Action Research Plan Ideas

Action Research Plan: Is the new math curriculum, digits, effective in terms of student achievement, will more students improve their test scores this year than in previous years because of it?  My school has recently adopted the math curriculum called digits, this year will be our first year implementing the program.  It is an online textbooks and has a plethora of resources for students and parents to use at home.  The question is are they going to?  With digits the purpose is for students to think on their own, no longer will I be standing in front of them showing them equations to solve.  Instead they will be working based on inquiry and figuring out how to come up with an equation on their own.  There is more than one way to solve a problem and that is what digits is all about.   I will keep track of their test scores and their improvement throughout the year as well as looking at their PASS test scores from last year to this year to keep track of the growth.  

Teachers will benefit from my action research plan to know if they should use digits as it is said to in the manual, which is very scripted, or if we should use it as more of a resource as we have done in the past with our text books based on dull and incompetent lessons.

Students will also benefit, they will become more accountable for their learning.  They will be using problem solving skills every day to discover different ways to solve problems while I will be more of a facilitator. When students are struggling to the point of frustration is when I will step in and give them hints and clues.

The following are other topics I have thought about researching:

 1.       What effect does an inclusion environment have on math achievement of 8^th graders at Banks Trail Middle School?

2.       Can a Mentor Program improve students test scores and outlook on school? 

3.       How can we make students more accountable?