In the past few months I have been researching
whether the implementation of a science lab on our elementary school campus
will increase student achievement on the Science STAAR. I chose this research
project to increase the vertical alignment from Kindergarten through sixth
grade. The first thing I did this year was to develop a science cadre
consisting of a member from each grade level, and special population. This
cadre has worked to develop strategies to align content and vocabulary. This
includes: interactive notebooks beginning with kindergarten, a word of the week
initiative, and common assessments. At
each cadre meeting, teachers share updates, success in their classrooms and
concerns they have. As a science cadre, we
have planned our family science evening to be held in October, and second in February.
These evenings will involve our school science club supporting students through
the process of the Science Fair, and exploring science concepts through
hands-on investigations. Future science cadre meetings will be held on campus
to align power strategies, curriculum and the needs of each grade level on our
campus. Since the performance measure of my action research project will rely
mostly on Science STAAR data, I keep in close contact with my fifth grade
teachers. I meet weekly to check how students are progressing, what
interventions they may need, or any assistance I can provide them. I provide
after school intervention in my science lab to close any possible gaps that may
occur. I am also currently working with a small ELL population of students who
are at a high risk for not meeting the STAAR minimum expectation. I will
continue my collection of data from student surveys and of course the spring
administration of the Science STAAR.
