Action+Research+Plan

ACTION RESEARCH PLAN

How are the new Promethean Boards helping with student achievement? How can the teachers be helped in utilizing this technology to affect student achievement? My goals are to see if the Promethean Boards that my site mentor’s district installed last year are meeting the expectations of the district, teachers, and students. I will start by doing research on the use of the interactive board and view any demos or sales aides that are available. I will look into articles and other data about the use of interactive boards and their use. This will include the expectations that are generally held about the boards use and helpfulness in improving classroom learning.

Talking with my site mentor and other administrators will come next. I will survey them about: I will observe as many teachers as possible in different schools, grade levels, content areas, and programs that have a Promethean Board installed in their classroom. I will also survey the teachers to see: Since I am not a school employee there are some privacy issues when it comes to students that prevent my seeing things about them including scores. I am working on how (and if) I can conduct a student survey on the results they see from the use of the boards. I should start my observations in November and continue them over the school year. After all surveys are in at the end of the year I will be able to compile the data during the summer. Implementation of this plan falls on me, my site mentor, and possibly the Curriculum Director with the later two helping me set up times to visit school campuses and teachers to do the observations. I will also have to get permission from the Curriculum Director concerning any area dealing with student data. The process will be monitored in individual classrooms through the observations. I will use both the observations and surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the Promethean Boards.
 * What led to the decision to purchase the boards?
 * What expectations do they have for the boards?
 * Have they seen any results yet that they can share?
 * What expectations did they have for the boards themselves?
 * What expectations were given to them by the district?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;">What training did they have in the use of the board? Did they feel adequately prepared?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;">How do they see the boards helping their students? Do they have any data to share?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I will continually update my site mentor and my blog on the progress on my action research project. This will include the background information of the inquiry, how the inquiry is being conducted, what I have learned, and the conclusions reached. The final product will be posted on my wiki and presented to my site mentor. I will also let any teachers/ administrators that I observed/ visited with (as well as any others interested) know about the progress and conclusion of the inquiry.