Week 3: Action Research Plan!

School Vision: Smith Middle School provides an engaging and rigorous learning environment through the collaboration of the entire school community. Our supportive atmosphere promotes critical thinking and problem solving so students will be prepared to meet the demands of an ever-changing society. Goal: Implement the use of effective differentiated instruction to increase student performance among middle school language arts/reading students Action Step(s) Person(s) Responsible Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation 1. Provide introductory training to all reading and language arts teachers in the philosophy and implementation of Differentiated Instruction in the middle school classroom. Campus CCIS team August 17, 2010 from 8:30-11:00 AM 1. Pre-assessment 2. Post-assessment 3. Training materials for the expert and novice groups 4. Implementation plan template for each teacher to begin thinking about their own implementation of DI Pre-assessment: Teachers will be assessed at the beginning of the training to see what they already know about DI. “Experts” will receive a more advance training while “novices” will receive the introduction to DI. Post Assessment: All participants will complete a survey using “Survey Monkey” to evaluate the training, what they learned, and questions they still have. 2. Individual conferences with teachers Language arts & reading teachers; LA/R CCIS September, 2010 Conference guide to set teacher goals for DI implementation Meet with each teacher on the LA/R teams to set individual goals for DI implementation 3. Conferences with grade level LA/R teams Language arts & reading teachers; LA/R CCIS October, 2010 Conference guide to set team goals for DI implementation (based on data gathered from individual teacher conferences) Meet with each grade level LA/R team to set team goals for DI implementation 4. Provide ongoing training via PLCs, team planning, classroom observation and modeling DI lessons ELAR CCIS team along with ASCD consultant assigned to campus August 23, 2010-May 15, 2011 1. ASCD articles about DI 2. Sample KUDs with planning grids for teachers 3. Monthly training materials and activities for the pillars of DI (Respectful Classroom, High Quality Curriculum, Ongoing Formative Assessment, Respectful Tasks and Flexible Grouping) 1. Classroom observation 2. Reflections at PLC/team meetings 3. Teacher feedback 4. ASCD observations 5. Conferencing with teachers and ASCD consultant 5. Implementation of DI one step at a time based on teacher readiness Teachers (with the guidance of CCIS and ASCD consultant) September 15, 2010-June 4, 2011 1. Planning grids for KUDs and tiered lessons 2. Pre-assessments 3. Tiered lessons 4. Post-assessments 5. Learning style surveys 6. Interest surveys 1. Classroom observation by ASCD consultant and/or CCIS 2. Student performance on formative and summative assessments 3. Teacher conferencing and feedback 4. Student conferencing and feedback 6. Evaluation of year-long DI implementation Teachers, CCIS, ASCD consultant May 15-31, 2011 1. TAKS Results 2. SFA Data 3. Teacher survey 4. Student Survey 1. Data dig using TAKS results to determine growth of students from 2010 to 2011 school year 2. Data dig using SFA data to determine growth of students during the course of the year in reading & writing 3. Compile input from teacher surveys regarding DI implementation and its usefulness/effectiveness. 4. Compile input from student surveys regarding DI implementation and its usefulness/effectiveness.