ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

PROCESS OVERVIEW

African American Success Initiative: Will it close the gap between the academic success of African American students at Quintanilla Middle School?

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION – Creating a climate to explore an action research issue:

Through collaboration or during meetings with our principal or other key stakeholders, like the site based decision making committee, the issue of closing the gap between the academic achievements of African American students on the Quintanilla Middle School campus is identified as a concern.

2. ANALYZING DATA – Use a variety of data gathering (e.g., six-weeks grade reports, attendance reports, and Ready to STAAR test results) as well as an evaluation of student participation in the African American Success Initiative Program. Likely findings from these searches might include:

Participation in the AASI monthly activities caused a decrease in student absences and tardies over a course of one school year.

Students who recorded adequate participation in the AASI program activities, showed an overall increase in their six-week report card averages.

African American students who participated in the AASI program mastered more Ready to STAAR objectives that African American students who did not.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – Initial data gathering is likely to lead to additional questions and an effort to dig deeper in understanding the pros and cons and possible consequences of selecting certain solutions.

Interview and conduct surveys on the African American students on campus who participate in the African American Success Initiative program to find out how they feel as students at Quintanilla Middle School and how does the AASI program effect their overall impression of their school environment.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION – You begin to ask some reflective questions regarding choices and consequences of particular policy solutions. Questions might include:

• Do I possess the skills and resources needed to conduct a successful action research project that will prove the African American Success Initiative Program helps close the achievement gaps of African American students at Quintanilla Middle School?

• I like the idea that there is a program in place that addresses the needs of African American students considering that as a whole the percentage of African Americans in Dallas ISD has drastically decreased, which puts them at risk of being neglected.

• I like the idea that this program is a district-wide initiative that I can research on a campus level, therefore, I don’t lack too many resources because most of them are already in place.

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS – After digging deeper and posing some of the reflective questions, begin to formulate a more definite solution, and begin to consider the programmatic impact of the solutions.

Talk with at length with your site supervisor and other people whose opinion you respect to determine the pros and cons of plausible solutions. What skills and resources do they think are essential to successful project implementation? The more pit-falls you can identify before you implement your solution, the better your project will work.

Assistant principal JoAnn Jackson, Associate Principal Dalia Salinas, and Program Development Coordinator LaTonya Lockhart may have additional knowledge of other factors that may cause a gap in the achievement of the academic success of African American students. They may also be aware of other possible solutions besides the African American Success Initiative Program.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION – You are about ready to launch your action research project but you must be able to answer these questions:

It is time to double check your approach to implementing your action research project!

A. Are you clear on what you are attempting to solve (your research

questions)? I am attempting to determine if the African American Success Initiative program is indeed closing the gap in the academic success of African American students at Quintanilla Middle School.

B. Have you adequately addressed the skills and resources questions? The program is a district initiative, therefore most of the resources are already in place. In addition to that, I will have access to grade reports, attendance reports, and STAAR test results.

C. Have you established a collaborative approach to the issue? I will be collaborating with the campus data clerk, the campus test coordinator, and the campus advisor for the AASI program, as well as other district personnel involved in the AASI program.

D. Are your timelines realistic? One school year is an adequate length of time.

E. Do you have a reasonable plan to monitor the project? I will be monitoring student participation in the AASI program, as well as six-weeks grades, attendance, and achievement on the Ready to STAAR exam.

F. Do you have a reasonable plan for determining the level of success – how do you evaluate if the plan is effective? If there is an increase in attendance, better grades, and improved scores on the Ready to STAAR exam, this will be proof of the success of the program.

G. How will you revise and improve the plan based on monitoring and evaluation? My concern is whether or not student achievement or failure correlates to participation or non-participation in the AASI program. I will make revisions based on whether or not I am able to connect the two.

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

You may want to organize one or more committees to assist you with your

action research project. You will definitely want to develop a written plan of

action. We suggest you use the appropriate template steps (see Chapter 7 Tool 7.1or ) to guide the implementation of your research project. You will want to monitor the project (formative evaluation) and prepare a summary report (summative evaluation) of the results of your action research project addressing the effect of the AASI program of the academic success of African American students at Quintanilla Middle School.

Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template

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Goal: The effect of the African American Success Initiative Program on the academic success of African American students at Quintanilla Middle School.

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         Action                         Person(s)                      Timeline                         Needed                        

         Step(s)                      Responsible                   Start/End                      Resources                      Evaluation

1.Monitor and evaluate student participation in the AASI program activities including seminars, workshops, college fairs, and panel discussions.	AASI Campus Advisors – Kristi Williams and Meko Smith; Data Clerk	August 2012 – May 2013	(a)Six-weeks grade reports (b)attendance report for AASI activities (c)evaluation of each student’s level of participation	Grade report – Increase, decrease, or stability in six-weeks grades.
2. Monitor and evaluate student participation in the AASI program activities including seminars, workshops, college fairs, and panel discussions.	AASI Campus Advisors – Kristi Williams and Meko Smith; Campus Test Coordinator – Latonya Lockhart	August 2012 – May 2013	(a)State exam – Ready to STAAR (b)attendance report for AASI activities (c)evaluation of each student’s level of participation	Ready to STAAR test results – improvement, regression, or stability in mastering test objectives.
3. Monitor and evaluate student participation in the AASI program activities including seminars, workshops, college fairs, and panel discussions.	AASI Campus Advisors – Kristi Williams and Meko Smith; Assistant Principal – JoAnn Jackson	August 2012 – May 2013	(a)Daily school attendance report (b)attendance report for AASI activities (c)evaluation of each student’s level of participation	Attendance report – improvement, regression, or stability in student daily attendance.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT

Learn to maintain the positive aspects of your action research project. Those things that improved the learning or cultural environment should be appreciated and maintained over time. For example, if your research revealed an effective use of student cell phones, you would want to share the results with others on your campus and in your school district. You would also want to share the results with your online colleagues. We also suggest that the process you used to gain additional skills and knowledge should be applied to other areas of your personal professional development.

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