Action Research pdf format

The Effects of Developing a Community-Based Website and Evaluating its Value Toward Communication and the Learning Process

Abstract
            This Action Research involved the creation of a new community based website for Hart-Ransom School in Modesto, California. Input was gathered from the school community. Information gleaned from the surveys and meetings was collected and became the basis for the new school website.

Introduction
            Much has been written and studied about the benefits of parental and community involvement in the school setting and it's positive affect on student success. This study focused on improving communication between home, school and community by improving the school's website and involving as many shareholders in the process of developing the site. The research sought to answer the following questions:
1. How can a school website improve the home to school communication process?
2. What value can a school website bring to the educational process?
3. What happens in the process of establishing a school community website?

Link to Review of Literature
Review of Literature for this project can be found here:ROL.pdf

Setting
            The school site, Hart-Ransom School, is unique in many ways. It belongs to the Hart-Ransom Union School District, a small district comprised of one regular public school with approximately 700 students and one charter school with approximately 225 students. Both schools are Kindergarten through eighth grade. The charter school is based on the home schooling model and was not part of this study.
            Hart-Ransom School is located on the west side of Modesto, California and although the district is small, the physical attendance area is largest in Stanislaus County. The community is stable with little new building and most residents live on ranches and ranchettes. Some single-family neighborhoods dot the area but it is predominately rural. Because of the stable community, many generations have attended the school and it is common for students to have parents, aunts and uncles and even grandparents that have attended the school. It is also common for students to have cousins and other extended family, as well as siblings, attend school with them. The closeness of the community is evident on campus and at special school events. Highly active community and parent involvement are a reflection of the long-standing "family" that grows with each new student and family that attends the school.
            The student population is predominately Caucasian, with 58% in that category. Other ethnicities include Hispanic 29.9%, Asian 6.2%, African American 4.9% and Filipino 1.0%. 14% of the students are English Language Learners.
Average class size is 20 in grades kindergarten through third and 32 in grades forth through eighth. The school is currently experiencing declining enrollment and accepts inter-district transfers.
Students at Hart-Ransom are guided by specific rules and expectations that promote respect, cooperation, courtesy and acceptance of others. Students' behavior is generally good. 69 suspensions and 1 expulsion occurred in 2005.

Description of Study
The existing website, created several years ago, was in need of a thorough makeover. In preparation for the creation of the site input from the school community was solicited. Surveys were distributed to students, parents, teachers and community members. Surveys for students in grade six through 8 were taken during their computer class. Parent surveys were sent home via our weekly folder home method, the standard protocol for delivering notes home to parents. Staff surveys were placed in office mailboxes. All surveys were single page with room for comments, if necessary. Results of the surveys can be found in Tables 2-4 and 7-9.
Meetings involving several subgroups on campus were also held to gather input and support for the new community based communication tool. Meetings were held with members of the school technology committee, school office staff, district office staff, staff members for both after school programs and the athletic director.
Once the data was collected it was analyzed and reviewed. A team comprised of the School Technology Committee and a select group of eighth grade students were involved in analyzing the data, reviewing the needs expressed, and creating the final website outline and design.
Those same eighth graders were then trained on website design using Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Photoshop Elements. Finally, the website building began. Most of the website was finished in the 3 week schedule. Due to the demands of creating a complex website and some limits of time, there are some areas of the website that remain "under construction" at this writing. However, the majority of the site is complete and is currently being maintained regularly.
Concurrently, a select group of teachers were trained to create class web pages using a commercial template type online delivered program called Teacher Web. Fifteen of the school forty teachers teacher created sites and they were added to the school webpage. Expansion of this program is planned for next year with the goal of adding at least fifteen more classroom web pages, or 75% of all teachers using a class webpage by the end of year 2.
The new and improved website was formally launched on March 15, 2006. Since then, it has been visited 13,573 times. A second survey was distributed to students, staff and the community. Feedback from the school community has been extremely favorable. There is evidence that communication has been enhanced and that student learning has been positively impacted. In this study more time will be necessary to fully document the results of the improved site as a communication device and an enhancement of the learning process. In the months ahead, the site will be upgraded and improved with those goals in mind.

