Draft Action Research Project Progress Report
Title: Strategies to Improve Grades for Absent
Students
My district grading policy states “Late work will be accepted for a grade until the
end of the day on the day before the last day of the grading period in which
the assignment was made.” Due to
this policy students, especially frequently absent students, have a tendency to
wait until the last day of the grading period to make up missing work. This has placed a burden on teachers as they
are still grading papers when grades are due.
I also noticed that students who are frequently absent have a much lower
grade average and their assignments, especially those turned in late, receive
low grades. This late work tends to me
sloppy, incomplete, and shows a lack of knowledge in the material. This raised a lot of questions for me. What strategies can help improve the grades
for chronically absent students? What
tools can be utitlized to improve the learning on missed material for absent
students? How can teachers interpret the
grading policy to ensure students turn late work in a timely manner? Through surveying teachers at my school, I
found that many other teachers have the same problem, and many of us do not know
how to break this cycle nor have we developed strategies to help our absent
student learn the missed material and improve their grades.
My
vision is that I will find the best strategies to improve the grades of our
frequently absent students and consequently, increase the student learning
especially on the missed material. My
plan is to implement a few strategies, such as Remind101 service, weekly parent
contact, and decreased number of days to complete work, to measure the improvement
of grades in the classroom for frequently absent students and help the workload
of the teacher at the end of the grading period.
So much research is completed concerning the
effects of chronic absenteeism on student achievement. A study in the Redwood City School District showed
that the number of days a student was absent had a substantial negative effect
on the California Standards Test in math and English Language Arts for 3rd
through 8th graders. The
study also noted the negative effect on Grade Point Average in high school
students, and for the higher achieving students, there is a great risk of
academic decline due to chronic absence (Sanchez, 2012). All studies I found
definitely state that missing school plays a role in student academic
outcomes. Many provide suggestions on
how to improve attendance or reduce absenteesim, but many do not state what to
do right now for chronically absent students and their acheivement. Through the research, “being chronically absent in
one year may be an indicator of being chronically absent in subsequent years”
(Sanchez, 2012).
As many attendance habits are formed well before they enter high school,
I want to target my current 10th & 11th grade
students and how I can help them now.
Therefore, I am researching strategies to improve grades in my classroom
and increase the learning of the missed material.
When
my action research project is complete, I plan to share my findings in the form
of my blog, a power point, and a summary of my action reaserach project to
teachers and administrators at my school.
I would like to present my research to a large group or in smaller
specific groups during a staff development session or PLC meetings. If I am unable offer a presentation, I can
email or post my findings on our school’s network drive. I can also post my results on my teacher
webpage and my class NetSchool page for other teachers, students, and parents
for viewing. Offering the information in
various locations will provide many opportuntities for people to view and use
my research.
After the first semester, I was able to
identify my chronically absent students using 6-weeks attendance reports. At the beginning of the second semester, I
implemented the following new classroom procedures: Remind101, weekly parent contact, and reduced
number of days to make up tests. My plan
is to compare the grades of chronically absent students before and after
implementation of new strategies concerning make-up work. Using dates of when students turned in work
and the grade received, I can determine if the new strategies are helpful in
improving the grades and preventing failures of my frequently absent students. I want to identify the best practices and
strategies now to help the students currently enrolled in my class to improve
student achievement and learning.
Once the research is complete, I plan on
sharing this data and my recommendations with my fellow teachers. While I do not predict any conflict amongst
the teachers, there may be some resistance with administrators that teachers
are following the district grading policy.
However, there is a stipulation in our district guidlines that if the
teacher has made personal contact with the parents regarding a late assignment,
then the student has only 1 additional day to turn in the work. Using this stipulation will help with any
problems regarding obeying the district grading policy.
My action research project should not only
improve grades and student achievement, but may also decrease the workload for
teachers at the end of the grading period.
If I find success in my research, these strategies can be used to create
a stricter late work policy and therefore, teach students a life-long lesson of
the importance of deadlines and taking responsibility for their own
learning.
References
Sanchez, Monica. Truancy and
Chronic Absence in Redwood City. John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their
Communities. Palo Alto, Calif. April 2012
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