EDLD 5326 ACTION RESEARCH UPDATE

Action Research Project Title:  What incentives and solutions can we provide in our schools to increase attendance and what are the effects on student achievement?

Blog URL: http://jdberna.blogspot.com/

Number of AR Project Documented Hours:

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):

I feel strong about attendance and more strongly about students. I believe this to be an issue everywhere and I know everybody has tried just about anything and everything to fix it. I think it is about relationships with students and building trust with each other in order to motivate and encourage them to go to school.

My action plan project is progressing very timely through many meetings, interviews, and observations. I started out by interviewing the attendance and truancy officers on campus to identify the incentives that are effective and to discuss the issue of attendance at Temple High School. After reviewing data after the first six weeks, I notice that Temple High School has increased its attendance rating by creating a welcoming school, teachers that are passionate about students, and communicating with parents. With students attending school, educators create effective learning communities in the classroom, positively affecting student achievement. Interviews with administration and attending attendance hearings and meetings have assisted me in developing incentives that will be affective. I am currently working on surveying students and staff to find motivating factors to motivate students to attend school. I will continue to work with key personnel (attendance officers, site supervisor, Asst. Supt., and staff) to develop creative incentives and motivating principals to increase attendance and work collaboratively with all administration to gain support in areas of concern and solutions presented in the action research plan. I have been extremely pleased with the 21 hours of work accessed in my research plan to this point. With attendance and student achievement being a major issue in school today, I hope the project identifies and provides solutions to attendance and student achievement.  By interviewing, researching on the Internet, and surveying students, I hope this project finds ways to motivate students and parents to make school important. This project is projected to allow my findings and research to generate inquiry among my colleagues and allow me to reflect and grow professionally. In addition, this project should provide an incentive plan to increase attendance and student achievement.