2011-2012 yr.	September 1, 2012- October 30, 2012	List of students that are at risk and make a comparison between the students who have parental support with homework and those who do not.	Denise Mays Monitoring- Interviewing individual teachers formally and non-formally, taking notes of the meetings.	Teachers will provide a complete list of students who are at risk academically
Research different ways of motivating parental involvement and the importance of parental involvement in education.	Denise Mays	October 1, 2012- November 1, 2012	Online research sites, scholarly articles, blogs	Denise Mays Monitoring Process: Collect data found on parent involvement online, in articles and blogs.	I will have my research results to show to the principal and the classroom teacher who participated in the action research
Hold a staff meeting that will discuss the data results about the effects of student and parent involvement	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays	January 1, 2013- January 30, 2013	Complete a Presentation based on the research results,	Denise Mays Monitoring- Conducting a staff meeting.	I will have signatures of staff members that attended the meeting
Create a survey that includes the research results about parent  involvement.  Hopefully this will steer my research in such a way to find workable ways to improve positive parental involvement on our campus.	Denise Mays All teachers at BES	February 1, 2013- February 30, 2013	Surveys created to get the opinions and suggestions of the teachers at BES.	Denise Mays- Monitoring- Compiling data found through the teacher surveys completed.	The results of these surveys will be my evaluation. Giving me ideas to increase the needed parent involvement.
Teachers will implement the updated parent involvement plan and document what affect it is in their individual classrooms and their at risk students	All teachers Grade levels Pr-K – 1st grade	March 1, 3013- March 30, 2013	Research results about the updated parent involvement plan	Classroom teachers Denise Mays Monitoring Progress:  Observation of student improvement.	The follow up data from the implemented plan will be an additional evaluation.
Teachers and administrator will meet and discuss the follow-up data and decide if the updated  parental involvement plan was successful and if it will be used during the next school year .	Principal Jo McDonald Denise Mays All classroom teachers at BES	April 1, 2013- April 30, 2013	Bring notes from observations	Classroom teachers Denise Mays Administrators Monitoring procedure:  Notes from staff meeting.	Signatures of teachers that attended the meeting and the results for the decision concerning ways to improve parental involvement.