Limitations of the Study
The results of this study are unique to the school site for which it was designed. At other schools, in different environments, a similar study may or may not yield the same results.

Timeline
Table 1

Presentation of Data
Types of Data Collected
Data for the study was collected in the following ways: written surveys, face to fact meetings and written observations and responses from students who participated as webmasters on the project. Written surveys were distributed to students, parents, staff and community members. This population would be most affected, and had the potential to receive benefits from an improved school website. Surveys were tabulated and results are shown in Tables 2-4 and 7-9. The researcher, along with students involved in the project, reviewed minutes from meetings and the information gleaned from those meetings was considered when website particulars were planned. Notes from those meetings are shown in Table 5. Written observations and responses from students provided first hand reactions to the new website and the significance of each students participation in the process.

Table 2
Pre-Survey Students in Grades 6 – 8
270 surveys tabulated

Suggestion made in comment section that answer question "What would you like to see on the school website?" Students indicated they were interested in seeing more school pictures on the site, examples of school and class projects including individual student work, more announcements and information regarding school events, more educational games, more video games and better design

Table 3
Pre-Survey Teachers and Staff
42 surveys tabulated

Suggestions made in comment section that answer question "What would you like to see on the school website?" Staff comments included more updated announcements, more information regarding community events such as 4-H club that meets on campus, more educational resources and inclusion of class web pages.

Table 4

Pre-Survey Parents/Guardians and Community
201 surveys tabulated

Suggestions made in comment section that answer question "What suggestions or ideas do you have for the school website?": Community comments included more updated announcements, detailed calendar, staff contact information easily accessible, information regarding the Parent Teacher Club, more information regarding special school events, more student and class work, more educational resources to assist students with projects and homework, specific course and project requirements, homework and links to community sites such as the baseball club that uses the school facilities.

Table 5

Results from Meetings

Findings
Finding 1: There was an increase in web traffic
The use of the school website, as measured by hits on a hit counter, increased over 300%.  Data from the older, existing website, for the time period September 1, 1998 until February 13, 2006, showed that website traffic averaged approximately 800 hits per month. Data from the current hit counter, placed on the new website on February 13, 2006, revealed an increase to approximately 2700 hits per month. This is an increase of 337%. In addition, the number of unique hits remains high, at 59%. The hit counter used on the website was supplied by bravenet.com. Bravenet provides free hit counters, as well as statistics generated from those counters The following table summarizes the findings on the Bravenet site on August 10, 2006 (http://counter43.bravenet/index.php?id=396147&usernum=3626857842) :
Table 6
Website statistics from August 10, 2006
     
Top Statistics
Busiest Time                                                                       09:00 AM
Screen Resolution                                                               1024x768
Operation System                                                               Windows XP
Busiest Day                                                                        Wednesday
Color Depth                                                                       16.7M Colors
Web Browser                                                                     Internet Explorer 6.x

Cumulative Statistics
Counter Start Date                                                             February 13, 2006
Total Page Views                                                               13,573
Total Uniques                                                                     8,059
Uniques / Page Views                                                         59%
Page View – A page view is tracked every time there is a hit to the page
Unique Visitor – A unique visitor is a visitor that has not visited your website in the past 24 hours.

Finding 2: Communication between home and school improved
          Communication between home and school has improved as a result of the new website. Staff in the school office report a much smaller number of parents calling for routine questions such as calendar and scheduling issues, times and placed for sports events and other school wide activities such as assemblies and field trips. 92% of the community indicated in the post survey that communication between home and school is enhanced by the school website. Office staff have been so impressed that they are taking a much more active interest in the website, from remembering to supply needed information to the Webmaster to promoting its use in the community and suggesting new ideas for the site. The Principal secretary, Mrs. Suzanne Howell, noted:
"I am amazed at how much less the phone rings. It helps make my job much easier and helps me do a better job. I am able to attend to students and parents in the office faster and with much less interruption and then get right back to what I was doing. I'm so proud of our school website-I tell everyone about it!"

