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.
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