Action Research Project Summary (EDLD5326 Week 5)

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words): My Action Research Project of Implementing an effective K-2 RTI program is on track. I began my project by meeting with the teachers to tell them about my project. We fall short on documentation. We’re a very small school so we’ve come to depend on communicating concerns to each other simply because it’s easier, quicker, and we feel more one-on-one. I spoke with the teachers about this and assured each of them that they were doing a fantastic job. However, my concern was that we all have to start documenting if we want to get help for our students. The law requires documentation. Parents will also want to see documentation. Teachers understood this but needed help on what documents to use. The right document was also a concern of mine. There are so many documents out there and choosing the best one was a long process. Finally, I was able to form a document that is easy for teachers to use. With my principal’s approval of the document, I brought it to our weekly faculty meeting and explained what exactly needed to be documented. All teachers seemed very pleased with this form. The universal screening that my principal and superintendent chose is the TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory). Our Kindergarten and 1^st grade teachers just finished last week with their first universal screening process. I will meet with them this week on kids identified as possibly needing help (Tier 1). Our 2^nd grade teacher finished two weeks ago with universal screening. I met with her and we identified at risk students. I’ve provided different strategies that she can implement in her classroom. I talked with my principal concerning how long teachers should document before we take the next step. She informed me that teachers should document for nine weeks before we take the next step. I’m anxious to speak with our 1^st and 2^nd grade teachers about their TPRI tests. In my opinion, their TPRI’s should’ve been completed two weeks ago just as 2^nd grade. The 1^st and 2^nd grade teachers are veteran teachers and they don’t like change. During our meetings, they don’t voice any concerns and seem anxious to get started. They are good teachers and want to help their students in any way possible. However, documenting is something they’re not good at because they’ve never had to or been held responsible if they didn’t. I have to handle them with “kid gloves” to get them to begin the process of documentation. I know, though, that once they get started with it and feel comfortable then they will be okay. Right now documentation as well as RTI is new for them. It’s up to me to make them understand RTI and to help them become comfortable with everything concerning RTI. During the summer my principal ordered quite a few books on RTI. I’ve started reading them to learn about different strategies that I can give our teachers to help students.