Action Research Design April 9, 2011

Cynthia R. Schaub Florida Atlantic University College of Education Action Research Dr. Michelle Vaughan

Introduction When I approached my principal about doing action research for our school, an online virtual K-12 public school, she said that if I were to do such a project, it should be something that would have a positive effect on the lowest 25% of our students. The students at our school are fairly high on the average reading level. Our lowest 25% of readers average a lot higher than the average lowest 25% of readers at schools, based on my own experience of many years at a school in the inner city. I took her advice and designed an action research study that would help our lowest 25% of readers, but I also left the door open to reach all of the students at my school. My study is aimed at helping students become more proficient at reading comprehension, through reading for pleasure and writing activities in a school reading blog. School/Community Context The school is a virtual school, a franchise of Florida Virtual School, in Palm Beach County, called Palm Beach Virtual School or (Florida Virtual School Franchise). There are eight teachers with an average experience of ten years. Two of the teachers are reading endorsed and 50% of the teachers are ESOL endorsed (or certified). One of the teachers is National Board Certified. There are two social science teachers, one science teacher, two math teachers, one teacher who teaches 10 various courses from computer careers, web design, and keyboarding to courses in physical education and health. I teach reading, critical thinking skills, language arts, English, global studies, world cultures, history, and geography. I am multi-certified, and our school looks for teachers who have such a forte because it helps when classes need to be changed due to teacher leaves, sickness, firings, and excesses. We have one principal, a secretary, a curriculum specialist, a guidance counselor, and various other staff members, such as exceptional student education specialist and resource teachers.

The motto of our school is that, The student is at the center of every decision we make. We do not have a set mission statement, but a commitment to follow the tenets of our school improvement plan and the mandates of the School Advisory Councils by-laws, which also follow the concept of the learning being student-centered. Our curriculum is set. It was diligently written by the Florida Virtual School curriculum staff to follow all state and national standards. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACI) and the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA) accredit the virtual school. The Florida Virtual School motto is any time, any place, any path, any pace (FLVS). Our school meets the needs of the students who do not fit into a traditional school. This includes unwed mothers who keep their babies, home-schooled students, hospital home-bound students, and students who just need a few credits from failing in previous years showing promise that they are ready to take these courses and graduate. As the chair of the School Advisory Council (SAC) at my school, I wrote the School Improvement Plan (SIP). As a part of this plan, one of our goals is to increase the reading level of our lowest 25% of students through the use of a school reading blog, as shown in Table 1 on page 4. This goal in our plan is indicated in the table. I chose to use it for my action research project design implementation because it is a goal in which the teachers are responsible for the documentation and not the administrators. The reasoning is that many students within the lowest 25% of reading comprehension are within Dr. Jeanne Challs Frustration Cycle of reading (Chall, 1995). This means that they have shut down because many of them have never experienced the pleasure of reading for reading sake, or they have never experienced the feeling of completing an entire novel. The idea is that once students learn to read for pleasure, they will realize that reading is not a chore, not impossible, but a rewarding experience.

Table 1. School Improvement Plan for Lowest 25% This table is the portion of the school improvement plan geared toward the struggling readers.

Demographics The school is in its second year of operation and in the first year of operation, there were not enough students in any one category to be included in Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) data except for the White-Non Hispanic Caucasian sub-group of students. In the current year, with an average of 150 students, the demographics are about the same with the majority of students in the White-Non Hispanic Caucasian sub-group. With a projected growth based on twice the enrollment this year as last year, it would seem that next year the demographics may match the district average more closely. The district average for school year (SY) 2010-2011 is 36.8% White-Non Hispanic Caucasian, 28.5% Black, 28.1% Hispanic, 3.1% Asian, .7% Indian, and 2.8% Multicultural. Additionally, the figures include 14% in the Exceptional Student Education sub-group (ESE) students and 8% gifted students (2010 School Demographics). Since the virtual school requires students and families to provide their child (ren) with a computer and Internet access, the demographics of the school may lean slightly more towards families with higher than the poverty income level. It also indicates that there may be slightly less ESE students and a slightly higher number of gifted students due to constraints and demographic variables in relation to these two education sub-groups. Focus of Research Project The focus of the research project is to determine the effectiveness of the blog and to adjust the website according to the findings in order to be used next year more effectively than this year. The focus is mostly for the lowest 25% of the student body, but also it will reach the rest of the students (150) in our school. This lowest 25% of our students are mostly students who do not enjoy reading, are disengaged from other students, and are introverted. I gathered this

