Action Plan Outline
Analyze the Data
1. Acquire and analyze hard data for your school
The type of student achievement data that I analyzed was focused on the development of reading using the DRA2 assessment. The DRA is an assessment that has students read meanwhile the teacher analyzes how students perform. It focuses on reading, fluency, comprehension, and accuracy. It allows a teacher to then assign a criterion based score to the overall reading ability of a student.
From my data, I was able to generate a chart that easily showed the differences in reading levels between students. When graphed, my data showed a rough bell curve, with 4 low students, 5 high students, and the rest in the middle. It also demonstrated the varying degrees of ability between students.
2. Identify questions raised by the data
How can I support students that are performing really well?
What other strategies can I implement to support struggling students?
How accurate is the data?
When would be a good time to reassess students for updated data?
Would I see a bell curve distribution in another teacher's classroom?
3. Identify priority needs that seem to “jump out” from the data
Low performing students are varied in ability and need additional support in order to develop their language abilities. (Most urgent)
High performing students need to be challenged so that they continue developing their abilities.
At level students will also need to improve reading speed and accuracy while maintaining comprehension so that they continue progressing to higher reading levels.
Clarify the Problem
1. Collect additional data (hard and soft) in order to delve deeper
The data that I will be using comes from the DRA2 (Developmental reading assessment) in Spanish. It is an assessment that helps to determine how well students are reading. It allows for determining how students are doing in reading skills, comprehension, accuracy, and fluency in one focused assessment. By using the data gained from the assessment I can better guide how to teach students of different reading levels. I will be targeting my low performing students. The I would like to work with those students is because I would like to learn how to better assist them now and how to assist future students that may struggle with the same type of reading difficulties.
2. Hypothesize root causes and contributing factors for why your data looks like it does
It is important to determine the root cause of any underlying issue for students in order to form a plan that is addresses the underlying issues as to why a student is not performing well. Chapter 4 of our text gives an attendance example, where the student is most likely not performing well because of she is not attending school regularly. This attendance issue likely stems from some home issues, illness, or other problems. Once an educator knows the cause, then an action plan to help the student can be made that takes into consider that student's unique set of circumstances. All of my students are in the first grade, which limits how much information I can find from teachers and tests.
3. Identify and justify the target group you have selected
I chose to target the low group so that I can focus on developing new strategies for language acquisition and reading acquisition. It is my first year teaching this grade level and I hope to learn new techniques that I will be able to implement next school year to support my low groups better and hasten their language/reading development.
Create Your Action Research Plan for 2015-2016
1. Identify 1 goal and 2-3 objectives (SMART)
Goal:
Students will improve at least 1 DRA level per trimester
Objectives:
Students will work towards improving fluency and accuracy
I will read with my target group (1 on 1) every other day in order to build their reading skills
2. Describe how you will involve leadership, teachers, families, and students
Different parts of a student's education need to work in harmony in order to ensure the success of different students. Leadership must back initiatives that help students with academic needs as well as students with non-academic needs. Focus should first be on those students with academic needs, providing tutoring opportunities for students to receive further quality instruction and for those with non-academic needs, opportunities for them to grow in different areas (such as music). Teachers and families must communicate in order to make sure that parents know at all times what areas of academic focus their student should have. By letting parents know where a child is academically, providing the tools to improve, and keeping the parents updated, a teacher can help all students reach their academic goals.
3. Identify what evidence you will accept as attainment of the objectives
I am hoping to see students increase their reading scores before the end of the school year, with an increase in fluency, reading ability, and comprehension. Each student will have his/her individual goals and will work towards those goals. Realistically those goals will not be the end of year benchmark expected of first grade students, but realistic figures that the low students will be able to work towards.
Fluency, accuracy, and comprehension are scored individually on the DRA. Fluency is determined by how many words per minute students are able to read. For my target group I found that students at a DRA 3 are reading very slowly while those in the 6-8 range read faster and more fluently. Accuracy varies according to student, the closer he/she is to the next reading level, the more accurate he/she will be on the current reading level. Comprehension is very dependent on the amount of vocabulary a student knows, if a student is unable to communicate clearly in Spanish, then comprehension will be reduced. This is because they will be unable to convey any main ideas or answer basic questions about the text. Answering comprehension questions is introduced in higher DRA levels (20 and above I believe), but none of my students are at that stage yet.
Language acquisition is very important in any bilingual program. Students with larger oral vocabulary, oral fluency, and oral comprehension tend to do really well with reading and writing my Spanish classroom. The DRA test allows for the testing of oral ability through the comprehension questions. This is important because language acquisition follows these steps: first oral acquisition, then reading acquisition, lastly writing acquisition. In order for students to read in Spanish, they must know how to speak and comprehend it. My target group has far more limited vocabulary and oral ability, this shows when asked questions about a text. I will look for any potential oral Spanish tests that I can use to determine the ability of my students.
4. Based on your problem, describe the interventions and systems you will implement
Tutoring before/after school would be the first intervention for students with high academic needs. This will help students practice any skills that they may not be able to otherwise practice in the classroom because of where all the other students are academically, thus preventing a student from falling further behind academically. Grouping students into reading groups with similar needs will also help those students focus on the skills that they need to practice and work on in order to be successful.
5. Identify what data you will collect to monitor progress toward the goals and objectives
In order to monitor student progress, the best data to collect would be ones relating to reading ability. As I have mentioned before, the DRA is able to accomplish this fairly effectively and is able to inform a teacher if student needs to work on basic reading skills, comprehension, fluency, or any other type of reading skills. The DRA score will be taken two times a trimester in order to monitor progress and make adjustments accordingly. For students that score low on the DRA scale, additional tests will be needed: one to determine how many letter sounds a student has and one to determine ability to group syllables together.
In order to monitor student progress, the best data to collect would be ones relating to reading ability. As I have mentioned before, the DRA is able to accomplish this fairly effectively and is able to inform a teacher if student needs to work on basic reading skills, comprehension, fluency, or any other type of reading skills. The DRA score will be taken two times a trimester in order to monitor progress and make adjustments accordingly. For students that score low on the DRA scale, additional tests will be needed: one to determine how many letter sounds a student has and one to determine ability to group syllables together.
6. Identify professional development needed to implement the plan
Leadership would have to provide the resources for teachers to be able to tutor students. In order to teach students based on grouping levels, additional adults in the classroom (interns, aids, etc) would greatly help to keep the rest of the class focused and on task. Having the extra person, a teacher could also use them to help carry out individualized instruction for those students that need it the most
Plan to Monitor Your Action Research Plan
1. Map out a calendar of activities
Trimester 1
Initial DRA assessment of students in September
Organize into groups based on their needs, move students based on need
Assess every 6-8 weeks (for entire school year)
Read with students in low group at least every other week
Send daily book backs, weekly modified homework
Trimester 2
Move students depending on progress made
Schedule SSTs with parents
Tutoring before/after school
Share data with partner teacher, compare needs
Trimester 3
Continue assessments, progress reports
Schedule second SST meeting with parents, provide update
2. Create a timeline for data collection and analysis
First month (September), acquire student DRA data from kinder teachers, sort students into groups. Evaluate students within the first 2 weeks of school, put into similar groups. Determine the type of needs students have: syllable formation, 1 to 1 sound/letter correspondence, or vocabulary.
October: Modify instruction for low group, provide different homework packets that focus on their specific needs, intervention during small group instruction as well.
Reassess students every 6-8 weeks for the rest of the school year to modify individual plans.
Winter trimester: tutoring before/after school to supplement learning further. Look into possible SSTs depending on student progress
3. Plan for communicating progress and results to stakeholders
For parents, I will communicate to them every time a student is assessed. Once a student is assessed, a paper/email detailing what needs to be worked on will be sent home, along with what progress a student has made.
With my partner teacher, we will compare overall DRA scores, look for patterns, and discuss what can be done to better support our students. If need be, we can also group trade those low students (during the school day) so that their group focuses on the skills that they need to work on.
