Week 5 Discussion: Consensus Building...

After reading the articles from this week, the common tie I found was that in order to build a consensus among faculty and staff an administrator must first earn trust and buy-in. Without trust and buy-in from ones faculty and staff collaboration and reaching decisions is almost impossible. Communicating and being transparent with faculty and staff members is key to building that trust. It is important to listen to the needs of teachers and students and to fulfill those needs in order to be productive in other areas, student achievement and test scores for example.

At my school the process of consensus building is very similar to the strategies mentioned in this weeks articles.  Our school has worked very hard the past two years to cultivate a positive culture and climate. This was done through team building, open door policies and humbling ourselves a little to the idea that we don't know it all. Our school also has a SBDM committee (site based decision making committee). This committee is comprised of one teacher from each grade level, specials, SPED, parents and community members. Our chairperson is our VP; she is responsible from creating agendas and running meetings. Our SBDM committee has worked very hard to build trust with one another and also an open mind to ideas and suggestions.  All of this is possible because of the way our principal and VP are so transparent and open with us. 

One strategy for consensus building that comes to mind is one that my principal uses quite often. When we come to her with a dilemma instead of her giving us her input she turns the tables, she asks us "what do you think" or "what would you do" when she does this she empowers us and lets us know that our opinions are valued

ARP post for EDLD 5326

My inquiry question is: How do students who attend pre-k perform on the DMA verses those students who did not attend pre-k.  The idea is to show how vital pre-k is to a students academic success.  What I have done so far: I have met with administration and all kindergarten teachers and discussed my inquiry question as well as revieved their approval for viewing test scores at the BOY, MOY and EOY.  I have created a spread sheet usig excel to separate students who attend pre-k and those students that did not.  Once scores are received I will input the data and then analyze it.  I am hoping to see in difference among students in kindergarten that attended pre-k and those that did not.   Have received scores for the BOY DMA. So far I have been able to input scores into the excel spreadsheet, I have not had a chance to analyze the scores and focus on the different groups; attend pre-k, did not attend pre-k. I plan on analyzing scores next week when we have a week break between classes. Once I have done all the above I will be updating my followers on my blog. I am looking forward to their comments and any feedback or suggestions that they may have for me. 

ARP progress

So it has been a while since my last post...
We have just finished all DMA testing and I will be receiving a copy of kindergarten scores. My next step will be to put their scores into the spread sheet I created. I am hoping to see that students who attending pre-k scored higher than those students who did not.

Update on ARP...

Our district has finally posted the testing schedule. Some assessments start tomorrow and will continue into August. I am hoping to have my test results from kindergarten DRA, DMA and TPRI by the beginning of October. At that point I will being to analyze my data! :-D Wish me luck!

Week Four Update

After reviewing everyones comments I have made a few changes to my ARP.  Before I being my research at school, I will research ARP that have already been done at other schools or institutions with my same topic in mind, also thanks to Kyle who said "are you making a distinction of kids that went to pre-k at a public school vs ones that went to a private school or daycare type of instution? 
Also possbibly another area would be if it was a full day program or a half day program." I will now be including this distinction in my excel spread sheet where I will be imputing student data. I will have a section that indicates if the student attended a half day or whole day if if the institution was public, private or a daycare setting. Thank you all for your wonderful feedback!

Goal/Wondering

Goal: To be able to see through research and data collection the difference in assessment scores for students who did attend pre-kindergarten verses those students who did not.

Wondering: Do students who attend pre-kindergarten perform higher on BOY, MOY and EOY assessments (DRA, DMA, TPRI) in kindergarten than those students who did not attend pre-kindergarten?

