My Action Research Study

As I mentioned before, I work as a special education teacher in a Title I school that didn’t make AYP in math. As the math special education teacher, I'm excited to implement an intervention for special education students that my district is providing. I would like to determine if this intervention helps my students be more successful in math, so I've decided to do an action research study on this topic.

 

The purpose of my proposed action research study is to investigate the impact of the math section of the program SuccessMaker on any differences with third, fourth, and fifth grade special education students’ scores on the Scholastic Math Inventory, which is an indicator for whether students will pass the math state exam.

 

The significance of my proposed action research study is that administrators, teachers, parents, and the community will know whether SuccessMaker is an effective intervention to help our school meet AYP in math. Special education teachers will know whether the implementation of this program is worth the effort to help students make growth in math. District leaders will know whether the program is a worthy investment to help special education students meet AYP in math. Students will know that SuccessMaker will help them be more successful in math, making it more likely that they will pass math and the math state exam.

Killeen, we have a problem!

My school is Title I and did not meet AYP last year because of Math sub-groups. The district is providing an intervention for special education students in an effort to improve this sub-group. As the special education math teacher at my school, I’m responsible for implementing the intervention, a computer-based program that I supplement with small group instruction focused on areas of difficulty.

 

I’m excited about implementing the program because it seems promising, and it’s the first time special education has been given anything to use with our students. I would really like to see if the program provides the results that the company promises, so I decided to explore this topic. For my action research project, I would like to determine if this intervention increases students’ math levels. Our district requires us to give the Scholastic Math Inventory (SMI), a computer-based assessment, to all third, fourth, and fifth graders at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year. I’m going to compare Fall 2012’s growth on the SMI, without the intervention, to Fall 2013’s growth on the SMI, when the students will have the intervention. I plan to include in my research only those students who have had at least 5 hours of intervention time, as 10 hours is the expected goal for the year.

 

  Not making AYP is clearly of critical importance. If we don’t make AYP again this year, our school will have sanctions. I don’t want my sub-group, Math Special Education, to be the reason we have those sanctions. In the fall of 2012, most of my inclusion math students’ SMI scores went down, while the resource students, with whom I work in a small group every day, went up. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to meet with all 47 students every day, but this program would give students the opportunity to get targeted help in their areas of difficulty. I can then provide small group support two or three days a week based on areas students still have difficulty. I believe that an action research study would be beneficial because it will determine if this intervention helps my students make more growth in math.

How can we use blogs?

Educational leaders can use blogs as an online journal. Blogging allows leaders to document their thinking throughout their action research. Capturing thinking can be an effective tool throughout inquiry because it can lead to critical insights. Furthermore, blogging gives educational leaders a place to store their thoughts in order to share them with colleagues or return to them at a later time to gain new insights. Blogging can be a very effective tool throughout the process of action research.

What is action research?

Action research gives educational leaders the opportunity to be more actively involved in the study of their administrative practices in order to make change to improve their schools. Instead of guessing at what will work, or simply following ideas provided by outsiders, educational leaders using action research have the opportunity to analyze the data at their own schools to determine the best course of action to make improvements. They gain further insight by studying relevant literature, and then use this knowledge along with their data-based concerns to make changes at their school based in research. This process allows educational leaders to have deeper insight into their role of making improvements in their schools.

Action research will be a valuable tool for me to ensure that the interventions I provide for my special education students are effective. Instead of hoping that what I'm doing is working, I can use data and relevant literature to determine whether specific interventions are leading to the improvement in student performance that I expect. If they aren't, then I can reflect on the reasons why and determine a new course of action. Is it because the intervention isn't being provided with fidelity? Is it because the intervention itself isn't effective? Using action research, I'm able to reflect on my practice, collect and analyze data, read relevant literature, and then make changes to the interventions as needed, based on what I've learned. This process will be much more effective than merely guessing or hoping that what I'm doing is working.