Action Inquiery

What is action research and how might I be able to use it.

Action research is taking research to a whole new level and putting the research in our hands.  It gives us the ability to look in our own schools and communities, and to address our problems and concerns.  I believe that it allows us to maximize our time, take ownership in what we are doing, and involve others in our school community to work collaboratively to improving our schools. 

Action research gives us the ability to get the most out of our time.  Instead of reading about other school problems or attending conferences about issues that are not a problem in our community we can look directly at what is affecting our school community, find the data, analyze the data, and then if needed seek out research for solutions from schools that had similar problems.  We are maximizing our time and focusing on the task at hand.

Another great thing about action inquiry is that the leader and his/her team can take ownership in their research topics.  They know that they are real items that affect their school and their students.  By working to learn more about their problems and what can be done to fix them they will directly improve their school.  This is why they chose to get into a leadership position, so that they could help their school and directly help their students.

Last but not least others in the school community, teachers, students, and parents are more likely to be on board and to work towards goals when data can be pulled and shown directly from our school community.  It shows them directly what we are or are not doing well, not a problem someone else faced.  They like the leader are a lot more likely to take ownership of the situation when the can see that this is all about their school community.