What a week! Action Research - Take TWO!

This week, I narrowed down my action research topic.

My three proposed action research topics to my supervising principal were:

1.) How effective is the Scottish Rite Video Tape Program (DTP), in remediating reading skills in students with dyslexia – district wide. After graduating from the dyslexia program, are students demonstrating growth on their 504 re-evaluations and passing Reading TAKS? What tools/programs could be implemented to boost student performance? 2.) Why are the African American males on campus not performing as well as their peers? What internal or external factors are affecting their performance? How can teachers and administration intervene and boost student performance within this demographic? 3.) Why has parent involvement decreased campus-wide? How can teachers and administrators actively recruit parents to volunteer for PTA, tutoring, etc)? Would more parent involvement boost student performance?

My supervising principal stated that she thought #2 was a more pressing issue at her campus.

Proposed Action Research Study

Purpose: Why are the African-American males on campus not performing as well as their peers? How long has this trend been present? What internal or external factors are affecting their performance? How can teachers and administrators intervene and boost student performance within this demographic?

Significance: All faculty and staff will benefit from this research in the sense that they will know WHY this subgroup is performing poorly and be better equipped with the knowledge on what areas they need to focus on in order to boost student performance. But foremost, the students of this research will benefit tremendously. After identifying the factors that are causing poor performance - I will be implementing, coordinating, and supervising an after school program for these students. We will target those areas identified in the study and monitor their progress through district benchmarks and curriculum assessments. Targeted areas will not only be academic, but will include motivational activities and social skills.

On reflecting over this past week, I really don't have much to say or blog about. I viewed three interviews with scholars that have received their doctorate from Lamar University. Listening to them and how they apply action research to their everyday duties was quite impressive. I read chapter two, The Passions That Drive Your Journey - Finding a Wondering, from Dana's Leading with Passion and Knowledge. I think the most significant thing that I learned this week was discovering the different areas that I could apply action research and realizing how relatively easy it was.

I am looking forward to getting my action research plan mapped out and continuing on this awesome adventure! I am becoming more comfortable with action research, but blogging on the other hand - I could use some help!

Leaders using Blogs?

"Consonant with the move to change traditional professional development practices is the practioner inquiry movement" (Dana, 2009). With the move of administrators conducting staff development with action research, they must also use a tool that is easily accessible for their teachers view progress and findings. Blogs allow administrators to post their research topics, pose questions for teachers to inquire on, and allows teachers to comment. Blogs are a great tool to connect your staff and share information. Blogs also have the capability to 'archive' past studies that allow teachers to always have access to the information they are wanting and not having to rummage thru reams of paper. They are organized and easy for the reader to navigate in order to arrive at the information are looking for. Education leaders can use blogs not only to communicate their action research, but to connect their staff to one another and allows easy access for teachers to follow each other's work.

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

In the beginning.... there was traditional research...

And then came ACTION research.

My blog is titled "Amy's Awesome Adventures with Action Research", because it is just that. An adventure. Before I started this class, I had only heard of action research, but really didn't understand what it was and what it involved. So, my fellow students, I am now starting this awesome adventure of learning and applying action research.

When I first heard the word 'research', I cringed. I just assumed that this was another traditional research project that entailed looking up different studies, and regurgitating the results. I was surprised to learn that action research was far from this. Action research is posing a question about an issue (that is of interest to ME), collecting and analyzing the data pertaining to that question, and implementing changes. Action research involves self-learning. During action research, the practitioner is researching their own problems and issues, practicing self-learning, and applying ‘real world’ application of results.

Action research allows principals and teachers to identify issues that are relevant to their campus, and focus on implementing changes based on data collected within THEIR campus. All data collected is current, happening NOW, and pertaining to the district's demographics. It (action research) allows principals to guide staff development and help teachers become self-learners. Principals can encourage grade levels to implement their own topics for action research that would help benefit THEM. Action research is also beneficial to the Campus Improvement Team in allowing goals to be written based on action research results.