Tuesday, April 10, 2012
5301 Week 1- Action Research
Action research has really changed in the school districts and it will continue to evolve as time goes by. It was not too long ago that our school district would hold a general assembly at the beginning of the year and we would have a guest speaker come give us a pep talk, trying to get us all excited about starting the school year off. Now, as we have a new superintendent, he uses internal speakers and students who are inspiring to get the year started. I can see how this has changed, and I understand that action research is turning the same corner. If not already, soon will be gone the times of having an outside researcher come to our district and try to "fix" things. I have noticed that the last couple of years, we have been working as a campus on our campus improvement plan, breaking up into groups and reflecting on ways to improve how we are doign what we do everyday. We then get back together as one and discuss what changes we feel should be made. What areas need to be added to or discarded and started over. I feel this type of collaboration has opened the door for us to take ownership and feel accountable for how our school performs as a whole and how we perform as a team as well as how each one performs individually.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kristi,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct about how Action Research has begun to transform what schools do to improve. I like how your school has begun to work in teams to reflect on improvement strategies.
Dr. Mason
Hi Kristi,
ReplyDeleteNow that I have read your blog post, I too see how it is an evolution of process. I was just seeing it as different or really as the process of problem solving for student success as being one of reflection but without the research, and not systematic. Maybe the inquiry research process is the next step.
I see my school and district as, at times, using collaboration as a means of solving problems. Actually it was more prevalent under our former leadership. Our new leadership has not fully developed yet.
Kristi,
ReplyDeleteMy school district has not come quite as far as your school in regards to using internal speakers and students. We still do have the beginning of the year assemblies with professionals that are paid exorbitant sums of money to inspire our staff and introduce new ideas. With school budget cuts as they are, hopefully more districts will look within, save money and tap into the awesome resources they currently have in place. Using action research and the incredible minds of educators who have first-hand information of the needs within their school and district, better advances might be made at a lower cost.
Thanks for the great ideas!
Regards,
Sue