Action Research Plan - revised... a lot!

Update 09/27/13

Number of AR Project Documented Hours:  72 hours

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):

The efficacy of Compass Learning as a tutorial program for 6^th grade math students

The action research plan has been completed as planned.  Students were selected to participate based on teacher recommendation as well as performance on the state mandated assessment, State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR).  All students that had not passed the test as 5^th graders were invited to participate in an afternoon computer lab.  A group of students did not participate although invited and this allowed for a comparison group.  One group was working with interventions and one group worked individually without interventions.  Students that participated in the Afternoon Learning Lab were working with a software program from Odyssey Learning called Compass Learning.  The program is meant to assess student’s capabilities and after identifying areas of need through assessment, a learning pathway is established.  After students work on the learning path, then they finish the lesson with a post test.  The students were enrolled in the learning lab for the nine weeks prior to taking the STAAR test.  After the STAAR test, data was collected and the two student groups were compared.  I was interested in determining the effectiveness of the learning lab on the outcome of the STAAR.  Collection of information has been concluded and a detailed analysis of the information has been completed.

The first draft of the action research paper has been completed but the literature review is still pending completion.  To finalize the report, a review of best practices regarding after school tutoring will be completed.  The review will be conducted with a mind to support correlations between the action research plan and current literature on the topic.

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After reviewing the feedback given on my earlier post, I determined that I needed to make some improvements.  Hopefully this is a better plan on which to base my work.

Tool 7.1  Action Planning Template

How can a Compass Learning Computer Lab support teachers as they work with their lowest performing students, while maintaining a focus on historically low performing sub-groups for our campus?

Goal:  To improve student success while encouraging participation in a technology- driven district initiative.

Action Step	Person Responsible	Timeline	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Identify lowest performing students in Math and Science.	Mr. Salazar   Ms. Carrasco	11/05/2012	STAAR Results – 2011	Student List for Math and Science
2.  Invite students to attend afterschool Learning Lab.  Obtain parent permission through a student letter.	Ms. Carrasco  Mr. Salazar  Mrs. Cook  Mrs. Candelaria	11/12/2012	Letter to Parents	Returned letter, signed by parents.
3.  Create Pre-Test through Compass Learning based on identified TEKS identified by Math Department.	Mr. Salazar	11/12/2012	TEKS Compass Learning	Student scores based on Compass Learning.
4.  Open afterschool Learning Lab.	Ms. Carrasco	11/12/2012	Computer Lab
5.  Administer Pre-Test to students.	Ms. Carrasco	11/12/2012	Computer Lab	Student scores on Assessment.
6.  Share results.	Ms. Carrasco  Mr. Salazar  Mrs. Candelaria  Mrs. Cook	11/13/2012	Compass Learning Report
7.  Assign Learning Path through Compass Learning.	Ms. Carrasco	11/15/2012	Computer Lab	Progress monitored weekly through Compass Learning Progress Report.
8.  Monitor student sessions in Learning Lab.	Ms. Carrasco	11/15/2012	Computer Lab	Progress monitored weekly through Compass Learning Progress Report.
9.  Administer Post-Test to students.	Ms. Carrasco	01/28/2013	Computer Lab	Student scores on Assessment.
10. Compile results and analyze pre and post test data.	Ms. Carrasco	01/28/2013	Computer Lab	Student scores on Assessment.
11.  Interview Math Department for input on classroom success by students involved in program.	Mr. Salazar  Ms. Carrasco	02/04/2013		Interview responses.
12.  Present results to campus administration and campus faculty.	Ms. Carrasco	02/26/2013	PowerPoint