Technology Action Research Plan

Technology Action Research Plan
Goal: My goal, in conducting this Action Research Plan, is to develop a plan to help all teachers at Floresville High School implement technology into their classrooms in a manner that will help increase student achievement.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Principal’s Role
Analyze District Improvement Plan to find any areas of need and priority for integrating technology into the classrooms.	Jeff Luna and Jason Pfluger	March 2012	District Improvement Plan	The High School Principal will analyze my conclusions to determine which outcomes and decisions are feasible.
Analyze the Campus Improvement Plan to find any areas of need and priority for integrating technology into the classrooms.	Jeff Luna and the Jason Pfluger	March 2012	Campus Improvement Plan	The High School Principal will analyze my conclusions to determine which outcomes and decisions are feasible.
Analyze the results of the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 STaR Charts to determine strengths and/or weaknesses in technology integration on the high school campus.	Jeff Luna and Jason Pfluger	March 2012	Results of the previous three year STaR Charts for Floresville High School.	The High School Principal will get my analysis of the STaR Chart to compare it with her results to make sure we have some consistency.
Discuss potential funds available for increasing the amount of technology tools on campus for teachers and students.	Jeff Luna, Jason Pfluger, High School Principal, and Director of Technology	April 2012	District Budget Analysis, Campus Budget Analysis, and analysis of state and/or federal funds (grants) available for technology.	High School Principal will be in discussions with Director of Technology to discuss avenues in which we can increase campus funds for purchasing of technology equipment and tools.
Present a proposal to district administration, campus administration, and teachers that would outline a plan to increase technology integration into all campus classrooms for the purpose of increasing student achievement.	Jeff Luna and Jason Pfluger	May	Time, video equipment, and administration support.	The high school principal will set aside a time period in which this presentation can take place.

Jason Pfluger and I will be in charge of obtaining the district improvement plan, campus improvement plan, and campus STaR Charts. Jason Pfluger and I will be presenting the proposal to the campus and district stakeholders. The Director of Technology will be in charge of gathering information for the meeting in which available funds for increasing the amount of technology on campus will be discussed.

The High School Principal will ensure that the organizational chart is being properly implemented by scheduling weekly checkups with me. She will also analyze my findings in regards to the District Improvement Plan, Campus Improvement Plan, and STaR Charts to determine if my conclusions are valid and appropriate for this action research plan. She will also make sure that there is time available for meetings with the Director of Technology and district/campus stakeholders, respectively.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGY

Goal: Learn to analyze different data sources such as STaR Charts, Campus Improvement Plans, and District Improvement Plans to make data-driven decisions regarding the implementation of technology in classrooms.

I will ask Mr. Schroller (Assistant Principal) and Mr. Viallanueva (Assistant Principal) to help me analyze STaR Charts, the Campus Improvement Plan, and the District Improvement Plan with technology being the focus. This will be done in March 2012 and I will prepare for this meeting by analyzing the data beforehand.

Evaluative Statement: I have completed a successful data driven analysis of data with the help of the two Assistant Principals. The decisions made will be a consensus between all three members of the meeting.

Goal: Design professional development opportunities for teachers that will incorporate regular technology use in the classrooms by students, where instruction is student-centered and not teacher directed.

I will ask Mrs. Galinzoga (High School Principal) to help me develop a plan to provide professional development opportunities for teachers to integrate technology into foundation area TEKS and making the classroom instruction more student-centered and less teacher directed.

Evaluative Statement: I have developed opportunities for teachers to attend (either online or in person) professional development opportunities that allow all teachers to successfully and appropriately implement technology into their classrooms daily.

Goal: Develop a plan to help teachers incorporate technology into both teaching and learning, and that will increase the number of teachers who are meeting SBEC standards to at least 60%.

I will discuss a plan of action with Mrs. Galinzoga that will help teachers to use technology in their classrooms for more than just administrative tasks. Teachers will be able to use a variety of strategies to incorporate technology into daily instructional lessons that will provide more interaction amongst students. Teachers will also attend a STaR chart training that will clearly explain the present level in which the campus is operating and the goals we are trying to achieve.

Evaluative Statement: I was able to provide different resources for teachers to view in order to increase the number of lessons and activities students use technology in their classrooms. Teachers understand the ratings of the STaR chart and the expectations the campus administration has for technology use.

