Lessons learned from Week 4

My revised Action Research Plan is posted below.  

I made one minor change to the original plan.  I met with the other elementary instructional coaches this week to share my action research plan.  They decided that they would like their campuses to benefit from my research.  Whatever changes are made on my campus will be made on their campuses, as well.  So, when I send out my initial survey next Friday, they will be sending out the same survey to their campuses.  This is all so exciting!  The ball is rolling!

Action Research Plan
Goal: Investigate a master schedule that incorporates special programs (resource, ESL, speech, G/T, dyslexia, etc.) into the daily schedule resulting in fewer pull-out programs and less transition time lost for students and teachers.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Survey classroom teachers (district-wide) to see how they feel regarding the number of pull-out programs students participate in and amount of time that all students are present in the regular education classroom.	K. Blevins	November 5, 2010	Survey	Gather data from surveys
2. Meet with other elementary instructional coaches to share goal of research action plan and gather input on current scheduling concerns from their campuses.	K. Blevins	October 28, 2010	Action Planning Template	Meeting Notes
3. Meet with District Coordinators to discuss their program needs:  ESL, Dyslexia, Special Education, and G/T.  Share scheduling concerns from meeting with campus coaches and teacher surveys and principal survey. Introduce idea of action research plan and trying to include district programs in the campus master schedule, as opposed to operating as separate pull-out programs.	K. Blevins Instructional Coaches District Coordinators	November 2010-December 2010	Survey data from teachers, principal, and coaches.	Meeting notes.
4. Research schools in surrounding districts – Focusing on elementary schools that use a master schedule that incorporates special programs (resource, ESL, G/T, speech, dyslexia, etc.) into the daily schedule, reducing the number of pullout programs.	K. Blevins	November –December 2010	Websites for surrounding elementary schools	Sample master schedules from elementary schools similar to ours.  These schedules would be examples of what I am hoping to provide for our campus – schedules with less pull-out programs.
5. Schedule visit to nearby elementary school to see sample master schedule in action.  Take district coordinators, elementary principals, instructional coaches	K. Blevins Instructional Coaches District Coordinators 3 Elem. Principals	January 2011	Paper to take notes during visit and note any questions.	Debrief after meeting to share insight during school visit.  Meeting notes.
6. Reconvene after site visit to nearby elementary school to discuss how LDISD programs can work using this change in master schedule.	K. Blevins Instructional Coaches District Coordinators 3 Elem. Principals	February 2011	Paper to take notes	Meeting notes. Proposed Master Schedule for 2011-2012 school year
7. To gather enthusiasm with staff, take grade level lead teachers out to visit nearby school to see how their master schedule works.	Grade level teachers from SSE K. Blevins	March 2011	Team Lead Teachers	Meeting with teachers following visit to gather opinions about how the schedule will fit SSE and reduce pull-out concerns.
8. Share proposed 2011-2012 Master Schedule with teachers during PLC time	K. Blevins Principal Grade level Lead Team Teachers	April 2011	Proposed 2011-2012 Master Schedule	Feedback from teachers
9. Implement improved master schedule at SSE for 2011-2012 school year.	Principal	August 2011	2011-2012 SSE Master Schedule	2011-2012 SSE Master Schedule
10. Survey teachers (district-wide) about how they feel about the number of pull-out programs students participate in and amount of time that they have where all of the their students are present in their classroom.	K. Blevins	September 2011	Survey	Gather data from surveys