Action Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: To increase and maintain parental involvement.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Set up a parent center at the front of the school and have the signage be well placed and easy to see/read.	John Rose, Principal at de Zavala Middle School.	Current – August 2012	Space and information to make parent center easily available.	Re-visit the placement of the center in 6 months to ensure there isn’t a better location.
An information board/banner next to or running on the flat screen that is placed at the front of the school.  Information relevant to all recent and upcoming events on the campus with dates and times.	Anika Horgan, Vice Principal in charge of the master calendar. Shane Smith, Instructional Technology Specialist.	Current – August 2012	All the information that is current and relevant to parents from the master calendar and allotting the appropriate time to be posted or entered into the system that runs information on the television screen.	Survey parents about their knowledge of the center and how often they visit.
Increase the enrollment of PTA from parents by informing them when the register their students; rather than just sending home a flyer with an unclear explanation of what PTA actually is for the campus.	Michelle Martinez, School Counselor; Deborah Rutledge, School Counselor; John Rose, Principal; Mariella Sanchez, DP Clerk in charge of registering students; Ellen Nevil, PTA Parent representative.	August 2012	An informational table to let parents ask questions about PTA and all the work they could be doing for their students and teachers.  Potentially a Q&A printed out in Spanish and English for parents to look at on the spot.	Compare the current enrollment to the enrollment after PTA sets up during student registration and letters have been sent home as in previous years.
Host a staff development on parental involvement to discuss the steps taken/needing to take to create a more welcoming environment for parents to want to return to campus and assist with current events that coincide with student learning.	John Rose, Principal; Martha Leal, Instructional Specialist; Susan Vest, ESL Teacher, action researcher.	August 2012	Research to implement into a presentation that’s clear and concise so that the staff is seeing how to improve the current lack of parental involvement that our campus is suffering from.	Revisit the issue with the staff in January to see if they have noticed a different from previous years.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Refection on Week 2

After completing week 2 something is really sticking out in my head...resources, data, availability...
Am I using all of the resources that are available to me?  Am I even aware of what resources exist to answer my questions?  I want to take learning into my own hands and take an active role in my learning.  I need to be more responsible is answering my own questions and to stop relying on others.  I want to use this week as motivation to finish the school year with a more hands on approach to my learning and learning how to answer my own questions by using what's available to me.

Blogs in Education

The use of blogs in education creates a resourceful outlet for inquiring minds.  It allows the blog to be read and posted on by all active participants on the campus.  A blog would also utilize and organize numerous opinions, research and suggestions on the topic at hand.  Even if all suggestions were not used, at least the blog presents the option of having more than one solution.  An educator might use a blog to question staff on a certain issue that is currenlty happening on campus.  It could also be used as a tool for staff development applying to both teachers and administrators. 

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog! 

I hope to find many different avenues of getting parents involved while participating in my action research project. From what I have read so far in regards to action research; I think it's a tool that should be utilized by all administators and aspiring administrators.  Not only does this create the atmosphere of learning on the campus, it allows for everyone to become more involved in the process of change or conflict resolution.  I plan to use action research to my benefit by allowing feedback on the topic that is currently being inquired about.  It almost seems as though it's a way of social networking in the education field.  As an aspiring administrator, I think action research would create an amazing platform for the campus and myself to move forward with the right knowledge to do so!