Action Research - Student Achievement after Modification of IEP's

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT
PROCESS OVERVIEW
SPECIAL EDUCATION - WHAT HAPPENS TO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ONCE A STUDENT HAS HAD THEIR IEP MODIFIED AND MAY REQUIRE A REDUCTION OF TEACHER/CO-TEACHER SUPPORT?

1. Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation:

Teachers and co-teachers will become more skilled in assisting students to achieve goals listed on IEP’s and communicating to the Special Education department, the need to reduce teacher/co-teacher support for students who are showing academic success in the classroom. The Special Education department will become more skilled in monitoring the progress of student achievement once the modifications have been reduced to may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support .

2. Activities designed to achieve the objectives:

I will collaborate with teachers every two weeks to discuss students who are showing academic success in the classroom who may need modifications to their IEP’s and forward those names to the Special Education department. Once the IEP’s have been modified, I will collaborate with counselors to collect progress report and report card grades and teachers to collect test grades and student work samples. I will then show the success or lack of success to the Special Education department chair to re-assess the reduction in modifications.

3. Resources and research tools needed for data gathering

I would submit my proposal to the administrative team and will meet with the Special Education department to discuss scheduling and time constraints that will prevent me from meeting with teachers. I will need to discuss if there will be funding for a substitute when I start my internship. Counselors, teachers, and the Special Education department chair will provide background information on students who may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support from previous years data such as test scores and IEP’s.

4. Draft of timeline for completion and implementation of activities

July- Collaborate with site supervisor on a topic for action research
August- Collaborate with administrative team and Special Education department regarding the process of collecting data from teachers of special education students who may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support due to student success in the class room. Meet with teachers to discuss action research and students who may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support due to student success in the class room.
September- Collaborate with counselors to retrieve district test scores, progress report and report card grades of special education students who have had their IEP’s modified and may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support due to student success in the class room. Collaborate with teachers to retrieve examples


of student work of those special education students being monitored. Report all findings of success or failure to the Special Education department to re-assess the modification(s).

October- Collaborate with counselors to retrieve district test scores, progress report and report card grades of special education students who have had their IEP’s modified and may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support due to student success in the class room. Collaborate with teachers to retrieve examples
of student work of those special education students being monitored. Report all findings of success or failure to the Special Education department to re-assess the modification(s).

November (Program Completed) - Collaborate with counselors to retrieve district test scores, progress report and report card grades of special education students who have had their IEP’s modified and may require a reduction of teacher/co-teacher support due to student success in the class room. Collaborate with teachers to retrieve examples of student work of those special education students being monitored. Report all findings of success or failure to the Special Education department to re-assess the modification(s). Report the findings of the Action Research plan to my site supervisor and find out if he is interested in me continuing the research or if he would like to use data collected so far.

5. Persons responsible for implementation of the research plan

Parents - If I need to sit in during an ARD (admission, review, and decision) of a student who is not my student, I will ask parent permission to be there.
Teachers- Allow a discussion of concerns that they have about students who have IEP’s and those who may need their IEP’s modified due to student success in the class room. Teachers may also make recommendations to improve individual student success.
Administrators- Discuss action research progress and the need for assistance in any areas needed.
Counselors - Collect report card and progress report grades
Special Education department chair - Discuss findings of those students who have had their IEP’s modified to re-assess modifications if needed.
Discuss previous programs that have improved student achievement or ideas on how to improve the current mentoring program.
SBDM committee - Review campus funding for substitute if needed to complete action research
Testing administrators - Provide data from campus, district, and state testing.
Instructional Specialists - Discuss ideas on how to improve current weaknesses in academics for those students who have had their IEP‘s modified.

6. Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives

Teachers will be interviewed and fill out paper work to ensure that IEP’s are being implemented.

Teachers will submit class work and tests of those students who have their IEP’s modified to show a reduction in support from teachers and co-teachers.

Counselors will provide progress report and report card grades every three weeks.

Instructional specialists will provide test scores from district and state assessments.

The special education department chair will make suggestions for improvement of the action research plan and ways to increase student achievement.

The special education department chair will re-assess modifications of those students who show a lack of student achievement or academic success.

7. Assessment instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions research study

Data that will be collected include progress report and report card grades, in class exams, district assessments and samples of class work. Instructional specialists and test administrators will provide data from all district tests and TAKS tests.