Developing My Action Research Plan

School Culture

In what ways can our school develop a collaborative culture characterized by teachers from different grade levels communicating, understanding, and sharing expectations for all of our students? Teaching staff may not have a clear understanding of the expectations of students in consecutive grade levels. Cultivating a culture on campus where teachers can collaborate collectively about student progress and achievement is the goal.

Setting the Foundation – A learning organization has a common purpose and focus, a commitment to a clear vision, and collaboration on the issues regarding improvement. Collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers, support staff, and administrators work interdependently in order to impact their classroom or school practice in ways that lead to better results for their students, team and school.

Analyzing Data – There will be three focused collections of data that include student assessment measures and scores, teacher interviews as well as administrative interviews, and a collection of student work and artifacts.

Developing Deeper Understanding – The instructional team will work as an effective professional learning community grounded by a culture of best practices.

Engaging in Self-Reflection – Some reflective questions to ask are: Do I possess the skills needed to conduct a successful action research project that reflects my selected solution? What are some ways to enhance the quality of my action research project? How will this action research project affect the teaching and leading at my school?

Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Ensuring all teaching staff and students get the resources they need to be successful.

Determining Direction – First the administrative staff will need to determine set priorities and standards of gathering information. Then the administrative staff will need to gather resources and accommodate for the teaching staff. As a whole, set an agenda for the school year on topics that will be discussed throughout the collaboration meetings, urgent and necessary issues.

Taking Action for School Improvement – Organizing committees or groups is vital; the enrichment team, specialists, etc. Monitoring improvement actions, do any of the activities need to be altered? Have any of the timelines, resources, or persons responsible changed?

Sustaining Improvement – Use of the CARE Model (concerns, affirmations, recommendations, and evaluation) will help examine and improve this project throughout the years.

The Passions That Drive Your Journey, Common Action Research Topics in School Settings

1.    Staff development – How does the process of peer coaching help veteran, mid-career, and new teachers continue to learn and grow, and what role can the principal play in facilitating this process? This is extremely important because teacher should not be content with what they know or what they learned 5, 10, or 15 years ago. Education is an ever growing and evolving profession and in order to be the best for the students, teachers need to be updated and refreshed on the methods and strategies.

2.    Curriculum development – How can principals use learning communities as a tool for teachers and principals in the transformation of the writing curriculum at this school? Writing seems like a daunting task for the fourth grade teachers. If the students were better prepared and versed in the writing process and standards, this task would become more of an enrichment task rather then and intervention task. It is important to discuss issues like this in vertical teams and implement a solution for future benefits.

3.    Individual teacher(s) – What types of support help new teachers succeed? Studies have shown that new teachers usually leave education within the first five years in the classroom. It seems that new teacher get support for their first two years and after that they are left to fend for themselves. So there needs to be a consistent flow of support beyond the first five year and reanalyze the support given and verify if it what is needed.

4.    Individual student(s) – What happens to struggling readers in the school after the leave intervention programs? This seemed to be a problem at my current school. Students who were succeeding in kindergarten and first grade were not in fourth and fifth grade. What was happening? This would entail lots of research within the neighborhood, parents, and friends that students interacted with. As well as the bridge grades of second and third grade, examine the rigor in the classrooms and the methods of intervention.

5.    School culture/community – What role does a weekly school wide meeting play in creating a caring school culture? I find this method of support deeply impacts new teachers to stay committed to teaching. Visitors can feel the culture of a school by walking in through the building and watching the interactions of all students and adults. The students respond to the positive interactions between the staff and faculty. This is what creates a wonderful learning and caring environment.  

6.    Leadership – How can a principal build a cohesive and spirited team as well as promote teacher leadership within the school? This is an extension of the school culture. The principal needs to have the trust and support of all teachers and staff. It is also the principal’s job to create the inviting working environment and create that connection between administration and staff as well as staff and staff.

7.    Management – How can we all work together to make lunch time a cooperative and pleasant time for everyone? I find this is often a problem or was a problem for many elementary schools. Watching students at lunch is often an indicator of whether the school management is conducted poorly or proper and fitting. Students at lunch are a reflection of the school and the staff. The behavior at lunch is also an indicator of how the rest of the day may go. That is usually the most difficult as a teacher to redirect and force back on track.  

8.    School performance – In what ways will implementing the continuous improvement model help increase student achievement? I often see most staff is concerned with improving only the bottom quartile students. In which case, will not improve the school’s ratings. We as teachers need to understand and be reminded that we are here to grow all students even the high achieving ones.  RTI is crucial for the struggling students but sad to say that most of the higher level students are missed and not pushed to improve. 

9.   Social justice or equity issues – What can we do to help close the achievement gap and improve our practice for students in poverty? These students lack background knowledge and resources. When they enter school, they are already three steps behind the average student. To advance these students to be on grade level is an overwhelming task for teachers. In what ways can we better advance these children and what resources do we need to do so? What outside factors are impacting these students and how can parents play a role in their education?

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs as parts of their communication methods with their Professional Learning Communities or Critical Friends Group or overall informal method of communication with their staff.

Action Research, Administrator Inquiry

Administrator inquiry is the process of a principal engaging in a study of her own administrative practices and taking action based on the findings of the inquiry. Inquiring professionals seek out changes and reflect on their practice by posing questions, collecting and analyzing data along with readings relevant literature, making changes in practice due to new understandings researched and sharing the results with others.

Action research starts with the practitioner as the storyteller and all research comes from the inside. Data and findings come straight from the ones who work in the trenches. The questions are developed by the principal themselves; the one who will implement the findings in order to change and improve the school. 

As a result of action research, the principal grows professionally and with the support of leadership team, they are engaging in literature discussions and applying it to their own practices. The principal is the “head learner”, therefore is a role model to staff and students. This process also discovers new practices that can succeed at the school. 

Time for reflection is an important aspect of action research because it enables leaders to make informed administrative decisions and to feel better about the important decisions they make on a day to day basis. One way to incorporate administrative inquiry into your daily life is to make inquiry a part of something you are already doing such as evaluating annual reports.