Action Research Plan

Activities	Recourses/ Research Tools Needed	Person(s) Responsible	Time Line	Benchmarks/ Assessments	Evaluation Throughout Action Research
Meet with kindergarten teachers to group students into two categories: attend pre-k/did not attend pre-k.  Be sure to note if students attended a full/half day pre-kindergarten and if the institution was public or private. Use information to create a list. Also, research this topic to see what others findings are.	Kindergarten class lists and enrollment cards for all kindergarten students.	Brittani Copenhaver Kindergarten Team: Laura Bolton Amalia Davis Claudia Trujillo Stanisha Williams	August 19 – 23, 2013	n/a
Create a spreadsheet using excel. This is where student names and test scores will be entered at BOY, MOY and EOY.	Student list that was created with kindergarten teachers, August 19 – 23, 2012	Brittani Copenhaver	August 19 – 23, 2013	n/a	n/a
Analyze BOY assessment data and share it with Kindergarten team and administration.	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores.	Brittani Copenhaver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013).	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze MOY assessment data and share it with Kindergarten team and administration.	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores.	Brittani Copenahver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013).	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze EOY assessment data and share it with Kindergarten team and administration .	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores.	Brittani Copenhaver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013).	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze BOY, MOY and EOY data all together. Compare scores of students who did attend pre-kindergarten the previous year and those that did not.	BOY, MOY and EOY data that was entered into spreadsheets throughout the year.	Brittani Copenahver	May, 2013 after all testing is complete and scores have been returned to Kindergarten teachers.	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Compare scores of students who did attend pre-kindergarten the previous year and those that did not. Create a visual to organize data.
Meet with Kindergarten teachers to discuss results from BOY, MOY and EOY assesments for DRA, DMA and TPRI. Also, locate research that shows how to help students who did not attend pre-kindergarten.	BOY, MOY and EOY data that was entered into spreadsheets throughout the year.	Brittani Copenahver Kindergarten Team: Laura Bolton Amalia Davis Claudia Trujillo Stanisha Williams	May, 2013	DRA, DMA and TPRI	If students who attend pre-kindergarten the year before performed higher on assessments how can we assist students in kindergarten that did not attend pre-kindergarten?

Action Research Plan...

Activities	Resourses/ Research Tools  Needed	Person(s) Responsible	Time Line	Benchmarks/ Assessments	Evaluation Throughout Action Research
Meet with kindergarten teachers to group students into two categories: attend pre-k/did not attend pre-k. Use information to create a list	Kindergarten class lists and enrollment cards for all kindergarten students.	Brittani Copenhaver Kindergarten Team: Laura Bolton Amalia Davis Claudia Trujillo Stanisha Williams	August 19 – 23, 2013	n/a	n/a
Create a spread sheet using excel. This is where student names and text scores will be entered at BOY, MOY and EOY	Student list that was created with kindergarten teachers, August 19 – 23, 2012	Brittani Copenhaver	August 19 – 23, 2013	n/a	n/a
Analyze BOY assessment Data	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores	Brittani Copenhaver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013)	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze MOY assessment Data	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores	Brittani Copenahver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013)	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze EOY assessment Data	Kindergarten Teachers class list report for DRA, DMA and TPRI assessment scores	Brittani Copenhaver	TBA based on district testing schedule that will be released the week school starts (August 26, 2013)	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Enter data into the excel spreadsheet that was created for comparing pre-kindergarten attendees and non-attendees.
Analyze BOY, MOY and EOY data all together. Compare scores of students who did attend pre-kindergarten the previous year and those that did not.	BOY, MOY and EOY data that was entered into spreadsheets throughout the year.	Brittani Copenahver	May, 2013 after all testing is complete and scores have been returned to Kindergarten teachers	DRA, DMA and TPRI	Compare scores of students who did attend pre-kindergarten the previous year and those that did not. Create a visual to organize data.
Meet with Kindergarten teachers to discuss results from BOY, MOY and EOY assesments for DRA, DMA and TPRI.	BOY, MOY and EOY data that was entered into spreadsheets throughout the year.	Brittani Copenahver Kindergarten Team: Laura Bolton Amalia Davis Claudia Trujillo Stanisha Williams	May, 2013	DRA, DMA and TPRI	If students who attend pre-kindergarten the year before performed higher on assessments how can we assist students in kindergarten that did not attend pre-kindergarten.

Action Research Plan

Goal: To be able to see through research and data collection the difference in assessment scores for students who did attend pre-kindergarten verses those students who did not.

Wondering: Do students who attend pre-kindergarten perform higher on BOY, MOY and EOY assessments (DRA, DMA, TPRI) in kindergarten than those students who did not attend pre-kindergarten?