Monday, October 11, 2010

Welcome to Action Research 1248

First and foremost, congratulations on your sensational initiative, enthusiasm, and effort to develop your action research plan. As promised, we are trying to help support your action research project, along with assisting your internship experiences, and we have created a Faculty Intern/Action Research Blog for your particular section in this course.

With your Faculty Intern/Action Research Section Blog, you can post your blog address and share comments about the progress of your action research and your internship, and this will provide a location for faculty members assigned to your group to support your progress in your research and in the program.

We plan to have a faculty member assigned to your section by mid-September, so be sure to check this Blog and add it to your blog links. We believe this will continue to be an important source for sharing your action research and receive valuable feedback from our faculty.

We will continue to revise and refine the large Faculty Action Research Blog where we have identified 10 topic areas. We are trying to find the best means of sharing your action research progress while you review how others are pursuing their similar action research projects. We will be sending information to you regarding our revision of this topical blog!

Please post a comment:
• sign in and share your Action Research blog name and blog address
• provide your frequently used email address and a contact telephone number
• provide an email address, and if possible, telephone number for your site supervisor(s)

Your section faculty member will use this Faculty Intern/Action Research Section Blog to communicate with you as you continue your work on your action research plan and your internship. The faculty member will be using a variety of means (e.g., Web Conferences, emails, telephone calls, Skype, etc.) to continually communicate with you, and periodically to communicate with your site supervisor(s) to discuss your progress in the internship, implementing the action research plan, and overall suggestions regarding the Leadership preparation program.

We will expect you to post on this blog once a week and this will be the location for you to communicate to the assigned faculty member who will be making sure that you are completing all of the work in the internship as well as assist you with the action research! Please note that we are also asking you to grant permission to us to share your Action Research blog information with other faculty and doctoral students. We assure you none of your research will be shared or published without your participation and consent. If data from the action research project and program evaluation are used, confidentiality will be maintained. And as we have emphasized, you are participating in laboratories of leadership and learning, and we will work with you to help you prepare submissions to present and/or publish your action research project, findings and recommendations to professional associations (e.g., Texas Association of School Administrators – TASA; Texas Association of Secondary School Principals – TASSP; Texas Elementary Principal and Supervisors Association – TEPSA; Texas ASCD; Texas Council on Staff Development; International Society for Technology in Education, ISTE; and specialized associations – Bilingual, G/T, Special Education).

Remember, the faculty assigned to your section will be available to assist you with some of the policy and procedure issues, and please ask for guidance. If you cannot reach the assigned faculty, feel free to contact any of the professors listed below since we are all familiar with the action research course and internship.

Wishing you the very best!
Dr. Steve Jenkins, Dr. Elvis Arterbury, Dr. Gary Martin, Dr. Kay Abernathy, Dr. Lu Stephens, Cindy Cummings, and other faculty who will be working with this follow-up initiative

9 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I am Ann Boddeker and this is my info:
    Email: abodd@comcast.net
    Phone:713-582-3571

    Site Supervisor: Lizzie Herring, Assist. Principal
    lizzie.herring@fortbend.k12.tx.us
    281-634-7000


    My action research topic will explore information about the reasons and extent of bullying in public schools. I will develop and present recommendations for developing effective methods and practices that contribute to student safety. I will primarily focus on intervention at school and teachers’ responses to bullying. How can teachers respond more successfully? This action research will benefit students, of course, but also help teachers feel more empowered with knowledge of how to respond and what to expect. This will provide additional support to the teachers to ensure students are comfortable and focused on learning.

    Here are Ms. Herring's comments --
    Looks good, Ann. My concerns about action research on bullying are:

    -what is your research question going to be?
    -how will you collect data? How are you going to measure instances of bullying since most go unreported?

    I think bullying is a relevant and necessary topic, I'm just trying to think ahead and want to be sure you have answers to these questions or are at least thinking along those lines.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Forgot to include my Blog Address
    for Ann Boddeker:

    http://aboddekerblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blog Information:
    Kristy's Action Research
    http://kristyduncan.blogspot.com/

    Site Supervisor:
    Shellie Baird, Principal
    Lewis Elementary School
    michelle.baird@forneyisd.net
    972-564-7102

    My Information:
    Kristy Duncan
    kristy.duncan@forneyisd.net
    972-564-7102

    ReplyDelete
  4. Blog Information:
    Melissa's Musings on Action Research
    http://melissamccroskey.blogspot.com

    Site Supervisor:
    Debbie Yampey, Assistant Principal
    Deepwater Elementary
    dyampey@dpisd.org
    (832) 668-8300

    My Information:
    Melissa McCroskey
    mmccroskey@dpisd.org
    (832) 668-8300

    ReplyDelete
  5. Blog Information
    Cathy C. and Inquiry in Education
    cathycooklu.blogspot.com

    Site Supervisor Information
    Roland Toscano, Principal
    East Central High School
    roland.toscano@fc.ecisd.net

    My Information
    Cathy Cook
    cathy.cook@fc.ecisd.net

    ReplyDelete
  6. Blog information
    Lindsey's Action Research Journey
    http://lindseysactionresearchjourney.blogspot.com/

    Site Supervisor Information
    Terry Bell, Assistant Principal
    Hairgrove Elementary
    teresa.bell@cfisd.net

    My Information
    Lindsey Rentrop
    lindsey.rentrop@cfisd.net

    ReplyDelete
  7. Blog information:
    Blogging Through Action Research
    http://lizwalker2010.blogspot.com

    Site Supervisor Information
    Debbie Yampey, Assistant Principal
    Deepwater Elementary
    832-668-8300
    dyampey@dpisd.org

    My Information:
    Liz Walker
    lwalker@dpisd.org
    832-668-8300

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gretings All!

    Leslie Hooks, Curriculum and Instruction Specialist
    leslie.hooks@fwisd.org

    Site Supervisor: Connie Smith, Dir. Elementary Mathematics

    Action Research Question & Problem Statement

    In one academic school year, 2009-2010, School B. went from an Academically Unacceptable state rating to Recognized, whereas School M., went from a Recognized campus to an Academically Unacceptable campus. What were the causal factors that contributed to significant changes in student achievement at the two campuses?

    Academically Unacceptable (> 55% met standard)
    Recognized (< 80% met standard)

    Providing Background Information
    The idea for this research inquiry spawned from my work as a Curriculum and Instruction Specialist. We have 89 elementary schools in our district and the range of student achievement is quite vast. The particular incident between two elementary schools over the 2009-10 school year was astonishing. One school, the one with the most state and federal assistance, went from a Recognized school rating to an Academically Unacceptable school rating in one year. However, a campus with minimum resources went from an Academically Unacceptable school rating to a Recognized school rating. The drastic change between the two schools was alarming. Not to mention, the two schools rest within two miles of each other and serve similar student and community populations.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My blog URL:
    http://lesliesroad.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete