My action research appears for the most part to be on track as designed although some of the actions have and are requiring a little more time to complete. It’s hard to account for or adequately apply enough time needed especially when coaching and team leader responsibilities have shaved away crucial time in an already full daily schedule. Of the eight steps in the process I have completed three of them, and working on completing two others while the other three are steps that will take the entire year in order to acquire the appropriate data. I have met with my site supervisor and administrative team to discuss implementation of action research and I have identified the at-risk population on my role for the incoming sophomore class and interviewed individual students in all my world history classes. I am currently researching data on dropout and retention rates for the past three sophomore classes in regards to at-risk demographic population. Additionally I’m developing the questionnaire to address the various areas regarding the factors that encourage/discourage parental involvement and the affect they have on pass/fail rates for students who are classified under any demographically at risk category. Once completed the questionnaire will be distributed to parents and relevant teachers of the students on my roster identified under any of the “at-risk” demographics. Researching effective parental involvement strategies is a step I still need to complete. Steps that will be ongoing throughout the year will be tracking assessment data from unit, quarter, and semester tests as well as grade checks quarterly. At regular intervals throughout the year I will meet with my at risk sophomores to gauge their sense of success in relation to the parents involvement.