inference from the monthly phone calls we are required to conduct, and the fact that low-level readers tend to be shy in talking to the teacher on the phone. Intervention The proposed intervention for the students at the school is to employ the virtual school book blog as an extra credit tool that will enhance the reading comprehension of the lowest 25% of the student body through the use of writing in the blog as journal activities, writing original poetry and short stories for sharing, and writing about literacy interests according to genre. Students will also be encouraged to respond to others for extra credit in addition to anything they write themselves. Research Question In what way does the implementation of a reading blog, in which the students are given extra credit for writing participation to include their own poems, stories, and opinions about books theyve read, affect student comprehension, as seen through diagnostic test scores, teacher anecdotal records, and document analysis of student artifacts printed out from the blog? Rationale The rationale emanated from reading course materials, in finding that boys especially enjoy free writing and will more willingly blog (McPhail, In Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009, p. 193). This knowledge helped to fuel the prospect of not knowing that one of the tenets of our School Improvement Plan was already set up to help the lowest 25% in reading because there is a connection between reading and writing. They work together at strengthening the other skill. Therefore, the rationale for this research study is to build writing skills and, in turn build the reading skills of our lowest 25% through our school blog. http://weblogs.pbspaces.com/fvssharingspace/

Importance to Researcher This project is important for the benefit of the students in our school. They are at the heart of everything we do and teachers must reach the students who struggle the most with reading. This is because reading is foundational to the success students have in every other endeavor they embark on in life. Students in the frustration cycle need motivation. Vision of Impact My vision of the impact of this initiative/research is that we may move forward to keep revising and implementing the blog in more advanced and improved forms for the future. The goal was to increase the amount of reading for pleasure that the students partake in for the purpose of creating a feeling of enjoyment to our struggling readers in the lowest 25% of the school so they will learn that reading is engaging. Eventually, the goal is that through reading for pleasure the students will find that reading also enhances their fluency, comprehension, academic achievement, and essentially success as adults. Support for School Goals This project supports one of the goals in the school improvement plan for this school year SY10/11 as listed in Table 1 on page 4, and may (if successful) do so in the future. The main goal indicated as the most pressing need of the principal is that our struggling readers in the lowest 25% of the school need the most attention; however, this implementation may very well serve the needs of all of the students of the school who choose to participate in the blog. Professional Development This project will support my professional development because I have never done action research, have always wanted to, and will be able to support the school and students with this project. Thus, though time-consuming, it will have been well worth it. Once the school advisory

committee, of which I am the chair-person, meets in the summer to review all of the data from year round testing in comparison, it will benefit my needs at self-assessment in relation to goals that were set by our literacy leadership team, also of which I am the leader. In the future, knowing how to do action research, my understanding of professional development will be increased by adding more involved action research to my further goals of writing grants for the school. Being able to do action research will be likely to help me plan and implement goals and strategies for writing grant proposals. Overall, doing action research has been a catalyst for further professional development which has been much more meaningful than the traditional professional development I have received in the past, which consisted of one-day seminars in various strategies with which most graduate students are already familiar. Review of Literature First and foremost, the administrative support is conducive to the success of action research (Weinbaum, 2004). Having the principals support in the case of this research is thus indicative that there is great opportunity for success in this endeavor. In the world in which we live, technology in education is becoming expected of more and more teachers. That is the case in the virtual school. Virtual school teachers are expected to know all of the latest technological advances that are introduced and the degree at which they are being introduced now (2011) is exponential. There are several ways for students to submit their assignments through cloud technology, that is, from websites that allow them to create work that is not in printed, word processed, or in typical presentation formats. In the virtual school, the teachers are expected to allow these cloud formats for student work, the teachers are expected to use these cloud formats in discussion forums, such as virtual meeting rooms and offices, and also to teach the students the newer technologies. As Ashraf (2009) states in his article, We are also seeing the

rise of students as consumers, and managing the expectations this creates falls firmly to lecturers on the front line. Students demand excellent, inspired, interactive teaching (346). According to Hsu (2011), using blogs has a correlation with improvement of reading comprehension. This is a key point in this action research. The idea behind the goal outlined in the SIP for the lowest 25% of the students engaged in blogging activities on the school reading blog is to bring up their rate of comprehension through their scores on diagnostic tests. Another goal is to increase their technology skills through the FLVS Virtual Library and Web 2.0 tools (technology implementations). These technology tools are written into the SIP goals, as shown in Table 1 on page 4, to help students who normally may not have a great deal of access to resources and this is monitored by all content area teachers and those on the literacy leadership team through the blogging activities. This monitoring will be done through the use of document analysis, teacher anecdotal records, and teacher discussion for data analysis to see if the plan is working in relation to the additional initiatives of students being able to write stories, poems, and respond to each other regarding literature they have read. According to Ellington (2008), there is a need for more guidance regarding the process of reviewing and critiquing the work of peers and appreciation for the way in which blogging exposed students to more diverse viewpoints (99). According to this peer-reviewed and highly valued study among the literature, this means that by giving students the opportunity to go into the blog and write, but also, review and comment on their peers writings, they will find more value in the blogging process, write more, and in the end, gain so much more from the blogging process as far as comprehension, engagement, motivation, and relationships with other students. As an online instructor, it is obvious that student-to-student engagement is one of the weaker

