My Action Research Journey - The Plan

Action Research Statement/Question:

Can the faculty/staff of this elementary campus develop and/or implement changes to school climate which successfully promotes and integrates college and career readiness strategies in order to increase student and parent engagement in their educational life? How can we increase awareness, belief, and motivation in our students to become highly engaged 21^st century learners at the elementary level through school climate?

The stated vision of RISD is to create an environment where all students learn, grow and succeed.  As the district continues to strive for improvements a district improvement plan was developed with specific outlined goals to achieve the vision.  A portion of the plan states:

-       Goal 1: Students are highly engaged in their educational life

Objective 3: Increase links between home and school by providing systemic opportunities for parent engagement.

-       Goal 2: Profound curriculum is the foundation for learning

Objective 2: Integrate 21st Century learning and Texas College & Career Readiness (TCCR) skills and strategies into RISD curriculum PK-12.

Achievement of the district’s goals and objectives will improve instructional effectiveness and student performance to prepare all students for their global future.

Psychologist Albert Bandura defined self-efficacy as one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations.  Self-efficacy can play a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and challenges.  Self-efficacy is developed from external experiences and self-perception and is influential in determining the outcome of many events.  According to Bandura’s theory, those with high self-efficacy are more likely to view difficult tasks as something to be mastered rather than something to be avoided.  Can a student’s belief (self-efficacy) in the attainment of college or career goals be influenced by the climate of an elementary school?

The purpose of this study will be to describe the school climate and it’s alignment with the district goals and objectives.  This study will describe the impact of any changes and strategies implemented at the elementary campus in order to create a climate focused on the 21^st century learner; specifically college and career readiness.

The research questions are:

1. Is the campus successful as defined by:

- percentage of students who believe they will attend a college or have a career goal

- percentage of teachers implementing college and career readiness strategies in the classroom formally (as integrated into the curriculum) and informally (as integrated into language, attitude, and teaching and/or classroom management techniques)

- percentage of students absent less than 10 days per year

2. Will the attitudes of administrators, teachers, students and parents toward teaching and learning change for the better as a result of the implemented changes made to school climate?

- improvement in student awareness of possible future goals (college or career)

- improvement in student participation and engagement in their educational life

- Statistical improvement in the number of parents and/or family members participating and engaged in their student’s education.

Action Planning
Goal: Increase and/or integrate college and career readiness skills in the elementary school culture to increase student and parent engagement, motivation and involvement (self-efficacy)  in student educational life.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Survey current student self-efficacy of college/career goals	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – December 2012	Create Survey Teachers to administer survey to students	Rating scale with report
Survey current teacher and administrative views of student and parent attitude and involvement in students’ educational life	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – December 2012	Create Survey Teachers to take survey	Rating scale with report
Survey current teacher and administrative views of student self-efficacy	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – December 2012	Create Survey Teachers to take survey	Rating scale with report
Engage and involve all teachers and students in Enrichment Clusters	Principal and Enrichment Cluster Team	November 2012 – June 2013	Facilitated by school administration	Data reflecting student participation
Collaborate with teachers and staff to develop and integrate college/career readiness skills, language, and events in the classrooms and throughout the school	Administration Campus Improvement Team Kristin Harris	November 2012 – June 2013	Facilitated by school administration and teachers	Teacher self reports Admin reports CIT report
Evaluate changes in student self-efficacy levels	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – June 2013	Create Survey Teachers to administer survey to students	Rating scale with report
Evaluate changes in teacher/staff perception of parent involvement	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – June 2013	Create Survey Teachers to take survey	Rating scale with report
Evaluate changes in quantitative data to correlate with student self-efficacy	Kristin Harris	November 2012 – June 2013	Create Survey Teachers to take survey	Rating scale with report