Week 3 Assignment, Part 3

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

 

Morning Study Hall:  Does it Increase Weekly Quiz Scores More Than After School Study Hall?

 

Vision:

The goal of my action research plan is to increase the number of African-American and Hispanic students attending a tutorial program on a regular basis.  This program is designed to increase students study skills, test taking strategies, and to develop higher retention rates through varying levels of practice.  The purpose is to support existing programs and offer additional services to students at our school.

Needs/Reasoning:

            We have a high level of socially economic disadvantaged students on our campus.  In our district we have the highest number of students that qualify for free lunch.  Our Hispanic population is the highest in the district and our African-American population is the second highest in the district.  A large number of our students are faced with having to go from school and be a “parent” figure at home by watching their younger siblings.  Because they must go straight home, these same students that need extra support and more one on one direct teaching are missing out from the benefits of a tutoring program.  My district has put an emphasis on after school tutoring which works for most of the schools in the district, but evidence indicates that after school programs do not work for the students on our campus.  With a morning tutorial program, we will be able to get the students with a fresh mind at the beginning of the day, instead of hoping they show up at the end of the day when they are tired and worn out.  The table below indicates a need for increased attention in the sub group areas of African-American and Hispanic:

Sub Group	% of Population	% of Population that Attend Tutorials	Mean Quiz Score in 8th Grade First Two Weeks
African-American	34	31	58
Hispanic	46	28	65
White	12	35	77
Male	43	44	66
Female	57	50	72

The information shown above indicates that for every 100 African-American students, less than 32 of the students are attending tutorials.  For every 100 Hispanic students, less than 28 students are attending tutorials.  We can reach every single one of those students before school, given that the students attend school on a regular basis.  There is a decided need to reach the African-American population as the science scores indicate.  Our greatest potential for growth is in science, which is why the program will use science quiz scores as a standard for measuring growth.  Science also gives weekly quizzes using an electronic clicker device which allows me to gather and desegregate date instantly.

Literature review:

            During my review of similar research, I came across a literature review conducted by the NorthWest Regional Educational Laboratory.  In their review of afterschool literacy programs, they concluded that “activities in after school programs must be engaging (Britsch 2005).”  The key words in this conclusion are “must be.”  With morning tutorials, the student is fresh and easily has the capacity to tackle more rigorous levels of work.  Because the student does not have to be given the bells and whistles treatment in the morning to hold their attention, it is easier for the math teacher or science teacher to cover more technical work.

            When is the best time for a student to learn information?  That is up to the student.  Research indicates that the population is split.  A portion of the population learns well in the morning and the other portion of the population learns best at night (Pytel 2006).  The question is then, what is going to affect the student’s learning capacity?  I found two things will affect the student’s learning capacity:  the teacher and getting the student in the situation that a teacher has a smaller ratio to work with.  Pytel illustrates that teachers work best in the morning and are more tired after lunch.  If the teacher is supposed to be the one who makes the difference and impacts the student’s learning capacity, it would make sense to have morning tutorials rather than afternoon tutorials.  The teacher is more energetic in the morning (on the whole) than they are in the afternoon.  The other part is getting the student in the environment that a teacher can have more focused instruction.  If the student cannot attend afternoon tutorials or is sluggish in the afternoon, why would we ask them to attend afternoon tutorials?  If the student has to take care of family business every day after school, how can we reach them on a more individual level?  We cannot reach them unless we provide those support structures at a different time.

This is a program I have been wondering about for a few years.  We have a campus full of students that have a thirst for knowledge, but have a very poor work ethic.  We also have a problem where the students are roaming the halls in the morning and it feels like they are wasting time.  At times the front office is cluttered with students looking just to talk to someone or keep from sitting around in the hallway.  I am looking to give students a purpose in the morning time.  We have a section of class time every day that is set aside for DEAR time (drop everything and read for 15 minutes).  This time could be added to the first part of the day along with morning announcements and then students are released to first period. The intentions of this study are to create an environment in the mornings that give students a place to connect with each other, their teachers, and have quieter place for them to study and get help with homework.  This decision was made with the advice of my building principal and the associate principal (my site supervisor).

Sharing the vision:

            I have not shared much information with the staff to date, because the data is still young.  The plan has been shared with the administration and with the department chairs of each core team.  Once we have collected substantial data to allow us to make conclusions, I will lead a professional development class that will allow me to disseminate the findings to a large group.  At this professional development, I will discuss the purpose of my research and the pros and cons of morning tutorials.  I will also share student insights that will give perspective to the program.  The program has been shared with parents who attended open house.  I discussed the purpose of having morning tutorials and the reasons I believe the program will be successful.   I choose to start at open house, because I wanted to boost support for the program.  We have a lot of parents that talk to each other outside of school and I hope that this will get them to talk about the program and garner the support of other parents who were unable to attend open house.

Management of organization and operations:

            Several tasks had to be completed for the initial start of the project.  The first task was to collect data to support a need for the program.  Because we are a Title I school, all tutorials on our campus require a sign-in sheet.  Each sheet is kept with the Title I coordinator for data purposes in case we need to demonstrate our efforts to support student learning.  I worked with the Title I coordinator to put together the necessary data for my project.  We used the sign-in sheets for the spring semester of 2012 to find out which subgroups and gender were attending tutorials most frequently.  This information was used in conjunction with last year’s AEIS report to build the initial data table.

            I then went to the 8^th grade science team to get a gain support from the program in one of the core subjects.  Since the science department gives quizzes each week, I saw an opportunity to have an objective measurement of success.  These teachers are going to provide me with the average score for African-American, Hispanic, white, male, and female students for each weeks quiz.  They can easily provide this information because of the clicker system they use and the program that the data loads into automatically.  Both teachers have agreed to tutor twice a week in the afternoon (school and district requirement) and then after eight weeks, they will tutor only in the mornings.  The numbers of each session will be given to me for each of the subgroups.  I will then, at the end of the semester, analyze the data to determine if there is an increased need for morning tutorials or if there is no significant increase. 

Responding to special needs:

The biggest need our students have is a safe place to work and study.  When they leave school, they have other responsibilities to take care of, such as watching siblings or even having to go to work.  We have a large group of students, over half, that fit into this category.  They need help getting organized, they need more time to study, and they need direction on how to study.  In the afternoons, they have to leave to take care of family business, and education sits on the back burner.  By incorporating a morning study hall that is more than “by appointment” we can avoid students wasting their time sitting idle in the gym or cafeteria.  Many of our students would best be served devoting that time to reflection or extra practice.  We would help out a great amount of students by offering morning tutoring, and there by helping ease some pressures at home by getting away from the traditional after school tutorials.  We also service the students by helping them when they have a fresh mind.  At the end of the day not only is the student tired from learning, but the teacher is tired from working.  There is more vigor in the mornings which should lead to higher retention.  Morning tutorials also set the stage for the day.  When a student starts their day off by tackling trouble areas, they are primed for the rest of the day.