My Parent Involvement Action Research Project
I had to change my action research project to fit the new campus I moved to (only two weeks before school started). Currently, changes are still being made and only a few pieces have been implemented thus far. It has been hard getting things started since I am at a new campus, in a new position and having a new principal.

 

I will be posting my revised research plan in the coming week.

 

Portions of my project that I have documented and implemented:

• I have joined the Parent Involvement Committee at my campus so that I can facilitate portions of my action research project with their support.
• I observed the parent attendance at the first PTA meeting that was held prior to the grade level orientation activities. The PTA meetings had less than 20 parents and the grade level orientation brought in 3 or less parents for each teacher. I also observed that most parents were Spanish speaking and we did not provide a translator or Spanish PTA newsletter.
• I met with the principal and discussed my childcare/snack idea as well as the need for a Spanish translator for all PTA meetings and other parent attended activities. She suggested I talk to the PTA president about the idea and ask a PreK teacher for usage of their classroom. She agreed that we needed a translator and would look into getting volunteers for that need.
• I was able to gain usage of one of the PreK classrooms and I advertised the need for volunteers to assist with the childcare for parents so that they can more readily attend the PTA meetings. I was able to gain 1 staff volunteer and 2 high school student volunteers, as well as myself to provide the childcare.
• I created a flyer to advertise the childcare available to parents for the PTA meeting, had a staff member translate the materials and had them copy and distribute the materials to all classrooms prior to the PTA meeting.
• I implemented the childcare with snacks during the second PTA meeting and documented 8 parents brought 18 children to the childcare room.
• I spoke with the PTA president and she was elated with the large turn-out of parents and community partners that attended the PTA meeting. Over 25 adults were in attendance for this 2^nd PTA meeting. Previous years had less than 5 parents attend. One teacher who attended the PTA meeting realized that parents needed to have a Spanish translator and volunteered her services at the time of the meeting.
• I met with the PTA president and suggested that I work on recruiting more community partners to attend and set up information booths at our coming fall festival. The partners I looked for are non-profits that have services that would benefit the families at our school.
• I sought out and contacted 5 community non-profits and have requested their attendance at our fall festival to share information about their services. At this time, one partner has committed and I am continuing to contact others to gain their attendance.
• In planning for the coming Literacy Night, the Parent Involvement Committee met to discuss ways we can increase parent involvement and help publicize the night. As a committee we decided that the newsletter about the night needed to be translated into Spanish and that we needed build excitement by putting the event on the announcements. We also decided that reminder labels for students should be printed and put on students at dismissal that day, as well as have staff members personally hand out flyers and invite parents to attend the event during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. I brought up that we needed to get it on the kiosk as soon as possible for parents to see. I also suggested that we publicize joining the PTA that night and they can enter a drawing to receive free books.
• In planning for the coming fall festival, the Parent Involvement Committee met to discuss ways we could increase parent involvement because of the low PTA enrollment there are not many volunteers to run the activities. We decided to have teachers email contact information for parents that might volunteer so that staff could personally call them and ask for their help. I suggested that we make families feel more comfortable by providing entertainment that fits their culture such as a Folkloric dance group performance. A staff member suggested we contact UT’s dance group and invite them to perform for the school.I will also contact another group to see if they can attend. I also suggested that we publicize joining the PTA or volunteering to help at the fall festival and then families would receive a set number of fall festival tickets as an incentive.

At this point I feel like I have not had many opportunities to implement due to having to make so many changes. I would like to facilitate a meeting with the whole staff in regards to increasing parent involvement at the classroom level and looking at research with staff. I hope to sit down with my princpal and the new AP that will be starting this next week once things settle down to discuss implementing more portions of my project.

 

Interesting Reading Regarding ESEA/NCLB

While looking at a school improvement plan I saw that they referred to ESEA standards. I actually had not heard of these standards, so I did some research and learned some valuable information.

Here is a link: http://www.diversitylearningk12.com/articles/Crawford_ESEA_FAQ.pdf

ESEA definition:
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, first enacted in 1965, provides legal authority for the U.S. government’s financial support of K-12 education. (Crawford, J., February 2010)

What do we know this Act as?

Recognizing that educational conditions are subject to change, Congress reviews and revises ESEA every few years. Since 1965, the law has been reauthorized six times – most recently on January 8, 2002. The latest version, known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was set to expire in 2007.(Crawford, J., February 2010)

After reading more about the ESEA/NCLB issues and proposed "fixes" I realized how different the goverment's ideas on educational reform are so different from the ideas of educators.

