Action Research Project: Improving Teacher Practice

Project Overview

Purpose

The purpose of my project was to provide focused professional development on Universal Access Strategies supported through grade level collaborative (GLC) meetings and reciprocal peer observation in order to improve the quality of instruction for English Learners, a struggling subgroup at our school. However, all learners stand to benefit from the school-wide implementation of the four Universal Access Strategies: cooperative and communal learning environments, instructional conversations, academic language development, and advanced graphic organizers.

What are Universal Access Strategies?

Focused Professional Development

Teachers participated in a variety of professional development opportunities focused on building capacity with Universal Access Strategy use.  Some of it was whole-staff professional development delivered on Banked Time Tuesday.  Teachers also continued their conversations into their grade level collaborative meetings.  Finally, teachers paired up with a colleague of any grade level to observe and be observed by, in order to build capacity of access strategy use in their instruction.  Teachers were not limited to any particular subject area and were not required to submit any lesson plans.  The only two stipulations were that during the observation they make note of access strategy use and that they debrief with one another after the observation.

Project Goals:

• Our school has adopted the four access strategies as outlined in the SPSA, yet we have found that most classrooms were not using them and those who were displayed opportunity for growth. Therefore, our first goal is to provide ongoing professional development and grade level collaboration around the Access Strategies throughout the year.

• Some teachers expressed their feelings of isolation from one another, yet are reluctant to open their classrooms up for learning walks. Therefore, the second goal is that there is 100% of the teachers on staff open their classrooms up to a colleague and participate in the reciprocal peer observation cycle.

Rationale and Relationship to School Goals Already in Place

This project supports findings of school Spring Review for 2012-13 school year.  The school review team, which included teachers, administration, and parents, chose to adopt the district's four access strategies that support English Learners and Standard English Learners along with students with disabilities. Teachers also stressed the need to see the strategies in practice and more opportunities to learn from one another.  The four Access Strategies are also cited as a focus for instruction in the school's Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA).

Teachers need support with using strategies that support all learners.

According to the SPSA and the 2013 School Spring Review, English Learners who make up more than 50% of our student population, are not receiving access to the core curriculum.  Their scores took a dip in ELA at all grade levels.  In fact, percent proficient rates were not met in any subgroup in ELA or Math.  And though the percent proficient or advanced for all students remained unchanged at 42.7%, among our English Leaner subgroup there was a 4% drop.  Math CST proficiency among all students had a 7.9% drop.  However, among our English Learner subgroup there was a 14.2% drop.  The classroom observations during the Spring Review brought to light that teachers are not consistently implementing Access Strategies to support all learners as a part of their instruction.  Because the use of Access Strategies (Cooperative/Communal Grouping, Academic Language, Graphic Organizers, and Instructional Conversations) is an instructional focus listed in our SPSA, the Spring Review team decided to make it a focus area for improvement.  The LSLC met to review these findings and used the data to plan out professional development designed to meet the goals set in the 2013-14 SPSA and 2013 Spring Review.  The plan for professional development included: PD focused on implementation of Access Strategies, CCSS, grade level planning, and a peer observation cycle.  The peer observation was to be focused on building teacher capacity of Access Strategy use to provide equal access of the academic program for all learners, especially English Learners.

Collaboration and Ethical Considerations

The action research team consisted of the Principal, Title I/EL Coordinator, RSP teacher, teachers and parents (members of Local School Leadership Council and ELAC).  The role of the action research team was to provide input with planning of professional development, including reciprocal peer observations, assisting with the development of the project timeline, and support with analysis of school data.

As noted in the timeline above, throughout the entirety of this improvement plan, various stakeholders were consulted.  Any plans, forms, or data collection attempts were jointly developed with our school’s Local School Leadership Council (LSLC), which includes our Principal, UTLA Representative, Parent Representative, parents, and teachers.  Teacher surveys were anonymous.  Student survey/focus group was also designed to be anonymous, but teachers did not wish to have their students participate.

