EDU 695 Week 4

Action Research Formal Presentation of Findings

Jennifer Sumner

Dr. Sharon Riley Ordu

EDU675: Change Leadership for Differentiated Educ. Envmnt

December 3, 2015

Introduction

One of the main goals of education system is to help the students succeed in their life. Students are assisted to attain their life goals. In this, different parties collaborate together in order to meet the needs of all the students. Just like children without any disabilities, all the students with disabilities should be assisted to achieve their goals in life. It is important to help them succeed in their education through development of some programs. One of the ways in which students can be assisted is through the development of an IEP. IEP should be developed on individual basis in order for the program to fully benefit the students. Using a generalized IEP program may not fully benefit the students with special needs since students’ needs are varied.

In the action research, the main aim was to improve investigate strategies that helps in improving the quality of working with special needs students. the research involved working with parents of special needs students in finding strategies that can improve the quality of working with special needs students as well as helps in improving the IEP process. This final action research involves presentation of the findings of the study. Areas to be discussed include; the context of the research, literature review, presenting area of focus statement, presenting research questions that were used in the data collection, description of the innovation used in research, data collection strategies that were used, outcome analysis, presentation of learning themes, action plan, and the conclusion of the research findings.

Context

In the study, the organization in which the study was carried out was a school in which children, those who have disabilities and those who do not have disabilities are thought. In this school setting, despite accepting students with special needs, these students have been placed in different classrooms with those who do not have special needs. In giving the instructions to the children, different instructors have been assigned to different classrooms, with the regular teachers teaching students without special needs. On the other hand, special educators were assigned to instruct special needs students.

In the organization has also divided departments such that there is a special needs unit within the organization. The students who are taught in the school are those who are of 1st grade to 8th grade. These students are of age 6-15years. Apart from the staff, the school also has subordinate staff who gives helps students within the school.

Literature Review

In teaching the students with or without disability, it is important for the instructors to develop some strategies that will improve the quality of working with the students. Developing relevant strategies while working with the students will help them improve in their performances. In many organizations, people fail to recognize the importance of treating all the students equally; that is, treating special needs students just like students without any disabilities. In these organizations, students who have disabilities are secluded from other students because of their condition. Strategies that are used by the teachers who teaches students with special needs does not fully meet the needs of the students. According to study that was done by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2002), the results indicated that, “learning strategies within the school setting is important in meeting the varied needs of the students.” Among all the 100 participants interviewed, 78% believed that learning strategies helps in improving the performance of the students since the strategies helps in meeting varied needs of the students. The remaining 22% reported that, learning strategies helps the students in acquiring and skill development. From this, it is clear that without adopting relevant teaching and learning strategies by the teachers, it will be difficult to meet the needs of all the students within the classroom.

In all education setting, Eikeland (2003), “there are different strategies that can be applied by the instructor in order to meet the needs of all the students.” According to Eikeland, most teachers neglects student’s needs and interests when choosing the strategy to be used in classroom setting. Because of this, many students produce poor performances since all their needs are not fully met. With the many strategies that can be used by the teachers in a classroom setting, it is important therefore for the instructor to choose a strategy or strategies that fits the needs of each student. Since it is important to help the students with disabilities succeed in their education, and to achieve their life goals, strategies that are used by the instructors should meet their varied needs.

Through the experience that I have had within the school context, I have noticed several things that pertains students with special needs. The way students with special needs are treated by the teacher and other students in the school is so different. All the students with special needs have been secluded and are being thought in a different classroom setting; separated from regular classroom setting. This kind of treatment has made some of the students to fail in achieving some of their educational goals. The separation of the students from the regular classroom setting makes most of the students feel rejected from the community. Most of the students have felt that they are not part of the school community. According to Laal & Ghodsi (2012), “for students with special needs to feel they are part of the community, an inclusive educational curricular should be developed in order to accommodate all the students in same classroom settings regardless of their conditions.”

According to Bataille & Brown (2006), “many teachers choose teaching strategies that they fell interest them and not based on the student’s needs.” In many education setting, students with special needs students are separated from students with special needs because of their condition. Despite this separation of the students into different classroom setting, they still have IEP program that is used in the special needs classroom setting. In these classrooms, the IEP program that is used is so general and applied to all the students. Due to this, the needs of individual student have not been fully met. The reason for this is that, students in the school have varied needs. “In order for an IEP team to fully meet the needs of each individual student, it is important to develop an IEP process on an individualized basis and to have regular improvement of an IEP process” (Bataille & Brown, 2006)).

