Action Research - "What actions can our high school faculty take to close the math achievement gap for our economically disadvantaged students?"

1.SETTING THE FOUNDATION –

•A need for improvement: The advancement of the economically disadvantaged (ED) students of my school in the area of math.

2.ANALYZING DATA – (Quantitative)

•Variety of data gathering: List of economically disadvantaged students, AEIS report, TAKS data, electronic searches through the internet, knowledge of Principal and Associate Principal

•Likely findings:
There are solutions that require a change in teaching strategies.
There are solutions that require a mentoring program.
There are solutions that require both.

3.DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – (Qualitative)

•Survey ED students that are at risk of failing their class and/or their TAKS test.

•Interview a random sample of ED students for deeper understanding of the survey.

4.ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION -

•What actions can our high school faculty take to close the math achievement gap for our economically disadvantaged students?

•Are we not doing what is needed to build the student’s confidence and thus their abilities to learn math at a higher cognitive level?

• Do I have the ability to convince 20 other math teachers to individualize instruction for these students if needed?

• Will the solution require more than we can do as a school? Can we intervene at home?

• Have I adequately addressed the issue?

• Do I have a reasonable plan?

• Is this bigger than me?

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS - The achievement gap between ED students and non-ED has existed for a long time across the nation. Some believe that the gap is due to the large amount of minority students that are also economically disadvantaged. I realize that my inquiry is in the heart of the NCLB movement. I am attempting to see if I can make a difference to the few students that are at my school in one subject area. Maybe it will help them in other areas by raising their confidence level. Helping the students at the same time will help the school. I, also, see in my school some bias toward these students. Some are labeled as “beyond help”. Some teachers prefer to concentrate on the students that are “in reach” of success. Unfortunately, some student’s low academic performance is due to circumstances in their home life and beyond the school’s or the student’s control. What can we do as a staff that we are not already doing to help these students see that there is hope for success for them in math?

6.DETERMINING DIRECTION –

• I need to stay focused on my original action research question: “What actions can our high school faculty take to close the math achievement gap for our economically disadvantaged students?”

• I understand where my resources will come from at my school. Some of the needed resources have been obtained or made available to me in the past.

• I will establish a collaborative team with math teachers, counselor, and principal as soon as we return to school.

• I believe my timelines are realistic. If they prove not to be I will adjust them.

• The monitoring of the plan will come at the completion of each step in the action plan with the assessment instrument.

• Success will come with improvement with the ED student’s math class passing rate and TAKS scores for math. We won’t be able to determine the success until at least the end of the 2010-2011 school year and possibly the 2011-2012 school year.

7.TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT – In reference to the “Action Plan” template:

• I will assemble a team of math teachers to implement the results of the action research project on our campus. Since many of the ED students will be spread among many math teachers, it will take the help of those teachers to work with the students.

• If non math teachers are needed outside the department for mentoring purposes, I will assess that at the appropriate time.

• I hope to have some sort of implementation in place by the spring of 2011.

8.SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT – To be determined:

• Should this project prove successful, I will then determine the best method for sustaining it. At this point, I prefer the “Force Field Analysis” strategy.

• I will be happy to share it with other schools in my district and on my blog.


Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.