Analyze the Data
1. Acquire and analyze hard data for your school
The type of student achievement data that I analyzed was focused on the development of reading using the DRA2 assessment. The DRA is an assessment that has students read meanwhile the teacher analyzes how students perform. It focuses on reading, fluency, comprehension, and accuracy. It allows a teacher to then assign a criterion based score to the overall reading ability of a student.
From my data, I was able to generate a chart that easily showed the differences in reading levels between students. When graphed, my data showed a rough bell curve, with 4 low students, 5 high students, and the rest in the middle. It also demonstrated the varying degrees of ability between students.
2. Identify questions raised by the data
How can I support students that are performing really well?
What other strategies can I implement to support struggling students?
How accurate is the data?
When would be a good time to reassess students for updated data?
Would I see a bell curve distribution in another teacher's classroom?
3. Identify priority needs that seem to “jump out” from the data
Low performing students are varied in ability and need additional support in order to develop their language abilities. (Most urgent)
High performing students need to be challenged so that they continue developing their abilities.
At level students will also need to improve reading speed and accuracy while maintaining comprehension so that they continue progressing to higher reading levels.
Clarify the Problem
1. Collect additional data (hard and soft) in order to delve deeper
The data that I will be using comes from the DRA2 (Developmental reading assessment) in Spanish. It is an assessment that helps to determine how well students are reading. It allows for determining how students are doing in reading skills, comprehension, accuracy, and fluency in one focused assessment. By using the data gained from the assessment I can better guide how to teach students of different reading levels. I will be targeting my low performing students. The I would like to work with those students is because I would like to learn how to better assist them now and how to assist future students that may struggle with the same type of reading difficulties.
2. Hypothesize root causes and contributing factors for why your data looks like it does
It is important to determine the root cause of any underlying issue for students in order to form a plan that is addresses the underlying issues as to why a student is not performing well. Chapter 4 of our text gives an attendance example, where the student is most likely not performing well because of she is not attending school regularly. This attendance issue likely stems from some home issues, illness, or other problems. Once an educator knows the cause, then an action plan to help the student can be made that takes into consider that student's unique set of circumstances. All of my students are in the first grade, which limits how much information I can find from teachers and tests.
3. Identify and justify the target group you have selected
I chose to target the low group so that I can focus on developing new strategies for language acquisition and reading acquisition. It is my first year teaching this grade level and I hope to learn new techniques that I will be able to implement next school year to support my low groups better and hasten their language/reading development.
Create Your Action Research Plan for 2015-2016
1. Identify 1 goal and 2-3 objectives (SMART)
Goal:
Students will improve at least 1 DRA level per trimester
Objectives:
Students will work towards improving fluency and accuracy
I will read with my target group (1 on 1) every other day in order to build their reading skills
2. Describe how you will involve leadership, teachers, families, and students
Different parts of a student's education need to work in harmony in order to ensure the success of different students. Leadership must back initiatives that help students with academic needs as well as students with non-academic needs. Focus should first be on those students with academic needs, providing tutoring opportunities for students to receive further quality instruction and for those with non-academic needs, opportunities for them to grow in different areas (such as music). Teachers and families must communicate in order to make sure that parents know at all times what areas of academic focus their student should have. By letting parents know where a child is academically, providing the tools to improve, and keeping the parents updated, a teacher can help all students reach their academic goals.
3. Identify what evidence you will accept as attainment of the objectives
I am hoping to see students increase their reading scores before the end of the school year, with an increase in fluency, reading ability, and comprehension. Each student will have his/her individual goals and will work towards those goals. Realistically those goals will not be the end of year benchmark expected of first grade students, but realistic figures that the low students will be able to work towards.
Fluency, accuracy, and comprehension are scored individually on the DRA. Fluency is determined by how many words per minute students are able to read. For my target group I found that students at a DRA 3 are reading very slowly while those in the 6-8 range read faster and more fluently. Accuracy varies according to student, the closer he/she is to the next reading level, the more accurate he/she will be on the current reading level. Comprehension is very dependent on the amount of vocabulary a student knows, if a student is unable to communicate clearly in Spanish, then comprehension will be reduced. This is because they will be unable to convey any main ideas or answer basic questions about the text. Answering comprehension questions is introduced in higher DRA levels (20 and above I believe), but none of my students are at that stage yet.
