Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Determine which ‘RTI’ Reading software program will be used in the lower grade levels (Kindergarten through 2nd) as a result of a comparison between the ‘Waterford Early Learning’ and the ‘istation Reading’.
Activities	Resources and research tools needed	Timeline for completion	Person(s) responsible for implementation	Process for monitoring achievement	Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate effectiveness
1. Develop a Strategic Plan for chosen project	Current Internship Plan and literature on how to develop an Action Research Plan.	Feb/Mar 2012	Jorge J. Capella	Discussion Board and Weekly Assignments for EDLD 5301 Research Feedback and Feedback from colleagues and administrators.	Field notes to interpret what wonderings led to the inquiry process
2. Develop a data collection plan	Current Internship Plan, literature on how to develop a data collection plan, feedback from other interns.	Feb/Mar 2012	Testing Coordinator, Jorge J. Capella	Discussion Board and Weekly Assignments for EDLD 5301 Research Feedback and Feedback from colleagues and administrators.	Field notes, interviews with the campus Testing Coordinator
3. Analyze collected data	Data from field notes, literature, interviews, colleagues support.	Ongoing	Principal, Testing Coordinator, Jorge J. Capella	Follow the four steps for data analysis.	Triangulation of data
4. Share findings with others	Power Point, Write-Ups	Jun/Jul 2012	Jorge J. Capella	Oral and electronic presentations, Weblogs	Feedback from stakeholders
5. Provide concluding thoughts	Power Point, Write-Ups	Jun/Jul 2012	Jorge J. Capella	Oral and electronic presentations, Weblogs	Feedback from stakeholders

Reflections about Action Research (based on Dr. Lewis interview)

The second week of the Research course has been very inspirational for me. One of my favorites parts was watching and reflecting over the interview that Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent at Pasadena I.S.D., offered to Lamar University.

Dr. Lewis noted that action research is practiced constantly in his District, many of his employees are familiar with the inquiry process and they use it significantly in the following areas:

• Curriculum development designed to research and change the way their District deliver instruction. ‘Expectation Graduation’, a program granted by the Gates Foundation, is a District effort to research their core curriculum in order to make it more rigorous and meaningful to the student’s necessities.
• School performance (constantly looking at data in order to analyze and apply necessary changes where needed).
• Staff development (training based on data analysis geared to change the way teacher deliver instruction in specific objectives).

Dr. Kirk Lewis also proposed suggestions and purposes for conducting action research. The following are the ones that remain fresh in my mind:

• Look at data and apply it to the instructional strategies that are being used.
• Perform annual researches at campus and district levels.
• Researches should be practical so they can be applied to your particular situation.

    
From watching and listening Dr. Lewis' interview I learned that:

• Perform action research to what is practical to your particular situation. The conclusions are to be used to improve the student learning process in your environment. This way the professional participating in the inquiry will be more interested, focused on the outcome, and your students will benefit directly from the research.
• Look at research that others have done and see what applies to your necessities.
• Use your own data to make comparisons with other campuses or districts.

How educational leaders might use blogs?

A blog is a powerful tool that enables any person to easily publish in the internet. A educational leader should use it to post comments on what they are currently engage in. This will allow other professionals to read the 'diary' of their colleagues and provide feedback using the comment feature every blog has. 

Educational leader bloggers can also use his/her blogs as an modern storage device where all their thoughts and reflections are safely kept organized by date!

What is Action Research? How to benefit from it?

Administrative inquiry or action research is an extraordinary procedure in which principals engage in a methodical analysis of their performance in order to take action based on their findings as a consequence of the performed inquiry. These proactive professionals pose questions, read pertinent literature, collect and analyze data, and share their findings with other members of their organization, becoming the ‘head learners’ in their campuses. 

Administrators utilize action research in order to gain a better understanding of their practice and to reflect on their role as leaders of an educational institution. The constant investment of time and effort pays off when it comes the time to decide on professional development themes and topics because the administrator is already empowered with valuable information collected and analyzed on the inquiries practiced. 

Action research can be used in many different educational settings. Nancy Dana states that there are four particularly ripe contexts for facilitating the development of inquiry stances for practicing and prospective school administrators: university coursework, superintendent/ district meetings, leadership teams, and professional learning communities. (Dana, 2009). It can be used as the most adequate approach for professional development planning, as a key component of future administrative personnel programs, in the design of curriculum, and also in creating a system to evaluate campus and/or district performance. 

Examples of action research in action may include:

• An Elementary school might conduct an action research based on this particular problem: Fifth and Sixth English Language Learners are experiencing a lot of difficulty understanding the selections provided on the Reading units benchmarks, resulting in low performance in both English and Spanish assessments. The principal should articulate a wondering such as “Is the 50/50 Dual Language Bilingual Program really addressing the educational needs of our students?
•  A Middle School campus experiencing a very low involvement of their community in school activities. The principal could share his/her concern about the lack of community involvement in such activities, engaging all campus members in an inquiry for a way to reach more community members and business organizations to get involve in many different ways.
•  An Elementary campus administrator could ask his leadership team to conduct an action research on Staff Motivation. The scenario may show this setting: the staff feels overwhelmed due to the high pressure the district is putting on benchmark scores, the staff is worn out because the kids are showing frustration for their low performance, and on top of that, the district is announcing cuts is the budget and some positions may be removed.