What I learned about Action Research?

I discovered that action research is a reflective process.  It is a tool used by school administrators to help them become better leaders and to improve student learning in their school.   Action research can be used in many educational settings such as in university coursework, superintendent/district meetings, leadership teams, and professional learning communities.   Action research focuses and occurs on your campus, whereas other types of research typically focuses on outside groups.  The process of action research is that of a cycle. The administrator will begin by reflecting on his/her practice and then gathering data through input, scores, interviews, journals, surveys, etc. This is most beneficial when done collaboratively with a group of staff from the campus. Together, they can help identify a problem or area in need of improvement. Then, the search begins through literature research to find a possible strategy that might help make improvements in the identified area. A plan of action is created, and the strategy is implemented for a specific period of time. After which more reflection is required to determine how successful the strategy was in making improvement in the identified area. Thus, the process repeats itself in a cycle that begins and ends with reflection.

I am a bilingual teacher and a student of the Master’s Degree Program for Educational Technology Leadership.  I would be able to utilize an action research to reflect on the effects of implementing technology in my classroom, and how it has helped increase language difficulties for my ELL students.