EDLD 5301-Week 4

For this particular Action Research Plan, I have partnered with my CTE Director, David Berrier. Mr. Berrier has a passion for students and their future career development. He is very innovative and listens to his teachers for furthering that innovation. Since he has an open door policy we sat in his office at the Administration building and discussed the options available. We have talked a lot about elective choices and whether we are meeting our student’s needs. At this time we both feel we are meeting those needs but we are not sure that the students are adequately taking the opportunities that they are being offered. We can offer a lot of different types of electives but then does it get to be almost a marketing ploy where the best advertisers get the students? Shouldn’t the students take classes they are interested in as a future career? The real Action Research Plan is to learn ways to encourage the students to really explore careers now through the classes that are being offered. The main change we decided on was just this instead of trying to change the selection process instead emphasize ways to teach and inform students better about what is available to them as electives and eventually future careers.

EDLD 5301-Week 3

What is the relationship between the electives students choose and the results of their career aptitude testing instrument?

Why do students choose certain electives? Is the program of studies easy to use?

Goals and objectives:

The goal of this research is to make it easier and more effective for students to choose electives. These electives might impact the rest of their lives.

Activities:

Survey students, counselors, and other key players in the creation of the program of studies and course selection.

Resources: The use of survey’s from students, counselors and principals. Other schools will be asked how they handle the course selection and the making of schedules for students. The use of 4-year plans will be researched through the Internet and asking other schools about their practices.

Internet, student and counselor survey’s, software

Timeline: see attached document 7.1* attached below Part 3 assignment

Persons responsible: Allene Pennington, David Berrier (CTE Director) and Vanessa Harry (lead counselor)

Process for monitoring: After course selection monitor program for ease of use by students, teachers, and counselors.   

Assessment: compare the selection to last years and make adjustment for future years

1.            Examining the work: Setting the Foundation-

Many students do not choose electives according to their future career aspirations. They are given a program of studies (book with all of the course selections) which many do not look at or share with their parents. Each student is given a skills and aptitude test that identifies their interest for future careers. The problem is that the students do not use this information when choosing electives. The question is what we (as a school) can do to make the choice of electives easier and more beneficial for the students.

2.            Analyzing data-

Student schedule changes are quite prevalent. The number of changes will be compiled by the counselors. Many students do not turn in their course selection card and are randomly assigned courses. Students do not choose electives according to their career test results.   

3.            Developing deeper understanding-

Additional information will given by the counselors, the CTE director and Bridget Winstead (SASI expert) to decide what the issues are and what issues need resolving. A questionnaire will be given to the students to develop a more efficient course elective process. The electives should correspond to the student’s 4-year plan.

4.            Engaging in Self-Reflection-

At this time I do not have all the resources needed to really make the changes needed. I will have to get buy in from some very key players within the campus. This may be very difficult and may take increment changes that are less dramatic than what is being proposed.

5.            Exploring Programmatic Patterns –  

There could be some problems in developing a course selection according to career testing. Many students may want to take programs like AVID and ROTC and these may not be identified by the testing tool. A resolution for special programs will need to be developed before implementing a new course selection tool.

 6.  Determining direction-

  At this time the direction is still taking shape. The more I think about the scope of the issue the more daunting it becomes.

7.  Taking action for school improvement- Completed chart 7.1 on next page.

8.   Sustaining improvement –

The nominal group setting will be used to evaluate the new course selection process. The group will consist of the counselors, CTE Director, CTE Coordinator, and Allene Pennington. There should be a debriefing and suggestions for further improvement.

The revamping of the course/elective choice procedure can possibly ruffle quite a few feathers. The first step is to get the backing of the CTE department since it can impact them greatly. The counselors are who could possibly become the most resistant to change. They have used the same process for course selection for ten years and it does seem to work but is slowly becoming inadequate. The principal is the third person to get on board. She will need to have input into the topic and keep abreast of all changes in the system. The fourth person will be our SASI Aid because she works with the new system and has the most experience with process. The above order is not necessarily the correct order because getting the SASI Aid on board first is probably going to make it the most successful. The above persons on a committee would make it the most successful. During the committee meeting I would discuss the reason for choosing the change in course selection and the logic behind choice overload. The committee meeting would conclude with some ideas that would incrementally change the system. Time would also be allowed for brainstorming more ways to improve the system.      

EDLD 5301-Week 2

What an interesting book? Many times when you HAVE to read a book it is not something you look forward to reading. I love the 9 passions because they are passions that most teachers share. Plus, what an excellent way to show how action research can be done in each of the areas and it does not matter what grade level you are in they all have similar but different problems. As future administrators we must always be innovative in our thoughts and be able to get the teachers on-board with a vision of the future.

EDLD 5301-Week 1

Choices! In the United States we have more choices than most other countries. We have the choice of where we live, what schools we attend and what kind of classes we want to take at the secondary level. The students can take Spanish, French or German as a foreign language. They can take a culinary class in some high schools or auto tech. Students have so many choices and yet they seldom take the classes that lead to their future careers. Do they have too many choices? Are schools offering the right classes.

Action research will allow this question to be stated in a very direct manner. The question will be "Are high school students offered the correct number of elective choices?". This is a reflective question that needs to be asked of the school administration. Though there are a lot of other factors that go into what is being offered. For instance, our high school is one of the top schools for those who enter the military after graduation. Yet we have no ROTC program. Would a ROTC program increase the military enlistee numbers? Research will need to be done to determine if the ROTC impacts the military enlistee count.

The benefits in all of these cases and in the use of action research are because it focuses on student achievement and supports reflective practice. The second thing it does is it provides opportunities to work, discuss, and solve problems with your peers.

Blogs would be the perfect way for peers to exchange ideas. Time is a key factor in most educators life. We just don't seem to have enough of it. Blogs would allow for each team member to post their ideas when they have time. It is hard for all the team members to be available at a certain time for a meeting so this would certainly make allow good ideas to be shared when they were thought of and not a week later when they could be forgotten.