Dana presents the questions: Where are they? Where do they need to be? How do we get them there? (Personal communication, 2007). In my opinion this is the essence of action research or administrative inquiry. Questioning, thinking, studying the question, making a plan to address the question, and then looking at your results are all components.
It is a never ending process of advancement and learning and is invaluable to an educational career. Action research is a tool to help you take charge of professional development, by questioning in a systematic way (Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010) leading to better decisions and successful solutions. By using action research you are seeking about change by reflecting on practice (Dana, 2010).
I will be using action research to aide my "wonderings" about quality of instruction at my school. I am focusing on reading instruction and how reading levels and abilities vary among grade levels. For example one teacher can have a whole class of students reading on grade level, when the teacher across the hall has only made mediocre gains. The gains being made are inconsistent among teachers in each grade level. By engaging in action research we will be setting up specific reading components that are necessary for accelerating reading instruction. As we work through these components we will chart gains and deficits, and reflect on what will be most beneficial for accelerating reading instruction and how the quality of instruction relates.
Action research is not limited to my current project. It could be used to address a plethora of educational issues, concerns, and areas in need of improvement. Including, but not limited to: how technology affects the classroom, cultural awareness, struggling subgroups, attendance issues, being departmentalized vs. self contained, and the list goes on.
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