Revised Action Planning Template and Rationale

This was a really productive week. Trying to talk a bunch of teachers into doing something new is quite a challenge; however, I think I have our entire math team (6th and 7th) on board. The following is the new action template and the results of the meeting I had with my principal / technology mentor. Deep breath, and here we go.

Action Planning Template
Goal:  To determine what impact standards-based grading has on teacher performance and student learning.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research articles on standards-based grading.	Pamela Andrews	Dec 2012/ Jan 10, 2013.	Computer Internet Printer	Discuss with ITRT team to see if what I learned in the articles will change the direction of my questioning.
Meeting with building ITRT (Instructional Technology Resource Teacher) to discuss training needed for the software to implement standards-based grading.	Pamela Andrews ITRT Personnel: John Lacomb	Dec 2012 / Jan 14, 2013	Computer PowerSchool software	Site-mentor will approve the need and any training necessary; also, any changes to software needed to implement standards-based grading.
Determine if/how teachers currently know where individual students are performing on each standard being taught.	Pamela Andrews Middle School math department. All have tentatively agreed to participate.	Jan 6 – Jan 14	Survey instrument given at a math department meeting.	Spread sheet will be used to organize and categorize the answers
Training for Math teachers in standards-based grading.	Pamela Andrews John Lacomb	By Jan 10	Computer, Software, Smart Board, Package containing VA SOL for middle school Math.	Teachers will complete a survey on the training.
Focus group or individual meetings (to be determined), discuss any changes made to instruction based on use of new grading system.	Pamela Andrews Math department	Monthly	Paper / verbal response to questions reflecting experiences with software and reports.	Spread sheet will be used to organize and categorize the answers
Data gathering to compare student scores prior to using the new grading system and after.	Pamela Andrews Melody Sheppard John LaComb	December 2012 Through February 2014	Student records	Prior and ongoing student Benchmark and VASOL scores.

I met with Melody Sheppard (Principal and county Technology Director) on Friday, December 14. We met in her office over my lunch break. Some of my ideas for the research were too broad so Mrs. Sheppard helped me narrow things down to a more manageable size. We went cell-by-cell through the research plan and the following points document the results of our discussion. After getting  most of the math department to agree to participate, I found that they were not willing to do weekly reflection journals. Instead I will take a few minutes at their weekly math meetings and conduct a small focus group. I will either take notes or record their discussion on what they think of the grading system, then if or how they changed their instruction / remediation based on the reports drawn from the grading program. If this is not possible, I will meet individually with each of the teachers before school for a few minutes every other week. Teachers already feel over-burdened with paperwork that provides accountability. I do not want to add to their burden. Student samples will be limited to those who are not receiving additional services such as after school tutoring, enrichment classes, or private tutoring. If a student is receiving remediation already, it will be harder to determine if their growth is a result of the subject of this research or the additional help they are already receiving. The special needs student population will not be included in this study. Our school is already very aggressive in providing additional math services for our exceptional students. They will be excluded for the same reasons stated in point number 2. The gifted student population will not be included in this study. For the purposes of this action research, it will be assumed that the gifted and talented student group will all pass their state tests and not require remediation services. This group of students is often neglected because they excel. This excludes them from the focus of the current action research project. The gifted and talented population would make a worthy study all on its own in this area and may well be one that I pursue in the future. Action Step, “Determine how teachers are aligning their teaching with state standards before using standards-based grading.” will be removed as an action step. It is already the practice at our school for teachers to follow the same mathematics pacing guide per grade level. Each quarter so much of the material is taught and grade level benchmarks reflect how well students perform on each of these standards. This Action Step will be replaced with: “Determine if/how teachers currently know where individual students are performing on each standard being taught.” This is some of the data that can be drawn from standards-based grading. If teachers are not using the software, what are they doing to track this information? The evaluation process will be a focus session at a weekly department meeting. The final evaluation process will include an additional component. My initial idea was to compare quarterly benchmark scores to gain short-term data. Then compare last year’s SOL (standards of learning) test scores to this year’s scores. Mrs. Sheppard suggested that even more data can be gleaned from comparing the benchmark scores to the SOL test. Both are broken down by strands, so comparing how students scored by strand can give additional enlightenment on teaching and learning practices.