Challenges to Action Research

The specific challenges I foresee in implementing my action research study are as follows:

Teachers do not like to have students pulled out of their classes since they feel like they don’t have enough class time to cover all the TEKS.

With the program’s limited capacity teachers will have a hard time deciding between equally needy students.

The paraprofessional in charge of the program may resent having my input in her class, or being a part of a study.

The possibility of changing directions if the data indicates that such a change is necessary.


I plan to address these challenges as follows:

Work with the teachers and the paraprofessional in scheduling a time that best suits the most class schedules. Have some built in flexibility to accommodate class schedule changes that may affect several classes or an entire grade level.

Work closely with the teachers in selecting the students with the greatest need and have the greatest probability of success. Remain flexible to accommodate students with special circumstances.

Work closely with the paraprofessional, explain the study and why it is being done, and help her understand that I am there to help.

Be sure everyone is on the same page before considering any type of program change.

The Action Research Design

• Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation




The goal of this research investigation is to determine the best way to improve reading skills of the bottom quartile of the children at Deer Creek Elementary School. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the Voyager Passport Ticket to Read program by comparing the progress of first and second grade students that participated in last years’ program with the progress of the third and fourth grade students that will participate in this years’ program.



• Activities designed to achieve the objectives



Teaching duties will be performed by the paraprofessional assigned to the program.



Daily lessons 30- 45 minutes in length will provide intensive, targeted, small-group instruction.



Choral reading will allow the paraprofessional to model the rate, enunciation, and intonation that gives meaningful expression to the passage.



Comprehension review will help students demonstrate understanding by retelling the main idea of the passage.



Vocabulary review will allow students to identify unfamiliar words while writing, pronouncing and defining them.



Reading with a partner is done on the second reading when paired students read alternating passages to one another.



• Resources and research tools needed for data gathering



Data will be gathered from classroom teachers, student report cards, TAKS results and VPORT (Voyagers online data management system).





• Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities



The program will be implemented at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year, after students are identified, and will continue for 26 weeks. Data will be compiled as it occurs and the analysis will be completed by the end of the school year.



• Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan



Robert Williams, action researcher

Karla Ellis, Principal

Campus Planning Onsite Committee (CPOC)





• Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives

Benchmarks and progress monitoring measures will be administered at the beginning, middle and end of implementation. These measures will enable teachers to determine if students are responding to intervention and identify a student as struggling, emerging, or on-track.

Biweekly progress monitors will be used to determine instructional needs of students between benchmarks.

Weekly criterion-referenced assessments provide teachers with additional information needed for instructional decision making.



• Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study



Vital Indicators of Progress, a progress monitoring component of the program, will be used to make instructional decisions.



Voyager’s online data management system will be used to make a detailed comparison between the two years data.



A summary comparison using all data will be made at the conclusion of the study.

A Better Time For Reading Remediation

Is it better for students, and does it produce better results, to provide reading remediation for struggling readers when they are in the first and second grades or when they are in the third and fourth grades?


Due to budget constraints that necessitated personnel reductions we only have one paraprofessional to perform the job that was done by two last school year. We must make a decision as to the best use of that person, so a determination must be made as which program produces better results.

Individual student data of first and second graders involved in last years’ reading program will provide data that will be compared to individual student data of third and fourth grade students generated by this years’ reading program. The data will be compared and analyzed in an effort determine which program produces better results. This quantitative data along with qualitative data from classroom teachers will be the basis of deciding which program to use in the future.

The Most Fundamental Skill

Reading is the foundation to every educational endeavor and is the most basic learning skill that an individual can posses. One’s ability to read and comprehend enables efficient pursuit of any other body of information. On the other hand, a person who lacks the basic skill of reading effectively cut himself off from the word. To function, even on the most basic level, requites that an individual be able to read.


What is the most effective time to intervene with a struggling reader? When will intervention make the largest impact on the student’s development of this most basic skill? This will be a focus of my action research project. I will also be looking at how to best deliver reading intervention to struggling readers and which programs work.

Educational Leaders Use Blogs

Blogs are a perfect way for educational leaders to obtain and share information related to the administration and operation of the school. A free exchange of ideas between individuals who have never met but share the same desire to be more effective administrators can produce ideas for improvement that may have otherwise taken years to produce.

Action Research in a Nutshell

Action Research is a term that was new to me when I began this endeavor. The idea of performing research was not new, but adding the term “Action” introduced an entirely new concept to the idea.

The term “research” is defined by Webster as “3: the collecting of information about a particular subject”, which is how I always viewed research. However, adding the word “action” to make the complete term “action research” carries with it the presumption that now something must be done with the information collected.

Now the term Action Research has come to mean much more. Action Research means collecting information about a particular subject, developing new ideas to address a given situation, and finally implementing a new course of action based of that research.

Action Research should be a major component of what a school administrator does on a routine basis. It should underlie every major decision made by a school, or district, with a focus on using the information to solve a problem or improve the educational processes provided to stakeholders. We have moved away from simply purchasing a new curriculum to improve content, or firing up the teachers with a motivational speaker to temporarily improve instruction. We are now entering a time where the new buzz words are continuous improvement. Action Research is a key component to continuous improvement.