It has come later than expected however my week three of the project work was very full. I am not sure if all are aware but I recently had to move to a new district because my husband's company decided to move us to the Houston area. I am now with FBISD at Sugar Land Middle School.
I met the principal at the job fair in June and with no vacant positions she recommended me for an Instructional Specialist position at her campus in the Science Dept. I jumped at it but soon after she called me about a teaching position too. During my interview and at the first meeting there was a very positive repor and chemistry from this new administrator. Whether taking the leadership position or the teaching position I knew we could work well together. I did accept her offer of the science position and am very excited about it. I was called for an interview for the other however did not get it. I am fine with that since this is new ground for me to build a foundation on. However in the interview I was clear on the role I would like to take on soon in my career and she along with dept head and assoc. principal assured me I could be involved in many areas of leading. We discussed in detail the informatin I have provided in my Action Research Plan. Unfortunately until school begins since I am three hours away meeting about it more has come to a hault. I am very sure once I have met the rest of my colleagues this will change.
Please feel free to review detials of my plan that I will post and privide feedback for me to use in the future.
Here are some detials of my last report:
ReplyDeleteWhat accommodations will be provided for all ESL/ELL students leaving a dominant Spanish classroom to full inclusion classroom of English instruction? How will student success be determined to ensure enough progress is being made that they will be able to take and pass English standardized tests to pass high school level exams and graduate?
The reasoning behind the study is that with a dominant student population group that makes up a majority of the campus AEIS data, tests scores can be improved upon with a change in instruction. Most students by middle school are required to take tests in English or have an accommodated test. If students can be immersed in the language of which they will test in scores are bound to improve and student success rates increase as well as drop out rates decrease at the 9th grade level.
I will be using all forms of testing data from the past two years on each grade level to assess proper findings. My team will examine what concepts of instruction were lost in possible translation issues regarding scientific vocabulary and writing skills; since these are the two lowest areas of performance. Once a period of time has passed with students in these classrooms and teacher feedback has been viewed we will begin the brainstorming of what various accommodations are being provided compared to what other resources are available to improve student learning. Each student in the study will be assessed individually by common assessments and other forms of assessment to further data analysis.
ACTION RESEARCH PLAN
Goal: What accommodations will be provided for all ESL/ELL students leaving a dominant Spanish classroom to full inclusion classroom of English instruction? How will student success be determined to ensure enough progress is being made that they will be able to take and pass English standardized tests to pass high school level exams and graduate?
Action/Steps Persons Timeline Resources Evaluation
Responsible Start/End Date
1. ESL/ELL students with low performing scores will be placed in regular edu all English classes. Administrators, counselors (scheduling), ESL teachers, and regular ed Teachers and Campus and District Instructional Specialist (math and science) August 23,2010 – June 4,2011 Since these are 8th grade Science and Math students; their district 4th, 6th, and 7th grade scores of all standardized tests taken. Unless the student is new to the United States; at which he/she will not be in the inclusion program because of insufficient data. 1, Regular Ed classroom summative and formative assessments
2. Student progress will be monitored after each test and afterschool tutorials will be mandatory for any failing. Classroom science, math, English, and ESL teacher; who will only be there as an instructional aid to assure the student has proper materials to work from. The program will also provide afterschool one hour tutorial sessions 3 days a week for at risk students after the first 3 weeks of progress has been reported. Regular Ed classroom assessments with ESL/ELL accommodations and district tests such as Benchmarks etc. 2. Pre- TAKS tests ( district created tests) that are not in Spanish
3. Departments will share test and other supportive data with co- teachers to assess progress after 6 weeks. Science, Math, English Departments 3. Final evaluation before allowing these students to take TAKS or TAKS A; will be a comparison of all tests generated thus far along with English reading and writing skills test
4. ESL teachers will meet with Regular edu teachers to help with feedback and determine if student is still at risk or able to perform
Looks like a good plan Katrina. A couple things to consider that I've noticed at my campus when dealing with improving lower scores of students. How will you encourage the students to attend the mandatory tutorials. I've often seen despite whatever consequences, students will skip these tutorials. Also, in what medium will departments share data? Will the sharing be included into department/faculty meeting agendas or will teachers need to schedule a different time to share? Would it be possible to share data through online software such as Mizuni or even a privately created Wiki to maintain confidentiality?
ReplyDelete