One of the biggest problems I am having with my Action Research project is reaching parents during school hours. Most of the parents work during school hours and the only time to contact them and talk is late into the evening hours. Another problem is that some students contact information is out dated making contact almost impossible. As a whole I must say that this research is proving to be worthwhile. The fights and major discipline issues on campus are down due to the fact that we are getting the parents more involved. As I continue this research and compare it to data from previous years, I think it will prove to be very beneficial. One thing that I have changed due to our campus make-up is, I want to look at this discipline issue focusing on minorities. Minorities make up over 92% of our campus and the major discipline issues are caused by this group. Getting minority parents more involved in the discipline issues is what I am focusing on. As I continue this research, I want to get as many parents and guardians involved as possible because I think this individuals will not only help with discipline issues, but academics as well. If we can keep these students out of trouble and in the classroom, I know this will have an impact on academics. I look forward to continuing this action research project.

I would like to share the progress on my action research thus far. My action research project is off to a good start. I want to know how increasing parental involvement will affect discipline. The first step in my action research project was to identify twenty students to use as a control unit who create discipline problems on campus. I started with ten seventh graders and ten eight graders. These students were on campus last year and had several referrals.  I created a club, The Rebound Club, to give these students a second shot to correct their behavior. I had these students to answers questions about their past discipline problems and what they were going to do in an attempt to correct these problems. There were a lot of answers to the way the kids said that they would correct their behaviors. The next and the main purpose of this research, increasing parental involvement, were to get the surveys out to the parents. This is the part of the research was difficult. There were many barriers. One is not having the correct information on file to send the information. During meet the teacher night, I had the opportunity to talk with some of the parents and explain to them the importance of being involved in their child’s education. One thing that I have noticed while doing my research is that parents really want to know when their child is misbehaving at school. This research is one that I think will not only help this school, but many schools across the district and maybe the state. I look forward to continuing this research and to find out the effect of parental involvement and how it affects discipline.

This first week of school was great. I am now in an administrative position, Director of Student Services, and I think I will be able to help more students in this capacity. At times during the week, I wanted to be in the classroom teaching. I did not know that I would miss it that much. I think we have a wonderful team at school and I look forward to making this school year a great one. I have started collecting data for my action research project. Parental involvement is something that is important for all schools. Great Week!!!!!!!!!!!!

ACTION PLANNING TEMPLATE
GOAL:	To examine the results of increasing parental involvement in discipline issues at school
Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Identify twenty students as a control unit who create discipline problems on campus and have them answer survey questions on discipline issues.	Troy D Tatum and the students	In September, 2012, these students will be identified and answer the survey questions.	Pencil/pen, paper and copier.	Analyze the findings and develop a plan to involve parents in discipline issues within the classroom.
2. Give parents a survey to find out their responses on being involved in discipline issues on campus.	Troy D Tatum and the parents	In September, 2012, these surveys will be passed out during a PTA meeting. The student’s surveys will be completed and turned in within a week.	Pencil/pen, paper and copier	From this survey, changes will be implemented in order to get more involvement from parents.
3. The twenty students will be interviewed on a one-on-one basis to see what is causing their behavioral issues in class	Troy D Tatum	November, 2012	Paper and pencil/pen	With the parents now involved and having determined what are causing the behavioral issues; changes will be made in an attempt to change these behavioral problems
4. Analyze the data that has been collected.	Troy D Tatum, Assistant principal and site supervisor	January, 2013	Computer access to any discipline issues that have occurred.	Computer access to any discipline issues that have occurred.
5 Write a self-reflection on the effect of increasing parental involvement in discipline issues at school	Troy D Tatum	The completion of the action research project	Microsoft word and data collected	Self- Reflection and Evaluation on actions that need to take place after research is done.

Lessons learned from Week 2

One of the lessons that I learned from week 2 was offered by Dr. Kirk Lewis when he said that research should be practical. The reasons he gave why it should be practical also "hit home". I truly believe that when doing action research you should be interested in doing it, be focused on the outcome, and it should be beneficial to the students. I think that the research we are doing should be done to improve the education of our students. 


Talking with my site supervisor and getting his input on my action research project was very interesting. The research project is one that I have great interest in. I think parents should be more involved in the education of their children. Great lesson this week!!!!

Week One- Blog 2

July 18, 2012

There are probably several ways that educational leaders could use blogs. One of the ways that could be very beneficial is to keep parents who may work through the day and unable to attend a meetings abreast of what is going on at the school. the parents could access the blog and be able to provide feedback on an issue.

Educational leaders could also use blogs to get information to their staff when they may be away from school. This allows the staff to see what needs to be done and make comments on different issues. Blogs are just an amazing way to get information out.

July 18, 2012

Week One Assignment

One of the first things that I did for this assignment was to look up a definition for action research. A definition that I chose was provided by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory: Action research is inquiry or research in the context of focused efforts to improve the quality of an organization at its performance. Action research can be done by an individual or collaboratively as a team. One of the most important aspects of action research is that feedback is required. Feedback is the major difference between action research and the traditional form of research in an educational setting.

Action research is a circular type of research. That means you try something to see if it works, if not you investigate and see why it did not work, and finally you make changes. If not, you then repeat the process. some areas of this research may not take as long as other areas. As mentioned above, this type of research is circular; therefore it may require repeating certain steps while not repeating others. People who are affected by the change are usually involved in the research. Action research takes a situation and tries to solve the problem by using data and collaboration to implement a plan to solve the problem the problem that was being investigated.

Action research can be very beneficial in the educational setting. It allows for individuals or groups to research a problem and try to make a change to solve that  problem. Action research may not be the first type of research that was developed, but it is the one to implement if one truly wants to bring about a change.