Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template
GOAL: The goal of this research action plan is to determine the effectiveness of looping and conclude if looping should be a mandatory practice for 1st/2nd grade teachers as well as 3rd/4th grade teachers.
Analyze test data (from 2007 – 2010) to determine differences in achievement for looping students versus non-looping students.
Shannon West, Billy Snow, Principal
August 2010 – December 2010
Test data broken down by classroom teacher as well as information as to which teachers were 2nd year loopers.
Document differences, if they exist, in a spreadsheet and determine percentage of difference.
Compare attendance records of students who looped with their teacher versus non-looping students to see if attendance improved in classes in which students looped up with their teacher.
Shannon West
Kay Vadasy, PEIMS secretary
August 2010 – December 2010
Attendance records
Create a line graph to show the differences in attendance.
Determine disparity in discipline referrals between looping teachers versus non-looping teachers.
Shannon West
Kay Vadasy, PEIMS secretary
August 2010 – December 2010
Discipline records
Create a line graph to show differences in discipline referrals.
Interview looping teachers
Shannon West
August 2010 – December 2010
Looping teachers
Collect data to determine the pros and cons of looping from a teacher’s perspective. Use this data to present findings at the end of the research action plan.
Interview looping students.
Shannon West
August 2010 – December 2010
Looping students
Collect data to determine the pros and cons of looping from a student’s perspective. Use this data to present findings at the end of action research.
Interview looping parents.
Shannon West
August 2010 – December 2010
Looping parents.
Collect data to determine the pros and cons of looping from a student’s perspective. Use this data to present findings at the end of action research.
Make recommendations based on the information collected.
Shannon West
Billy Snow, Principal
December 2010
All research information collected.
Recommendations made.
This is a very interesting topic. Our school has toggled with this idea. One thought: What if you have a "bad" teacher, what happens to students who have them for two years? It has to affect the next teachers data if students did not receive good instruction for two years.
ReplyDeleteYou have chosen a wonderful topic. I agree with Mrs. Guidy about "bad" teaching affecting student data. Will you analyze the teacher's data trends from previous years if the data for the current looped students does not show improvement? Also, you should consider working with the looped parents, teachers, and students in more ways than just the interviews. Forming a committee with these people and the campus administrators or counselor could be useful to your project. Good luck with your research. I am anxious to hear your results.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that this topic is definitely worth some exploring. One immediate thought that comes to mind is how the data will be dissagragated. You probably have a pretty good idea about how you will do this, but I think it's important to look at student growth versus student achievement. Are students in looping classes showing as much growth or more growth than their non-looping peers? From your research project come so many other questions that could be up for grabs for research.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I see that you will base your recommendation on achievement, attendance and discipline. Might there be other areas to focus on to determine whether a school should loop teachers and students? It could be that your interviews with teachers unveil something related to teacher moral, which would ultimately be part of your recommendation.
Nice work!
Thank you, ladies, for your comments. I am looking forward to analyzing the data and researching this topic. I hope it reveals that looping does positively affect academic achievement.
ReplyDeleteAs for "bad" teachers...First, I think if you have "bad" teachers in your school, then you should find ways to re-assign them. But I also think that as an administrator, you have to know your teachers including their weaknesses. If you have a teacher who is strong in reading but weak in math, you would not want that teacher to teach the same students two years in a row because you would end up with stellar readers but poor mathematicians. Because of this, my administrator allows looping teachers some freedom in how they deliver instruction. My teaching partner teaches reading and social studies while I teach math and science. The rest of our team is self-contained. Drawing from our strengths helps us deliver quality instruction for our students. So, I think it really comes down to choosing the right teachers to loop. Parents always have the option to pull their kids out of a looping situation if the previous year's instruction did not benefit the child fully.