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Home  My courses  Field Study 2  02 ACTION RESEARCH CYCLE  Lesson Proper for Week 2

Lesson Proper for Week 2

Action research is all about activity and action. The

result of an action research cycle is a decision about which actions you will
start, stop,

and continue within your practice to achieve a particular goal.

Action researchers use past evidence and experimental data to help them

make
this decision.


The stages of the action research cycle in a
teaching context are presented in the diagram above. An educator begins the
process by

identifying the issue to be addressed within the classroom or

school. This issue might be highlighted through conversations with others,

through the educator’s own observations of practice, or through reading or

learning about specific strategies or pedagogical tools during

other CPD
opportunities. The educator works through the stages of the research cycle:

Identifying an action to take to address the issue,

considering:

Which element(s) of teaching practice will change?

How will the success of the action be measured?

Testing the action over time in their classroom or

school, including:

Collecting data on any changes resulting from the

action (e.g., through test scores, interviews, or observations)

Evaluating whether the action has improved teaching

practice, based on the data collected

Deciding whether the action should be continued and

whether it could be adopted by others

But it doesn’t stop there! As a result of this first

cycle, there are likely to be follow-up questions or adaptations that could be
made to your

action that will inform future cycles of action research.

How does action research improve my teaching?

A challenge for both teachers and facilitators is

how to embed new ideas and practices in everyday classroom teaching. A
participant may

come away from a course inspired, motivated, and more

knowledgeable; however, the real challenges lie ahead of them as they consider

implementing changes to their practice.

For CPD to have a significant impact in the

classroom, educators may need to:

Assimilate new knowledge and ideas

Adjust their attitudes or beliefs

Experiment with new practices

Reflect upon and evaluate the suitability of changes

Share new ideas with other educators and convince

them to adopt new ideas

Action Research as Professional

Development…and Teacher Evaluation

The primary reason that I make the connection

between action research and professional development is the ability as an
educator to focus

growth specifically on things that you alone (or, as part of

a collaborative team) identify as being an area of your professional practice
that

you would like to see improve. As I've mentioned, the focus is on your
school, your classroom, your students, and their improved

achievement; the
process (or, rather, the focus of the process) is customizable to meet your
specific needs. One-size-fits-all professional

development does not accomplish

this. In addition, once you have results from your action research inquiry, you
could act immediately.

This, in and of itself, results in professional

development that is much more meaningful for educators. If we rely on the
dissemination of

'proven' research-based solutions, we typically must wait for

the accumulation of evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of a particular

solution— which, again, may likely be subject to generalizability and

transferability weaknesses. When you systematically investigate your

own
instruction, etc., you collect data on your students and on your teaching; you
know immediately what works and what might not work.

 

To extend this notion a bit, if we accept the idea

that action research can serve as a sound basis for professional development,
then it would

make sense that it could be part of a system of annual teacher

evaluation (Mertler, 2013). Educators would begin the school year by

developing
specific professional development goals for themselves for the year that they
would pursue through a systematic action

research approach. However, we must

hold them accountable for what they discover through this process. If we allow
— and, I might add,

encourage — educators to develop their own professional

development goals, and to systematically collect data and investigate their own

practice, and if we hold them accountable for the degree of their successes (or
at least for what they learn as a result of reflection on the

engagement in
such a process), we add the critical piece of truly examining teaching
effectiveness and its impact on student learning. While

arguably there is worth

in utilizing standardized test data and value-added data to demonstrate
teaching effectiveness, many of us would

agree that there are just too many

confounding variables that cloud our ability to cleanly and clearly interpret
those results. Incorporating

action research into teacher evaluation would add

to teachers' sense of empowerment, and to ownership over their own teacher
evaluation

processes.

Collaboration and Educator Empowerment

Up to this point in our discussion, my focus has

really been on individual teachers engaging in action research. However, I am a
true believer

in collaboration within an action research context. Two concepts

that lend themselves nicely to this idea are collaborative action research

and
professional learning communities (Mertler, 2013). Collaborative action
research is characterized by four key elements:

A shared mission, vision, and goals.

A collaborative culture.

Collective inquiry into best practices and current reality.

An action orientation (or, learning by doing);

A commitment to continuous improvement; and

An orientation focused on results, not on

intentions. (DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008, pp. 15-17)

As you can see, engaging in this collaborative

approach to professional development through action research would require a
shift in

mindset. Working together in teams and abandoning the 'egg-crate'

mentality that still permeates some schools, especially as an approach

to
professional development, might be a difficult transition for some educators.
However, as the saying goes, 'there is strength in numbers,'

and this approach

just might result in substantial and collective improvements in student
performance.

◄ Preliminary Activity for Week 2 Jump to...


Analysis, Application, and Exploration for Week 2 ►
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01 PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHING ASSISTANTS
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Lesson Proper for Week 2
Analysis, Application, and Exploration for Week 2
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Evaluation for Week 2
Assignment for Week 2
Research in Mathematics 2
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