Reflection and update AR project

My action research project is titled, “The Role Parental Involvement Plays in Music Education Today”.   I have begun meeting with several of the music staff teachers here in the district getting assistance towards my questioning for my survey.  I have been meeting with these teachers to make sure I have a well-rounded view of this study/survey.  Many of them have given me valuable information towards the creation of my survey.  I have created my survey and sent the link to all music teachers in the district who are at the middle school level.  They have agreed to post the link on their boards in class ensuring that each kid will get the opportunity to complete the survey during class time.  Majority of our students have ipads on campus that were provided by our district so they are in the process of completing the surveys as I type now J.  I am targeting 300+ kids to complete the survey my next step is to design a survey that their parents will take before the end of this spring semester.  I have been giving my students extra bonus points for those who have completed the survey in a timely manner.  As for hours on the project I have been meeting with the music staff in our district for the last two and a half months during our Monday mornings staff meetings in which would total around 24+ hours at this point.  I will have more hours once I collect the surveys and begin to analyze the results because I want feedback from their teachers before I reach out to each of their parents to complete a survey tailored for parents, who are responsible for music students.  I will also post reflections on my blog as well.

Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan

Renferd Joseph

GOAL:  To See What Role Does Parental Involvement Play in Music Education

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
To see if or what role parental involvement plays a role in 6th grade music students.	Conduct various playing assessments to see if they are on grade level base upon state’s standards and TEKS for first year music students.	Student playing assessments, survey monkey, region audition music, and interviews.	Joseph	August 2013	Playing skills test for grade level.
Cont.d	Conduct a survey of the students/parents to inquire how much support is given at home for the student’s participation.	Survey monkey, and interviews.	Joseph	August 2013	Interviews
To see if or what role parental involvement plays a role in 7th grade music students success.	Conduct various playing assessments to see if they are on grade level based upon the state’s TEKS for 2nd year music students.	Student playing assessments, survey monkey, interviews and region music auditions.	Joseph,	August 2013	Playing skills test for students.
Cont.d	Conduct a survey of the students/parents to inquire how much support is given at home for the student’s participation	Student playing assessments, survey monkey, and interviews	Joseph & principal	August 2013	Interviews
How many of our students come from single parent households?  Grandparents? Lack of father figures?	Have parents and students participate in survey monkey to gather information.	Internet access, survey monkey, and interviews.	Joseph, register, counselors.	November 2013	Interviews
To determine the highest level of education the parent or guardians have?	Have parents and students participate in survey monkey to gather this information.	Internet access, survey monkey and interviews.	Joseph	November 2013	Interviews
Are there any family members with musical background experience?	Have parents and students participate in survey monkey to gather this information.	Internet access, survey monkey and interviews.	Joseph	January 2014	Interviews
Find out where did the exposure come from in terms of the student getting involved in music.	Have parents and students participate in survey monkey to gather this information.	Internet access, survey monkey and interviews.	Joseph	January 2014	Interviews

Action Research reflection wk2

1. The Role Parental Involvement Plays In Music Education.
2.  Equity in funding for Programs.

     3.  Lunch room discipline

As I sat down with my principal and discussed the 3 topics of interest to me he agreed that the 1^st one dealing with Parental Involvement as it relates to Music Education would hit home for me and I would get the most efforts through these findings in terms of application to the staff members here.  He suggested to make sure I pin point exactly what I gain to learn and it’s findings while still making it meaningful to all that would be affected.  Another aspect was, our school is very diverse and that there are tons of information that I could read and survey to get my research plan up and running.  We agreed to meet with me either privately or even in passing to make sure I’m heading in the right direction when it comes to meaningful research.  Some of the things we agreed upon are the following guided questions throughout the research;

The level of support coming from home for the arts?

* Parent(s) highest level of education?

* Any experience in the arts?

* Single parent households i.e. lack of father figure, grandparents raising the student, single mother?

* Does it affect the student's overall success in Music in terms of how well they play, perform or practice at home?

Educational Use of Blogs

In schools there are many ways to collaborate and gain meaningful insight with issues facing us in education.  Utilizing a blog-spot is one of the most modern ways that leaders have grown into the technology arena.  I never knew that creating such a tool would be able to benefit me in ways that trainings may or may not address.  Being able to use technology is a must in today's time, students are coming to schools with more technological experience making it nearly impossible for us to not change our ways in how we deliver meaningful instruction.  Some ways that educational leaders could benefit from using blogs are, they can access real time data from other educational leaders, they can read or document data from current issues they may need assistance with, they can collaborate directly with others to problem solve, and it's still a learning tool that even leaders can learn from.  Another way using blogs would be useful is making sure that through research and data analysis the page would stay available as though it were a journal of your personal thoughts.  These are also helpful as well because leaders can have their teams research information that can easily be assessable on the page, and would be viewed by others.  The last thing is, leaders can have their teachers sign up for blogs and have their students research topics readily available that can aide in the classroom instruction as well.

Findings of Action Research

I've always wondered why as an educator we have so many meetings and trainings to attend these days.  After reading and learning about Action Research I've come to the realization that action research is designed to be our driving force in order to gain more insight on how to effectively lead an organization and enhance our results.  I have learned that with action research there are many tools available to us if we just collaborate with other peers.  I noticed how some of my former administrators were so driven about data I began to think that it was overrated and that some of the statistics they were looking at were meaningless.  Now that I've begun researching my topic and looking at what others are saying about research and the different types of research I have a new profound understanding about research.  Research is the key component that we utilize in order to make well informed decisions and changes.  Unlike others, I enjoy incorporating change because in order for others to follow, you must effectively lead by example.  One of the things I've had the opportunity to take part in is Professional Learning Communities (PLC's).  My last school had PLC's established and I was able to gain first hand knowledge of the importance of collaboration with my colleagues and analyzing the results through data provided.  I hope to learn even more through researching my topic in this Action Research course.