This week, in the text Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher by Nancy F. Dana, I read about 9 different subject areas on which administrators may find themselves pondering questions for inquiry. The provided domains included the following areas: staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers, individual students, school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice. Examples of how administrative inquirers had applied action research in each of these areas where provided. These made it clear to me how action research can be so limitless and can be structured to cover any inquiry one might have.
After reading about the inquiries of others, brainstorming my own ideas and considering both the needs of the campus and my own interests and passions, I have come up with two very different areas of inquiry that I am considering:
#1- What are parents' current perceptions about school involvement? How can we increase parental involvement within our campus to encourage student success?
#2- How well are literacy practices at the early grade levels preparing students to become strong readers? Or What is the correlation between early reading success and future success on standardized tests?
I will be meeting with my administrator to decide which action research project I will be completing. I look forward to hearing what input he will have about these two subjects and what I could gain from researching them. I must say that it seems that action research is not only a beneficial tool in education, but an exciting endeavor for the ever inquiring educator or administrator!
I like both of your inquiries and I prefer the second inquiry over the first, because it looks as though it has sustainability with students. I would like to note that I think the second part of your second inquiry sounds very difficult to measure. I would look for more of a causal relationship, rather than a correlational relationship, and look to find something that can be measured in a shorter amount of time, because it is difficult to say if the literacy practice in an early grade level is effective in helping a student in a secondary grade level due to uncontrollable variables. The first part is spot on, and is easily measured, because you can look at reading fluency and comprehension each year. Keep up the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI like your second research idea also. I also agree with Dave that I like the first question in that set. I teach 2nd grade and have some excellent readers. After I test them for fluency, I test for comprehension. Even though they can read exceptionally well, some of them cannot comprehend what they are reading. I think about this a lot and wonder how did they get one without the other. I'm excited to see how your action research turns out. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI like both of your topics as well. I think your first topic is the most interesting to me, but it may also be the most difficult and complex topic of the two. Not that you would run from a challenge, but you would be facing some tough challenges like getting enough data from as many parents as possible in order to REALLY get an idea of their perceptions. If you do choose topic one and you find a very good answer to your second question (of topic 1) I would love to hear about it. We are all searching for ways to get parents more involved, especially at the secondary level. Like you, I believe it can lead to more success and it definitely benefits all stakeholders in the community.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! Thanks for all of the insight! Although I am very interested in all topics regarding reading in the early grades, I have decided to go with the topic of raising parental involvement. In the school that I am working at right now that is one issue that is a focus that they find to be prevalent. I have reworded the question a bit to: In what ways can we overcome negative perceptions and situational obstacles faced by parents to increase parental involvement in and outside of school and promote student success?
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