Data and Results Analysis

Teacher Survey

Edith Galvan, SRLDP teacher and Local School Leadership Council (LSLC) member, helped me develop a teacher survey to assess teacher attitudes and knowledge surrounding the series of professional development events that were implemented from August 2013 through November 2013. These included a focus on implementation of Access Strategies to support all learners, CCSS in ELA and Math, grade level collaborative planning, and one round of peer observations.  Members of the LSLC including parents, teachers, the school principal, and the UTLA chapter chair reviewed the survey and suggested that we clarify the language on a few items.  After the revisions were made, the survey was developed as a Google form and emailed to all teachers on Tuesday, November 12, 2013.  Teachers were asked to complete the survey as part of their grade level meeting that day.

The format of the survey was quite simple; teachers were asked to indicate to what extent each statement was true by ranking from 1 to 5, 1 being not at all and 5 being completely or 100%. Thirty teachers participated in the first cycle of PD and Peer Observations.  Twenty-six of them completed the survey.  In the summary below, answers of 1 or 2 are categorized as “Disagree”, answers of 3 are considered “Neutral”, and answers of 4 or 5 are categorized as “Agree.”

Results of Teacher Survey

Reflection

Ultimately, what I am trying to accomplish is improved student achievement for all learners, but especially for marginalized groups such as English Learners and Students with Disabilities.  As discussed above, few teachers at Carson-Gore Academy were making use of the four Access Strategies: Cooperative/Collaborative Groupings, Instructional Conversations, Academic Vocabulary, and Advanced Graphic Organizers, even though these are listed as an instructional focus in our SPSA.  English Learners (who make up over 50% or our population) are not gaining access to core content.  As a social justice educator I have a responsibility to all students, including groups of students whose academic needs are not being met.  It is my contention, that if we make a collective effort at our school to build teacher capacity of Access Strategy use through a more holistic approach, we will be more effective in our efforts to improve teacher practices that are designed to meet the needs of English Learners.

Teachers, much like their students, learn more effectively when they are able to focus on a set objective that they perceive as being relevant or of value.  They learn more by exploring and doing rather than being lectured to.  And, as my research suggests, providing teacher with quality and focused PD is not enough.  That is why my improvement plan also incorporates opportunities for praxis and reflection through peer observation and feedback sessions in addition to grade level collaboration and planning, all of which should focus on topics presented at PD.  This allows for teachers to continue their learning and conversations beyond the PD and apply new pedagogy into their instruction.  Peer observations provide them with opportunities to learn from their peers and provide their peers with constructive feedback for them to continue refining their practice as well.

It was a true measure of success that the teachers themselves suggested how to make the process more structured, and that they are eager to continue.

My overall goal was to see evidence of access strategy use in ALL classrooms (even if to varying degrees), 100% participation in the peer observation cycle, and enough positive feedback from the staff to continue developing (and adding additional layers of depth) to the peer observation cycle.  My principal has reported seeing evidence of more widespread Access Strategy use, but we are still not at 100%. At the conclusion of the first cycle, teachers completed an online survey and attended a staff meeting to debrief about the first cycle of PD and peer observations.  Teachers were asked how we could refine the process, whether we can establish an even clearer focus by choosing just one of the Access Strategies to work on, and whether a feedback form with guiding questions would help.

Overall, teachers find Access Strategies and Peer Observations as valuable and relevant to their work.  However, they also reported that the PD provided was not sufficient enough to prepare them for full implementation at this point.  They want more opportunities for PD, grade level collaboration and planning, as well as more opportunities to conduct peer observations.  Teachers also decided that we should choose one Access Strategy to focus on; a majority chose Cooperative/Communal Groupings as the focus strategy.  Finally, teachers also decided that we should develop a feedback form for to teachers to use during the peer observation in order to facilitate a more effective debrief session.

We will use the input from the staff and various stakeholders to continue refining the process for our second cycle of PD and PeerObservations as well as developing our new SPSA and categorical budgets for 2014-15.  I anticipate that the SPSA writing team will consider including measurable outcomes related to implementation of Access Strategies. Additionally, it would be of note if they were to include focused PD and GLC meetings paired with Peer Observations in the new SPSA, which will ultimately guide all instructional and budget related decisions made at the school in the future.

Supporting Documents

• Action Research Prezi Presentation
• PDSA Cycle
• Literature Analysis

• Teacher Memos