Goal: Meet with the District Technology Director and Mrs. Galinzoga to plan for proper use of technology resources that will allow for increasing our computer to student ratio.

I will meet with these two individuals to discuss possible re-allocation of funds to help purchase technology tools that will increase the computer to student ratio on our campus. We will look at optional funds available through state and federal grants to help curb the cost of this upgrade.

Evaluative Statement: We were able to successfully create a plan to move forward with increasing the number of technology tools on campus for student use.

Evaluation Planning for Technology Action Plan 

The evaluation process should be one in which administrators and teachers can determine if advances are being made in proper and appropriate use of technology in the classroom.

 One way to evaluate the action research plan is to determine if there is an increase in the amount of technology use in teacher classrooms that is directly related to instructional lessons/activities. One way to determine this would be to see if there has been an increase in computer lab usage or an increase amount of times teachers are “checking out” the computer cart. This can be done by accessing the information from the computer lab technician. We should see an increase from year to year if the action research plan is accomplishing goals. Another way to gauge the success of the action research plan is to analyze the computer to student ratio from year to year. This would be easily accessible with the help of the Technology Department. We should see an increase of technology tools on campus to allow for a higher computer to student ratio. This should be increasing as we make our way to an Advanced Tech or Target Tech classification on the STaR Chart. Finally, a survey can be given to students to determine the amount of instruction time technology tools are being used by teachers and/or students. Administrators can also reflect on classroom walkthroughs that should show a positive trend in technology use for teachers and more student-centered classroom lessons.

One way to determine if technology is used to improve gathering, analysis, and use of data from a variety of sources is by simply surveying the teachers. A survey of teachers would allow for them to express concerns if any in regards to data gathering and analysis and how they use technology to make data driven decisions if at all. This survey would allow administrators to determine if technology is being used for data driven decisions by teachers and administrators and how we as a campus can improve in this area. Teachers have access to student academic data online and should be using the data to make decisions.

Decision making in the integration of technology with instructional and organizational leadership can be evaluated using student and teacher data. Administrators and Instructional Facilitators can use teacher lesson plans to ensure teachers are integrating technology into classroom instruction. Administrators and Instructional Facilitators can also compare student achievement results from year to year as the use of technology should increase student achievement if used properly.

Texas STaR Chart Presentation

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_11344027"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Alleyrunner44/texas-s-ta-r-chart-11344027" title="Texas STaR Chart" target="_blank">Texas STaR Chart</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/11344027" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Alleyrunner44" target="_blank">Alleyrunner44</a> </div> </div>

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

In my opinion, all four areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology are vital to the success of students and schools; however, I believe the Administration, Leadership, and Instructional Support area can have the most impact on the success of the plan. This area involves that administrators understand the possibilities that technology brings to educational setting, model the use of technology in professional and everyday activities, and ensure that others are doing the same by taking on the leadership role. The campus and district administrators should collaborate to provide a shared vision and should also be a catalyst for change within the campus and district. The administrators should act as leaders and should share the vision by using a technology plan that provides effective and effecient technology implementation for student, faculty, administrative and community use.

I have been at Floresville High School for the last six years and I have seen the Adminstration take huge strides in promoting the use of technology and supplying teachers with the needed resources to accommodate student needs. In the last two years, there have been more professional development opportunities in the area of technology teachers provided by the campus administration for teachers. They have also provided more on campus instructional support for teachers and students. This has helped to increase the use of technology in the classrooms as teachers are feeling  more confident in using technology tools with the added campus instructional support.

I believe that the leaders of the district and campus are the most important people that affect the Long Range Plan for Technology as they are instrumental in providing resources such as funding, professional development opportunities, and staffing that will ensure measures are being taken to reach the goals of the plan. It is my belief that leaders and administrators of Floresville ISD and Floresville High School continue to serve the teachers and students in a manner that will help students achieve success and prepare them for becoming productive members of society in the 21st Century.

The only recommendation I have is for Floresville ISD and Floresville High School to continue to make technology a daily priority for teachers, students, and faculty.

