NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Tags: social sciences, education, school improvement plan, educational evaluation

Objective(s): To identify the impact of the SmartLearning Project on student outcomes. The SmartLearning Project involves action research conducted by classroom teachers and inquiry leaders in schools in British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories of Canada; and to gather quantitative and qualitative data at classroom, school, and school district levels annually as a part of regular instructional and assessment practice.

Project Description: The purpose of the study is to identify the impact of the SmartLearning Project on student outcomes. The SmartLearning Project involves action research conducted by classroom teachers and inquiry leaders in schools in British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories of Canada. The SmartLearning Project gathers quantitative and qualitative data at classroom, school, and school district levels annually as a part of regular instructional and assessment practice. This study seeks to analyse those data. There is a lack of scholarly literature documenting these teachers’ collective efforts to improve student learning and achievement in classrooms by using research-informed practice, therefore, this study will document the SmartLearning Project and its impact on student outcomes. Methods and Procedures: A mixed methods study design will be used to identify the impact of the SmartLearning Project on student outcomes. Once ethical approval is granted from the University of Otago, the researcher will make contact with the action research leadership team to begin the recruitment process. Data collection and analysis will occur as a multi-step process and will be overseen by the principal researcher. During the 2012-2013 school year, data will be collected by the SmartLearning Project leaders team and inquiry leaders as part of the regular instructional process for teachers and students participating in the SmartLearning Project. As in previous years, this process occurs entirely within Canada and begins at the classroom level where inquiry leaders work closely with participating teachers. Teachers conduct diagnostic assessments at the beginning of the school year and summative assessments at the end of the year to inform their instruction and report on student progress. The scores of these assessments are collated at the classroom level because they are used by teachers to report on student learning and achievement and inform their planning. Inquiry leaders collate the classroom assessment data to be used for planning, evaluation and reporting purposes at the school and district level. Teachers also collect samples of their lesson plans and samples of student work and use them as prompts to engage in reflective conversations with inquiry leaders as an established part of the SmartLearning Project. Inquiry leaders collate student work samples, records of planning, and reflections of conversations with participating teachers at the school or district level. Data generated by school districts participating in the SmartLearning Project as part of the regular instructional process during the 2012-2013 school year will be collated by the research team at the University of Otago. This will be achieved through electronic file sharing via the Internet. This data will include student demographics, results of student assessments, reports of student achievement, and district policy documents relating to teaching and learning. The student demographic and assessment data will be analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), whereas reports of student achievement and district policy documents relating to teaching and learning will be analyzed using a general inductive approach (Thomas, 2006). Reports of student achievement may contain teachers’ reflective narratives about their lesson plans, samples of student work, and classroom assessment data that were used to engage in reflective conversations with inquiry leaders or members of the SmartLearning Project leadership team. Final synthesis of the data collected in this study will be achieved by combining quantitative and qualitative findings to create a rich and informative representation that used to identify the impact of the SmartLearning Project on student outcomes. Commencement of recruitment and data collection: This is an international research study where data collected during the Canadian 2012-1013 school year will be used by the researchers. No researcher from the University of Otago will be travelling to Canada to collect data from participants. Action research teachers working on the SmartLearning Project, located in Canada have engaged in previous annual cycles of research for which each school district’s ethical policies and procedures have been followed and consent to conduct research was granted. The data collection cycle will commence in September, 2012 and will be subject to the unique ethical and consent procedures of each participating school district as well as the requirements of the University of Otago's ethics committee. Method of Recruitment: The participants will be recruited in a networked approach. This approach has been the method of recruitment used by the SmartLearning Project leadership team in the past; however, one more layer and another element will be added to the established approach. The added layer will be that members of the SmartLearning Project’s leadership team will be recruited by the researcher (i.e. Megan Anakin). The added element will be all participants will be clearly informed that a study of this year’s SmartLearning Project is being conducted by the University of Otago. An information letter and consent form will be provided to the SmartLearning Project’s leadership team and senior administrative personnel in participating school districts. This information will be added to existing information and consent forms used by the SmartLearning Project in each school district. Where required by the school district, the same or similar documents will be provided to the Board of Trustees, school principals, classroom teachers, parents/guardians and students. Continuing with the practice established by the SmartLearning Project, all students in a participating teacher’s class will be invited to participate so that no child feels excluded from the study. There will be clearly described opportunities for any participant to opt out at any time. Finally, classroom teachers will recruit students in their classrooms because teachers are familiar with their students and are best able to articulate their action research plans to them in age appropriate language. Inclusion criteria: Any member of the action research leadership team and any school district staff member previously involved with or joining the SmartLearning Project in 2012-2013 and any students allocated to a particular participating teacher’s classroom are invited to participate Exclusion criteria: Staff and students within the provincially funded and managed public and private school systems in British Columbia, Alberta, or the Northwest Territories, Canada that have not been previously involved with or are in the process of joining the SmartLearning Project in 2012. This research will take place in consenting schools in the South Slave Region and provide participating teachers an opportunity to document and share the instructional strategies they have developed with their students while implementing the SmartLearning approach. Student achievement data will also be analyzed at local and regional levels so the findings of this study can be shared with the participating schools' communities as well as other schools, school districts, and communities in the Northwest Territories. The results of the study will be communicated to the people in the areas where the research was conducted in a similar manner as to how the research was conducted; through a networked approach. The principal researcher will be responsible for writing academic papers, disseminating the findings at international research conferences and designing web-based resource summarizing the findings for a general audience. The SmartLearning leadership team will be responsible for disseminating findings in Canada at professional conferences and through regular meetings and communication channels with school district personnel, inquiry leaders, and local news media. Inquiry leaders and participating teachers in schools will be responsible for disseminating findings with colleagues, parents, and students through conversations and presentations. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 24, 2012 to December 31, 2012.