After spending the past three years completing research for my doctoral dissertation, action research is a welcome change for me! Action research allows educators to address concerns and issues they deal with in the “real” school setting. It allows for inquiry and discussion, often collaboratively, with the intent to inform and change one’s educational practices in the future. According to Watts (1985), action research is based on the assumption that teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves, become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently, and help each other by working collaboratively (p. 118). Watts also suggests that working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional development. Action research typically takes place within a teacher or administrator’s environment…with the students and at the school in which the teacher and/or administrator works. Action research is consistent with trying to find ways of improving…it is about how we change our instruction to impact our students. Action research can involve a single teacher, a group of teachers working collaboratively, or a team of teachers and others (including administrators) on a school or district issue. Action research is a powerful tool for expanding our existing knowledge! One of my areas of responsibility at Port Neches-Groves ISD is instructional technology. As we implement a 1:1 laptop program this year, action research is critical in refining the initiative into one that best meets the needs of students, teachers, parents, the district, and the community.
Watts, H. (1985). When teachers are researchers, teaching improves. Journal of Staff Development, 6(2), 118-127.
Hi Brenda. As you have obviously recognized, action research can be especially effective when it is implemented at the beginning of a new program or initiative. It helps to provide base-line data for future decisions, adjustments, and commitments of limited resources. Often, when such data is not gathered at the beginning of an initiative, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to reconstruct at a later date. Jimmy Creel
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