Progress Towards the Implementation of my Action Research Project.

My action research project is coming along great! I have been to some other schools and interviewed their head of admissions and found out what processes work for them and what processes don’t work. I have also started to read a book called “On the Edge” that talks about school admission and why people pick certain schools. I also created a survey that went out to parents at the end of last school year to get feedback about the year and what they were pleased about and what they would want to change. A copy of the survey is below.  I will also be creating a new survey to send out to parent’s midyear. I will also be attending the Houston Area Private School Showcase this year. The showcase has private schools around Houston and will look to see what other schools have to offer. I must complete class #7-#12 and complete my action research project in order to graduate.  I have completed roughly about 65 hours towards by action research projects. 

Here Goes Nothing!

Action Planning Template
Goal: Identify the major contributing factors for selecting a private Catholic school
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Find data to show what past school year data looked like and what programs offered at the school at those same times	Kurt Kleeman	May 2013	Past school year enrollment	Spread sheet on gatherings
Create a survey to give to existing parents on why they chose St. Theresa Catholic School	Kurt Kleeman St. Theresa school parents	April 2013-May 2013	Survey questions and  Parent list	Spread sheet on gatherings
Create a survey to add to the school open house flyer	Kurt Kleeman Perspective school parents	May 2013-March 2014	Survey questions	Spread sheet on gatherings
Analyze open house flyers “how they heard” about St. Theresa	Kurt Kleeman Perspective school parents	March 2013-May 2013	Current open house flyers, questions on those flyers and answers	Analyze data/spread sheet with gatherings
Set up meetings with other catholic school’s (non-competitors) principals and head of admission’s to collaborate enrollment and retention	Kurt Kleeman School principals and head of admissions	April 2013-May 2013	Principals and  school’s admission department Questions for principal and admission department	Notes on discussion with those involved
Analyze date to show why school increased from 198-215, 215-250+	Kurt Kleeman Data from past school years	April 2013-July 2013	Enrollment data from the past- How many classes per grade? How many students per class? Programs offered? Total student population	Spread sheets and graphs to show enrollment then, now and future
Retention student survey	Kurt Kleeman Current school parents	January-February 2014	Survey the parents who have picked to stay and St. Theresa and survey the parents who have decided to leave	Spread sheets and paragraphs to show what I found during this process
Alumni and parent survey- satisfaction rates	Kurt Kleeman Alumni and past parents	September 2013	Alumni and past parents Survey questions	Spread sheet of data collected from alumni and parents.
Create Survey for St. Theresa school teachers	Kurt Kleeman Current St. Theresa teachers	May 2013	Current teachers Survey questions	Data collected from surveys
Why choose private over public	Kurt Kleeman School Parent (Dustee interviewed in local magazine)	October 2013	School Parent Local magazine article Interview questions	Data from interview and article information
Research online+ books	Kurt Kleeman	January 2014	Computer and books	Information found online and research done
Power point presentation	Kurt Kleeman School teachers, past and present parents and students. School board and committees.	February 2014	Data from my interviews, surveys and research all put together	Spread sheets and interviews and research found.

CARE Model

Tool 8.1 CARE Model: Planning Tool

Identify Concerns that must change (look to the future)

(Assign points to concerns from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important issues to consider.)

1. Open House perspective parent survey (what did you think? What other schools are you considering? What did you like about St. Theresa? What could we have done differently? Etc.

2. Retention survey for current parents

3. Meeting with other Catholic schools in the area

Identify Affirmations that must be sustained (look to the present)

(Assign points to affirmations from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important issues to consider.)

1. Open House

2. School/campus tours

3. Admission team communication (Follow up, way we interact with others, selling the school, etc)

SMART Recommendations that must be implemented:

(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely)

(Assign points to recommendations from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important recommendations to implement.)

1. Create survey; distribute perspective parent survey, April 9^th student round up (school interviews PK3-K)

2. Create survey; distribute current parent survey at end of the year spaghetti dinner (May)

3. Contact admission team/schools to interview by end of April

EVALUATE – Specifically and Often

(Identify the best ways to evaluate the implemented recommendations.)

1. Filtering data received from all surveys  

2. Identifying problems based on survey results

3. Identify schools to contact, gather information and what was learned from interviews