Action Research Planning Form

Action Research Planning Form

Designed by Cassandra Erkens, © 2014

Context:  

• Conduct with 1 core content area class in Math and Science

• Purpose is to increase student performance and instructional strategies
• Develop common formative assessments in teams of teachers during common planning time
• Administer 2 common formative assessments per unit (1 every 3 weeks)
• Collect data and compare with others on the team.
• Report to department during CPT
• Engage in collaborative conversations regarding results
• Goal:  Increase student achievement on unit assessments
• Encourage collaboration by course
• Improve content specific instructional strategies

Action Research Questions:

How can we best design and employ common formative assessments in highly effective ways? What impact will common formative have on unit assessment grades? Classroom Strategies & Actions Indicators of Success Monitoring Impact Research successful   formative assessment practices Work collaboratively to choose formative assessments strategies from research Collect developed formative assessments (2 for each unit) and baseline data Use Sample Protocol for Developing an Assessment    (©2012 Solution Tree Press) Product:  The collaboratively developed formative assessment. Develop rubrics and grading criteria specific to each assessment. Work in teams to develop    assessments using the protocol (Biology & Geometry teachers) Teams decide what to assess for each assessment in each unit. Collect and Compute the pass rate data from baseline assessments. Collaboratively score assessments during common planning time. Minutes from collaborative scoring session. Identify and document achievement gaps. Google Form:  Collect and compare data by assessment and by class. Survey of teachers: What skills or concepts did you re-teach in response to data collected? Administer and collect unit assessment data. Compute pass rates for each assessment. Conduct an analysis of the pass rates for all formative and  unit assessments.

Resources:

1. Tools for Formative Assessment - Techniques to check Understanding - Processing Activities (K.Lambert, OCPS Curriculum Services, 4/2012)
2. Sample Protocol for Developing an Assessment (©2012 Solution Tree Press)

Audience with whom to share your findings:

• Math and science department during common planning time. Specifically teachers of geometry and biology

Final report expectations:

• Write up your action research findings in a manner that addresses all of the following:
• Share your action research question
• Share the strategies you employed to answer your question
• Share the tools you used to gather evidence that your strategies were working
• Share the data – the aggregate of your findings
• Share the results – any resulting protocols, schedules, templates, policies, etc.

           that you employed as your framed your answer to your question

• Share your new insights and possible next steps you would take IF you were to

           continue the work of action research at the leadership level.