EDSP 221 Language and Literacy in Inclusive Classrooms

Community-Engaged Research • Collaboration • Compassion

Reflection on Integrating Community Engagement into Academic Career: 3-stage Action Plan

Writing is a critical literacy skill that directly affects a student’s academic achievement as well as future career (Graham & Perin, 2007). Students need to demonstrate sufficient writing abilities to meet the school curriculum requirements for writing and use writing as a tool to facilitate learning of various content areas. However, writing is a complex endeavor that requires individuals to not only deploy cognitive resources for producing varied texts, but also to integrate a host of writing skills and strategies, all while monitoring and adjusting their writing-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to successfully meet their goals (Troia, 2006). According to the most recent National Assessments of Educational Progress (NAEP) results (NCES; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2012), only 26% of 8^th graders and 27% of12^th graders performed at or above proficient level in writing. Among these students only 1% of English learners scored at the writing proficiency level. Therefore, for my community-engaged research project, I’d like to work with English learners who are in elementary schools in the local school districts (e.g., Sac City Unified School District, Twin Rivers Unified School District) and provide evidence-based interventions to help improve their writing outcomes.

Stage 1 Goals include: a) have all assessment intervention materials ready, and b) contact local school districts (e.g., Sac City Unified School District, Twin Rivers Unified School District). Action steps include: a) design and develop all assessment and intervention materials needed for the research project, b)work on and submit an IRB for the project, and c) contact local school districts regarding the project and explain the benefit that student participants with English learners might obtain from this writing intervention research study. Stage 2 Goals include: a) implement the research project at the local school districts (e.g., Sac City Unified School District, Twin Rivers Unified School District), and b) complete all data collection. Action steps include: a) send out parent consents and student assents forms Recruit student participants to be involved in the project, b) conduct pre-intervention writing assessment, c) implement writing intervention sessions, and d) conduct post-intervention writing assessment. Stage 3 Goals include: a) conduct the data analysis, and b) disseminate the findings from the research project. Action steps include: a) Conduct statistical data analysis, b) share research findings with local school districts, and c) write a manuscript and conference proposals.

The Anticipated Outcomes from my research project include the following: a) significantly improved the writing outcomes for struggling students who are English learners in the local school districts by improving their knowledge about writing processes, planning and revising strategies, and self-regulating and self-monitoring skills, all of which will lead to significantly better overall writing quality, b) established the start-point for sustainable partnership between special education programs at Sac State and local education communities, and c) enhanced teacher candidates' compassion and dedication to promoting social justice and equity for local communities.

My Action Plan

Moving Forward

Develop an actionable 3-stage plan for my community engaged research project that details the goals, action items, and anticipated outcomes for each stage. Specific timeline for the project also will be designed and closely followed. These practices will help me keep a clear track of my project progress to ensure that all sub-goals are met, leading to the completion of the entire research project within the expected time frame.
Initiate contact with the local public school districts with effective communication and collaboration skills. This FLC provides a lot of helpful tips and suggestions in terms of how to effectively approach the local communities to introduce my research project and have them onboard. I'd like to follow my 3-stage plan by starting to contact the two local school districts that I have already had some connections through the program residency partnership.
Develop sustaining collaboration with local education communities to provide positive long-lasting impact on the literacy achievement of struggling students who are English Learners. At this point there has been limited efforts made in terms of engaging local school districts' k-12 students who are English Learners in the evidence-based literacy research interventions. I am hoping to contribute to the collaboration with the local education communities, demonstrate the positive literacy intervention outcomes, and make this collaboration sustainable partnership to strengthen the university-school/research-practice connections.

**Faculty Bio**
Faculty Image	About me:
	Dr. Mei Shen is an assistant professor of special education at California State University, Sacramento. Mei Shen completed her doctoral degree in Special Education at Michigan State University, with a graduate specialization in language and literacy education. Her research focuses on literacy assessment and instruction for students. She is particularly interested in evidence-based instructional practices to help improve reading and/or writing performance for students with language-based learning disabilities.

Funding
This work was supported by	Logos
The Community Engagement Center, the Career Center, and the Anchor/Community-Engaged University Collaborative

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