ACTION RESEARCH using ACTION RESEARCH PROCESS OUTLINE

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION- In discussions with my campus supervisor/administrator, student achievement of junior high male athletes declining during the off-season is noted as a major concern for the school’s overall academic strive for perfection. Teachers/staff, coaches, parents, SBDM committee, and curriculum director will be part of a team that discusses this issue, which was identifies as a major concern for the upcoming school year.

2. ANALYZING DATA- Reviewing the performance issues of these students in the passed concerning daily grades, homework grades, discipline issues, benchmark tests, TAKS test, and other data gathered during and after the sport season will allow comparison and data valuable in this research area. Also, gathering and analyzing the data on the current students active in sports now, and continuous monitoring of their achievement during the off-season will ensure positive data gathering that will be beneficial in this study. Articles, books, and journals published that correlate with student athlete success/failure during and after the season will also be used to gather information that will help develop strategies and recommendations for minimizing or eliminating decreases in student athlete’s academic production.

3. DEVELPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING- Collaboration with teachers/staff, coaches, parents, and students for deeper understandings and conflict issues will help provide better insight to the issues at hand. Teachers and staff will notify any issues and concerns about students, through constant observations in the classroom during and after the sport season. Coaches will ensure that student athletes are motivated to “keep up” during and after the season. The parents will provide “out of school” information that is vital in ensuring that the strategies and methods chosen are working everywhere and not just at school. Also, collaboration with the students will provide a deep understanding into where the possible decline or stability comes from. Communication with all types of student athletes will allow the identification of positive and negative trends, which will help ensure a deeper understanding within the research project.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION- Self reflection for all parties involved in the action research study is necessary in order to be successful. Questions that every individual must ask and answer honestly include:
• Am I fully engaged in this action research project?
• Am I taking the time to research and develop the best possible strategies?
• Am I willing to do whatever it takes to ensure student success?
• Is training needed/available to all teachers/staff to provide these strategies?
• Are all my resources available that are needed to make this research possible?
• Did I gather all the needed data, and analyze it appropriately?
• Am I communicating with all necessary parties involved to ensure success?


5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS- In exploring the patterns in student athlete’s decline during the off-season, the research must identify the causing factors for the problem. Are we as an organization “easing up during the off-season?” When students stop trying after their sport is over, they have simply given up or quite caring. Identifying the patterns causing this decline in student achievement is extremely important to solving the issue at hand. Identifying these patterns will help establish solutions and methods to avoid the decline in the first place. Patterns that lead to the decline in student achievement must be studied, and solutions decided that will veer away from allowing the decline to begin in the first place. Communication and collaboration with all parities will allow the identification of these patterns, and therefore lead to the stoppage of the decline through strategies.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION- The direction of the action research is going to be aimed at solving the decline of student achievement in junior high male athletes during the off-season. In order to this, everyone involved must be on the “same page” and headed in the right direction. Providing the overall goal for the action research, and ensuring that everyone involved understands and “buys in” to the process needed to reach this goal is necessary. Gathering all the needed data, constant collaboration between all parties, ensuring the overall goal is known by all, and continuous reach for the goal will ensure a consistent and correct direction of the research project.

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT- Organizing a team, working together collaboratively, and ensuring that the action research plan is based on solving issues that directly relate to the school’s mission statement and overall goal is necessary for ensuring school improvement. A discussion with the site supervisor/campus administrator, teachers/staff on campus, and coaches, minimizing or eliminating the decline of student achievement in the off-season is a high priority. Because so many student athletes allow decline in their achievement during the off-season, this action research is unquestionably aimed at school improvement. When the action research is over, the school campus morale should be extremely high, student success will be at a level desired by the teachers/parents, and the overall school district will have ensured a positive outcome. Student’s grades and behavior should improve, and the campus’s scores on benchmark tests, TAKS test, and the overall rating of the school district will improve.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT- Providing training to all teachers/staff, coaches, and other members of the community is needed to ensure this goal is met, but also maintained. New members of the school community must be trained and notified of the overall goals of the district, and students must be aware that the decline in the off-season will not be tolerated by anyone involved. Constant collaboration between the school, parents, coaches, and teachers is necessary to ensure that the expectations for consistent student achievement is acknowledged, and the standards are never lowered. Letting it be known to everyone involved that the district will work to ensure that the goals are met through any means necessary, and that working together to reach these goals is a needed factor. Constant updating of methods and strategies to ensure best practices will be conducted in the trainings on campus. Also, constant self-reflection and examining of the programs success will be made to achieve constant progress and success.

