ACTION INQUIRY

Action Inquiry

Action Inquiry

Problem Statement

Special education students of the eighth grade have been unable to meet the standards on the State Assessment in History which has now become a significant cause of concern for teachers, parent and the entire district as 50% of the students are failing this state test for History, which is listed among the core courses for these assessments. It is important to look into and resolve this issue as the student's failure to pass this course could stop them from being promoted to the ninth grade.

Relation of the Problem to the Specialization

It is important to investigate the issue as special education student's failure in this regard could hinder their promotion to the next grade and might require them to attend summer school, as well. Moreover, as a serious consequence it could ultimately lead to the school being put on safeguard list on account of 50% or more student's failure. Therefore, keeping the ramification of this situation under consideration, there is a dire need to resolve the issue at its earliest, for the benefit of the students and the entire institution, as well (Sagor, 2000, pp. 123 - 145).

Background and Context for the Problem

According to the analysis of student's scores on the State Assessment for History course, it has been observed that in the first year a total of 74% of the students failed, whereas, this ratio of students who failed reduced slightly to 67% in the second year. This decreasing trend was observed in the third year as well, in which 59% of the students failed. However, the observation of the student's results of the present year along with the past three years indicate that the ratio of failing special education students has always been 50% or more than that, which poses a serious cause of concern for the parent, instructors, and the entire institution, on the whole (Marion, Gong & Simpson, 2006).

Research Question

In light of the problem statement and the serious consequences that this issue could lead to, the research question that has been formulated for the present action inquiry is related to the investigation of the reasons to why 50 percent of the special education students failed the History, state test.

Importance or Significance of the Study

It is important to investigate the reasons behind the special education student's poor scores on the State Assessment History test as the successful identification of the ...