Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan

Increasing teacher happiness and staff camaraderie thus leading to more relevant and rigorous lessons from teachers

Setting the Foundation-  After speaking with several faculty members throughout the course of this school year about staff climate and faculty camaraderie, I believe our school needs improvement in this area.  Improving our staff climate will make teachers happy about being at work and feel a sense of value, thus improving their performance in the classroom and leading to increased academic success.

Analyzing the Data-  In a school population with a high percentage of students classified as low socio-economic status, these young people need a teacher who will serve as an advocate who truly cares about the student.  In order for a teachers to give students their total commitment, the teachers must feel the same commitment from the administration.  Observing data collected from our faculty through a survey could help implement a plan to improve school climate and faculty participation and camaraderie. 

Developing Deeper Understanding-  Teacher happiness is the most important aspect of any school.  Teachers are the most influential positions at schools, since they have the most contact and immediate positive or negative responses for students.  In order for our teachers to be the immediate positive response to our students, they must be happy with work.  In order for teachers to feel happy about work they need to know their opinions are valued, have a sense of voice in the school, and need to feel part of a team, i.e. staff camaraderie, rather than an individual being thrown to the lion’s den.  Teachers are compassionate being or they would not have chosen this field.  Being compassionate can also lead to someone who is easily defeated if not properly taken care of, so it is of the utmost importance that staff climate is highly focused on by school administration.

Engaging in Self-Reflection-  Who can serve as positive role models for young people who do not have a support system at home?  How can teachers serve as this role model if they do not feel a sense of happiness about their job?  What can I do to ensure that teachers, paraprofessionals, and administration foster a sense of faculty camaraderie and positive school climate to ensure students are getting the best possible environment for academic success?

Exploring Programmatic Patterns- After meeting with my site supervisor she and I both agreed that the action research that would be most beneficial to our school would be - How can our administration keep teachers happy and develop a sense of faculty camaraderie? Teachers are the backbone of every school.  They have the most immediate influence over students.  When teachers feel wanted and have a sense of ownership in the school, they will be more productive and provide more meaningful instruction.  This will ultimately give our students the opportunity to achieve at a high level.

Determining Direction-  I will create and conduct a staff survey for all non-administrative faculty members questioning various aspects of school climate and faculty participation and camaraderie. Second, I will help create a climate committee with at least one member of each curriculum team (Math, Science, Social Studies, ELA, LOTE, CTE, Fine Arts, Health/PE, SPED) and instructional and office Para-professionals.  Members will be nominated by their respected team but will not include current department chairs to allow teachers who normally do not have a voice in meetings to participate.

Taking Action for School Improvement- The newly formed committee will analyze the data from the staff surveys and discuss the positives, negatives, and suggestions the survey provided and what possible trends we see in the survey. The committee will brainstorm ideas for improvement  and collaboratively form a plan of action to present to administration to effectively enhance school climate and staff participation. Administration will evaluate and make additions or subtractions to the recommendation before implementation.

Sustain Improvement-  After implementation of activities to increase camaraderie and school climate for the remainder of the year,  I will re-evaluate the staff with the same survey to see if the new data about staff climate has changed from the previous survey.  Once we see teacher morale and camaraderie has increased we will look at student data to see the improvement in achievement.