What I have learned from week 2 of action research

I really enjoyed brainstorming ideas and suggestions for my action research topic. At first, I envisioned developing an action research topic to be difficult and challenging. However, I have now realized that action research ideas and topics occur to me on a daily basis in a variety of situations. Especially during the school year when I have struggling students, see individuals challenged by issues other than academics, and the needs I face as a teacher. Unfortunately, just coming up with an action research topic isn't actually "doing" an action research topic. Investigation and inquiry within the research process, and them implementing the suggestions and ideas based on that is the main purpose and must be completed in order to make the action research a total success. I also learned about the 9 passion areas from which my "wondering questions" arise from. The text "Leading with Passion and Knowledge" by Dana has really opened my eyes to action research and has proven to be an extremely useful and beneficial tool throughout this course so far. I have learned that as a teacher, or anyone involved in the educational process for that matter, questions and ideas begin to develop within the mind. These ideas and questions come from areas and people within the school system, and all these areas of passion lead directly to an action research topic. However, the main point that I have learned this week is that development of a topic is not action research. All in all, I have learned a lot this week, and hope to continue to gain this amount of HELPFUL and USEFUL knowledge each week of this course!

How educational leaders can use blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs in a variety of ways. Reaching a wide range of people, anyone with internet access is capable of viewing what the leader has to say. Saving time and effort for printing out pages upon pages and spreading out flyers of what needs to be said, one can simply "blog it". Blogs are an exciting way of communication that provides technology application to a meaningful message. It is quick, easy, and feedback can occur instantly. Using a blog can communicate school activities, important announcements, information, appreciation, and other important notices to the community, parents, students, staff, teachers, and basically everyone else. However, I believe that being able to provide the opportunity for these important people to be able to "feedback" or "reply" to the blog is extremely important. It provides a seamless communication wave for all parties involved. Basically, blogs need to be more incorporated in the education system, especially by educational leaders, because they are beneficial to everyone.

Action research and how you can use it.

I have learned that action research is an extremely useful method or strategy one can use to examine and improve on oneself. In the education system, principals need to be the "head learner" of the organization, and in order to accomplish this, they must use action research. Action research allows the principal to step back and look at themselves and how their actions affect the school system and the overall organization. By using action research, the principal uses inquiry strategies to examine improvements that can be made, but also can establish methods and suggestions for improving these issues through action. Action research is different from any other method of educational research because it puts the actual practitioners "on trial" for their rights and wrongs and they are the ones that must admit and examine everything they do. Working collaboratively within the school system with other teachers and staff members, parents, other administrators, and community stake holders, the principal is able to really examine and voice suggestions for improvement. These improvements are able to be discussed and a resolution by action is able to be established. Many benefits stem from the use of action research including better practices being used and improvements to the overall education system. Although this method is relatively new, it seems to be catching on fairly quickly, and in organizations other than schools. Action research can be used in businesses as well. Action research can also be known as practitioner inquiry because it is the actual practitioner asking the questions about him and the organization. This method is especially beneficial because it uses "inside" people instead of having "outsiders" coming in and discussing the problems, without giving you methods on how to fix it. By using the "insiders", one can use the actual people that have the problems, and suffer the same feelings and pain in order to fix it. Action research can be used a variety of ways, and in all different forms and fashions. From schools, to business improvements, and even in everyday life, using action research can be done anytime, anywhere, and by anyone. In order to feel the full effect of action research, you must take the time and effort to thoroughly examine yourself. Honesty with yourself throughout the inquiry process is also a must.