Final Blog Reflections

Action research focuses on concerns of practitioners. This should be something that the practitioner feels passionately about. Using the nine passions from Dana(2009) can help you to find a wondering that will lead to a action research project. The wonders are:


Staff Development has a great impact upon students through the personal and professional growth of their teachers. As Barth (1981) states, “Nothing within a school has more impact upon students in terms of skills development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of their teachers.” (pg. 145) This was reinforced in Dr. Chargois’ video that, “you never stop learning”. It is a much documented concern that continuing professional development should be utilized for the success of all.

Curriculum development as an action research focus is important because schools have a great control on the adoption of curriculum that will affect the district. Curriculum also drives the learning that takes place. If the curriculum is weak and ineffective then the achievement of the students will be as well. On the other hand if the curriculum is strong and affective then the achievement of the students will strong.

Individual teacher’s effectiveness is very important to the success of students. The curriculum is secondary if the teacher cannot affectively present the material. The morale of the teacher as well as his/her knowledge is just as important as their ability to present material in an interesting and affective way.

Individual student as an action research wondering is a little misleading. This area is not looking at a specific student as much as it is looking a particular group of students that may need extra attention to be successful in school. Today’s accountability system looks closely at all sub populations. Looking at those individuals is imperative, if the school is attempting to improve their ratings set by state standards.

School Community/Culture as an action research is important because if teachers do not look at the big picture of the education of student then they are not doing all they can do to benefit their students. Too often teacher’s focus in on the year they teach and getting a student through that year. They want to let next year’s teacher to deal with any issues in the education of the students that may need further investigation. They often do not look beyond to how I can help the students achieve the goal of high school graduation.

Leadership is important not only from a principal or even higher, superintendent point of view but on a much lower level. It is important for an administrator not only to be able to build a cohesive team but to facilitate the leadership skills of individual teachers. An administrator’s day is busy and it is not always possible for them to have personal contact with individual teachers. Teachers with strong leadership skills could be utilized to help build that cohesive team and keep it strong.

Management as an action research wondering would be to focus on the management of the school such as scheduling of teacher from team teaching to departmentalization. From the management angle it is important to be able to focus on the whole of the school and how changes will affect the culture and climate of the school. When something such as scheduling is looked at you must consider not only the teacher/student aspect but lunchroom, special pullout programs, and transitioning among other things.

School performance as an action wondering is to look at a sub population that may not be achieving well on state standardized tests. The schools performance rating is affected by that sub population’s scores. School performance is an area that is focused by the state accountability system. NCLB brings this area into focus for many schools. Though standardized tests are not looked on fondly by many it is the only way that student achievement can be judged on a large scale level.

Social justice or equity issues as an action research wondering would be to look at how socio economic status affects student achievement levels. The importance of looking at social justice has been proven over the years with research and data collection. It shows an overwhelming link between poverty and the achievement of students.

Using the eight steps from Harris (2010) setting the foundation, analyzing data, developing deeper understanding, engaging in self reflection, exploring patterns, determining direction, taking action and sustaining improvement, can better help the practitioner to study the wondering.

As stated in Dana (2009) Elliot (1988) also describes action research as a continual spiral of reflection and action. Action research is used to bring change by involving those who are affected by the concern most. By continually looking at and reevaluating the action taken and how improvement is progressing, a practitioner has a better chance of a satisfactory outcome for all involved. The Force Field Analysis theorizes that there will be driving forces for change and forces that resist change. These must be analyzed to get a better understanding on your course of action for the plan.

In Dr. Aterbury’s video he said that action research is a systematic approach to collecting data and solving problems where you go beyond what is known to answer questions that are unexplored.

There is no problem or concern that ever totally goes away. Action research is the answer to working to improve the issue. A team can continually look at the advancements, what has worked, what has not worked, how the concern has morphed. The Delphi method would be good to use during this as it helps to develop a deeper understanding of an issue. Using an expert panel to help you gather opinions and information on issues concerning the project will help you with the continual spiraling of reflection needed for the project.

There are many tools and steps to help you complete a successful action research project. Remain flexible in letting the research guide you and help you completion of your project.





Barth, R.(1981). The principal as staff developer. Journal of Education, 163 (2), 144-162.



Dana, Nancy F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge, Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin

Elliot, J. (1988). Educational research and out sider-insider relations. Qualitative Studies in Education, 1(2), 155-166

Harris, Sandra.(2010) Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools 8 Steps From Analysis to Action, Larchmont, New York, Eye On Education