Action Research For Small Groups Draft Plan

Action Research Inquiry Research Question:
What happens to struggling students when they are pulled for a small group in the classroom setting verses an out of classroom pull out setting? In what ways can our teachers develop the most effective learning environment for these struggling students?

Goals
1. To provide a safe and productive learning environment for all students.
2. To increase struggling students success rate by offering them the most effective small group learning environment.
3. To decrease the amount of struggling students.

Activities Designed to Achieve the Objectives:

1. Conduct a Needs Assessment:
The TPRI test is given at the beginning, middle and end of the year for all students K-2. Based on the results of the test, struggling students will be placed a small group. The small group setting will provide students with skills that they need to succeed. These skills would include academic skills, social skills, and a safe learning environment for all students.

2. Select members for the small group research committee:
Members of this committee will include 3 Classroom Teachers, 3 Reading Specialists, 3 Parent Volunteers, myself, and the principal. Should any conflict arise, the principal will assist in making changing to the committee. The committee members will serve a one year term. If further research is needed, members can stay on the committee in they choose.

3. Obtain shared measureable goals:
Members of the committee will come up with goals for the district on their small group policy. These goals will be shared by the entire elementary campus that pulls small groups. The committee members will use previous data and new data when available. They will also use literature on small groups to develop a list of goals for the struggling students at Rockdale ISD who use small groups. The members of the committee will also develop a blanket form to fill out each week on each students weekly summary.

4. Conduct a staff development with teachers to explain small group plan:
A staff development will be held to discuss and explain the new goals for struggling students in the small group setting. 3 teachers will be chosen to track their struggling small group. The teachers and reading specialists will be required to fill out a weekly summary of each student in the group. The teachers will be asked to present sample work, test scores, and their weekly summary for their topic for students in their small group each six weeks. The reading specialist will be asked to present the same.

5. Have Six Week Meetings to Discuss:
At the end of each six weeks, the 3 teachers, reading specialists, myself, and the principal will hold a meeting to discuss each child that is struggling. During this meeting we will review work samples, test scores, and the weekly summary from both the teacher and the reading specialists. We will discuss and concerns, questions, or comments anyone should have. We will talk about the direction that we are headed with each child. These meetings will be conducted each six weeks until the end of the school year.

6. Conduct End of Year Evaluation:
The last meeting will be held after the 5th six weeks. During this last meeting we will discuss each child in detail and our findings. We will decide if small groups work best in the classroom or with the reading specialist based off of our data from each child. We will put all of the results together and make suggestions based off of them. Our findings will then be used to help struggling students succeed in the future. We would discuss recommendations for each child, as well as the small group environment for the next years students.