Week 3: Action Research Draft

1. Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation
• The goal of my research will be to determine in what ways do the Hamilton Middle School campus vision and mission statements currently support the campus learning community? By determining if the concepts and ideals that are set in these documents are shared by our campus staff and community we can measure our effectiveness as an overall learning community. The knowledge by campus staff that there is a shared vision and commitment to these standards for our campus we can determine if there are also ways to improve our campus educational environment. The outcome from this will be that our campus stakeholders will be able to see our efforts as a campus to provide the best possible education possible for our students.

2. Activities designed to achieve the objectives
• The activities that I will need to design to achieve the objectives include:
• Creating a staff survey
• Create KWL charts for staff regarding the campus vision and mission
• Create a student survey
• Create a community survey

3. Resources and research tools needed for data gathering
• The resources that I will need for data gathering include:
• The campus vision
• The campus mission statement
• Campus Staff health surveys
• Student surveys
• Community surveys
• Campus Improvement Plan
• Student Performance Reports
• Student Discipline Reports

4. Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities
• The timeline for completion and implementation is from August 2009 to January 2010. During the course of this project several deadlines will exist for collecting and assembling data,

5. Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan
• The persons responsible for implementation of this plan will be I, the researcher.

6. Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives
• The process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives will include the study of the following documents:
• Campus Improvement Plan
• Student Performance Reports
• Student Discipline Reports

7. Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study
• The assessment instruments needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan include:
• Campus Staff health surveys
• Student surveys
• Community surveys

Week Two: Research Reflection

My week two assignment allowed me the opportunity to research the 9 areas that Nancy Dana suggests are great beginnings for action research projects. Staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers and students, the school culture, it's leadership, management performance and social justice are all considered great launching points. This study has allowed me to focus on my action research plan which I believe falls under the school culture umbrella to consider if the campus vision and mission statements are supporting the needs of the campus learning community.

Educational Leaders and the Use of THE BLOG

I suppose the best way for an educational leader to use his or her blog would be as a form of communication to his local community. The idea of a public blog where the principal or leader can share the successes of his students or programs could be a valuable asset to a learning community.

If a school leader chose to use a blog as a research engine I imagine there would have to be a great deal of anonymity needed without revealing sensitive information about the specific campus.

Action Research Thoughts

As I have begun my inquiries into the concept of action research I have found that there are several concepts I am fairly comfortable with as a result of my experiences in education.

I think the most important lesson I have learned thus far is that what I have been doing for most of my career regarding self evaluation falls comfortably under the concept of action research. The idea that I have continued to evaluate my practices and make changes based on those self evaluations through my sixteen year career solidifies my understanding of this model of research.

I also believe, as our readings resonate, that the collegial interaction between administrators and educators opens the door for a more direct line of communication and trust. This open door then allows for more quick change through the action research process. This ability to track information from multiple sources or colleagues to more quickly address the effectiveness of my operating system or plans creates a much more efficient learning environment.

The inclusion of this concept by administrators of opening their doors to the people around them will allow for much greater successes in the classroom and within the overall learning community. This idea of being more visible through the open door will allow for members of the community to continue to more readily trust the decisions and plans made by the administrator and his colleagues.