Action Research Plan

Action Planning
Goal: To determine if student use of cell phones is effective for classroom instruction and improving communication between school and home thereby increasing student achievement.  What are the pros and cons of student use of cell phones for learning? Do the pros outweigh the cons, or do the cons outweigh the pros?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Meet with school principal (site mentor) to identify the needs or topics for action research	Suzanne Manzano Dr. Lori Broughton	October 2011	List of concerns, problems, or wonderings	Are the topics discussed important to the campus?   Do the topics under consideration lead to improvement of student and/or campus performance?
Analyze data	Suzanne Manzano Dr. Lori Broughton Debbie Boehm	October 2011	NetDay Speak Up Survey Data for students in grades 6-8 Parent survey results from the two classes that will be involved in the action research project	Has understanding of the data increased?  Have additional questions or ideas been sparked by the data review?
Develop deeper understanding via additional data collection and examining qualitative data	Suzanne Manzano	October 2011 – November 2011 and revisited throughout the action research project	Follow blogs by Dr. Liz Kolb – leader of utilizing cell phone technology as a learning tool Subscribe to tech learning  RSS feeds Search the Internet for pros and cons of using cell phones in school Perform additional interviews and possibly surveys
Engaging in Self-Reflection to summarize activity and engage in metacognition to develop a deeper  understanding of the problems, solutions, and benefits of using cell phones in education	Suzanne Manzano	October 2011 – end of project	Blog and reflection forms	Have reflections caused deeper understanding and identification of problems, solutions, and benefits derived from the use of cell phones for learning? Are choices and consequences of policy decisions addressed in reflections?
Explore Programmatic Patterns including asking questions, identifying data patterns and gaps, and addressing equity issues	Suzanne Manzano	October 2011 – end of project	Reflections, blogs, surveys, interviews, AWARE data, observation of student behavior, grade trends	Are identifiable patterns visible?  Are connections drawn between data and use of cell phones?  What are the grade trends for the group utilizing cell phones versus the group not using cell phones?  Does the data help drive policy decisions?
Determine direction: Work collaboratively to address action research questions, monitoring progress, and assessing achievement	Suzanne Manzano Dr. Lori Broughton Debbie Boehm	October 2011 – end of project	Action Research Plan	Are the research questions clear? Are the timelines realistic? How will the success of the plan be evaluated?
Take action for school improvement.  Monitor action plan (formative evaluation) and prepare a summary report (summative evaluation) to recommend campus policy for student use of cell phones for educational  purposes.	Suzanne Manzano Dr. Lori Broughton	November 2011 – end of project	Data and reflections gathered during the course of the project	Based on the data, was the original action plan question effectively (goal) answered?
Sustain improvement	Suzanne Manzano Dr. Lori Broughton	Ongoing during and after action research project	Findings of action research Share via blogs, team meetings, department meetings, faculty meetings, and at TCEA in February 2012 (proposal has been accepted by TCEA)	Have the findings of the action research project been appreciated and maintained over time?  Have the findings been shared with others?