Improving Education for teachers and students through action research.

What are the benefits of action research?  What experiences do you have conducting research that could help you in this process?  What questions do you have?   

Action research is a topic that has tantalized the inner circle of educators for many years.  Supporters say all it does is cause a lot of extra work and that the information is biased because the researchers work with the subjects and may influence students to supply information to enhance the the educator,  that the data does not help the students due to its biased nature.    What is action research?  A clear answer to the question should resonate well with teaching professionals and critics alike.   According to Richard Sagar, author of Guiding School Improvement with Action Research Action research is succinctly defined as a:

disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason for engaging in action research is to assist the “actor” in improving and/or refining his or her actions.  (www.ascd.org). 

This definition of action research can be considered a boon for educators and a comfort to those members of the community that say that only educators benefit from action research.  Mr. Sagar admits that “the actor” (the teacher), benefits from action research. It follows that if teachers refine their actions through this “inquiry process,” then students will improve, as well.  Other benefits include the triangulation process in which teachers/researchers essentially find their questions validated by the educational community at large.  In addition, when the action research is shared, teachers and students can benefit in a whole single school and if the information is shared publically, the data collected could impact teachers in communities as well as in the nation (Sagar).  When teachers reflect on the jobs they do as professionals and try to learn from what they may have done wrong, when they try to improve their practice through reflection and acting upon how the collection of data informs their practice, then teachers are painting a landscape of learning that is charismatic as well as scientific.  The benefit of using a seven step process is that the professional culture of teachers is enhanced.  The widely held belief that teachers are not professionals in the same way as doctors or lawyers is perhaps bound in the quagmire of fiscal rhetoric since teachers are  the largest body of government workers in just about any city, county or state.  Regardless, teachers in America never seem to get the respect of professionals such as scientists like sanitation engineers, for example.  In any case the multi-step process of action research can be a formula to empower the profession of teaching by systematically seeking to improve not only the actions of teachers, but the learning of students. 

In my own time as a teacher, a discombobulated five years, I have embarked in action research through the six-step process of Douglas Reeves.  Douglas Reeves sponsors the notion that the six-step process for data collection can improve student performance on high-stakes tests.  Naturally, the idea follows the same process as Sagar’s seven step process but it is specifically designed to be implemented on a single standard or a group of standards in clusters.  The idea is that students should be able to improve their initial performance on a pre-test of a certain skill or set of skills when teachers collaborate and agree on a strategies that are designed to help the student improve or even maintain their proficiency level.  This is my second year as a sixth grade teacher and we are beginning are second year in the six step process.  I know for a fact that in every situation students have shown improvements as a whole.  We are still refining our processes and we are trying to find ways to make the data more meaningful and less perfunctory in nature.  Many of our veteran teachers promulgate a culture of revolt, the core of which is the additional work required.  This spreads to many new teachers, who hold the attitude of the majority, unfortunately.  My personal belief is that the six-step process will ultimately help students to improve gradually on high stakes tests, like the HSA.  This means no steps are omitted and teachers work collaboratively to implement agreed upon skills that will aid their students.  An added benefit is that teachers will improve in their teaching ability because they have a direct impact on their students’ performance due to the fact that data drives the instructional choices their teams are making.  

  The parallels between the Douglas Reeves six step process and Sagar’s seven step process are natural since Reeves process is action research. I have begun a research proposal on the six-step process at my school.  Changes to the research proposal I have developed are related to helping teachers understand how this process benefits them, rather than attacks them and their professionalism.  The proposal, as it stands, will be altered slightly to show how teachers can use a grading program like Jumpro.pe to help create reports that allow them to input data just one time, rather than two or three times.  The data can also be exported into a database and teachers can create graphs to share with their students. 

Some questions  I have regarding my action research is as follows:  Can the following question be included in an action research project?  Is it possible to improve teachers’ attitudes through the use of technology? 

Since we now have STRIVE HI, should I make changes in the proposal to include this new state law?

What are the best ways to gather data?  Should it be done electronically?  Should I use a survey on line?   Could I create a blog to include the research questions? 

What is the best way to integrate Word Documents and XCELL documents?

A link to my research proposal is attached.  I had originally included it in this blog entry, but I found that some format issues will not translate, namely the translation of charts and tables does not exist.  The following link is from google docs.  Please press the link below or past copy and paste to your browser.  

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3jPgE2I0HnORzJFcjRkOTZ3Ym8/edit?usp=drive_web

Let me know what you think.  Looking for feedback!

Noel Leary