Action Research Week Two Update

One area I am interested in researching for my project is improving the math and science instruction for students who are performing multiple grade levels below their current grade. I feel that action research would identify strategies and give teachers the tools to provide science instruction on the student’s ability level and will help them be successful. What actions can we take to ensure that our resource students receive math and science instruction on their ability level and that will help them be successful?

Another area I would like to research is the effectiveness of homework and how it impacts student progress. Teachers, students, and parents have all had issues with the current homework program used at my campus. What changes can be made to homework that will improve student achievement?

The last area I would like to research, and honestly the one I think my supervisor and I will pick is how we can best change the ELA curriculum and teaching methods to improve the scores for 9th and 10th grade students on the STAAR test.  Right now our school is struggling with the ELA performance scores. 

When I met with my principal, she was very excited about all of the potential action research topics. While she was very interested in learning about and improving the homework program on our campus, she was concerned that I would have to rely on others to gather data. She also thought this project would not fit into my time frame. Next we discussed researching the math and science intervention/tutoring programs. She thought it would be beneficial to look in to improving the programs, but was unsure if the reliable data could be collected because of the time of year. We settled on finding ways to improve the ELA STAAR scores for 9th and 10th grade.  We will look at changes to the curriculum and testing strategies to get the students better prepared to excel on the test. 

The purpose of my action research study is to find ways to provide all students with training and instruction to excel on the ELA portion of the STAAR test. I would like to give teachers on my campus that are responsible for these students some guidance and tools for ensuring their instruction is meeting the needs of all students. I think this research will not only improve student achievement on ELA, it will also help empower teachers to make decisions about instruction for their students.