Action Research Plan Outline: C-Scope Curriculum

Action Research Plan Outline

C-Scope Curriculum

Kathleen Snider

       I.         Goals and Objectives of the Research Investigation

A.    Main Goal- to answer my question or inquiry into how our elementary school can better implement and utilize the C-scope curriculum so that both students and teachers perform at a level that they are successful and are also enthusiastic in their teaching.

B.    Specific Goal- Teachers have to be a stakeholder in implementing ideas on how to better teach their school’s curriculum. Once they can own it and be in charge of it, as they are with other aspects of their teaching, they will have more enthusiasm to use it and teach it.  When this happens, the student’s performance will be successful because the teachers feel successful.

II.            Activities  designed to achieve the goal are:

A.    Interviews

1.    Interview teachers

2.    Interview the Curriculum Director Past and Present

3.    Interview the Elementary Principal

B.    Research

1.    Discuss/Research pros and cons of the implementation of C-Scope

2.    Discuss/Research how it could’ve been implemented differently from last year and are they utilizing and implementing it differently than when it was introduced initially?

3.    Research the quantitative data from last year and see if C-Scope implementation helped or hurt our test scores.

4.    Research current quantitative data to see if different strategies applied to C- Scope that we are using this year have made a difference thus far on test scores and meeting objectives.

5.    Research books and online the pros and cons of the C-Scope curriculum and  see what other school districts have to say about what worked and what didn’t work with the curriculum at their schools.

C.   Attend a school site base committee meeting to see what the overall tone and climate is of the teachers at the school when it comes to lesson planning and the curriculum.

III.           Resources and Research Tools needed for data gathering:

A.    Quantitative Data

1.    Use quantitative measures of student achievement to see if the students are achieving better because of the C-Scope curriculum implementation and teaching strategies.

B.    Interviews

C.   Field Notes

1.    As I observe a teacher or at a site base meeting one day take note of the climate and tone to see what the overall morale of the teachers is.

D.   Online Research

E.    Collect Lesson Plans

1.    Obtain a 5E model lesson plan and another one that a teacher may think is a more useful plan.

F.    Journaling

1.    As I substitute through various classrooms, I need to journal my ideas on the lesson plans that are left for me and whether or not I think the C-Scope lesson I taught was effective.

IV.          Timeline

A.     March-April

1.    Conduct Interviews

2.    Individual Interviews

3.    Focus Groups

4.    Collect past quantitative data of test scores using c-scope

B.    April, May, June

1.    Analyze Test data

2.    Analyze interviews, readings and web searches that were researched

C.   May-End of Research

1.    Provide better solutions for implementing C-Scope for the next school year and find out what areas can be improved  on to gain more hope and enthusiasm for teachers for the upcoming year.

V.            Persons Responsible for Implementation of Action Research Plan

A.    Myself

B.    Teachers

C.   Elementary Principal

VI.          Process for Monitoring the achievement of Goals and Objectives

A.    Develop a deeper understanding of the goal

B.    Engage in self-reflection and Biases that I may have

C.   Explore good and bad patterns that keep occurring and determine a direction

D.   Take Action

1.    See my outline for this action research project

E.    Sustain Improvement

1.    It will be an ongoing process for a few years and not an overnight fix to get everyone acclimated to the new C-Scope curriculum and how to use it effectively and positively.  Improvement will be ongoing.

VII.           Assessment instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of the Action Research Plan

10. Test Scores to report improvement or not
11. Collect and share teacher’s comments/attitudes at the end of the year
12. Report what they should keep on doing and what things need to be changed

What I Have Learned About Action Research in an Educational Setting

Action research is an ongoing activity or duty that should be required by all educational administrator interns and all experienced educational leaders. It is described in the Dana text, as a movement which engages practioners in design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question.
Action research is acting and responding to an issue within your school that requires a collaborative effort with your peers on the "inside" to evaluate, discuss and hopefully simply solve a problem.  In most cases, it would be meeting with other administrators and assistants and their teachers to discuss a common problem that needs to be evaluated, acted and reflected upon to make the school and students successful.  Action research could also be a project that is discussed annually with one's supervisor and then collaborated with staff to reach the prospective goal.  An action research plan could include research in the areas of STAAR testing, improving test scores, curriculum issues, discipline problems, parental involvement or school morale.  There are so many ways to improve our schools and everyone has an opinion on how to go about it.  But, an action research plan puts all these ideas in an organized portfolio of sorts and will make it easier to tackle and accomplish the answer to the original question.  It is just like running a meeting.  There has to be a beginning and there has to be an end.

Educational leaders use blogs to compare and share ideas about a certain educational topic.  A blog is a personal way to write my thoughts, see other's thoughts with their comments and respond to other's comments and see how they respond to what I say.  A blog just allows me to think deep and put my words in my head on a board where I can see them.  Ithink I will love blogging! I have ideas for other blogs I would like to start up in other areas outside of education.  The possibilities are endless.  What a great way to voice an opinion and get back ideas and answers!

Week 2
I have decided to my Action Research on What is a better way to implement and utilize the C-Scope Curriculum in our district and still maintain teacher enthusiasm and overall morale at the campuses?

If anyone who reads my blog would like to give me any insight on the pros and cons of how C-Scope was implemented and how it is used at your campus that would be greatly appreciated?  Or if you have any better suggestions on how a district should introduce it to their staff and how it should be eased into the curriculum over time?

I would also love to hear how motivated the teachers are at your school about using C-Scope? I'm looking forward to interviewing some teachers at my district to get their opinions on it.