Action Research
Defined:
Investigations conducted
by and for the people
taking the action, on their
own action to inform their
future actions.
Compact for Continuous
Improvement
Teaching
and
Learning
Critical Study
“What informs our decisions”
TWO TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH
• DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES
(understanding what is)
• QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
(testing theories)
FOUR STAGE PROCESS
Clarify Your Vision/Targets
Articulate Your Theory(s)
Implement Your Theory
Reflect on Results
A Leadership Mantra
• What specifically do you hope to
accomplish?
• Specifically, how do you plan to
accomplish this? Why?
• How will you monitor your progress?
• How will you report what you’ve learned?
Stage #1
Clarify Your Vision/Targets
What improvements in student or
school performance would you like
see?
Professional Learning Communities:
• Successful schools will have learning rather
than teaching as a focus. Teachers will
work together to analyze student work and
consider best practice.
• Instructional decisions will be based on
data, emphasizing formative as well as
summative data.
Professional Learning Communities:
• Collaborative conversations will be a part of the
regular school day for teachers.
• There will be a focus on results and staff will hold
themselves accountable.
• Professional learning teams will function
successfully on a variety of levels leading to
improved student achievement.
Professional Learning Communities:
• SMART goals will be understood and used
meaningfully.
• Action research or principal/teacher inquiry will
inform practice.
• Students who are experiencing difficulty will be
supported. Learning is for all students.
Professional Learning Communities:
• Students will do better on a variety of
assessments. They will feel more confident
about literacy and numeracy and develop a
stronger love of learning.
An Achievement Target
Targets as Dependant Variables:
Generating Rating scales
The purpose of the target (when doing
quasi-experimental research):
By stipulating a dependent variable (your
achievement target), you are saying:
“If my intervention has a positive effect on
the target, it will validate my
hypothesis.”
Two Types of Variables:
• Dependent variables:
What we want to see changed
• Independent variables
What we will be doing
Targets /Dependent
Variables
For each target you are investigating you
will need:
• To locate a valid/reliable assessment, or
• Develop your own quality assessments
Criteria for Building a
Rating Scale
• Basic: This is the minimum level of performance that could be
considered a demonstration of this skill.
• Developing: This is a good level of performance. I would be
pleased if all my kids were here.
• Fluent: This a truly remarkable demonstration of proficiency.
Rating S cale
IMPROVING “I NFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION”
BASIC
(1)
After reading a gradelevel appropriate essay,
the student can
accurately restate the
main idea.
DEVELOPING
(2)
(3)
After reading a grade After reading a grade
level appropriate essay level appropriate essay
the student can
the student can
accurately retell the
accurately retell and
author’s thesis.
support the author’s
thesis with multiple
details from the text.
FLUENT
(4)
(5)
After reading a grade After reading a grade
level appropriate essay level appropriate essay
the student can
the student can
accurately retell and
accurately retell and
support the author’s
support the author’s
thesis with multiple
thesis with multiple
details from the text
details from the text,
and can draw logical
can draw logical
inferences about the
inferences about the
author’s point of view. author’s point of view
and the student can
persuasively support
those inferences by
referencing the
languag e and
vocabulary used by the
author.
Rating Scale Worksheet
BASIC
1
DEVELOPING
2
3
4
FLUENT
5
Developing and Using a
Theory of Action
Stage #2
Articulate Your Theory(s)
What actions do you think
would/could produce the desired
results?
