Action Research: What is it?

The strategy of action research or inquiry research offers principals a method upon which to determine what changes need to be addressed and then reflect upon the changes to determine the next course of action. The process should be systematic, rather than haphazard. Administrator inquiry also aligns with professional development guidelines for administrators.

Schools and districts must provide professional development that is meaningful for staff. At the school level, this issue has not been addressed by administrators. Too many times, staff development is just a "fill-in" because the district has said so. There is a need for collaboration among colleagues, more professional learning communities, more action research studies and true collaboration. The inquiry-based, action research as mentioned in this course is exactly what the schools need to be doing.

So, the problem is: how do we create meaningful, authentic professional development opportunities for educators with the goal of increasing student achievement? At my school, math scores are low compared to other areas; so we need to increase math achievement for all students including general education, special education, and other at-risk populations.

An action research study would be beneficial in solving this problem by providing a guideline in exactly how to begin, how to measure progress through formative and summative assessments and what these measures will look like. This is a great time for this course; I want this to be ready for the start of the new school year.