Draft of Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan: The Digital Divide
Goal: To determine what impact our new registered device policy is having on classroom instruction and to determine whether or not my school is experiencing a “digital divide” with the use of the new policy.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Meet with members of the leadership team and discuss the implementation of the registered device policy and the purpose of my action research project. (Setting Foundation)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor	March 2013	Meeting Location Notepad	Collaboratively find a specific purpose of action research project.  Branch off other questions and inquiries that will lead to insightful research towards goal.
2. Meet with technology specialists within my school to discuss benefits of new policy (Setting Foundation)	Steve Howes Head Librarian Technology Specialist	March 2013-April 2013	Meeting Location Notepad	Answer questions and/or concerns regarding new policy.  Document benefits and steps of implementation.  Discuss role of technology specialists within policy.
3. Gather baseline data of how many students currently have registered devices in school. Obtain data from Technology Specialist. (Analyzing Data)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor Technology Specialist	April 2013	Meeting locations Computer Excel documents containing recorded data.	Document beginning baseline data of how many students at LJMS currently have registered devices.
4. Gather beginning baseline data of what types of devices students are registering.  Obtain data from Technology Specialist. (Analyzing Data)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor Technology Specialist	April 2013	Meeting locations Computer Excel documents containing recorded data.	Document beginning baseline data of the different types of devices students are registering and how many of each type are registered.
5. Interview team leaders to discuss how many teachers are allowing students to use registered devices in the classroom. (Developing deeper understanding)	Steve Howes Team Leaders both 7th & 8th grade. Site Supervisor	April 2013-May 2013	Computer Meeting Locations Interview document with questions	Record and gather answers about how team leaders are implementing new policy to their teachers and whether or not they are allowing students to use their registered devices.
6. Interview teachers from each team to discuss whether or not they are allowing students to use their registered devices and if so, what exactly they are using them for. (Developing deeper understanding)	Steve Howes Teachers both 7th & 8th grade.	May 2013-June 2013	Computer Meeting Locations Interview document with questions	Record answers and data of how many teachers are allowing students to use their devices. Document examples of use and best practices of teachers.  Discover how this has aided classroom instruction.
7. Survey students on whether or not they have a registered device, and if so how does it help them in the classroom.  If they do not have device, students explain why not. (Developing deeper understanding)	Steve Howes Random selection of students Site Supervisor	June 2013	Surveys 10 computers Classroom Technology Cart Excel program	Gain insight of the “Digital Divide”.  Discover information of who does not have registered devices and why.  Also discover examples of student use.
8. Gather beginning of year data on how many students have registered devices and what types.  Obtain data from Technology Specialist. (Analyzing Data)	Steve Howes Technology Specialist Site Supervisor	September 2013-November 2013	Computer Meeting Location Excel documents containing recorded data.	Record more data on numbers of registered devices and document differences compared to last school year.
9. Meet with Site supervisor and instructional leaders to discuss professional development practices towards gaining a better understanding of the use of registered devices for students. (Taking action for school improvement)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor Assistant Principals School Technology Specialists/Leaders Instructional Leaders	September 2013-November 2013	Meeting Locations Notepad Computer	Document best practices, plans towards professional development, and staff improvement towards gaining a better understanding of digital devices and student use.
10. Interview staff members on their understanding of policy and how they plan to implement this into their classroom instruction this school year. (Exploring Programmatic Patterns)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor Select population of 7th & 8th grade teachers.	November 2013-February 2014	Meeting Locations Notepad Computer Interview Document with questions	Record insightful information of how professional development has impacted teacher learning and teacher plans of implementation of policy into classroom instruction.
11. Survey students on whether or not they have a registered device. If so how does it help them in the classroom.  If they do not have device, student explain why not. (Exploring Programmatic Patterns) (Analyzing Data)	Steve Howes Random selection of students Site Supervisor	March 2014	Surveys 10 Computers Classroom Technology Cart	Record data that will show differences from data collected last school year.  Also document how students are using registered devices and how this relates or is different from last year’s data.
12. Conduct ending survey with teachers and team leaders discussing whether or not they are allowing the use of registered devices in the classroom and how they are aiding instruction with the use of this policy. (Analyzing Data) (Exploring Programmatic Patterns)	Steve Howes Teachers both 7th & 8th grade  (same as before plus more)	April 2014	Surveys Computer Excel Document	Record conclusive data regarding numbers of teachers allowing use of registered devices.  Show how this data has changed or stayed the same since beginning of action research plan.  Document best practices of teachers aiding classroom instruction.
13.  Meet with Site Supervisor and Instructional Leaders to discuss results of action research plan. (Sustaining Improvement)	Steve Howes Site Supervisor School Technology Specialists Instructional Leaders	May 2014	Computer Presentation Software Data Analysis results Meeting Location	Discuss ending results of action research plan.  Show differences from beginning of plan to end using graphs and line charts for data analysis, discuss answers to interviews and surveys, conclude and discuss analysis of digital divide.