Assignment and Summary of Week 3, 5301

Chris Delmas’ Action Research Plan

Like many of my cohorts, my plan has changed several times. I started with my inquiry focused on my school’s culture, and now my site supervisor and I have come to an agreeable action research plan to study our mentorship program.

Description of setting and context of my study: It is my intention to see what kind of effect our mentors have on our student’s attendance, academic achievement, and behavior in the classroom. We have many at-risk students who need a mentor, role model, and someone to talk to, and our school is working hard to make sure that happens. Our professional mentors range from doctors, lawyers, city council members, nurses, ophthalmologists, tattoo artists, mechanics, and construction managers. A majority of our at-risk students lack either a male or female role model in their lives, so we look for ways to provide them with something similar and beneficial. We’ve seen good short-term effects, but I’m interested in the long-term data and information it will provide. At the very least these students will have meaningful conversations with local professionals who reside in our area, and in some cases were born and raised here.

Operational definition of my target population: Our target population will be at-risk students, and possibly students referred to the mentoring program by our counselors. We’re looking to provide a select group of students with a positive role model who can make a difference in their lives.

Sample selection process: We’re looking for students who have been retained, are falling far behind their peers, are receiving math and/or reading interventions, who are labeled at-risk for other reasons, economically disadvantaged, have constant behavior concerns at school, and in some cases students who are on probation for crimes committed at school or in the community. The sample size will be between 10-20 students, although more will receive a mentor.

Rational for sample process and selection: We believe in helping our at-risk population any way we can. The same goes for our entire population, but at-risk students need more help and support in order for them to succeed. They’re labeled at-risk for a reason, and educators have concerns about this sub-pop. We are addressing one social factor that may benefit other areas of concerns.

How I will conduct my research: I will collect data with the help of the registrar, the assistant principals, the response to intervention coordinator, my behavioral logs, our grant data collector and several other staff members who have vital data concerning our sample group’s progress or lack thereof in the three categories we’ll be researching: an increase in Academic Achievement, improved Attendance, and a decrease in Behavioral Concerns in the classroom (and at school). We will look at test scores, benchmarks, state exams, end-of-course scores, report cards, attendance records, office referrals, ISS (in school suspension) assignments, lunch D-hall attendance, etc…

I will also interview parents or caretakers of our sample group, their teachers, the mentors we assign to them, and to the students themselves. After inquiry, research, literary studies, and data collection we should be able to describe the effect of our mentorship program on our at-risk students.