As we wrap up this week, Week 5, I look forward to the journey ahead.  I will be entering my 10th year in education!  There is no place I would rather be.  I am also excited about my action research project.  I have been reviewing my ELL kiddos' data some this week and trying to mentally come up with my focus group.  As I look over my master list, I see siblings and can't help but think they have been in Texas schools so long.  I have to find the reason.    I am really excited about this journey.  I will report back my findings.  Stay tuned! 

Have a great first few weeks back!  And have a great first day of school!!

Thanks for the feedback.  I really appreciate it. 

I think that Ashley had some great feedback.  I will be including parenting strategies in my follow-up literature that will be presented in the parent meeting about my first round of surveys  are distributed and I get an idea of what is going on at home.  Regarding my literature reviews, I will be including the items that she listed.  I will be adding that information to my plan.

Michelle Lindsay made a great point about providing parent language learning support.  While this is not the focus of my research, I do think she makes a great point.  I will look into how I could potentially incorporate it into my plan. 

I have  a great idea that I want to get to the bottom of.  I am sure many of you are curious about this as well.  I look forward to this journey the further I get into it.  Let the fun begin...

Melanie Machost’s Action Research Plan for Administrative Leadership

GOAL : 

What actions can be done by both parents and teachers to reduce the amount of time a student requires ESL services? 

How can we as educators prevent a lifelong ESL student? 

How can we determine the difference between a language learning deficiency and a potential learning disability?

Action Steps	Person Responsible	Timeline	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Select focus group of 20 current ELL students; Attend PD on RtI for ELL’s	Melanie Machost/ RtI Coordinator, ESL Coordinator	September 2013	Student history obtained from LPAC/Cumulative folders on campus Data Analysis of STAAR scores Data Analysis of TELPAS scores Student work	Spreadsheet of focus group
Determine amount of time in US schools	Melanie Machost	October 2013	Student history obtained from LPAC/Cumulative folders on campus	Spreadsheet of focus group
Conduct student survey to determine how students feel they learn English	RtI Coordinator, ESL Coordinator, ESL Classroom Teacher, ESL Instructional Aide, Principal	November 2013	Student survey	Documentation of survey results
Conduct parent survey of home activities that encourage English language learning	RtI Coordinator, ESL Coordinator, ESL Classroom Teacher, ESL Instructional Aide, Principal	December 2013	Parent survey	Documentation of survey results
Interview students with questions developed from the survey information	Melanie Machost	January 2014	Data Analysis of STAAR scores Data Analysis of TELPAS scores Student work	Document of student interview feedback
Conduct literature review of information gathered from surveys and interviews	Melanie Machost	February 2014	Literature Review	Document various case studies for relevance and insight
Conduct literature review of information gathered from surveys and interviews	Melanie Machost	March 2014	Literature Review	Document various case studies for relevance and insight
Assist in administering STAAR and TELPAS assessments to all students	RtI Coordinator, ESL Coordinator, ESL Classroom Teacher, ESL Instructional Aide, Principal	April 2014	Data Analysis of STAAR scores Data Analysis of TELPAS scores	Documentation of STAAR and TELPAS scores
Conduct a parent meeting with findings to date	Melanie Machost	May 2014	Parent     Communication      Parent newsletter	Parent feedback survey
Re-evaluate any potential problems/answers and meet with principal to present recommendations for potential interventions	Melanie Machost	June 2014	Meeting with principal to discuss findings	Handouts of findings distributed to administration

The three possibilities for my action research had to do with improving our current writing STAAR results, our new science/reading lab or why are ELL students qualifying for so long for services. 

My site supervisor and I discussed my action research possibilities over email this past couple of weeks.  We agreed that my background in ESL and math made the last possibility the better fit.  She even made the comment that if I could get to the bottom of the problem with ELL students needing services for so long, I would have a great career ahead of me as an administrator.  This is definitely a focus for our district right now so it is really relevant. 

My action research project will be determining why ELL students that start in our district in pre-k or even kindergarten still require ESL services going into high school. 

How Educators Can Use Blogs

Educators can use blogging to share opinions on topics in an non-confrontational setting.   This would allow teachers and administrators to share their thoughts and opinions on upcoming changes on campus.  It could help with campus climate as well.  In the world of quick feedback, blogging might just be the way to go.  I can see using blogging in a variety of ways on our campus.  I look forward to not only using it for my action research but ways to communicate to my campus staff as well. 

Action Research...

I am excited to use action research.  I have avoided graduate school for a long time because of traditional research papers.  Reading about action research has enlightened me to how practical it can be to the current position I hold on my campus and moving into an administrative role in the future.  The idea that I should look at action research as simply a "nagging question" has helped me to understand how I will come up with my action research topic (Dana, 2009).  I am looking forward to working on my action research using literature reviews, my current leadership team and other PLCs on my campus.  I also thought that the idea of scheduling a time each week to reflect was key.  I am as busy as the next person with work and family and could probably be described as an over-scheduler, however, this was a suggestion that really hit home.   I have been in the RtI/ESL coordinator role for four years and there are so many questions that I can think of that might really help our students.  I am looking forward to understanding into why ELL students that start in our district in kindergarten are still going to high school needing ESL services and what actions can be implemented to change this.