An Educator 's Guide For Practitioner Action Research

How does engagement in teacher inquiry differ from traditional models of educational research, and how does this difference compare with your initial interpretation of action research?

I plan to use the input and assistance of my principal, administration, and other colleagues to assist me with necessary portions of my action research project. I will develop a written plan of action further in the project, monitor the project reflective, and prepare a research summary research report of the results of my action research project addressing the effectiveness of the implementation of the PBIS program at Otter Creek Middle School. My plans are for my research to be implemented further along with my principal internship after I have completed the course as well.

on the theory and practice in adult learning and action research. This creates a kind of social space in organization that is important in the facilitation of a practice-based example. Making it

The school of education offers a doctorate of philosophy (PhD) and a professional doctorate (EdD). The EdD focuses on applying action research methodologies to specific situations to generate localized solutions that must then be supported through a review of the literature. The product of the PhD process and EdD process differ, although scholarly effort is the same. The PhD process is a five-chapter dissertation, which explains the background and significance of the research, contextualize the research within the existing literature on the topic, describes the research methodologies, and presents the results, conclusions, and the recommendations of the research. The five-chapter dissertation combines the outcome with a description of the process by which that answer was developed.

Amanda talked about how she used the action research to develop and increase professionalism of both early childhood researchers and practitioners by using the teaching techniques and strategies to support the implement of the research project, using the cycle of reflection and analysing the data, communicating with early childhood teachers to reflect and build skills in their teaching. She developed a scale where she could analyse children’s interests,

Participatory action research is defined as the approach in research which is mainly focused and empathizes on action. This approach towards research is fundamentally aligned with the understanding of the world by trying to change it. One of the key reasons due to which PAR is mainly viewed as being controversial is because it intends to confront the existing status quo and affair of things in which they have been operating for a long period of

In every school throughout the nation, students all have different interests; whether that be writing, math, acting, or drawing, each child is entitled to expressing their own interests in their own ways. In modern society, however, many schools are cutting back on subjects that are not tested including the arts, history, literature, government, and others. The author of “The Essentials of a Good Education,” Diane Ravitch, believes that there is more to education than testing students and labeling them based on scores. She thinks that making cuts in areas outside of mathematics and reading is a mistake and will be detrimental to society in the long run. Even though the purpose of “No Child Left Behind” was to make sure each child had a fair opportunity to be proficient in certain areas, Ravitch’s writing, “The Essentials of a Good Education” questions whether it has caused an unequal opportunity for children to learn and have a well-balanced, rich curriculum.

According to the Nation’s Report Card, only forty percent of 4th graders and thirty-three percent of 8th graders are performing at or above levels of proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics test in 2015. These numbers are unchanged from 2013, showing that no progress is being made. The United States education system needs to drastically be reformed so that our test scores and work output is comparable to that of higher-achieving nations such as China and Japan. One policy currently in place that is making it difficult for teachers to teach the way they would like is the No Child Left behind Act. The act was originally made so that schools are held accountable for their students’ progress, parents get more choices of which school their children will attend and so that there is more flexibility for how funds can be distributed by the schools. The No Child Left Behind Act needs to be reformed because it encourages teachers to teach to the tests, gives money to schools already succeeding, and forces teachers to focus mainly on students struggling rather than average or excelling students.

I performed this action research project at River Community College in West Michigan. The community college provided educational opportunities to the

In spite of the many praises that these procedures receive (Bruce et al., 2011) for being beneficial for educators, practitioners enquiry, however, can also be challenging. According to Ellis and Loughland (2016: 124), “a teacher will encounter either enabling or constraining factors when engaging in practitioner research”. For example, one could claim that some enquiries might be biased, as the findings can easily be managed to fit particular results (Murray and Lawrence, 2013). Louise Stoll (2003) illustrates how these research can become strictly related to the situations from which they initially arise, thus losing relevance and possible application within other environments.

In every school in the United States has students that fall behind in classes or don’t get proper education for them to be taught effectively. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was created to push students of all grade levels to keep up in their classes, homework and grades so they could become an idol citizen to society. Even though this act is supposed to keep students on the same page as others, research shows that isn’t the case; that students Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) test scores are going down. The United States’ push of reaching state standards for public school systems has brought to attention that if these standards are not reached, teachers and school faculty will take the infliction.

First, within the context of the video discussions, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) represents a top-heavy approach to education with the federal government mandating reform and placing emphasis on testing outcomes. Indeed, NCLB is part of the accountability movement that has led to the development of ongoing measures that are designed to create statewide assessment systems to measure student performance in mathematics and reading and thus address areas for improvement among students not performing at passable levels in such subject areas (Ravitch, 2014). This framework has extended into the Obama administration (i.e., Race to the Top – RTTT), with an even greater importance attached to outcomes, where high-stakes testing remains the basis by which student success is defined (Ravitch, 2014). Second, measuring student progress has historically been a prevalent feature of the American public education system with respect to policy and practice. However, the underlying assumption of present accountability systems is that attaching consequences to education reform will elevate student achievement (Hursh, 2010). Using high-stakes assessments to retain/promote students and to withhold a student’s graduation diploma for not passing an exit-level examination are examples of how the current NCLB/RTTT accountability framework supposedly ensures that high school

Today’s emphasis on school and teacher accountability has taken the focus away from our main objective which is student learning and achievement. The rise of both school and teacher accountability became a detrimental aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. The NCLB Act of 2001 set about using state-mandated assessments to hold schools accountable for a student’s performance on the standardized tests with the purpose of closing the achievement gaps among all students regardless of race, class or disability, while attaching high-stake consequences to

The use of a team with a common project or problem leads to an action learning program which looks remarkably like action research.

When considering my inquiry, qualitative research is the approach usually associated with the constructivist worldview (Creswell, 2014; Mertens, 2015). For my research this will mean recording, analyzing and uncovering the deeper meaning and significance of inclusion in the French immersion context and how this translates into best practices. If I examine the purpose of action research as described by Hendricks (2013) as “for practitioners to investigate and improve their practice” (p.3) then my research could also fit into this approach. I have chosen not to involve participants other than myself and will conduct an independent study using data from existing studies and I may also choose to include personal reflections on my own practice. This would allow a thorough investigation of my topic and allow me to present, analyze and discuss information and existing ideas in the both the qualitative and quantitative literature from the patterns that emerge.