Language acquisition is very important in any bilingual program. Students with larger oral vocabulary, oral fluency, and oral comprehension tend to do really well with reading and writing my Spanish classroom. The DRA test allows for the testing of oral ability through the comprehension questions. This is important because language acquisition follows these steps: first oral acquisition, then reading acquisition, lastly writing acquisition. In order for students to read in Spanish, they must know how to speak and comprehend it. My target group has far more limited vocabulary and oral ability, this shows when asked questions about a text. I will look for any potential oral Spanish tests that I can use to determine the ability of my students.
4. Based on your problem, describe the interventions and systems you will implement
Tutoring before/after school would be the first intervention for students with high academic needs. This will help students practice any skills that they may not be able to otherwise practice in the classroom because of where all the other students are academically, thus preventing a student from falling further behind academically. Grouping students into reading groups with similar needs will also help those students focus on the skills that they need to practice and work on in order to be successful.
5. Identify what data you will collect to monitor progress toward the goals and objectives
In order to monitor student progress, the best data to collect would be ones relating to reading ability. As I have mentioned before, the DRA is able to accomplish this fairly effectively and is able to inform a teacher if student needs to work on basic reading skills, comprehension, fluency, or any other type of reading skills. The DRA score will be taken two times a trimester in order to monitor progress and make adjustments accordingly. For students that score low on the DRA scale, additional tests will be needed: one to determine how many letter sounds a student has and one to determine ability to group syllables together.
In order to monitor student progress, the best data to collect would be ones relating to reading ability. As I have mentioned before, the DRA is able to accomplish this fairly effectively and is able to inform a teacher if student needs to work on basic reading skills, comprehension, fluency, or any other type of reading skills. The DRA score will be taken two times a trimester in order to monitor progress and make adjustments accordingly. For students that score low on the DRA scale, additional tests will be needed: one to determine how many letter sounds a student has and one to determine ability to group syllables together.
6. Identify professional development needed to implement the plan
Leadership would have to provide the resources for teachers to be able to tutor students. In order to teach students based on grouping levels, additional adults in the classroom (interns, aids, etc) would greatly help to keep the rest of the class focused and on task. Having the extra person, a teacher could also use them to help carry out individualized instruction for those students that need it the most
Plan to Monitor Your Action Research Plan
1. Map out a calendar of activities
Trimester 1
Initial DRA assessment of students in September
Organize into groups based on their needs, move students based on need
Assess every 6-8 weeks (for entire school year)
Read with students in low group at least every other week
Send daily book backs, weekly modified homework
Trimester 2
Move students depending on progress made
Schedule SSTs with parents
Tutoring before/after school
Share data with partner teacher, compare needs
Trimester 3
Continue assessments, progress reports
Schedule second SST meeting with parents, provide update
2. Create a timeline for data collection and analysis
First month (September), acquire student DRA data from kinder teachers, sort students into groups. Evaluate students within the first 2 weeks of school, put into similar groups. Determine the type of needs students have: syllable formation, 1 to 1 sound/letter correspondence, or vocabulary.
October: Modify instruction for low group, provide different homework packets that focus on their specific needs, intervention during small group instruction as well.
Reassess students every 6-8 weeks for the rest of the school year to modify individual plans.
Winter trimester: tutoring before/after school to supplement learning further. Look into possible SSTs depending on student progress
3. Plan for communicating progress and results to stakeholders
For parents, I will communicate to them every time a student is assessed. Once a student is assessed, a paper/email detailing what needs to be worked on will be sent home, along with what progress a student has made.
With my partner teacher, we will compare overall DRA scores, look for patterns, and discuss what can be done to better support our students. If need be, we can also group trade those low students (during the school day) so that their group focuses on the skills that they need to work on.