September 8th, Round One: Developing an AR Question for my Research

This was a document I originally created on September 8th as school kicked off and I pondered what approach to take with my Action Research...

AR Question: How can I get teachers to “care” more about their students?- develop meaningful relationships to assist students who are struggling as opposed to “loving those who are easy to love (highly motivated, hard-working)”.

AR Question: How do we create a culture shift where teachers do not allow students to fail but provide a system of support that help students learn?

AR Question: How do we switch the focus from teachers focusing on what/how they “teach” to focusing instead on whether students learn as the driving force behind their planning/curriculum?

Action Research Question: Can we as a school decrease the number of students receiving D/F grades (and leaving the school) by creating a system of interventions to support student success?

What does the data tell us?

1. Since 2001, we average a 5% yearly attrition of our student body (approximately 50 students per year).
2. Data from our D/F reports reflect that in some core classes between 20-40% of students receive D/F grades in a semester (math, science, theology in yearlong classes, social studies in semester classes).
3. Students report in course rating questionnaires that many teachers are not accessible for help, do not offer timely feedback, and that some teachers do not forge strong positive relationships with students (use sarcasm, belittle, or are curt).
4. Overall student achievement data (ACT, SAT, PLAN scores) are stagnant over a 5-7 year period.

Approaches:

Curriculum Mapper
Continue use of Curriculum Mapper to help teachers begin collaborating within departments to map out their course with the goal to identify redundancies and gaps in curriculum.
• Better alignment of curriculum from year to year.
• Begin agreement on common language, standards- what are the skills/content we want students to know.

Focus on Learning
Begin using data to inform instruction