Action research is a tool that drives continuous improvement. It is a necessary process in eliciting change. Without change, there is no growth, no development, no evolving into better practice. Action research makes change possible because it forces the teacher or administrator (practitioner) to ask the tough questions about the success of a system or failure of such. It then pushes into the collection of data that can be analyzed to try and glean an insight into factors driving and preventing success. Action research helps get to the root cause of the problem by then having the practitioner gather reading material /literature from knowledgeable sources that can add professional and expert opinions and offer advice on the challenge at hand. These new ideas and solutions can then be formulated into a plan of action. After the plan is put into place, reflection is essential to think about the current situation, look back at the past situation and look ahead to the goals set. Revisiting the action research plan is necessary as well so as to ensure continued success. Action research can be used in the classroom or in just about any educational setting involving teams and systems. This type of inquiry is effective in the improvement of processes of all kinds.
Upon reflecting on how I might use action research, I can apply it to my classroom in a variety of ways. Examples might include turning in homework, improving the scores on short answer responses for the state assessment, decreasing late work. Outside of my classroom I would like to use action research to study the data on ReadiStep assessments and analyze the economically disadvantaged populated of students, looking at the gap between those students in advanced classes and those who are not eco dis. My goal is to increase the population in advanced classes, thereby closing the gap. Believe and action research project is the perfect way to study this issue and put a plan in place that will achieve success.
Educational leaders can use blogs to communicate and build a community of professionals that can motivate, inspire and share knowledge and insight with each other. Learning communities are set up in blogs that create a support system. Additionally, blogs are “journals”, of sorts, for educational leaders that can be used to record thoughts, ideas, successes and journeys. Just as in a journal, blogs can be revisited, or reread for further review and insight by the writer. Advice can be given by others reading the blogs and shared successes/failures can offer guidance and support.