Area of Focus Statement

Since many organizations that work with special needs students use IEP program, the program that is used in a generalized program that does not fully meet the needs of individual student. Because of this therefore, the areas of focus for my action research study involve investigating strategies that can improve the quality of working with special needs students. The strategies investigated are important in improving the IEP process used for each student. “It is important to find ways of improving the IEP process in order to meet the needs of each individual student” (Mills, 2014).

Research Questions

During action research study, the research questions that will be used included;

1. What individualizing strategies can I use to increase the quality of working with students with special needs?

1. What are the effects of collaborative learning on the performance of students with special needs?

Intervention/Innovation Description

Since action research aims at solving problem facing special needs students, different innovations must be used in order to determine the impact that it has on the students’ performance as well as to the whole community. During action research, the intervention that was used was the collaborative learning. This strategy involves placing students in groups and guiding them to complete assignments while in groups. This innovation is a teaching and learning strategy used in which come together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project.

This intervention is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of students working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product. According to Mill (2014), "Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves.” This intervention is based on the idea that, through talking, people learn new things. In the collaborative learning environment, the learners are challenged both socially and emotionally as they listen to different perspectives, and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing, the learners begin to create their own unique conceptual frameworks and not rely solely on an expert's or a text's framework. Thus, in a collaborative learning setting, learners have the opportunity to talk with their peers, present and defend ideas, exchange diverse beliefs, question other conceptual frameworks, and therefore become actively engaged.

The intervention is important for the special needs students where the strategy can be incorporated into their class work. In this, the discussion can be conducted while the teacher is going on with the lesson. In this collaborative learning, note taking, lecturing and listening will go together. None of these processes will disappear completely in the collaborative learning. in this intervention, even if a different approach is used or if the course is replaced, the goal of collaborative learning is still the same. The goal of this intervention is to shift learning from a teacher-centered to a student-centered model.

Data Collection Strategies

In the implementation of action research, there were many changes that were observed in the students. The innovation that was used with the students is the collaborative learning. In this, instructions were given to the students by two instructors. One of the things observed was the increased participation by the students. Through the implementation of the different strategies during action research, the participation of the students went up. This was observed when the students were conducting group discussion. Those students who contributed less in discussion groups before the implementation of the innovation improved and become active participants in the groups.

The other observation made was that, the performance of the students improved. From the comparison made, the performance of the students after implementation of the innovation was better. The implementation of the innovation made the students to acquire more skills and knowledge that enabled them to perform better in various areas. With the classroom performance, the results of the students showed that there was improvement in the class performance. This is because, when the children were given some questions to respond to, they gave correct responses. The parents also reported that, their students have improved when working on their homework. They reported that their students can handle their homework on their own. In the field, it was clear that with the implementation of the intervention. The chart below indicates average performance of the students before and after the implementation of the strategy.

The other observation made was the improvement in the attitudes of the students towards learning. With the implementation of the innovation, the attitudes of the children towards learning improved. The improvement of attitudes towards learning and education was evident because children was seen working with books all the time. Before the implementation of the strategies, it was hard to see students who were working with the books. The improvement in students’ attitudes towards learning was due to the different strategies that were used in learning and teaching. The improvement in the students’ attitude is shown in the chart below;

Outcome Analysis

In the implementation of action research methodology, the data that was gathered from the participants was a clear indication that the strategies that were tested worked as expected. From the data collected from the implementation process, the results collected shows that there was improvement in the performance of the children with the use of different strategies. The strategies that ware used during the implementation process included; varying teaching strategies, collaborative learning and use of discussion groups. The application of these strategies in learning and teaching resulted in the improvement in students’ performance, increased participation of the students, and the students’ attitudes improved. The improvement observed within the students shows that the strategies used worked very well. Within the improvement in various areas, it is clear that, these strategies used can improve the quality of working with special needs students.

Among the strategies that were used in the implementation of action research, all the strategies worked as expected. Collaborative learning is one of the strategies that were used in implementation of action research. “This is a learning technique and teaching strategy that involves students working together in order to learn something new” (Mills, 2014). This strategy helped the students to improve on their classroom performances since instructions that were given while working together met their needs. The other strategy that was used in the implementation process was varying teaching strategy. “This strategy involves the use of different methods when delivering instructions to the students” (Mckay & Marshall, (2001). It therefore helped in meeting the needs of all the students. It is therefore important in improving the quality of working with special needs students. Discussion groups as a strategy helped the students to actively participate in various discussions. It helped the in improving the students’ attitudes towards learning. The participation in the group discussion boosted morale of the students.

