During and after conducting my research project, I plan to share my findings with my campus administrators, the curriculum director and our Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.  I will present the data collection and comparisons in graph form in a PowerPoint presentation.  Although, I may not get to present the PowerPoint as a presentation, I will convert it to PDF form for others to see it.  I would also like to share my findings with the other principals of elementary campuses in our district and with the teachers on our campus.  The Inquiry template on page 152 of Leading With Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Fichtman Dana, is a good template to organize my information. By providing background information that led me to include this action research project on my campus. After having no training on our campus for district wide curriculum implementation I wondered how we could help teachers identify their instructional needs and meet the demands of the new curriculum and standardized testing.  I suggested a teacher survey on professional development during the development of my intern plan, and my principal was very supportive and wanted to use the data to plan professional development for our teachers.  I decided to combine the survey with my wondering to help include teachers in sharing their personal professional development needs and desires while also satisfying school administration’s need to provide professional development that was relevant in maintaining and improving our standardized test scores.

My elementary School campus serves approximately 500 students in grades PK-4th. We are a semi-rural/suburban school district with approximately 4000 students and a growth rate of 4%.
All grade level teachers who are required to use the CScope curriculum and giving state standardized tests will be given a survey to identify professional development needs they feel they need in order to be successful in using the CScope curriculum and on state standardized tests.  The survey will also include questions regarding recent professional development classes and their effectiveness in the classroom. It is important to note that participants will only be identified by grade level, not name.  These surveys will be completed by the end of February 2013, before professional development for the 2013-2014 school year is planned.  I will also disseminate state standardized testing data according to testing criteria or TEKS. 

After teacher and testing data is collected, I will compare the areas of teacher perceived need and test need to identify similarities and differences. I will then use this data to help in planning upcoming professional development. 

I hope to use the data collected to help my principal plan and implement effective professional development that is supported by the belief that including teachers wants and needs in the planning process while meeting the needs of administration to improve student performance will benefits all stakeholders.

Finally, it is my hope that my findings will serve as a call to administrators to include teachers in the development of professional development practices in our district. By working collaboratively, school vision statements and goals will be readily met with positive school cultures and valued school employees.

Action Research Plan Document

Action Planning Template
Goal: Identify professional development needs of teachers for new curriculum implementation and standardized tests requirements.  By comparing the perceived needs and the needs as identified by the results of standardized tests, I hope to provide data for effective professional development planning and implementation on my campus.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Review the professional development attendance for teachers on my campus for the 2011-2012 school year.	Wendy Baridon	June/July 2012	Professional Development activity spreadsheet from campus secretary.	Meet with campus principal and campus secretary to discuss any questions in spreadsheet data. Discuss next step and establish timeline.
Develop a survey for teachers regarding their professional development needs to help in satisfying new curriculum needs and standardized testing needs.	Wendy Baridon, Danette Dodson, Fort Elementary Principal	February 2013/ Conduct survey March 2013	Self-made survey; Meeting time with principal; examples of teacher surveys	Does the survey adequately represent the teachers’ needs? Interview a sample group of teachers to rate the survey.
Collect and analyze data to find commonalities between grade level teachers perceived needs	Wendy Baridon; Danette Dodson; Fort Elementary Principal	March 2013	Survey; spreadsheet application; computer;	Share results with campus team leaders to verify consensus of responses.
Analyze state standardized test results by TAKS/learning criteria to gain an understanding of professional development needs as identified by grade level tests	Wendy Baridon Danette Dodson, Fort Elementary Principal Grade level teachers	Fall 2012/ Depends on when testing data is released by state; K-2nd grades will be analyzed in early fall using data from 2012 EOY data.	STAAR test results; TPRI Test results; Grade level TAKS; CScope curriculum documents;	Discuss results with grade level leaders to clarify any questions regarding data.
Compare both sets of professional development needs data for similarities and differences	Wendy Baridon	April 2013	Survey Data findings; standardized test data findings	Ask Tammy Oliver, Assistant Principal, to review results and note any discrepancies in findings.
Present both sets of data to campus administration for professional development planning	Wendy Baridon	End of April 2013	All research data; spreadsheet and presentation software; computer	Interview teachers for input on professional development planning using the data collected.

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

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

It was interesting reading the nine types of action research in education.  After meeting with my site supervisor, we decided to conduct research on professional development as it relates to our new curriculum.  I am excited to see the data after surveying my collegues. The implementation process, or lackthere of, brought down the morale of our school. Many teachers, new and veteran, were very discouraged and stressed out.  I hope my research can help us provide some quality professional development to restore morale and enthusiasm on my campus.

Educational Leaders use of Blogs

Educational leaders might use blogs in communication with the shareholders of their campuses. They can communicate calendar events, pictures of students and/or events, announcements, classroom learning projects, pictures, and principal or teacher reflections.  Parent feedback could also be included in the blog. This feedback would provide excellent information and data for future decision making and problem resolution. Posting would need to be monitored by the school for content.  Hopefully, this would encourage shareholders to post constructive feedback rather than posting negative content on common social websites. Blogs can communicate the importance of technology on a campus and the importance of daily interaction with shareholders by the principal.

Action Research

While reading Leading with Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Fichtman Dana, I learned that action research is the process of problem solving within your organization to bring about change or to strengthen the focus on your vision statement and goals. Action research entails identifying problems by conducting research using subjects on your own campus or in your organization then finding solutions to support succeeding in your vision statement. It is different than traditional research because traditional research uses university theory or "outside" data rather than data from the organizaton itself.    It also allows you to analyze issues or concerns within your organizations and campuses.  Action research can be done in several ways including district officials and administrators, teacher leaders, and professional learning committees. All of these concentrate on issues that influence the performance of students and teachers.  Action research allows you to work collaboratively to solve issues and problems within an organization.  Action research is beneficial in organizations and individuals because it allows educational leaders to self evaluate and analyze for improvement in their own leadership styles. By assessing their own work habits, leaders can learn how to work differently to encourage growth and trust among their peers.  The practice of reflection is one of the most important in action research.  Educators should regularly practice self reflection as a part of action research. It allows for consideration of changes to previous decisions and actions for the betterment of the organization.  Action research will be an essential practice in being a leader on any campus.  Making time for action research and reflection can be very effective in being a successful administrator.