Action Research Plan-Chosen!

After meeting with my site supervisor, we have confirmed these 3 action research possibilities.

• Research school districts that have used effective strategies to help increase enrollment, TAKS scores, and general education practices.
• Assist the principal in choosing and awarding students for their behavior and academics. Doing so, I will encourage new reward strategies such as "Student of the Month" for the junior high school.
• Meet with teachers and other faculty to discuss school ethics. List the good examples of our school's ethical image and even some things we need to make adjustments on.

The site supervisor and I discussed each of these 3 action research possibilities in depth and I believe these are realistic concepts that can really be researched to ensure improvement within our school campus and district. The site supervisor helped adjust some of my ideas so they would specifically target areas of interest on our campus. He also noted that using research strategies that encourage incentives for motivating students ,teachers and parents are always ideas that should be strongly considered. We sometimes have a lack of interest in school activities other that high school basketball and we must find ways to improve involvement amongst all programs. After reviewing the 3 possibilities in depth, we have decided on the first action research plan possibility. The plan is listed below..

• Research school districts that have used effective strategies to help increase enrollment, TAKS scores, and general education practices.

Brandon's Action Research Blog

After investigating and reading about action research, I have noticed several large distinctions between the traditional style of research and action research. Action research is a more "hands on" approach using collaboration and verbal communication to target areas of weaknesses and aiming to improve these areas. For example, instead of investigating the quantitative evidence and reading about it, school principals can collaborate with teachers regarding the weaknesses displayed by the school system and together they can form a plan specifically designed for their school district. After reading Dana's journal, I have learned that action research is a way to commence staff and curriculum development while building school culture and promoting leadership skills that have the potential to improve school outcomes and performance. The usefulness of the text is largely recognized for its gradual approach as it sets out to aid leaders as they develop questions, collect and analyze data, and share their results in the education community. Chapter Three, entitled “The Road Map,” details many avenues for data collection including interviews, artifacts, digital images, reflective journals, surveys, and literature. We are all aware that there is not enough time in a teacher's day, much less in an administrators. For this reason, Dana has even suggested organizational strategies to help school leaders manage their time wisely to help enable time for action research investigation and planning.

How might educational leaders use blogs?
Blogs can be used by educational leaders to communicate with other administrators regarding issues that are current in school systems. A blog is a means of worldwide communication and it can even help with collaboration because there is so much potential for links that are used to form a blogging community. One administrator may benefit from reading another administrators blog and may learn from the experience listed.