Visual Depiction of Relationship of Vision/Targets and Theory
Current Situation
(A)
Now
Where you a nd your
students are now
Visual Depiction of Relationship of Vision/Targets and Theory
Current Situation
(A)
Now
Vision/Outcomes
(C)
End of
Process
Where you a nd your
students are now
Th e "Promised Land"
Visual Depiction of Relationship of Vision/Targets and Theory
Current Situation
(A)
Intended Action(s)
(B)
Vision/Outcomes
(C)
End of
Process
Now
Where you a nd your
students are now
Your Th eoretical P erspective
Th e "Promised Land"
Visual Depiction of Relationship of Vision/Targets and Theory
Current Situation
(A)
Intended Action(s)
(B)
Vision/Outcomes
(C)
End of
Process
Now
Where you a nd your
students are now
Your Th eoretical P erspective
Th e "Promised Land"
Surfacing the Critical
Independent Variables:
The Priority Pie
Identifying the Variables
PRIORITY PIE
List the most significant factors under our control that
we will need to attend to if we are to succeed with/on
this achievement target:
Factor:
__________
__________
__________
Identifying the Variables
PRIORITY PIE
List the most significant factors under our control that
we will need to attend to if we are to succeed with/on
this achievement target:
Factor:
__________
__________
__________
__________
Percent:
_____
_____
_____
_____
Total: 100%
Priority Pie
T he D evelopment of Editing Proficiency
25%
Word Processing
5%
15%
Vocabulary
Motivation
Comfort/criticism
15%
voice
15%
25%
Usage rules
(figure 5.4)
Building Motivated Learners
25%
15%
Belonging Affiliation
High Academic SelfImage
15%
Internal Locus of
Control
Being Needed Valued
15%
Optimistim
30%
We believe that there are five factors which contribute to student resiliency and enhance
motivation. The most critical of these being a n internal locus of control (30%). Possessing a
strong a cademic self-im age, feeling a s ense of affiliation a nd belonging a t school and feeling
needed are equally important factors (15 % each). Finally, we believe that holding a n
optimi stic view of the future is the second most pow erful factor (25%)
The Graphic Reconstruction:
Your Implementation
Roadmap
Columbus’ Hypothesis
If I sail due west from Europe, for about
4,000 miles, then I should land on the East
Coast of Asia.
If I am correct, the ocean route will prove to
be more efficient (than the overland route)
for importing goods from East Asia.
Visual Depiction of Relationship of Vision/Targets and Theory
Current Situation
(A)
Intended Action(s)
(B)
Vision/Outcomes
(C)
End of
Process
Now
Where you a nd your
students are now
Your Th eoretical P erspective
Th e "Promised Land"
The Graphic Reconstruction: Your Road
Map for Implementation
• This will be a visual outline of the route
you believe you should take.
• If followed you truly believe it will take
you to the desired destination.
• It clearly reflects your understanding of
the order of activities and events which
will need to occur if you are ultimately to
achieve success.
(figure 5.3)
E nhanc i ng Pro blem Solvi ng Capac it y
Attends one meeting of
each work group biweekly
Creates a
Schedule for
Shared Team
Planning
Principal
Weekly Team
Plannin g
Meetings
Post Team
Meeting
Agendas
Faculty
Intranet Discussion
Place
Organized Around
School Goals
Posts
School-wide
performance
data
Posts Monthly
Reports re:
Status on
School Goals
Creates Monthly
Late-start
Schedule
Skillful
Proble mSolvers
Practice Proble m
Solving Skills
Generate Topics
for Monthl y
Proble m-Solving
Meetings
Monthly
Proble m- Solving
Faculty Meetings
Workshop on
Problem
Solving
Techniques
Drawing out your theory….
1) Brainstorm on a separate post-it note, every factor, variable, issue,
phenomena or force that you feel influences performance in this
area and/or ought/could/might come into play as you endeavor to
improve performance.
2) Arrange the post-its in a manner which will illustrate a clear, direct
and detailed route to the desired destination.
Your road map should illustrate:
1) What problems exist
2) What needs to be done
3) In what manner it needs to be done
4) What combination of things need to occur, and
5) In what sequence they ought to occur
Purposes of the Graphic
Reconstruction
• It clarifies and provides you with direction
for the implementation of your “theory of
action.”
• When shared with your students, it helps
make the the mysteries of the instructional
process more understandable and coherent.
Purposes of the Graphic Reconstruction,
con’t
• If it works satisfactorily, others will be able
to “walk your walk”
• If it doesn’t work as planned, you can
retrace your steps to determine when and
where things went wrong.
