Week 5

It is the last week of this class and I have fared well in picking a good topic that has been accepted and focused my energies toward developing a good plan of action for inquiry in to the AP program and how it will help all students at College Park High School.

Assignment . . . . .

Well as I sit down to finish my assignment there are still no comments so I will answer my assignment with the assumption that it is being accepted by my peers.

Week 4 assignment

Well, I have sat down to review this blog and respond to any comments in order to fulfill the last part of my assignment for the EDLD 5301 Research class only to find no comments are posted. I guess I will have to figure something out.

The next step

Well, its on to week 4 of the research class and I have narrowed down my topic and developed an action research plan to put it into place. I hope that this research plan is going to provide excellent feedback for our campus and help to achieve the goal mentioned in last weeks action plan. I look forward to reading comments about the action plan and the suggestions of my site supervisor David Perkins and Mark Murrell.

My Action Plan Draft

School Vision: The Woodlands College Park High School is dedicated to student learning in a safe, positive environment where a community partnership enhances self-esteem, encourages mutual respect and develops life-long learners and productive citizens.

Goal: The Woodlands College Park High School strives to function as a learning organization to promote opportunities for all those who have a stake in the success of the school. By working together with the community, we are dedicated to promoting learning by providing a safe and comfortable environment and offering a variety of instructional approaches.

Outcomes: The desired outcome of this action research is for The Woodlands College Park High School to become and / or arrive closer to our goal of being an exemplary campus through the implementation of this action research on our campus.

Activities: The use of data driven action research on the topic of the Advanced Placement Courses effect on student performance and campus culture to formulate a campus improvement plan for The Woodlands College Park.

Resources / Research: The research will be provided by John Owens in his effort to improve The Woodlands College Park and obtain training in the area of education administration through his enrollment in a Master’s program at Lamar University.

Tools Needed: The necessary items for completion of this action research plan will be provided by staff, students and administrators at The Woodlands College Park High School.

Responsibility to Address Activities: The research will be provided by John Owens in his effort to improve The Woodlands College Park and obtain training in the area of education administration through his enrollment in a Master’s program at Lamar University.

Time Line: The action research will be completed throughout the completion of a Masters Degree from Lamar University ending in May of 2011. The building principal at that time will review the action research and set a local timeline for use of the findings on the campus of The Woodlands College Park High School. After implementation of the action research, an improvement will be determined by the standardized test scores of the spring of that year.

Benchmarks / Assessments: The benchmarks and assessments of this action research will be determined by the findings of AP test scores and standardized test scores (TAKS or End of Course Exams) at the Woodlands College Park High School.

Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments: Revisions to the action research will be provided by David Perkins, Associate Principal, The Woodlands College Park High School and Mr. Mark Murrell, Principal, The Woodlands College Park High School.

The Question!!!!!

Does a student’s enrollment in Advanced Placement Courses and the College Board ensure future success in higher education as well as provide a better environment for discipline and overall enjoyment of a campus culture, therefore perpetuating the need to increase the involvement in these programs to all demographics within a school in order to achieve exemplary status?

Time to narrow it down . . . . .

It is definitely decision time. The topic will be narrowed down this week during my assignment. My action research will track the development of AP students versus the students not enrolled in A courses on their placement into the program, success in high school and higher education and their disciplinary record.

Interesting side note

I am actually happy about this class forcing me to set one of these things up. I am very reluctant to use new things and a lot of times need to be forced in order to break the ice. Now that I have done this I would love to use this for my classes. Anyone out there have experience with this? Any ideas or anything I need to know before getting started? Thanks

Arriving at an Action Research Topic

As I continue through this course I have begun to narrow down topics for my action research project as an educational leader. I believe my main area of focus will revolve around the AP program and its benefits to students during their high school and post high school careers. An interesting stat that I heard while attending an AP institute at Rice University was that students enrolled in the AP program and receiving university credit were outperforming students in upper level classes at texas university in Austin. This shows the dramatic importance but are kids being placed too early into these programs? Are students who had personality conflicts with early teachers being marginalized? Is the Honors program at schools irrelevant now with the prevalence of AP courses?

How Educational Leaders use Action Research

Educational leaders can use action research in order to put into motion results of new studies on education in the real world environment of the school and classroom. Whether it be differentiated instruction or data driven campus improvement, research alone without the practical use would be meaningless to an educational leader.

Action Research

Action research allows the investigator to apply information in a very tangible and useful manner. Far too often research exists only on the written page and never in a movable form that allows the researcher to test theories and reflect on its importance. The research allows the real world to become the lab at which the best application of academic knowledge reaches the area of greatest need.

I am currently enrolled in a course for my master's degree where I will attempt to apply action research in the field of educational leadership. There are many problems that action research can solve and the school system provides the perfect environment to test the knowledge gained from the almost infinite supply of education journals and writings.

This blog will be my ongoing attempt to relate action research with the topic of my choosing. My further posts will be an applicable discussion on my topic and the action research.