Finding 3: Students' use of website increased
Students' use of the website has increased. The post survey results indicate that 25% of students in grade 6 – 8 surveyed use the website 1 – 3 times per week, 53% use it 4 – 6 times per week and 20 % use it 7 or more times per week. Observing students in the Computer Lab and the Library during free time also evidences this. There is always a number of students on the school website, checking their grades, their teachers' websites for class and assignment information, and checking the student activities pages for pictures and stories about their extracurricular activities. 98% of all 6 – 8 grade students surveyed believed that the website was improved over the old website. See all results of the Student Post Survey in Table 7.
Finding 4: Teachers' use of website increase 
Many teachers on the campus have embraced the website as a communication tool that can also improve teaching and learning. Several have created and posted classroom websites that have been linked to the school site. Although still in the early stages of use, all teachers who have started a page show interest in maintaining and improving them. Currently 34% of classroom teachers on campus have a page. The goal is to add 15 more teacher-generated class web pages to the site in the 2006-2007 school year. Some of these teachers are adding curricular materials, resources, assignments and other useful supplemental material such as practice quizzes. Current 6th grade teacher, Sarah Bullock noted:
"At first I thought is was going to take a lot of time to make and maintain a class website but I have found that it actually saves me time because when students have questions about an assignment I can tell them to check the website. It is especially helpful when students are absent. They can even check the site from home and see what they missed so they don't need to call the school for homework".
Post survey results indicate that 98% of staff surveyed believed that communication between home and school is enhanced by the school website. Staff surveyed in the Post Survey results can be seen in Table 8.
Finding 5: Community response to website has been positive    
   Community response to the new format has also been very positive. The Webmaster has received the following emails in response to the comment at the bottom of the home page that states, "We welcome your comments and suggestions! Email the Webmaster!"
Today I viewed your changes to the Hart Ransom website.  Definitely a major improvement!  Keep up the good work.
Mark A. Carter
The site looks great. I like the artwork from the kids.
Susie Salinas

Congratulations on the improved and expanded Hart-Ransom website.  I know lots of hard work went into the product it is today.
I am the grandmother of Alyssa and Steve Karlin, and though my husband and I don't live in Modesto, I occasionally view the website to see what is happening, etc.  When I did so today I was pleased to see so much information, as well as a picture of Steve taken after the Spelling Bee in January.
I enjoyed seeing pictures of teachers that our grandchildren have had, as well as the individual classroom web pages.
                        Keep up the good work.
                        Ginny Dalessi
Livermore, CA

Love the updated website. I love the layout and the information, especially the teacher contact page and I love love love the classroom web pages. I spent about 25 minutes going through the new site and thoroughly enjoyed it.
 Thank you!!!!
Ashley Nielson

The eighth grade students who participated in the both the planning and the building of the site reported that they learned a great deal about website creation, they had a sense a accomplishment at having participated in the project and finally that they believed they learned a great deal in the process of working together to create a website that benefited the entire school community. One student participant commented:
"Our group had a hard time getting started on our page. We all had a different opinion about what we should put on it. Not only did we have to agree we also had to help each other learn Dreamweaver, which is a very complicated program. In the end, we all felt great that we were able to create a page that we are proud to share with our classmates. Now I know that when I go to high school next year I want to work on the school webpage and I hope I get a chance to. Computer class was the most fun when we worked on the pages because we were doing something that was real and that really mattered."
Table 7
Post-Survey 6-8 Grade Students
253 surveys tabulated

Table 8

Post-Survey School Staff
54 surveys tabulated

Table 9
Post-Survey Parent/Guardian and Community
266 surveys tabulated

Reflections
            The process of building the new website was valuable and rewarding for everyone who was involved in the process. Involvement of the shareholders in the planning and creation of the site added greatly to its current effectiveness. In general, school websites have value and should be considered as an important piece of the communication process within a school district. An effective district website requires a good deal of time and effort to create and maintain.         Consequently, schools have an obligation to budget and staff for school webmasters. To often, as is the case with this Webmaster, preparing and maintaining the website is done voluntarily.
Creation of school web pages can also be a vehicle to teach webpage building skills. Involvement of the students in the process not only gives them these skills but it allows them to be involved in something that is used and valued by the school community. These experiences authenticate students' work. This in turn motivates them to work harder and prepares them for their future.

Appendix
Hart-Ransom School District Webpage: http://www.hartransom.org/index.html
TeacherWeb: Template style fee-based web page creator for teachers. http://teacherweb.com/