Week 3 Action Research Plan

This week I created an Action Research Plan from the topic I chose. After much deliberation, I decided to research the effectiveness of interactive whiteboards. Below is the plan including the steps, responsibilities, timeline, resources needed, and the evaluation methods.

Week 2 - Action Research reflections

The majority of this weeks focus was on the areas for possible action research topics including: staff leadership, curriculum development, individual teachers, individual students, school culture or community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice or equity issues. What I thought interesting is I have been through many discussion and investigations in many of these areas, but not once have I heard the term action research. I have helped in developing professional development specific for certain campuses, I have helped to create new schedules for many campuses, I helped analyze discipline issues on a campus, and I have helped work on improving curriculum areas where a campus has been labeled academically unacceptable. Not once in all these discussion did we formally write anything down or work through a specific process to work on these issues.

Blog uses for Educational Leaders

Schools are always looking for ways to increase communication with parents and community members. A blog is a great, no cost, and easy way to disseminate information such as:

• upcoming events
• awards
• classroom highlights
• reminders
• deadlines
• extracurricular activities
• alerts for early release
• other important information

Blogs could be used as a marketing tool or for public relations to create a positive image about your school’s campus or district. So many times, all you hear about education and schools are the negative things presented on the news or in the newspapers. When you do send out positive stories to the media, they may or may not publish them. WIth your own blog, you can for sure get the message out to the public.

Parents, teachers, students, and community members can subscribe to the blog and can read the news at their convenience.

What I've Learned About Action Research

Research is vital in making informed changes or improvements in no matter what profession you are in. In education, most schools look for research-based solutions to solve problems within the school district. This research is usually completed by corporations, universities, think tanks, or outsiders to the school district. Canned solution programs are put in place to correct an issue which may or may not be appropriate. These solutions are usually sent down from administration with no buy in from the teachers who actually have to implement the program.

The great thing about action research is that the school principal and staff ask questions specific to their campus. By collecting and analyzing data specific to their school, the staff can make changes relevant to the needs identified. The staff becomes unified and invested in researching solutions.

Other benefits from principals and schools participating in action research is the opportunity for professional growth, the opportunity to be a role model for their teachers and students, and the opportunity to slow down their crazy schedules. Principals can participate in action research in several different ways including a professional learning community, a superintendent or district meeting, university coursework, or creating a campus leadership team.