Initial Action Research Plan July 30, 2010

1. Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation
Increased knowledge and awareness of state school safety standards by administrators.
Listing of areas of administrator weakness in knowledge so that professional development programs can be designed to meet those needs.

2. Activities designed to achieve the objectives
Review and summary of Texas Unified School Safety Standards.
Comparison of 2007 Audit results with newer Unified Standards.
Survey of administrators current levels of knowledge about the standards and the audits
Identification of administrators that are currently working on the same campus as in 2007/08
Analysis of survey data; comparison of levels of knowledge, delineated by several demographic data groups: years of experience, length of employment by our district, types of school safety training received and by what method, awareness of current state and federal laws governing school safety, etc.
Summary of professional development needs of the administrators involved in the study
Investigation as to the methodology used for successful adult learning programs and professional development presentations.
2-3 small courses will be developed to meet the learning needs of the administrators, as determined by the survey. Courses will be offered to administrators as part of the in-district professional development series.

3. Resources and research tools needed for data gathering
Texas Unified School Safety Standards
2007 Safe and Secure Schools Audit results for our district
Information on the best design for this type of survey
Employment lists for 2007/08 and for this current school year
Audit tool being used for 2010 Safe and Secure Schools audits
Permission to distribute survey to administrators

4. Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities
a. Compare standards to 2007 audit results - by end of August 2010
b. Gather employment information – August 2010
c. Investigate best design for survey – September 2010
d. Get permission to distribute survey – September 2010
e. Create survey – September/October 2010
f. Introduction to 2010 audit tool – October 2010
g. Safe and Secure Schools audits are scheduled for this fall
h. Results of 2010 audits are promised by January 2011

5. Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan
Denise Chuick (researcher) will implement all parts of the research plan except for garnering permission to distribute survey to our district administrators. This permission is required by administrative policy and I will have to bring my request through the established procedure.

6. Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives
I am part of a LU cohort of 5 students within my district, who are also enrolled in this course. Together, we are meeting once per week to review our progress and to comment on each other’s work.
My current job role allows me unlimited access to the information that I need to conduct this research, including the 2007 Audit analysis which was written by me and my supervisor.
All information concerning this action research project will be kept in a separate binder.

7. Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study
Following the final course offering through professional development seminars, the administrators will be asked to re-take the original survey, answering honestly as to their new level of understanding and knowledge. The two results will be compared and analyzed to determine effectiveness of the series of courses.

Why should we use blogs in our professional learning?

In the past, leaders were encourage to share their experiences with a small, chosen group of peers through informal meetings. Via the telephone, sharing in focus groups, meetings at conferences, or writing journal articles submitted to popular professional magazines were other ways that educators shared their experiences with others.

Because of the power of technology, educational leaders today have a wider variety of methods to share their experiences. Blogging is the new “journaling”. Sharing one’s experiences from the field is as easy as logging onto your email. The need to have the face to face contact is slowly waning. In fact, Generation “Y”ers have little desire to sit in a room and ‘share’ with others. They are constantly connected via electronic media and carry this power in their hands. Connecting through instant messaging, webinars, blogs, social media outlets and through online journal posting is their ‘wave of the present’.

Leaders can use these new tools to separate their professional work output from their personal opinions, thereby protecting their jobs from the invasive inquiry of the media. Blogging with peers is more informal and akin to chatting on the phone. Having this immediate feedback can boost the action research process, making the cycle run a bit faster. Above all, a blog can give an educator a more informal site to reflect on his or her learning -- to talk about what is happening in their own lives that makes a difference in the students they are teaching.

What I have learned thus far?

Action research is a concept that is very familiar to me. I just never knew it had an official name! In some way or another, I have been using the different phases of action research in my work practices since I began teaching over 20 years ago. Reflecting on the different phases of action research as presented in the readings, I decided that I most often start the action research project but do not follow a systematic process. To become better at the process, I will have to concentrate on following a pattern or linear map when I choose to investigate an issue or problem.

Action research seems to me to be a wonderful tool for moving forward in new processes. There are both a sense of movement (action) and a sense of careful consideration given as the progress is made. Where, in the past, I have always made a presentation of the information that I found during a research project, the information was not used for any further work. The presentation was an ends to the means. Action research is not a mere presentation. The information found during the process is used -- used to make changes in the current situation. This is a positive outcome that I am sure I will use as part of my work in the future.

My initial idea is to use this action research pattern as my collegue and I create a professional advisory group within our district. The group will be formed to discuss several pertinent and imminent changes with CPR training and certification in public schools. Using the action research model, the group can work together to find the best solutions for the upcoming difficulties.

Action Research

So now that I have the textbook materials, I just might get a better handle on the difference between what I know as 'research' and this new 'action research' idea.

Wish it was as easy as that 11th grade term paper. To this day, I remember all the different type of cells in the stomach!

Well, the time is here. Step One

The blog is open! Will post more when the textbook arrives in the mail.