3 Generic (ACR) Research
Questions:
• What did you actually do (action)?
• What improvement(s) in performance
occurred on your targets (change)?
• How and in what way did your actions
influence the noted changes in performance
(relationships)?
Stage #3
Implementation/Data
Collection
How will you know if your actions are
producing the desired results?
DATA COLLECTION PLAN
RES EARCH
QU ES TION
What did we
actually do?
What
improvement
occurred on
our targets?
How did our
actions
influence
these
changes?
DATA
S OU RCE #1
DATA
S OU RCE #2
DATA
S OU RCE #3
Some Sources of Data
• EXISTING SOURCES
--Student work (portfolios)
--Documentary evidence (archival data)
• TOOLS FOR CAPTURING EVERYDAY LIFE
--Diaries, logs, journals
--Tapes (audio/video)
--Photographs
--Shadowing
--Observation checkists
• TOOLS FOR QUESTIONING
--Interviews
--Surveys
--Tests
--Focus groups
Trend Analysis:
Analyzing Historical Data
(8.2)
2.5
2
1.5
1
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98
Fatalities per 100 Million VMT
(figue 8.3 )
2.5
2
1.5
1
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98
Fatalities per 100 Million VMT
80
60
40
20
0
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98
Seat Belt Use Rate (%)
Trend Analysis
P
E
R
F
O
R
M
A
N
C
E
TIME/ACTIONS
(figure 7.8)
Name________________________
Date:________________
Feedback Report
Scale #1
Today
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Why?
Scale #2
Today
1
2
Why?
(figure 7.9)
Name________________________
Date:________________
Name_____________________ Date:_____________
Feedback Summary
Feedback Summary
Scale # 1
R
A
T
I
N
G
S
Scale #2
10
10
9
9
R
A
T
I
N
G
S
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
Date
Explain?
2
3
4
5
Date
Explain?
6
7
8
9
Conducting Rate of Growth
Assessments
(figure 3.7)
Ready for
College Math
Rate of Growth Expectations
*
Ready for
AP Calculus
Zero math
Skills
1 2
3
4
5
6 7 8
Grade
9 10 11 12
(figure 3.6)
Qu i ck Ti me ™ an d a
TIFF (Un co mpre ss ed ) d ec omp res so r
are n ee de d to s ee th is pi ctu re .
Creating and Using Mileposts
• Identify expected proficiency at the end of the term
• Build a task analysis containing every sub-skill between
the entry performance of your weakest student and the
expected proficiency.
• On the task analysis indicate the “expected entry level of
performance.”
• Divide the number of months in the term by the number of
sub-skills between the expected entry and exit levels.
• Gaining skills at this rate is the expected “rate of
progress.”
End of School Year
week #36
week #28
week #32
week #20
week #24
week #12
week #16
week #4
week #8
Start of School Year
Rate of Progress Tracking Sheet
Student:___________________
Subject:_______________________________
Skill/ELR
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Date:
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
Shade in a column starting from left to right whenever proficiency is demonstrated
on a requi red skill
Stage #4
Reflect on Results
In what ways did your “theory of
action” prove correct and/or how
should it be modified, in light of your
findings?
Graphic Reconstruction
Revisit your original graphic reconstruction,
asking:
• Is this still an accurate picture of reality as
we currently understand it?
• Are there any factors, variables, or
significant issues which we should add,
delete or modify?
Problems with Columbus’
Theory
• Miscalculation of distance by Marco Polo
• Not knowing about Western Hemisphere
(figure 9.1)
Comparison of Maps 14 89 to 1627
SAMPLE SCHOOL POLICY
Given adequate funding, it is our desire to
approve all reasonable proposals for program
initiatives.
Site-council approval will be based upon the
presentation of credible data on effectiveness.
If data is unavailable, approval will be based
upon the presentation of a defensible theory
accompanied by a workable data collection
plan.