Action Research Summaries
Coaching Metacognition: A Study in Developing Accurate Self- Assessment in Novice Teachers
School quality across the country hinges on high quality instruction from effective teachers. Teacher quality and development are of the utmost importance to all schools, but particularly those in low-income neighborhoods with high minority and English-Learning populations. These are areas where teacher turnover is high, and school staffs are generally more inexperienced than schools inread more
Supporting Teachers in Providing Feedback to Students: A Multifaceted Approach to Skill Development in Teachers
Much research has been done around the effects of non-‐cognitive skills on student achievement. One non-‐cognitive skill in particular, student ownership of learning, has been proven to increase academic progress significantly. At Leadership Public Schools, San Jose, many students were failing and were not demonstrating the skills necessary to improve their grades. This action researchread more
Decreasing the Achievement Gap through Increasing Parents’ Knowledge and Skills: A Focus on Parent Engagement
In order to ultimately decrease the Achievement Gap, this study focuses on increasing, specifically Latino parent engagement. Throughout the study I investigated parents’ institutional belief of education, their growth in knowledge and skills, participation in their scholar’s education, and their relationship with the school, teachers, and most importantly their scholars. The intervention consisted of multipleread more
Addressing Math Anxiety Using Alternative Assessment
Math anxiety impacts student achievement. Having taught for nine years, I have observed its effect on students in my class every year. While studies show that a number of factors contribute to a student’s math anxiety, the use of traditional assessment is a leading cause. The purpose of this action research, in turn, was toread more
Collaborative Inquiry Groups to Improve Teacher Practice and Increase Student Engagement
Academic engagement is one of the key predictors for success in school. Disengaged students have a much higher likelihood of dropping out, becoming incarcerated or becoming dependent on social services in their future. Teacher behavior has a significant impact on the levels of student engagement in the classroom. Self-determination Theory (SDT) suggests that when studentsread more
Choice and Voice: Student-‐led Literature Circles for Deeper Understanding of Text
Lighthouse Community Charter School (Lighthouse) is a K-12 charter school in Oakland, California that serves over 700 students. Our mission is to prepare all students for the college or career of their choice, with an emphasis on supporting students through college. We began our shift to Common Core standards two years ago, and participated inread more
Heritage Learner Instruction: Incorporating Code-switching
In this Action Research Project, students in an urban high school Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language and Culture class were experiencing anxiety about producing orally in the classroom. The class was comprised entirely of bilingual children of Mexican and Central American immigrants, only one of whom had been in any previous courses taught in Spanishread more
Standards-‐Based Grading: Theory and Practice
ARISE High School is a small public charter school in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. In 2013, the school leaders (including myself) made the decision to transition from a holistic grading system to a standards-‐based grading system. In the subsequent years, the teachers and leaders worked to develop a codified set of learning targets that defined whatread more
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Middle School Teachers
Research has shown that the success of urban students of color is strongly linked to the teacher’s Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. Due to longstanding social, cultural, and economic inequities, the field of education has consistently found itself with a often poorly bridged divide between the educator and the student. In order to cross this divide, educatorsread more
Using Lesson Study to Develop More Collaborative Relationships Between General Educators and Special Educators
Special education students often receive services through a resource model, in which the special educator provides support to students by pulling them out of class for remedial instruction or by pushing in to support individual students with classroom work. While this model provides some support to students, it does not provide them with full accessread more