If you are interested in reading more about it...
The Forum on Educational Accountability is an alliance of more than 150 education, civil rights, religious, children’s, disability, civic, and labor organizations that have come together to express serious concerns about NCLB.

Here is a link: visit www.edaccountability.org/Legislative.html

Works Cited

Crawford, J., (2011, February) Frequently Asked Questions about: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Policy Issues at Stake.
Website: www.diversitylearningk12.com

Reflection on my Learning In regards to the literature - The first area of learning that impacted me was looking at how to set the foundation for school improvement. Learning how to create a shared vision on campus and an understanding of inquiry are essential for a school to have a climate and culture that  focuses on professional learning and school improvement. As Harris (2010) stated, “… it is absolutely vital that everyone know and agree upon the basic direction.” When this shared vision is in place, faculty are able to understand their school needs and how important it is to engage in inquiry to improve the school. Once the school faculty has a shared vision and is looking toward inquiry, an instructional leader must build interpersonal trust within the school. “High trust within a school increases the chances that school reform and implementation will take place” (Harris, 2010). Lack of trust creates a barrier that can lead to reduced communication, a negative climate, as well as divide faculty. Creating a culture and climate on campus that focuses faculty energies into collaborative discussions is the first step to truly working as professionals in school improvement. Looking at how to set the foundation for school improvement was very beneficial to me as an instructional leader. Looking at the different ways action research can be implemented on campus was also very beneficial for me. Prior to this course I engaged in action research as my professional development appraisal (called ABC project) instead of the traditional PDAS. At first I was overwhelmed at the idea of research, but then I realized that each year I had used a form of action research. I would reflect on my instructional practices, timelines, activities and resources, and then implement changes during the school year or plan to implement for the next year. Making that connection between self-improvement and research based practices was essential to me taking ownership of the new appraisal system structure and genuinely improving my practice that year. With that in mind, I learned that there are several ways I can implement action research on campus as an instructional leader. Action research can strictly be for personal growth of administrators and teachers, as well as become a campus-wide initiative for improvement. Other forms of inquiry can be done by grade level teams, assigned or elected committees, vertical teams, as well as teacher-parent committees. Providing staff with options for professional growth will also improve staff buy-in and increase implementation efforts. Knowing what available avenues there are to use action research will help me build the structure needed for successful school improvement to occur. In regards to my action research - While collecting research data on parent involvement, I found reoccurring patterns in the student populations that have decreased parent involvement. “K-8 parents of white students were more likely than parents of African American or Hispanic students to attend a school event, volunteer or serve on a school committee and participate in school fundraising” (Dervarics, C., & O'Brien E., 2011) I also found statistics and patterns linking student achievement and parent involvement. “When parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well, make sure that out-of-school activities are constructive, and help them plan for college, their children perform better in school” (A New Wave of Evidence, 2002) Being able to collect this data and see the patterns that evolved helped me to focus my research efforts and see my topic in another light. This step was very helpful in that I saw a bigger picture in regards to family cultures and experiences that have shaped their view or feelings toward participating in school activities. Without conducting the depth of research I did, I would not have implemented activities that would have genuinely made an impact on parent involvement and changing the climate on campus. In regards to my instructional leader preparation - My depth of knowledge in action research has grown tremendously and I am confident that I can implement the method with staff for school improvement and continue to use it for personal growth as well. One example within the Dana (2009) text made an impression on me with regards to veteran teachers. The example wondering was stated as “How does the process of peer coaching help veteran teachers continue to learn and grow?  And What roll can the principal play in facilitating this process? (Bauer, 2001).” This scenario was particularly interesting to me because I have seen teachers with exemplary skills, unfortunately they were never given opportunities to shared their knowledge of the craft. Utilizing action research can provide new teachers with the written research to back the new methods they implement, as well as provide opportunities to learn from exemplary teachers who are skills in those methods. This was a reminder that as instructional leaders we can not forget to utilize the skilled teachers on campus to help implement change on campus. I am very confident in my understanding of action research and how to implement the method for school improvement. Thoughts for the Future - This course pushed me to become proactive in my learning in regards to technology. I plan to continue to update my blog and website regularly with reflections, data and conclusions of my learning through the coming years. I want to lead by example as an instructional leader, showing the importance of collaboration and research in education. I would also like to purchase the parallel text to the Dana (2009) text titled The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research: Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009) I believe this will be a great resource for teachers to use as they become research practitioners through school improvement efforts. My next action research project is focused on SSI and the RtI process. The SSI and RtI process is a large part of my internship plan. I plan to use action research as a way to collect data for teacher professional development sessions prior to school starting. I will also utilize the research to assist teachers throughout the year with documentation and intervention methods. Written by Lara Nixon (2012) References Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010) Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: Eight Steps from Analysis to Action. New York: Eye On Education. Dervarics, C., & O'Brien E. (2011) Back to school: How parent involvement affects student achievement. Retrieved from The Center for Public Education website: http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Parent-Involvement/Parent-Involvement.html Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002) A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of Schools, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Retrieved from National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, Southwest  Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) website: http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf Bauer, D., Kur, J., & Heitzmann, M. (2001, April). Peer Coaching - a Road to Deeper Understanding. Presentation at the annual Pennsylvania State University - State College Area School District Teacher Inquiry Conference, State College, Pennsylvania. Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009)The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research: Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry (2nd edition). Thousands Oaks, CA: Corwin.

