My Plan

Students completing high school are more likely to be employed, have benefits, and participate in political issues which are key components of the campus vision. My research will focus on improving the campus completion rate through TAKS tutoring and Credit Recovery courses. Approximately 40% of the students will need to recover 1 to 5 credits in the 2010-2011 school year to complete the graduation requirements, and 20% will need to retake the TAKS exit exam to receive their diplomas. Since the mid 1980's when the state instituted the testing component of high school graduation, research findings suggest that because of this requirement some 40,000 of Texas's 1993 sophomores dropped out of school (Clarke, Haney, Madaus, Lynch 2000).
In forming a plan of action some questions to be considered include: What are the barriers to graduation for most students? How can we serve all students to complete the requirements for graduation? What challenges prevent students from this goal?
The research will concentrate on two programs to assist students in meeting the requirements for graduation. First students who have not met the standards for the TAKS exit exams will be identified and targeted for tutoring programs to fill gaps in the needed areas of individual weaknesses. The second program will focus on students who are lacking all the required course credits to graduate. This is the first year students in Texas will be accountable for a 4th credit in science and math in addition to the standard courses for the recommended diploma. Students will be provided the opportunity to recover the missing credits through computer based instruction for most courses and direct after school classroom instruction for courses not available on the software program.
Data collection will be on-going and take multiple formats. Student success on TAKS retests and credit recovery courses will be collected in conjunction with tutoring attendance records. In addition to this data, students will be surveyed to understand what components of the programs were most and least beneficial to their success or failure. Faculty and administration will meet to discuss the effectiveness of the programs and identify areas in need of improvement at the conclusion of the first semester and again at the end of the school year.
I will be reporting my data to the associate principals involved in each of the targeted programs in the form of written reports. The TAKS team meets 4-6 times a year, and we will share the data from the tutoring programs and identify areas for improvement at these meetings. I will continue to share my accomplishments and deficits on my blog with my colleagues throughout the school year. I will compile a final report for my site supervisor and campus principal in May.