Goal: After reviewing the 5th grade TAKS scores from the 2009-2010 academic year, a discrepancy was noted between our school’s subpopulations, specifically our African American population and economically disadvantaged populations. The goal of my action plan is to close the achievement gap by bringing all of our subpopulations to 90% passing and 50% commended on the science TAKS test by implementing new teaching strategies and there by increasing the students’ confidences in scientific inquiry.

Action Plan Steps -

1. Campus Improvement Plan – review data and determine a need for the campus

Person(s) Responsible: Terre McKinney, Sue Post, Diane Zelezinski, Catherine Olano

Timeline: May/June 2010

Resources: TAKS data

Evaluation: Scores show that while 100% of our white and Hispanic students passed the 5th grade science TAKS test with 75% and 74% scoring commended respectively, only 86% of our African American population passed with 38% scoring commended. The difference for our economically disadvantaged population is 86% passed with 43% scoring commended.


2. Rice University/ ConcocPhillips science cohort - attend the year-long cohort for training on various methods of science instruction.

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano

Timeline: Aug 2010 – May 2011, every Tuesday for the 2010-2011 academic year

Resources: Materials from Rice cohort, Car/gas for transportation, Substitute for class instruction for the day, Monies from campus funds to pay for substitute

Evaluation: Participation and implementation of methods in classroom instruction

3. Student Survey – survey the students three times during the year regarding their feelings about science instruction and their confidence in scientific inquiry and science concepts.

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano

Timeline: Aug 2010, November 2010, April 2011

Resources: Paper for survey, Copy clicks to run survey, Spreadsheet to track responses from students

Evaluation: Student ratings in their opinion of science instruction, confidence, and scientific inquiry increasing as the year progresses.

4. District Benchmark Assessments – 5th grade students will take the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd administrations of the DBA

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano, Kristin Bryan, Leia Unsworth

Timeline: October 2010, December 2010, March 2011

Resources: Assessment, Campus Online

Evaluation: Results of DBA

5. Disaggregation of data by subpopulation - compare various subpopulation data to last year’s data

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano, Diane Zelezinski, Erika Sanders, Terre McKinney

Timeline: October 2010, December 2010, March 2011

Resources: Campus Online, DBA reports

Evaluation: Assessment data

6. Science TAKS Test – students will take the TAKS test

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano, Kristin Bryan, Leia Unsworth, Special Education Testers

Timeline: April 2011

Resources: TAKS test

Evaluation: Data results

7. Disaggregation of data by subpopulation - compare various subpopulation data to last year’s data

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano, Diane Zelezinski, Erika Sanders, Terre McKinney

Timeline: May 2011

Resources: Campus Online, TAKS reports

Evaluation: Assessment data

8. Professional Learning Committees – Each team will have a monthly meeting to share strategies learned and support science learning. An administrator will attend the meeting to offer support and advice.

Person(s) Responsible: Catherine Olano, Teams, Administrative representative

Timeline: Aug 2010 – May 2011

Resources: Team meeting agenda and schedule, District Scope and Sequence, Planning resources

Evaulation: Evaluate team meeting agendas for collaboration and learning opportunities.

Week 2

As I began to decide what specifically I wanted to use for for this project, I began to see how easy it is to get off topic. Everything I looked at seemed to broaden the scope of the project. I really see the importance of having an end goal in sight before beginning the details of the project. The more I thought about 5th grade science issues and talked to people, the more jumbled my ideas got.

Reading all of the ideas of ways to use action research truly broaden my understanding of action research and made me see it really has endless uses and possibilities. I am excited about taking my turn with this project. It will be a great tool for my administrator tool-kit.

How can I use blogs?

As a future leader, research blogs can be useful. Having other leaders share their experiences and making contructive comments to my own ideas is always helpful. I know that I do not have all of the answers. Learning from the successes and experiences of other administrators is a wonderful professional development tool.

What I learned and how to use it!

When I looked at the schedule of classes for our masters program, I was very intimidated by the Research title for this course. I have to admit that my idea of research is reflective of old school thinking. After reading the chapters in the text I an overwhelming sense of relief passed over me. To actually be able to put into practice and affect my own classroom practices is an exciting prospect. The idea of action research as a way to reflect on the needs of the campus, investigate possible changes, put those changes into action and evaluate the results, appeals to me as a science teacher. As educators we constantly need to evaluate our success and learn from our failures.

I hope to use the action research plan to better reach the students in 5th grade science. As the only science teacher for this upcoming academic year I am feeling considerable pressure in regards to the success of the students. In addition to that, I have been given the responsibilities of science coach for the campus. I hope to use what I have learned to improve my own teaching practices and also show the importance of science in the lower grades’ curriculum.