In EDLD 5301 I was required to develop and implement an
Action Research Plan. This plan was approved by my site supervisor and I began
working. I was interested in finding ways to improve communication between
parents, students, and teachers in an effort to include a more collaborative
approach in improving instruction. The school I work at had implemented the use
of a survey that was developed as a result of a five year district improvement
plan. This survey was sent out to parents and given to students asking them to
rate their teachers’ performance and the overall success of the classes the
students were taking. For about three years, teachers had been getting feedback
from parents and students. The first time the survey results came back,
teachers were excited to get feedback, but were surprised at the negativity
that came out as a result. If students felt that they were performing well in a
class, they gave their teacher a favorable rating, if that student was not
performing well, or they had gotten in trouble in that class, they gave the
teacher an unfavorable rating. The moral of teachers went down because these
surveys were being read by the principal and teachers were required to explain
the results. As a whole, most surveys were mixed, but the fact that there were
so many negative responces was not received well. The parent surveys that were
returned were not answered any different. Very few favorable surveys were
returned and not all parents filled out surveys. In fact, teachers reported
receiving many positive email communications between parents, but the surveys
reflected more negatively than positively. There were even inappropriate
comments sent through surveys. Since all surveys were anonymous, there was no
way to track where the information was coming from. Teachers felt that that the
way questions had been written on the surveys indicated that the principal was
seeking feedback similar to a customer comment card. Additionally, most of the
student questions used words that were above the students’ reading level and
the parent surveys asked parents to answer questions that could only be
answered if they too were in the classroom daily. Instead of encouraging
constructive feedback, the survey directed the person taking it to agree or
disagree without explaining themselves and it almost seemed like the survey
would be used to determine teacher placement. Surveys were feared by teachers
instead of being used as an instructional tool. For my action research, I
focused my attention on this topic.
Teachers were fed up with the survey process and were
requesting a rewrite. The newly assigned principal granted us the opportunity
to do just that and I began to work. My first step was to put together a
committee of stakeholders. Three teachers, three students, and two parents
agreed to participate. Our first actions as a committee were to get teacher,
parental, and student feedback in regards to the current survey process. Focus
groups from each sub group were put together and members from the committee
gathered data and suggestions for possible changes for a survey meant to be
constructive. The results from each sub group reflected the same concerns and the
suggestions for a possible rewrite were also very constructive. When the
committee conviened to report the results and suggestions, there was a feeling
of accomplishment as if we were on the right track toward achieving our goal. Using
the data collected from the focus groups and the overall teacher feedback at
the beginning of this process, the committee reviewed every question and
reauthored the survey. The end result was presented to the principal who decided to skip the remaining plan items and then agreed
to meet with the superintendent and district administrator in charge of this
portion of the district strategic plan. The plan was in his hands now. This is where I left the process at the
end of last school year.
At the beginning of this school year, I met with the
principal to discuss the results of his meeting and the status of the
committee’s new survey proposal. The conversation was awkward. Even though we
had been given authorization to reauthor surveys and we had come up with a plan
that was fit to our campus and approved by our principal, it was implied that
the work we had done to reauthor surveys was not received very well by the
person in charge of that item in the strategic planning. Earlier in EDLD 5301,
I had shared my concern that this might happen. I was simply told that the
campus was going to go in a different direction with surveys but there has not
been a decision about what that will look like, or if we will have them at all.
I felt as if I did not have the proper clearance to receive classified
information and the hard work I and my committee had done was neither
appreciated, or welcomed. The end result of this action research had me going
back to my committee to thank them for all of their hard work and precious
time, but explaining that I was not given a clear answer about the future of
surveys on our campus and information reguarding surveys would be forthcoming
in the future via the principal. I couldn’t even tell them if our survey would
be used or not. I didn’t have clear answers for my committee members and I felt
as though all of the credibility and trust that I had worked so hard to gain
from my colleagues and this committee was gone. Worst is that I had to tip-toe
around the truth and reveal this information without sounding frustrated, or
negative about any of the process in fear that how I handled this would reflect
on my performance. The committee on the other hand did not hold back and they
expressed very candidly how disappointed they were and how they felt that their
time had been wasted. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that any of these people will
serve on a committee like this again in the future because they don’t trust our
administration and they now feel like they don’t matter. I wish I had something
different to report, but I have leared A LOT during this process about what to
do and what not to do in educational administration.
Hours spent on this action plan item: 21 hours
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