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points of online learnings strong points, but that can be strengthened in ways such as this one and others, for example virtual synchronistic classroom sessions. Adding to this literature, Unrau (2008) uses research by Reeve & Jang, 2006, on the promise of autonomy in student learning based on several factors that will be in play with the use of the FLVS Virtual Library, Web 2.0 tools, and class literacy blog. These include designing an environment that intentionally builds student autonomy by providing choices in content and methods of learning, both of which are quite possible within a standards-driving curriculum. Self-selections are often incentives for self-determined, self-regulating growth (p. 56). This is strengthened by further autonomy suggestions made by Unrau, such as allowing students to work in a climate in which they can converse with each other on their own thought processes about their opinions on literature topics and not strict, explicit guidance from their teachers. Zawilinski (2009) wrote an article on higher order thinking skills being used through literacy and writing blogs. The work centers not only on having individual students engage in blogging with each other but also having them use the skills that might not come to them naturally by guiding them in the blogging. This can become a part of the implementation plan for the blog by revising a few categories that already exist. These include raising the level of prompts in relation to literature they are reading, by asking them open ended questions regarding their efforts to engage in how the literature relates to their own personal lives, and to continue their conversations to keep them thinking about what they are writing metacognitively (Zawilinski, 2009). Conclusion Knowing that the support of our principal is in effect helps us, as Palm Beach Virtual teachers to know that we are supported in our efforts to improve the academic success, and in

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this case, reading comprehension success of the students within our school. From the very beginning of the year, our principal sat us all down together in a conference room by ourselves and allowed us all to brainstorm about what we would like to accomplish during the year, how we would implement the strategies, who would do what and when all by ourselves. This gave us the confidence that our principal trusted us as professionals to do what was right for our students. Our students, as stated before, are at the heart of every decision we make. The SIP created by our literacy leadership team, created specific goals for the struggling readers of the school. The measures set forth in Table 1 on page 4 indicate how this challenge will be undertaken and documented by the teachers of the school. It has been shown here that students of the present era need to be stimulated through a modern type of engagement: technology (Ashraf, 2009). The rest of the review underscores the effectiveness of reading and writing in blogs and other self-directed formats to increase student engagement and motivation (Hsu, 2011; Zawilinski, 2009), and the importance of using peer-reviewed reading and writing to support student autonomy and motivation (Ellington, 2008; Unrau, 2008). Finally, with the understanding made clear by Chall (1995), it is a fact that frustrated readers need to read for pleasure to feel the success of reading so they will be confident moving on to academic reading interests. Following these theorists, it is hypothesized that the research question for this action research (and SIP) should prove that these initiatives are effective at increasing student comprehension as seen through diagnostic test scores, teacher anecdotal records, and document analysis of student artifacts printed out from the blog.

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Implementation Plan Steps in the Process This is a two-year process that will be continued and revised upon a third year and years following. The beginning of the process began in August with the construction of the schools very first SIP. There was very little existing data to use to create the plan because last year the school was very small with less than 100 students and not enough in any one group other than the White-Non Hispanic Caucasian sub-group of students to qualify for AYP designation in data results from testing. Instead, the plan was constructed using the individual test scores by grade level and analyzing all students from each grade-level for ways to improve reading comprehension among them: from the lowest 25% to the highest achieving students. Once the SIP was created, there was a plan in place in which to follow the progress of the original students in addition to the newly registered students. The enrollment of the school had doubled and since this was the first year of creating a SIP, latitude had been given to create one that was progressive, based on current research, and did not have to follow the traditional drill and kill practices of many standardized test prep initiatives. Therefore, the SIP was created with progressive ways of reaching our students in the technological world where they are comfortable and offer ways that have been proven to increase their motivation, engagement, self-related learning skills, and success in online schooling, as well as their reading comprehension. That is what was done, as can be seen in Table 1 on page 4. Additional information regarding other groups of students may be seen by following the SIP url in the references section. Participants The implementation plan for this action research is to follow the dictates of the SIP in regards to using the existing school reading blog to include an open space for more writing on

