Week 5- Reflection

I can't believe that I am already done with  Research 5301 course. This course has been very helpful to me and I feel like I have learned so much. I know that one of the reasons that I have learned so much on this course is due to the assignments that I was require to complete. The assignments for this course helped me reflect, read, search online, watch videos, meet with my site- supervisors, create a blog, and create an action research plan. I am looking forward to continue working on my action research and learning new things on my future courses.  I can really say that I have learned a whole lot on this course and I am certain that I will be implementing the learning as an administrator in the future.

Revised Action Research Plan- Week 4

I want to thank the people that comment on my blog this week.  The comments were very helpful, I was able to make some changes on my action research plan. I appreciate all your comments! I wish I was able to comment on other people's blog but for some reason it does not let me. I type the comment and then I hit publish and it disappears. If anyone knows what I can do to fix that problem, please let me know. Here is my revised action research plan. Please feel free to comment on it and offer any suggestions. Thank you!

Revised Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template

Goal: The objective for this research investigation is to find the reasons why parents are not involved in their child's education and find ways to motivate them to get involved.

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Choose six students from each grade level (1st-5th grade) to send questionnaires to their parents. Parents will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that deals with how involved they are in their child's education.	30 parents	March 2012-June 2012	30 parents Questionnaires	The questionnaires will help getting insight about how parents feel about participating in school events.
Create a survey for parents about their child's teacher. This will allow to see how parents feel about the type of contact they have with their child's teacher.	30 parents	March 2012-June 2012	30 parents Survey about their child's teacher	The surveys will allow me to see how parents feel about the type of contact they have with their child's teacher.
Interview two teachers from each grade level to see how they feel about parent involvement in their grade level. I will also interview my two administrators to see how they feel about this issue and to see if they have any suggestions.	10  teachers Principal- Ms. Amarantos Assistant Principal- Ms. London	March 2012-June 2012	10 teachers Principal Assistant Principal	By interviewing the teachers and administrators, it will help me know how they feel about parent involvement and see if they have any suggestions.
Take a look at the volunteer signup sheet at my campus and see how many parents are volunteering and for what events.	Lizzette Cisneros Office Clerk	March 2012- June 2012	Office Clerk Volunteer Signup sheet	Looking at the volunteer signup sheet will help me know if parents are volunteering for school events. This data will help me with my project to know if there are some parents that are willing to volunteer and see how motivated they are to continue  to assist.
Read articles about Parent Involvement and ways to motivate parents to be involved in their child's education	Lizzette Cisneros	March 2012- June 2012	Articles on Parent Involvement	Read Articles that pertain about my action research topic and compare my data.

Action Research Plan and Reflection- Week 3

This week we were asked to create an action research plan. At first I was a little confused of how to start, but looking at the Template 7.1 and  the 8 Step outline from the Harris et al. text, really helped me get a mental picture of how my action plan was going to look like. These examples helped me organize my thoughts and ideas of the process of my research. By creating this draft I am able to have a clear understanding of what I need to focus on, so I can get started with my action research. This is a draft and I understand that throughout the process it might change depending if I see that it needs to be improved in some sort of way.  I am looking forward on starting to work on this research and can't wait for the results! 

Action Research Project

Reasons for Lack of Parent Involvement and ways to motivate parents to be involved

1. Examining the work: Setting the Foundation- There is a need to be able to find the

reasons why parents are not involved in their child's education and find ways to motivate them to get involved.

 

2. Analyzing data –

•   Choose two students from each grade level (1st-5th grade) to send questionnaires to their parents. Parents will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that deals with how involved they are in their child's education.

• Create a survey for parents about their child's teacher. This will allow to see how parents feel about the type of contact they have with their child's teacher.
• Interview two teachers from each grade level to see how they feel about parent involvement in their grade level. I will also interview my two administrators to see how they feel about this issue and to see if they have any suggestions.

3.Developing deeper understanding –Being able to see the data from the parents questionnaires and surveys. Talking to students why they might think that parents are not that involved. Meeting with the principals and teachers to discuss this issue and gather their thoughts. All these different ways will assist me on developing a deeper understanding of my project.

4. Engaging in Self-Reflection –

•     What are the obstacles of parent involvement?

•     What can teachers do to increase the levels of parent involvement from their classroom?

•      How does socioeconomic status affect parent involvement?

•      Does race and language really matter for parent involvement?

•      How does academic achievement of students whose parents are involve compare to the academic achievement of students whose parents aren't involved?

•     Do parents feel that administrators and teachers welcome and encourage parents to be involved?

5.Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Meeting with the principal and assistant principal to discuss what are some of the strategies that we can implement in our campus to motivate parents to be involved. What can teachers start doing to motivate the parents to be involved in their child's education? 

 

6.Determining direction – I feel that my research is clear and I will be able to solve my research questions. I have adequately addressed the skills and resources questions that I will be implementing from this research. I have established a collaborative approach to this issue and have discussed it with my principals and I will be working with parents and teachers as well. The timelines that I set for this project is to start on March 19,2012 and end this project on

June 15,2012. I believe that I have enough time to complete this research project. I have already determined the plan that I will be using to monitor and evaluate this project.

7. Taking action for school improvement – I will be using the tool 7.1 Action Planning Template (Harris, Edmonson, and Combs) to help me as a guide and be able to see what are the expectations that need to be done to complete this project.

8.Sustain improvement – The data collected for this research will be able to help me reflect on what is the next step that needs to be taken at my campus to implemented. I will be able to share my finding with colleagues, teachers, parents, and administrators of ways that we can motivate parents to be involved in their child's education. This would be a great way for our students to have more motivation knowing that their parents would be a part of their success.

 Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template

Goal: The objective for this research investigation is to find the reasons why parents are not involved in their child's education and find ways to motivate them to get involved.

 

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Choose two students from each grade level (1st-5th grade) to send questionnaires to their parents. Parents will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that deals with how involved they are in their child's education.	10 parents	March 2012-June 2012	10 parents	Questionnaires
Create a survey for parents about their child's teacher. This will allow to see how parents feel about the type of contact they have with their child's teacher.	10 parents	March 2012-June 2012	10 parents	Surveys
Interview two teachers from each grade level to see how they feel about parent involvement in their grade level. I will also interview my two administrators to see how they feel about this issue and to see if they have any suggestions.	10 parents Principal-  Ms. Amarantos, Assistant Principal- Ms. London	March 2012-June 2012	10 teachers, Principal, Assistant Principal	Interviews

 

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)