Action Research Plan

Goal: What types of support could benefit new teachers to become successful and have the confidence to continue in the teaching profession?

1. Setting the Foundation – Through collaboration with my principal and the site based decision making team; new teacher retention has been identified as a problem over recent years.
2. Analyzing the Data – Gathering data over recent years will help identify the retention rate of new teachers. Using interviews with new teachers and new teachers that are leaving the school district will be used to gather data to help teacher retention. The school district will also collaborate with neighboring school districts for ideas and programs to help with new teacher retention.
3. Developing deeper understanding – Using the data gathered in step 2, there should be other questions that will need to be addressed. Using the interviews and collaboration from other school districts, the new teachers will be asked to express their concerns for the school district to better understand the new teacher retention problem.
4. Engaging in self-reflection – As a principal I will have to be able to reflect on my decisions with the campus to determine if the new teacher retention problem could be addressed through my decisions. A big question I would have to ask myself and address would be: Do I possess the knowledge and skills to be able to take on the challenge of directing new teachers towards our campus and goals?
5. Exploring programmatic process – After self-reflection, I would have to identify some of the main reasons why our campus cannot retain new school teachers. With this process I would have to confer with a trusted resource to be able to come up with the best possible solution for this situation.
6. Determining direction – Determining the direction of this research project is very important. I need to be very clear on what outcome that I want to have for a solution to this addressed problem. I also have to make sure that everything that I do with this project is reasonable, such as timelines and the monitoring process. I also have to be able to revise and improve my plan as the project progresses in the event that the project is seeing positive results.
7. Taking action for school improvement - For this project I would like to include our site based decision making team in order to collaborate with for solutions on the outcome of my initial findings. Our district also forms a committee that is called the Superintendent’s Committee that is made up teachers and community leaders that help solve district problems through collaboration with district and community resources. Including this committee would be an excellent asset for this project.
8. Sustaining improvement – For this part of my project, I would identify the positive aspects of the results of the project. These positive outcomes will need to be addressed in order to continue with the results from gathering the data for this project. Finding and maintaining positive views for new teacher retention will be a key asset for the future teachers of our campus and district.