Action Research Ideas

When reflecting on the idea of action research, it just makes good common sense. What better way to reflect and improve on your teaching than by examining student progress and comparing data. Why wouldn't a teacher want to evaluate student data and share their finding so that students will be more successful? Action research, as defined by Nancy Fichtman Dana (2009), is a step by step process of identifying a situation or need, reading literature reviews and researching the topic, collecting data in the school with real children and real problems, and identifying changes that can be implemented to help students and teachers.

Teachers who believe in a student-centered teaching philosophy use this process every day. It might be on a smaller scale, but when a teacher takes the time to develop a lesson and solicit ideas and insights from others, delivers the lesson and reflects on the students' learning accomplishments and identifies areas that can be improved, action research has taken place. If the teacher determines from the learning outcomes that the students did not master the lesson objectives, it is the teacher's responsibility to redesign the lesson to ensure success and mastery for all students.

As a classroom teacher and grade level team leader I would use action research to inquire about many topics. One that is a significant area for inquiry and action research are the benefits of traditional scheduling versus block scheduling. This topic has been researched and debated over by many, and it is a key component to student success. With the increasing standards of state testing and diminishing school budgets, we must work efficiently with our time and personnel resources.  Which type of scheduling would allow maximum benefits of these?  We also need to ask ourselves which type of scheduling allows us to build relationships with our students while at the same time gives us the ability to present lessons that increase the rigor of classroom content for student success. 

I would also like to begin an inquiry, using action research, into the benefits of having a special education co-teacher in a core curriculum classroom.  I think that all of the children in the classroom should be evaluated to address the success and failures of this type of special education programming. Is the classroom a true co-teaching environment with two teachers teaching, or is it one teacher teaching while the other is keeping students on task? This is important to understand before evaluating the results of any data collection.  This again is an important issue to address considering the increasing standards of state testing and the changes of special education testing requirements and eligibility.  Providing for the needs of all students, both mainstream and special education, is a top priority in education, but how to do this is an area of great debate.   

Both of these issues are of great importance to me because they affect not only my students, but students throughout classrooms every day.  My goal as a teacher and future administrator is to provide students and colleagues with the utmost opportunity for success.  I believe the use of action research is beneficial to achieve this goal.