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the blog, utilize the FLVS Virtual Library, and Web 2.0 tools to increase the comprehension of students in the lowest 25% in reading, as seen through diagnostic test scores, teacher anecdotal records, and document analysis of student artifacts printed out from the blog. These students were selected from the hopes of the principal that our action research would be geared toward this group of students. This has already begun as a poetry writing space has been added to the blog since beginning this research. More writing spaces other than writing about actual books will be added in the implementation. This will include actual story writing as well as other options for writing, such a free-writing and question/answer sessions for different grades and subjects. One important component of this plan is to build collaboration among the online students by creating interesting topics. Other parts of the implementation plan include increasing interest in reading through writing on the blog site, the promotion of Reading for Pleasure through the reading of the written blogs and in other acts of reading and writing for pleasure. In both cases, the students will be both reading and writing. Since the technological world is what appeals to them, they should be attracted to the blogging site. Additionally, extra credit is given for participation in the blogs. Data Sources Student writing will be collected and analyzed individually. This process was written to take place in an ongoing capacity throughout the year. Data sources include coursework level of writing improvement, document analysis of the blog by student, and standardized tests. Students are also monitored by their performance on quizzes given in monthly calls. These quizzes show the comprehension levels the students make on their lessons, which are based on self-directed

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learning of their content area instruction, i.e., mathematics, social studies, reading, language arts, science, and elective courses. Data Analysis As a team, our teachers are to note the increase in postings per student and the improvement of the writing skills when compared to reading scores on various reading assessments through coursework, document analysis of the blog, and standardized tests. The literacy leadership team is responsible for keeping anecdotal records collected by teachers for each student. These records are noted in the learning management system that tracks all students progress on standardized testing and also another system that tracks their progress on their monthly phone calls (data based assessments or oral exams). Surveys are distributed at the end of the year to assess the student efficacy of the reading and writing blog and to receive suggestions from the students regarding their thoughts on improving the blog. Finally, the plan calls for continuous monitoring of the lowest 25% of students for the purpose of evaluating the system and revising the SIP for the upcoming year. Results Indicators The literacy leadership team is to meet in the summer to evaluate the anecdotal records of the teachers against the involvement of individual students on the blog, as well as the increase or decrease in test scores over the previous year. Surveys are to be evaluated for helpful information on the efficacy of the blog and this may give some indication as to whether or not the blogs have motivated the students to read more for pleasure. The results of the tests of the same students may be compared to the survey results to see if they show qualitative correlations.

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Sharing Results Results are planned to be shared with the teachers and the administration of the school in the summer right before beginning the process of revising the School Improvement Plan, so that in September a revised plan may be rolled out for the School Advisory Council to approve. They must approve the plan as the principal facilitates conversation about the results of the plan and guides the discussion towards revisions. Finally, once the new plan has been approved and sent to the school board for approval, it is to be disseminated among the teachers. Timeline The timeline for this implementation plan is to follow the same timeline as our SIP. We assess our students in September and December for the diagnostic standardized test in reading. We test them in April for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Additionally, our data analysis incorporates monthly meetings to assess and report on the effectiveness of our SIP to the stakeholders of the school at our monthly SAC meetings. Finally, in the summer, the total effectiveness of the SIP is assessed when final test scores are available to be compared with the results kept by the content area teachers and literacy leadership team. Therefore, the timeline runs the length of one school year. If it proves effective, the plan will be continued and revised as decided, based upon the results of the action research. Reflection To reflect, this process has been the start of what may most likely become a positive experience, and have a positive effect on all students, including the lowest 25%, through the addition of more reading and writing to our already excellent curriculum. Though the process has started, having written research to use with the process, I can already see how the blog can be better designed according to the literature from this review and once the research is conducted, I

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am sure there will be many more new ideas to make it even more successful. The next steps will be taken in the summer, as all of the data is review together with the results of the FCAT and end of course exams.

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References Ashraf, B. (2009). Teaching the Google-eyed YouTube generation. Education and Training 51(5-6), p. 343-52. Chall, J. S. (1995). Stages of reading development. New York: Harcourt. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (2009). Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. New York: Teachers College Press. Ellison, N. B., & Yuehua, W. (2008). Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of student attitudes and impact on comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1), p. 99-122. Florida Virtual School. [online]. www.flvs.net. Florida Virtual School Franchise. School improvement plan SY2010-2011. [online]. Florida Department of Education. http://www.flbsi.org/1011_SIP/Public/print.aspx?uid=507004 Hsu, H. Y., & Wang, S. (2011).The impact of using blogs on college students reading comprehension and learning motivation. Literacy Research and Instruction 50(1), p. 6888. McCann, T. M., Johannessen, L. R., Kahn, E., Smagorinsky, P., and Smith, M. W. (2005). Reflective teaching, reflective learning: How to develop critically engaged readers, writers, and speakers. Portsmouth: Heinemann. School District of Palm Beach County. 2010 Demographic profile. [online]. http://www.palmbeachschools.org/planning/SEEC/documents/2010DemographicProfile. pdf Unrau, N. (2008). Content area reading and writing: Fostering literacies in middle and high school cultures. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

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Weinbaum, A., et al., (2004). Teaching as inquiry: Asking hard questions to improve practice and student achievement. New York: Teachers College Press. Zawilinski, L. (2009) HOT blogging: A framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking. The Reading Teacher 62(8), p. 650-61.