How Can We Get Them To Come?

“How Can We Get Them To Come?” This is the question every teacher asks when given the task of coordinating an activity that involves student/parent attendance to be successful. All the research basically says the same thing: If the parents are involved, the students will achieve. As I have found though, many statistics are included, but the “How To” part is still to be decided. I have found great research on Why parent involvement is low for certain populations, specifically Hispanic or African American cultures, but the How is still to be decided. Then I made a correlation between what I read about pushing and resisting forcing for change as it pertains to this project. The cultural and social norms are the resisting forces and the new methods of parent involvement are the pushing forces. With this in mind, I can better understand how to plan effectively and preventatively.

Now for the good stuff – HOW?

This project does NOT include more school-wide activities for teachers to plan and parents to attend. This project focuses on improving communication from school to home regarding the students’ achievement and behavior. Making teacher/parent communication about the student the central focus and creating a climate of “Concern” will change school culture. The side benefit of this project is that teachers will give parents advice on assisting at home and send activities for parent to do at home at least once a month. These can be academic or social activities and will be returned to the teacher with parent signature and record of usage.

What will be accomplished?

Three goals that involve parents are accomplished with this plan, but they all have students as the main focus.
1. Improve parent involvement
2. Help students succeed
3. Develop a campus culture and climate to be one that fosters collaboration and shows concern for all students

The first goal is improving parent involvement with their children. This is accomplished through giving them the information they need to be informed parents and giving them the tools to do it at home.

The second goal is helping students succeed. This will be accomplished through teachers sharing advice with parents, parents reinforcing concepts and the importance of school, as well as building the bond between home and school.
The third goal is to develop a school culture and climate where there is a true bond between school and home. This will be accomplished due to the consistent communication and the focus put on parents’ involvement in the home.

Think about it - Does parent involvement with their children always have to be at school?

Final Action Research Plan

 Statement:

The Title I school has minimal parent involvement. The student population is represented by 50% Hispanic, 49% African American, 87% economically disadvantaged, and 46% at-risk as reported on the AEIS 2010-11 profile.

Action research questions:

• In what ways can we improve parent involvement?
• What are the relationships between parent involvement and student behavior?
• What are the relationships between parent involvement and student achievement?

 

