Daily! Action Research in the Classroom

        I think educators conduct action research daily on a much smaller scale.  As students struggle, teachers make modifications and accommodations to encourage future success.  Conversely, when teachers have success they remember strategies and techniques that helped provide this success.  I think the component usually missing from this type of classroom practical research is the share piece.  Often, educators struggle to find time to complete their various commitments.  This causes teachers to work in isolation rather than collaborate and share their practical research experiences.

The Plan!

Research Question: In what ways can I, as classroom teacher, increase student attendance?

For several years, attendance on my campus has been the lowest in the district. Poor attendance impacts my campus in numerous ways. During these difficult financial times, districts struggle to find or recover additional sources of revenue. One source of lost revenue is student absences. Another consequence of poor attendance is poor grades and test scores. When a student is absent they miss valuable instructional time. This information is necessary to perform well on unit, semester, and standardized exams. Absent students create an additional burden for teachers. Teachers must provide make-up work or create alternative assignments for absent students. This task adds additional work to an already stressed and overworked teacher.

My research will focus on students who are chronically absent. Chronically absent is defined as a student with two or more absences during the first nine weeks. I will use attendance data in my class to identify my target population.

My ultimate goal is to increase student attendance in my classroom. I hope to identify chronically absent students using attendance data. Encourage all students to complete a questionnaire. Analyze this data. I will contact chronically absent students and their guardians and conduct an in-depth interview with the help of our campus Attendance Officer. These in-depth interviews can take place during home visits, parent-teacher meetings, or phone conversations. From this information, I will make several adjustments during the third and fourth nine weeks. I will then analyze attendance data for that time period and conduct exit phone interviews with students and parents. I hope to present findings in a district blog and during the 2011-2012 teacher in-service week.

Week Two- Check

I just finished my week 2 assignment.  I am finding that I am spending a considerable amount of time reading, writing, and reflecting.  Research has always been a scary word to me.  The actual word makes me anxious.  However, I am finding that as I read and learn more about action research that it's not so scary.  Action research consumes my thoughts.  I think about properly defining and posing my question and what the research component actually look like.  I will continue to work through my thoughts and update you on my progress.

Blogs and Educational Leadership

The blog is an extremely powerful tool.  Blogs can provide insight into the mind of the administrator.  The administrator can use the blog as a forum to reflect and sort ideas.  The blog can also serve as a tool to communicate with faculty and the community.  There are endless applications for administrators and blogging. 

Action Research Defined and Uses

Action research is a difficult concept to define.  Action research goes beyond traditional research.  It encourages the administrator to take an active role on campus.  The administrator must identify problems or areas of concern and actively reflect on these areas.  Action research forces the administrator to self-reflect and evaluate decisions made.  Once there is an identified area of concern, the administrator must pose questions or wonderings, conduct research, make changes, and reflect with others.  This is a continuous process of wondering, researching, changing, and reflecting.

Action research is a continuous and cyclical process.  The administrator is constantly reflecting and thinking about leadership and their practice.  Action research has numerous benefits.  The research is campus-driven by professionals who know intimate details about the area of concern.  This type of research is empowering to administrators and faculty alike.  Action research recognizes the importance of administrator and faculty in research.  Traditionally, administration is a lonely job.  However, action research encourages collaboration and forces the administrator out of isolation.  Often times, administrators are forced to react in certain situations.  Administrator inquiry encourages principals to act making positive changes on their campuses.  The goal of action research is to solve campus-based problems or concerns and identify best practices.