Staff Development:
This area focuses on faculty members and ways to fulfill professional needs. I have watched staff members become stagnant as they didn’t pursue growth and, as a result, lost their excitement. One area for action research involves finding ways to facilitate professional growth. Use the research to determine an area of growth that not only will benefit instructional success in the classroom, but will also meet the personal needs of the faculty member. This area is important for action research to demonstrate the need for change or improvement, and as a means of providing support for teacher success in their instructional journey.
Curriculum Development:
Two reasons to pursue action research in Curriculum Leadership is to achieve educational excellence and make sure the changes involved connect across the various levels. Quality curriculum is essential and action research can help pinpoint how to connect teaching to the standards to be addressed. Meaningful change takes place primarily at the school level, but the best curriculum work integrates curriculum functions at several levels – state, district, school, & classroom.
A question I hope to use action research to explore is: How can I use PLCs to enhance Expository Writing curriculum across the content areas?
I also want to find out the ways a curriculum plan can be tweaked to better enable special education teachers to use the district adopted CSCOPE curriculum in their classrooms.
Curriculum Development is important for action research because the new STAAR test emphasizes writing and, in particular, expository writing across the grade levels. The increased rigor, depth, and complexity has created a huge gulf between special education and regular education. Solutions found through action research might bridge the gap.
Individual Teacher:
Our district was program saturated. The comments about programs never being the solution and never being the problem hit home. I saw the true result when a teacher or teachers believe the program is the solution. They did indeed lost sight of the true purpose for the program in the first place and failed to make a lasting difference. A question I would consider for action research is, What is the relationship between changing a veteran teacher’s grade-level assignment and getting out of a rut? This is so relevant to what has happened in our district. Action research is important for this area to give validity to the possible need for change and to build excitement in exploring new methods and strategies.
Individual Students:
Action research could be used to find out what happens to struggling readers in my school after they leave intervention programs. Another use would be to find out what effect inclusion has on the reading achievement at my school. Both of these areas are hotspots for us right now. Action research is important to identify possible gaps in intervention plans and evaluate the relevance and success of the plans.
School culture & community:
I have morning/breakfast duty every morning. The kids come in with a wide array of emotions and attitudes which ultimately affect the start of the day. I would use action research to determine the role an organized, calm breakfast plays in creating a caring school culture and how this affects student attitude in the classroom. I would want to know if student behavior improved, did the students get to class more quickly and show motivation to be engaged in learning, and was the overall atmosphere across the campus more open and caring. Action research is vital to help answer questions and resolve possible issues in order to build a more positive, close-knit culture and community.
Leadership:
I received training using MICEE in my Leadership Academy at the Dana Center in Austin. Action research would help me determine what values should guide my actions as a leader. All would be used at some point, but I would adjust depending on the needs of the group. I would also do research to find ways to improve my ability to inspire others toward a common purpose. I loved the Principal’s Coat of Arms and will create one of my own. Action research is important for reflection and discovery of areas for improvement as a leader. This research will help me to better adjust and set new goals.
Management:
Recognizing whether my management skills and leadership skills are in balance would be more easily seen through action research. How do my skills complement each other? As I use my finding to improve and in turn lead others to use action research to improve their skills, my school would be able to accomplish its goals to provide learner success. Questions I would ask are: How can we all work together – students, kitchen staff, teachers, etc. - to make breakfast & morning duty a cooperative and pleasant time for everyone. Also, how can we adjust our bell schedule to alleviate the rushed atmosphere for bus drop off and breakfast? The importance in using action research to answer these questions demonstrates a need to be addressed and ultimately provides a more positive, relaxed learning atmosphere for the students.
School Performance:
A question I would use action research to answer would be: What actions can our faculty take to improve reading achievement for our special education population? Research is important to show the areas where students struggle and steps that can be taken to meet student need in the classroom. As students experience success, the overall climate and culture of the school improves.
Social justice or equity issues:
School is indeed a stabilizing factor. Students need to know that expectations at school have to be different than what they are at home if they want to be successful in life. Questions utilizing action research include: How does a whole-group study on poverty (such as Ruby Payne) create an atmosphere of understanding and change in breaking the cycle of poverty? An inquiry-oriented learning community could be created. Online study with group discussion via blogs or discussion boards could bring campus groups together to share and gain a deeper understanding of the topic. Determining where problem areas are and how best to create expectations that lead to success in life make this area easy for action research.
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