These strategies were important in action research in that, it helped in supporting research questions. The strategies helped in identifying the strategies that can improve the quality of working with special needs students. The strategies also supported research questions in that, with the application of the strategies, it was possible to identify the impacts that it has on the students’ performance. From this, it is evident that it supported the research questions.

Learning Themes

One of the themes that emerged from data collection is the varying learning techniques. Varying techniques is an important theme that supports research questions since it is also one of the teaching strategies that can improve the quality of working with the special needs students. According to Bataille & Brown (2006), “varying learning techniques involves the use of different teaching methods when giving instructions to the students.” This theme supports research questions in that, research questions focuses on identifying strategies that can improve the quality of working with special needs students. Varying learning technique is important in improving the quality of working with special needs since it meets the needs of individual students with varied needs.

Collaborative learning is another theme that supports research questions. “This is a technique learning and teaching strategy that involves students working together in order to learn something new” (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012). From the data collection, it is clear that collaborative learning improves the quality of working with special needs students since it involves placing students into groups by mixing students with varied abilities in order to learn together. In this, grouping students will help special needs students to feel safe and comfortable in an inclusive learning environment. Collaborative learning leads to improvement of student’s performance since students learn in group. Collaborative learning therefore supports research questions since it gives answer to a specific research question.

Another theme that supports research question is the discussion. This theme supports research questions in that; discussion is tool that boosts understanding among the students. “The theme helps the students to learn from their peers as well as give their own opinions” (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012). This theme therefore helps the students in acquiring more knowledge in a certain area. In this, the performance of the students will improve because of discussion.

Action Plan

After the implementation of the innovation, it is still important to take some steps in order to continue with the change. These steps will ensure that the intervention is fully implemented within the organization and that it yields the required results. In this, one of the anticipated steps is to make the teachers become learners. This step involves allowing the students to take the position of the teacher in class and teach. In this, the teacher becomes a learner and sits just like the student does in the classroom. This will help the student build courage in class participation. It will also allow the student to share his/her views with the peers and get feedback from peers that will help in reinforcing their viewpoints.

The other step that will be necessary for the continued change initiative is to educate the students on how to resolve conflicts. This step is important and necessary for the continued change initiative. Since conflict will be experienced in the collaborative learning, it is important to learn ways of solving these conflicts. Learning the ways to solving conflicts will ensure that, the progress of the change initiative is not interfered with. Conflict resolution strategies that will be learnt will help the students to understand each ones viewpoint.

One of the leadership strategies that are needed to implement the action plan is to develop and share a positive vision. In this strategy, the leader of the change initiative must share the vision with the students as well as any relevant party such as the parents and teachers. The vision should be relevant to the challenges and be clear. The second strategy is to develop a positive culture and make it a priority. It is important for the leader to develop a positive culture and ensure that the culture is prioritized so that the change initiative is continued and completed as planned. The change initiative must come together and focus on one thing that will lead to accomplishing the goals of the initiative. The team should also avoid all the negative things as well as fear that might bring confusion and lack of focus.

Conclusion

From the findings of the research, it is clear that there are different learning strategies that can be used in delivering the instructions to the students. The strategies that are adopted by the teacher when delivering instructions to the students must always meet the needs of the students. In the action research, different learning strategies were identified. These strategies identified help the students to improve on their performances as well as improving their attitudes towards learning. These strategies can also be incorporated into the IEP program in order to improve the process. The strategies identified include; varying teaching strategies, collaborative learning and use of discussion groups. These strategies help in improving students’ performances as well as their attitudes towards learning.

Although there are different teaching strategies that can be used by the teachers, “many teachers do not apply them in teaching or most of them choose these strategies based on their own interest” (Fitchman-Dana, n.d.).  From the different studies, it is not clear how the teachers choose their teaching strategies in order to gather for the students’ needs. This therefore is the gap that was uncovered in the study. In order for this gap to be filled, it is important to carry out a study that investigates how the teachers choose their teaching strategies.

References

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2002). New career paths for students with disabilities: Opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Bataille, G. M., & Brown, B. E. (2006). Faculty career paths: Multiple routes to academic success and satisfaction. Westport, Ct: Praeger Publishers.

Eikeland, O. (2003). Unmet challenges and unfulfilled promises in action research. Concepts & Transformation, 8(3), 265-273. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.