5352 Web Conference

I participated in my first web conference for EDLD 5352 Instructional Leadership on Saturday January 21, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. This web conference was very informative as there were many good questions and answers to those questions. The attendees were very active in particpation of this web conference and many numerous discussions took place. There were instances of technical difficulties with turning on some of the microphones, however, the web conference ran smoothly and the information discussed was beneficial. It appears that most of the attendees are nearing graduation and excited to almost be complete with the master's program. Many of the questions involved TK20, ILD class, and the EPIC software. The web conference host was good at answering many of the questions the students had and offered great advice for the students. I will continue to try and attend these web conferences as they are beneficial and are a great way to ask questions to colleagues and instructors directly. I highly recommend the web conferences to all students in this program as it is a great way to communicate with colleagues and instructors.

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

Floresville High Scool and Its Effective Classroom Teachers

As I was involved in looking at the failure rate for the nine week grading cycles, I noticed that some teachers were at the top failure rate list on each grading cycle. Some of these teachers had a really high failure rate compared to other teachers within the same content area. This started to bother me and I started to dig deeper within data to see if there was a direct correlation between this data and other data such as discipline referrals and TAKS scores. I noticed that these teachers seem to be at or below average in regards to checkpoint assessments, previous years TAKS scores, and discipline issues in the classroom. My vision was to review data, conduct interviews with Instructional Facilitators and students, and to determine traits of an effective classroom teacher. Once this was established, I would then interview and observe these effective teachers to get firsthand knowledge of how and what they were doing differently in the classroom. My goal was to get these teachers to have positive interactions with the teachers who were having problems in the classroom to create a positive change and help them become an effective classroom teacher. A measurable goal that I would focus on would be to see if the “ineffective” classroom teachers’ checkpoint scores, discipline referrals, and TAKS scores increased, decreased, or remained constant after the interaction with the effective teachers. The decision making process in conducting this action research plan was difficult at times. First off, it was a difficult decision in choosing this topic in discussion with my site supervisor. It was easy to label some teachers as effective, but extremely hard to label others as ineffective. My colleagues in EDLD 5301 helped me to change that course of thinking by stating the action research differently. The decisions involved in conducting my action research involved my site supervisor, instructional facilitators, and me. Decisions such as how to conduct the action research, what data to analyze, and what teachers on our campus are considered effective classroom teachers were discussed. According to a website I encountered, “becoming an effective teacher takes practice and special guidance from mentors and administrators”. This is one reason I felt like my action research would help get teachers to interact with others that would ultimately help produce more effective classroom teachers at Floresville High School. I communicated my vision of the action research plan to my site supervisor and other administrators in a meeting. When I was given approval, I communicated my vision to the teachers at a faculty meeting which was surprisingly welcomed by the teachers. I took on most of the responsibilities in completing the action research. I did enlist the help of a coworker to video some teachers in the classroom. Some of the interviews with the Instructional Facilitators were done via email which saved time for everyone. I was able to analyze the data myself but solicited the help of the testing coordinator and PEIMS clerk to pull the data for me. This research required me to visit classrooms to observe, video, and interview teachers. For this reason, I always took student achievement into consideration. I never went into a classroom during testing or when students were giving presentations. I made sure that I was not a distraction to any student trying to learn. It was my responsibility to set priorities when conducting this action research. I first looked at the data in which I accumulated and determined what I needed to do first. Did I need to focus on the teachers who were having trouble or focus on the teachers who were doing an effective job in the classroom? I decided that finding the problem would be the initial step in finding a solution. I was able to build consensus amongst the teachers in participating my action research for the simple fact that the results were ultimately going to help students succeed. I made it clear from day 1 that I was not in the business of wasting anyone’s time and that I had purpose in what I was researching. I did not want anyone to feel as though I was labeling them as “ineffective”, rather I was helping to find strategies and techniques that would benefit all teachers at the high school. This helped in alleviating any conflict that might have arose during this research. Communication with teachers was mainly done via email, although I would schedule appointments with the Instructional Facilitators and Administrators when needed. This action research was not specifically developed to help the special needs students and students with diverse backgrounds. This research was meant to help increase the number of effective classroom teachers at Floresville High School. For this reason, the more teachers who are positively affected by this research, the bigger the student population who will benefit from this research.

Note: I will not be able to share the results of my action research with my audience (teachers) until the end of the 2011 fall semester or the early part of the 2012 spring semester. I was supposed to share my results during a teacher in-service day in August, but since we switched to the C-scope curriculum, the day will now become a C-scope training day.

