Action Research Topic:
To what degree are the development and support of middle school students’ transition to high school going to impact the effectiveness of their educational career?
Campus Improvement Plan Goal:
Students will become more academically and socially successful through a positive school organization where all students are challenged at the appropriate level of academic relevance and rigor and encouraged to be active in extra-curricular activities.
Project Goals:
Socially prepare students to be more independent and ask for what they need. This will also limit some of the confrontations that lead to discipline problems in the halls.
Limit discipline problems with 9th grade students.
To see each student become more engaged, confident, and interested in their learning and being a part of the high school community.
Students who are more prepared for the academic and social relevance and rigors of high school it will decrease failure rate and the drop rate.
Academic readiness and rigor will increase test scores
Action Step(s)
Person(s)
Responsible
Timeline:
Start/End
Needed
Resources Evaluation
1. Implement Small learning communities led by teams of teachers
Director of Instruction, 9th grade counselor and Associate Principal
One year Begins in August of 2010 and ends in August 2010
Professional Development for smaller learning communities, book study for staff and staff schools that use smaller learning communities. A team of teachers stayed with its student
group throughout the academic year. In addition, class schedules were set to ensure that the teams would have common planning times in which they could meet to discuss student issues, resolve disciplinary problems and discuss teaching methods
Staff buy in via a survey. Failure Rate and Number of discipline issues and severity of the issues
2. Student supports and incentives
Assistant Principal and Achievement Specialist
On going Begins in August of 2010 and ends in August 2010
Award ceremonies for students who achieved 90 percent or higher in attendance
during a given month, and also for students with high grades. Attendance charts will be posted throughout school hallways. Also names of students with perfect attendance and outstanding grade performance were also displayed throughout the school. Small teams of teachers
would meet with each student when report cards were issued, review the student’s grades, help the student assess progress.
Compare attendance rates and failure rates from previous years. Look at number of students enrolled in advanced courses.
3. Extended block schedule or some type of catch up curriculum.
Lead Counselor and Associate Principal
Students also took Freshman Class designed to combine study skills, personal goal-setting, and social and group skills. Block scheduling students were scheduled to take four courses per semester, each meeting for 90 minutes per day. Over a four-year period, students could
potentially complete 32 credits. Block scheduling also will permit some flexibility in for students who fail courses and needed to repeat them.
Look at number of credits students graduate with
Number of student involved in extracurricular activities.
Number of students involved in advanced classes
4. Coaching and professional development for teachers
Director of Instruction, 9th grade counselor and Principal
Ongoing
Teacher's receive curriculum-specific professional development,
focusing on modeling upcoming lessons, improving content knowledge, learning instructional strategies, and trying classroom management.
Look at test results TAKS, district benchmarks and promotion rates.
5.Special Campus
Director of Instruction, 9th grade counselor and Principal
Ongoing
The Campus for only repeat ninth graders who either
need special academic support or needed to be placed outside the normal school environment.(other than discipline problems) This school will operate outside of normal school hours later in the day so that some students could work or attend to family matters.
Students could, after they had completed missed work or failed courses, rejoin the
main school.
6. Collaborate with Middle School Administration
Ensure that middle school leaders are prepared to implement a program that prepares all students for the transition to college preparatory courses in high school
