Draft Action Research Plan

Goals and Objectives/Outcomes of the Research Investigation
Teachers will use goal setting strategies with students to increase their motivation towards completing school work and striving to perform to the best of their ability on diagnostic and state test.

Activities Designed to Achieve the Objectives
Students will set academic goals on several social studies projects throughout the school that involve using rubrics. They will also use the same process when preparing for diagnostic and TAKS test.

Resources and Research Tools Needed for Data Gathering
One third and fourth grade teacher from several elementary schools will report on student’s scores. Students will respond to survey on Survey Monkey.

Draft Timeline for Completion or Implementation of Activities
Teachers will receive an introduction letter with instructions on September 1st. During the months of September and October teachers will collect student work samples of assignments and projects that students completed using and not using goal setting. In February and March teachers will again collect sample to get a second set of data from students. Parents will take a survey in April on Survey Monkey. The results of the data will be complied in May.

Persons Responsible for Implementation of the Action Research Plan
Two third and fourth grade teachers will participate in the study. Parents of four different elementary school classes will participate by taking a survey on Survey Monkey.

Process for Monitoring the Achievement of Goals and Objectives
To compare the outcome of student work when using goal setting and not using goal setting I will plot the assignments and rubric results in excel. The parents survey monkey results will also be plotted on excel.

Assessment Instrument(s) to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Action Research Study
Teachers will use rubrics to evaluate student work, excel spread sheets to compare test reports, and Survey Monkey to analyze parent’s reviews.

Week Three: Motivation Strategies

Campus teachers report the use of strategies like goal setting, charting student progress and allowing students to choose types of formative assessments have resulted in little success. These strategies have had success with the intrinsically motivated student but little effect with the extrinsically motivated student. On our campus the intrinsically motivated students are fascinated with the subject, connect it to life and the world, and they get a sense of achievement when they master it. Extrinsically motivated students however need their parents and other authority figures to hold them to expectations, rewards when completing a task, and grades to bribe them to do their academic best. They challenge in teaching this type of students is that we have to keep increasing the rewards and punishments over time to continue its effect. This type of system does not work over a long period of time and once the rewards or punishments are gone, so is student motivation. Also, research shows that extrinsic rewards can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation.

Week Two:Topic or Problem for the Action Research Project

I am researching the effects of 3rd and 4th grade students setting academic goals has on their motivation and academic improvement. Many students on my current campus have so much potential, but don’t always perform at their ability level. The students on campus that I am referring to are from high social economic backgrounds, have above average to high IQ’s, and show little interest in participating in academic opportunities on campus. Teachers on my campus often note that some student’s work lacks adequate effort and they fail to recognize the connection between success and effort. Many teachers use some type of goal setting in their classrooms as well as systems to allow students to chart their progress. I would like to conduct an inquiry into goal settings effectiveness with upper elementary students.

Week One

Action Research
Action Research is a tool that can be used to improve the teaching and learning practices in education. It involves practitioners being a part of the research process by having them look into and try to solve problems on their own campuses or classrooms. In action research practitioners identify a problem, research and devise a strategy for improving the situation, implement the strategy, evaluate its effect, and then based on their results they identify a new problem. Action research is a spiral of reflection and reaction and therefore is a tool for growth and change.
Action research can be used in many ways. School districts can use the research with small groups of principals as a staff development. Principals could work together solve like problems with support and input from their peers. Principals could have their campus leaders participate in active research as an cooperative group inquiry activity. Many principals have leadership groups on campus that work to improve their school, the research inquiry model would be a great tool for the group. Lastly, schools of higher learning can use the tool in course work to engage students in their learning process. Action research is a great way for practitioners to understand and improve on their methods.



Educational Leaders could use blogs to communicate with other principals, staff, parents, and students. If principals kept blogs it would allow them to communicate with their peers within the school district and the educational community at large. They communicate with PTA members more regularly by posting their link to their blog on the schools website as well as the PTA newsletter. It's a great way to communicate about news and events on their campus.