Implementation Action Research Paper

Implementation Action Research Paper
Name
Institutional Affiliation

Implementation Action Research Paper
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Plan
Strengths
The work of a school building leader is to bring the key stakeholders together to support change initiatives that are consistent with the education vision. In this case, the change aims at bringing teachers together and involve them in designing better lesson plans to improve the performance of grade 8 students in mathematics. Specifically, the program seeks to improve students’ factoring skills. As mentioned earlier, the change has incorporated the views of experienced teachers who are not only experienced in lesson planning but also understand the weaknesses of their students (Norman, 2011). Therefore, one of the strengths of the plan is the fact that it represents the views of the users who are experienced in the field. The plan also takes into account the concerns of the students. The idea was to create lesson plans that reflect the learning habits of the students. In doing so, struggling students will have an opportunity to learn at their pace leading to improved academic performance.
Weaknesses
As a school building leader, it is necessary to involve all the stakeholders when making the changes. In this case, involving teachers only might introduce biases since the new lesson plan will reflect their concerns. Therefore, involving a neutral party can assist in determining whether the changes are worth making. On the same note, the fact that the plan is new and untested is a weakness since it might work or not.

However, testing the new lesson plan will strengthen it and justify its adoption. In doing so, teachers’ work will assist the high school to achieve the much-needed academic attainment that will allow them to join graduate and proceed to higher levels of education.
Midcourse Corrections
The success of this plan depends on the commitment of the implementation team to conduct a continuous assessment after the end of each term. In doing so, it will be possible to identify loopholes and make the corrections promptly. Therefore, the mid-course corrections will be done to eliminate a component that is not working as planned. The assessment of outcomes regarding students’ and teachers’ satisfaction as well as the scores in mathematics will identify the specific areas that require corrections (Perry & Lewis, 2009). On the same note, the correction will facilitate the incorporation of a new idea to replace what has been eliminated. For example, the analyzing the concerns of teachers and their views about the specific areas will assist in introducing new ideas into the new lesson plan to make it better.
Implementation of the New Plan
It is critical for the team of teachers to rewrite the lesson plans before the students commence studies in January. Therefore, the idea is to dedicate the first week of next year (2017) as an idea-sharing session, where the teachers can suggest all the necessary changes. The second step is to examine whether the proposed implementation action plan are in line with the laws and regulations governing the changes that schools intend to make. For example, school building leaders have the obligation of ensuring that the school meets the standards and complies with the laws and regulation before initiating the change (Perry & Lewis, 2009). Therefore, communicating the changes to the school district will make sure that the school district management is aware of the changes. The third step will be to design a detailed assessment plan that will assist in measuring the outcome during the implementation. With the assistance of the teachers, it will be necessary to identify questions and statements needed to develop a questionnaire that will be used to collect teachers’ sentiments that will measure their satisfaction levels. Similarly, preparing a questionnaire for surveying students will assist in measuring the change in students’ attitudes before and after the implementation of the plan.
Evidence of the Plan’s Results
Teachers’ Satisfaction
In most cases, teachers tend to become frustrated if their hard fails to bring the outcome they expect (Lin, Ko, & Kuo, 2014). During the implementation of the change, teachers will examine whether the new lesson plan is better than the previous one. For example, the question of how students are grasping concepts under the new lesson plan will provide crucial insight into whether it is working as intended. As the users of the new lesson plan, teachers will provide the much-needed opinion of whether it is better than the previous lesson plan. Therefore, a survey on the teachers’ level of satisfaction will assist in measuring the results. With a survey, it will be possible to gather the sentiments of teachers regarding different components of the new lesson plan. In doing so, it will be possible to identify the specific areas that require changes.
Scores in Mathematics
As mentioned earlier, the overriding objective of this plan is to improve the performance of students in algebra, especially factoring skills. The analysis of the students score at the end of each term will assist in statistically assessing any improvements. For example, evaluating the performance of students in factoring questions will help in measuring whether the objective of the plan has been achieved. Contrastingly, the assessment of other mathematics topics will present crucial insights on whether the new changes has improved factoring skills at the expense of other equally important mathematical skills.
Students’ Attitudes
The attitudes of students towards a subject or a particular topic play a crucial role in determining the amount of efforts or dedication they commit (Lin et al., 2014). Therefore, measuring the attitude of students can assist in determining whether the new lesson plan gives teachers enough time to motivate individual students. Surveying the students before and after the introduction of the new lesson plan can assist in measuring any change in attitude. The thought is to ask the same questions before and after the implementation and examine how the attitude has changed. For example, collecting ordinal data using Likert scale can assist in quantifying the change in the level of agreement or disagreements with specific statements that reflect student’s attitudes.
Benefits of the Plan to the School
As indicated earlier, this strategy plan aims at improving the performance of students in mathematics. Specifically, the new lesson plan will assist students to pass all the factoring questions in algebra. Consequently, students in grade 8 will start developing a positive attitude towards Algebra and mathematics in general. The implementation of this plan will create the much-needed platform that will assist weak students to understand the concept at the same pace that faster-learners grasp. Consequently, the number of students who will pass mathematics will be higher. On the same note, teachers will have easier times teaching factoring concept since the new plan offers leveled platform for slow-learners and fast-learners. Therefore, the teacher will not need to organize separate sessions for the struggling students.
The change is a collection of ideas from experienced mathematics teachers who are dedicated to assisting their students to perform better in math. From a school building perspective, the changes give teachers the authority to be part of the decision-making process (Hall, 2013). Consequently, the level of job satisfaction and commitment among teachers is expected to grow after the implementation of the plan. The resulting favorable environment will encourage more teachers to forward better ideas that will uplift the performance of students in their respective subjects. The argument is that teachers are in the best position to understand the challenges that their students face (Hall, 2013). Therefore, using lesson plans that reflect the views of teachers, who are users, is an excellent opportunity for making teachers be active players in the school building process.

References
Hall, D. (2013). Using lesson study as an approach to developing teachers as researchers. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 3(1), 11-23.
Lin, C. Y., Ko, Y. Y., & Kuo, Y. C. (2014). Changes in pre-service teachers’ algebraic misconceptions by using computer-assisted instruction. International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education, 21(3), 89-101.
Norman, P. J. (2011). Planning for what kind of teaching? Supporting cooperating teachers as teachers of planning. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(3), 49-68.
Perry, R. R., & Lewis, C. C. (2009). What is successful adaptation of lesson study in the US?. Journal of Educational Change, 10(4), 365-391.