I haven't done much but this is what I have come up with since having to put it in written form!
Pre AP and AP Courses: Have We Made any Gains?
Abstract
Title and Author
Pre AP and AP Courses: Have We Made any Gains, written and researched by Jennifer Davis, teacher, Lubbock High School, Lubbock, TX.
Introduction/Background
The goal with this action research project was to compare the number of students enrolled in Pre AP and AP courses between two school years to see if there were any gains in participation levels.
The action research was conducted on the campus of Lubbock High School in Lubbock, TX. Lubbock High School is a Title I School with a majority of Hispanic students. Research was conducted by myself, Jennifer Davis, as a graduate student at Lamar University. Currently, I am a full time teacher of a non-core subject at Lubbock High School. The research focused on all students taking at least one Pre AP course regardless of their grade level, with an emphasis on how many freshmen were taking at least one course, and have we made any gains in improving our numbers?
As part of our Campus Improvement Plan, finding the number of students enrolled in Pre AP courses compared to the year before, is significant for the campus. As mentioned below, we are a magnet school and pride ourselves on being able to offer Pre AP and AP courses to our students. If our numbers did not increase, then I need to find out why and come up with ideas on how to regain those participants. If our numbers did increase, then I need to look at what we did to ensure that those results do not decrease.
By comparing this year’s (2011-2012) number of students enrolled in Pre AP courses to that of last year (2010-2011), what gains have we made in the participation levels? For my campus, this is important to know since we are a magnet school; meaning, we offer specialized courses that other schools in our district does not. We strive to continue to push our limits and increase numbers every year. So again I ask, what gains have we made in the participation levels of Pre AP between the two school years?
All Pre AP/AP teachers will benefit from this research. Teachers outside of my campus and district would be able to benefit from the research as well. Hopefully, by reading this report, teachers, administrators, parents, and students will be able to see what the benefits are of taking Pre AP/AP courses and also ways to continue to increase their numbers for their campus. By learning how to increase participation in Pre AP/AP courses, other schools can continue to push their students towards obtaining a college degree. It will be important for my campus in particular in that we will be able to continue making gains as a magnet school while continuing to raise the bar for our students.
Literature Review
Action Research Design
Subjects
I chose to use students from all grade levels as my subjects for this research. Since this is a high school, the grade levels are ninth-twelfth. I did however only have a select group of 50 students from each grade level complete the survey. For this past school year (11-12), there were 2, 095 students taking Pre AP courses. Now, this could be at least one class for some students, or four classes for others; therefore, the number listed above is a total enrollment.
Procedures
Data Collection
Findings
Conclusions and Recommendations
References
