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Inquiry Project: Fact vs. Fiction

Fact:

1. The inquiry team creates an intervention plan for a small group of students.

2. It’s an easy and quick project that we can do right with little effort.

3. This project is a complete waste of time.

Fiction:

1. The inquiry team studies a small group of students in order to expand a school’s sphere of success.

2. To do it right it takes time, effort, and a dedicated team.

3. There can be huge benefits for the school but schools have to put in the work.

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The Inquiry Project 101

The Inquiry Project is a tool used by learning schools to expand their sphere of success.

– Team learning while doing

–Making Small SMART changes that make a big difference

- Targets

- Tasks- Tools

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Let’s Review: What’s the general process?

Step 1: School Wide Focus

Step 2: Target Population

Step 3: Skill

Step 4: Sub-Skill

Step 5: Learning Target

Step 6: June Goal

Step 7: DEVELOP ACTION PLAN (by the end of March)

Step 8: Implement Plan

Step 9: Reflect & Revise

(Not all steps must be done in this order.)

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To complete each step, schools must:

1.Collect multiple data sources

2.Analyze multiple data sources

3.Make conclusions based on the collection and analysis of the data sources

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Let’s do a quick review of the steps!

Step #1:

Content Area (ELA, Math, SS, Sci) What data sources did you use to make conclusions?

Step # 2

Target Population: The group of students for whom a school is committed to accelerate learning in a specific content area.

What data sources did you use to make conclusions?

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Step #3 SkillA specific skill within the selected content area that

the sub-population have not mastered:

Content Area Sample Choices Example

ELA Reading

Writing

Reading

Math Number Sense and Operations

Algebra

Geometry

Measurement

Statistics and Probability

Geometry

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Step #4 – Sub-Skill

A specific sub-skill

within the selected skill

that the

Target Population has not mastered

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ELA Sub-Skill

Content Area

Skill Sub-skill Example

ELA Reading Phonemic awareness

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabulary

comprehension

Reading Fluency

Writing

Composition

Clarity

Relevance

Organizational structure

Writing

Conventions

Spelling

Punctuation

Sentence and paragraph structure

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Math Sub-Skill

Content Area

Skill Sub-skill Example

Math Number sense and Operations

Algebra

Geometry

Measurement

Statistics and Probability

Process:

–Problem-Solving

–Reasoning and Proof

–Communication

–Connections

–Representations

Conceptual understanding of Reasoning and Proof in Geometry

Proficiency:

–Conceptual Understanding

–Procedural Fluency

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So your by NOW you should be able to state something like this about your Target Population…

ELA

Example

Math

Example

15 to 30 specific students who are not reading at a rate sufficient to support comprehension.

15 to 30 specific students who are struggling to master a conceptual understanding of reasoning and proof in geometry

What data sources did you use to make

conclusions?

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Step 5: The Learning Target

In order to get a learning target teams must find out why the students are struggling with the sub-skill.

This means that they must study the students but they might also have to study the sub-skill in order to figure out

how to teach well.

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Once you figure all of this out…

You are ready for an action plan

So if you’ve already doing an intervention, then you might be a bit ahead of yourself.

However, this is not a tragedy. You are still helping kids and you should continue

doing what you are doing. But…the team should revisit the step. This is how you

expand your sphere of success.