Final Reflection EDLD 5301 Week 5

Prior to this course, I was not aware of what action research actually was. I just thought it was a new term given to the traditional research that I grew up doing. After the first week of this class, I realized that action research is a way for educators to perform research in their field of work in order to answer questions and deal with issues that are on a more personal level. In other words, you are researching an area within your school and trying to make it a better place for staff and students alike. Action research is done in order to bring change or make something better. Dana stated, that action research, “focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages practitioners in the design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question.” (Dana, p. 5, 2009)

During week 2, I had to think about a wondering that I wanted answers to. If you think about it, there are always things at school you stop and ask yourself, “I wonder...” A few of my wonderings were: 1. How does tardiness affect student achievement? 2. What affects do long term In School Suspensions (ISS) assignments affect student achievement? 3. Can same gender classes benefit student achievement? After talking with my site supervisor, we decided that #3, How do same gender classes affect student achievement? All of these are still topics that I would like to know more about, but for now, I will focus on the same gender class topic. During the video interviews, I realized that action research is more interesting to do because the topic relates to your situation. (Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent of Pasadena ISD).

Another insight I gained through this course is the importance of reflection. By creating a blog and posting thoughts for others to see is and will continue to be a great help throughout my action research. It is a great feeling to have a whole support group to bounce things off of and to gain their knowledge on their experiences with the topics.

All in all, this course has been very insightful. I look forward to my continued research and reporting the conclusions to my co-workers and administrators. Through it all I hope that my findings will move toward an improvement for my school.

Reference: Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.