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improving Parent Involvement
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Collect and review literature/ research on parent involvement.	Lara Nixon, Intern	06/23/2012 – 08/01/2012	Literature Websites Blogs Text Action Research	-Sort research into different categories that address the topic -Look for missing information -2/3 of each type -Discuss with categories and breadth with principal
Collect and review parent involvement data from 2011-2012.	Lara Nixon, Intern Office staff or Administrator	07/01/2012 – 08/01/2012	·        school sign-in sheets ·        parent conference forms ·        volunteer forms ·        field trip volunteer forms ·        PTO membership and activity attendance	-Create a  spreadsheet to show the relationship between the data and the 3-5 grade levels -Create a spreadsheet for attendance data at school or PTO Activities -Create a spreadsheet to compare attendance time related to year
Collect and review staff and parent survey data regarding parent involvement	Lara Nixon, Intern Office staff or Administrator	08/01/2012 -08/10/2012	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements -Parent survey -Staff survey	-Create two spreadsheet that represents the data collected
Facilitate a meeting with principal to review school data on parent involvement for 2011-2012 and action research data from literature review.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Staff	08/01/2012  08/10/2012	-Power point about parent involvement and statistics -Graphs and charts that represent the areas of involvement -Graphs and charts that represent the involvement of different subpopulations -Present patterns or questions	-Discuss data and any unanswered questions -Discuss how to address data with staff at a BOY pd session -Outline BOY parent activity and parent meeting
Facilitate staff meetings/pd sessions to review parent involvement data with the intent to brainstorm ideas for BOY and other campus activities with regards to (PI) in and outside of school	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	08/10/2012 – 08/20/2012	-Power point about parent involvement and statistics -Graphs and charts that represent the areas of involvement -Graphs and charts that represent the involvement of different subpopulations -Present patterns or questions	-Staff focus groups will confer on data and share ideas -Staff will draft a list of activities they plan on hosting and groups will rotate to add ideas for (PI) parent involvement in and outside of school -Review BOY school and classroom activities, discuss in depth (PI) -Discuss outline of BOY parent activity and parent meeting -Have staff sign-up on activity committees
Reflection on implementing the BOY activities and activities throughout the year; monetary needs, staff volunteer availability and methods of  parent involvement	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Leadership Team	08/10/2012 – 08/20/2012	-Staff draft of school activities for the year -Parent involvement methods -BOY activity -Staff sign-up	-Questionable activities will be set aside for a staff meeting -Create a draft budget for each activity -Analyze staff sign-up and target low enrollment areas for PTO assistance -Create an outline with staff volunteers and budgets, share as google.doc with staff -Invite teachers to meet to discuss questionable activities
Facilitate a parent volunteer meeting to address the school volunteer policy, activities on campus, activities from home and after hours activities and programs, room parent needs	Lara Nixon, Intern Volunteer Teachers Principal	08/20/2012 – 08/30/2012	-Power point to address main points of parent involvement affects, coming activities, at home and after hours activities -Parent volunteer sign-up sheets for coming activities -Room parent sign-up sheets -Volunteer background forms	-Have staff do a head count at the meeting -Have parents fill out a survey about meeting -Compare meeting attendance and forms filled out, with teachers in reference to last year
Facilitate meetings with teachers in grades 3-5 monthly to discuss progress of students, parent data collected and parent involvement facilitated by the teachers.	Lara Nixon, Intern Teachers Grades 3-5	09/01/2012 – 05/01/2013	-Student grades -Parent communication logs -Parent Involvement logs -Office/parent volunteer sign-in sheets	-Monitor weekly communication, behavior, academic progress or struggles, student and parent involvement attendance -Create goals each month to target student and parent involvement -Chart progress and goals met
Conduct a staff MOY survey regarding their observations of student behavior, achievement, parent involvement, and suggestions for improvements for the 2nd semenster.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Staff Leadership Team	11/15/2012 – 12/20/2012	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements that we can make for the 2nd semester -Staff survey	-Write a summary of the survey results -Compare MOY data to BOY survey data -Correlate data from teacher meetings
Reflection on implementing the parent involvement methods and progress of targeted students with the intent to make changes if needed	Lara Nixon, Intern	12/20/2012 – 01/10/2013	-Summary of the staff survey data (regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements for the 2nd semester) -Compared data from surveys -Correlated data from teacher meetings	-Reflect on the results from the staff MOY survey, the compared data, and the correlated data from teacher meetings -Draft changes if needed
Facilitate staff meetings/pd sessions to review parent involvement data from teacher survey with the intent to discuss changes to the 2nd semester	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Leadership Team Staff	12/20/2012 – 01/10/2013	-Results from the staff MOY survey, the compared data, and the correlated data from teacher meetings -Drafted changes	-Staff discussion on results and drafted changes
Conduct a staff EOY survey regarding their observations of parent involvement for the 2012-13 year and suggestions for improvements for the 2013-14 year.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/01/2013 – 05/30/2013	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements, celebrations -Staff survey	-Have teacher team and administrator look over survey and discuss the questioning prior to conducting survey -Create a summary of the data collected
Conduct a parent EOY survey regarding the school’s approach to parent involvement and suggestions for improvements for the 2013-14 year.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/01/2013 – 05/30/2013	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements, celebrations -Parent survey	-Have leadership team and principal look over survey and discuss the questioning prior to conducting survey -Create a summary of the data collected
Facilitate an EOY staff meeting/pd session to present data collected all year on the students, parent involvement and EOY survey data.	Lara Nixon, Intern Teachers Grades 3-5 Principal	05/30/2013 – 06/05/2013	-Create spreadsheets that represent the 2012-13 school year parent involvement in various activities -Create a spreadsheet that shows the parent involvement and correlated student data -Create a spreadsheet that compares the previous year’s data -Create two summaries from the staff and parent survey data	-Conduct a staff survey on the effectiveness of the action research on the campus and the delivery of the information throughout the year
Reflection on the action research process, data, methods and activities.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/30/2013 – 06/05/2013	-Staff survey on the effectiveness of the action research on the campus and the delivery of the information throughout the year (from intern)	-Journal about all aspects of the action research -Focus on leadership methods used & why -Focus on issues and outcomes -Focus on staff and student morale