Effective Teacher. (2005-2011). Retrieved from http://www.online-distance-learning-education.com/article_info.php/articles_id/31

Revised Action Research Plan

Unfortunately, I had to revise my action research plan once again. Due to a change in curriculum, I will not be able to share my results with the faculty in August as I wanted to. This day has now been changed to a C-Scope training day. I will now share the results of my action research with the teachers during an Inservice day in the late Fall 2011 semester or early Spring 2012 semester. I have done the revisions in Red.

Jeffrey Luna’s Action Research Plan
Goal: My goal, in conducting this Action Research Plan, is to develop a plan in which the effective classroom teachers can influence and interact with all other teachers to mold them in a positive manner. Ultimately, I would like all teachers at Floresville High School to be effective in their respective classroom.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources
Analyze individual teacher data in regards to student pass/fail rate for the 1st Nine Week grading cycle, the 1st checkpoint assessment, and TAKS scores from last year’s reports. I also reviewed the TAKS scores after the April 2011 testing block to determine if the teachers were still falling into the same category.	I will be doing the analysis with help from another graduate student Jason Pfluger	The analysis of teacher data will begin next Monday December 6, 2010 and will culminate on Friday December 17, 2010. I also reviewed the TAKS results from the April 2011 administration in May 2011.	PEIMS clerk will provide individual teacher grade reports from the 1st Nine Week grading cycle. Testing Coordinator will provide the individual teacher reports for the 1st checkpoint assessment.
Conduct a survey with a random population of Juniors and Seniors consisting of 50 girls and 50 boys from each of the classes.	The teachers in the boomerang classes of the randomly selected students will hand out and collect the survey.	The survey will be done on Thursday January 13, 2011.	The resource needed will be the survey that I develop for the random students.
Interview the Instructional Facilitators of each department to get input as to who they believe are effective teachers in their respective departments.	I will be conducting the interviews of the Instructional Facilitators by myself.	The interviews will begin on Thursday January 20, 2011 and end on Tuesday January 25, 2011	I will be using the Instructional Facilitators as the resource and will conduct the interviews in the front office meeting room.
Observations will be done on the effective teachers that are recommended by the Instructional Facilitators.	I will be doing the observations along with Jason Pfluger another graduate student.	The classroom observations will begin on Monday January 31, 2011 and will end on February 28, 2011.	I will be conducting the observations in the teacher classrooms and will take notes on procedures, policies, strategies, teaching styles, and classroom discipline management.
Interviews will be conducted with the effective teachers.	I will be doing the interviews along with Jason Pfluger another graduate student.	The interviews will begin on Monday March 7, 2011 and end on Wednesday March 23, 2011.	The resources needed will be a note pad to take notes along with the notes I took when interviewing the Instructional Facilitator to review.
I will video record the effective teachers in the classroom setting.	Jason Pfluger and I will be doing the video recording of the teachers.	This process of video recordings will begin on Monday April 4, 2011 and will conclude on the week of April 15, 2011.	The resources needed to complete this action will be a video recorder (borrowed from the athletic dept.)
Effective teachers will talk about their styles, techniques, and classroom discipline management to all teachers during a professional development day. Their classroom videos will be shown at this time as well.	I will show the videos and introduce the teachers who will share their teaching strategies. The effective teachers chosen will present their classroom strategies.	This action plan step will now take place during a Teacher Workday in the late 2011 Fall semester or early 2012 Spring Semester. This is happening because the August 2011 date will now be used for C-scope training.	I will need a computer and a promethean board to show the videos and so that the teachers may use the promethean board to demonstrate classroom techniques.

Action Research Thoughts

I am excited about conducting this action research plan and the outcomes that it will bring. Throughout this course I learned many things that have made my action research plan possible. Two things that I stuck in my head in regards to action research are the following:

1. First off, there are many topics that could be researched for an action research plan so make sure the topic you choose to research is relevant to you and the school in which you work.

2. Self reflection is a big part of the action research process, therefore, making time for this reflection is imperative in the success of the action research project. Reflection is a never ending part of this process that should be done thoroughly to ensure success.

I will keep everyone updated with the progress and changes (if necessary) that take place during my action search project.