Action Research Plan
Increasing
teacher happiness and staff camaraderie thus leading to more relevant and
rigorous lessons from teachers
At my school we have had higher teacher turn-over
rate than one would expect. Over the
last three years our turnover rate has
been between 25 to 30 percent. Other
schools in my district as well as comparable schools surrounding our area have
had a significantly lower turnover rate in the same amount of time. Our human resources department has reported
to our campus administration that many of our exit surveys have reported that
teachers left due to current working conditions. After choosing this as my action research
project, I conducted an anonymous electronic survey with current staff members
to identify specific needs in regards to current working conditions and school
climate. Through the surveys, teachers expressed
concerns with not having common planning periods, meetings such as ARDs and
testing procedures being planned during a teacher’s conference, inconsistent
discipline from assistant principals,
low staff camaraderie, and lack of positive feedback to faculty
members. After reviewing the survey
results the vision for my action research project includes working with the
master schedule and the administrative team to ensure as many core subject
teachers as possible have common planning periods; ensuring teacher’s
conferences are not being taken with meetings and that we are in compliance
with laws regarding teacher planning periods; meeting with the principal about
teachers’ concerns of discipline in hopes of her meeting with assistant
principals in regards to following all discipline referrals in a consistent
manner; and developing organizations at school for boosting teacher morale as
well as an organization that promotes school spirit. “Administrator support is essential, not only
in allowing time to initiate an inquiry, but also in developing in teachers
necessary inquiry skills to pinpoint the issue to address” (Ringler, 2007,
p.28). The building principal ,
assistant principals, campus faculty who participated in survey, and the SBDM
committee were involved in the decision making process. The principal gave permission to me to
conduct this project and the survey based upon the information given from
HR. Once the survey was completed by the
faculty, I reviewed the results and my vision with the building principal. My principal provided feedback and suggestions
for my project and gave final approval for the actions of the project. I presented the data collected from the needs
assessment and survey to our campus administration, SBDM committee, and
faculty. I presented my plan of action
and laid out the action steps with a timeline in accordance with my
vision. I also asked faculty members to volunteer
for our new committees and organizations that are going to be formed to improve
staff climate. Once organizations were
created, the committees elected a chairperson to organize and run meetings as
well as treasurer to handle all monies collected. Student achievement will be increased by
teachers having common planning periods to create more effective lessons and
share lesson delivery strategies. Also,
with the teachers being happy about staff climate, their performance will be
better in the classroom. Teachers will
want to show up at work which will increase teacher attendance. All students whether exceptionally gifted or
having special needs will benefit from happy teachers.
Ringler,
Marjorie C. EdD. (2007). AASA Journal of
Scholarship and Practice: Action
Research an Effective Instructional
Leadership Skill for Future Public School Leaders.
Vol. 4, no. 1. 27-37.
