Research Class Week 5 Reflection

During this course I learned the fundamental difference between regular research and action research. This difference was that research in general simply means to find out more about a particular problem, while action research deals with finding out about a problem and looking for a solution to that problem. It also involves thinking on a deeper level and reflecting on what you are doing before, during and after the actions are completed.Dr. Arterbury mentioned in the week 1 lecture that action research requires a systematic approach in both collecting and analyzing data in order to solve a problem and I can see that in my upcoming research as well.

During the discussions on the discussion board I found that many of my colleagues were interested in the same topic of discipline as I was because we felt that it had a big impact on learning in and out of the classroom. In fact Bryan Green who writes the blog Learning@www... (http://wbryangreen.blogspot.com) is quite concerned with the problem of the repeat offenders and what can be done to help those students channel their energies towards learning instead of being disruptive. One of the activities he suggests for improving discipline on his campus is to visit other campuses to see what they are doing and then take the successful strategies back to his campus. I think this is a great idea because although it can be a bit daunting to see what someone else is doing at first, it gives you great insight on things that you may not have thought of trying. I am going to use this strategy as well, instead of just trying to look for solutions from my own campus because the variety of experiences should yield better solutions to our problems.

In the week 4 lecture Dr. Jenkins mentioned that individual learning was the slowest form of learning which was really surprising to me since I prefer to do my work individually. He stated all the benefits of cooperative learning and those were exemplified when we all posted to our blogs and learned so much from the different perspectives of people on different campuses and even different districts. We really were able to come up with more suggestions for solving our individual problems when everyone worked on it as a group because we were able to offer a fresh perspective.

This week I learned the ways to assess my research by using the Quality Indicators listed on pages 179 through 183 in the Dana text.Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. These five steps really help to assess every step of the action research so that you can know if you are making progress or not towards actually finding solutions to the problem area. The thing I like the most about those steps is that they force you to really reflect on what you are doing as you are doing it so tat you can make adjustments as needed before getting too deep into the research and then realizing that you are on the wrong track.

Action Plan Template

How can we reduce the number of DAEP repeat referrals, especially among African American males?
The purpose of the study is to focus on the reasons that students receive multiple referrals and then use those reasons to formulate strategies that can reduce future referrals.

Here is the action plan template for my action research.

Action Needed	Person Responsible	Timeline	Resources	Evaluation
Gather referral sheets for incoming students	Self	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	-Referral sheets -Data collection notebook	Compile list of reasons for referrals.
Separate first time referrals from repeat referrals	Staff	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	-Incoming referral sheets -Previous attendance roster database	Determine who is a first time student and who has been to DAEP in the past.
Group students by gender and race	Self	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	Referral sheets	Collect and examine the data across each group to be able to compare the African American male population to the rest of the population.
Assign random numbers and draw sample from total population of each semester	-Self -Staff	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	-Random number generator -Student list for multiple referrals	Establish base population for study.
Conduct a literature review	Self	Ongoing to May 2011	-Online sources -Journals -Books -Interviews	Determine a list of reasons for repeat referrals from a professional standpoint
Share findings of each semester batch with staff	-Self -Staff	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	-Data collection results -Graphs	Share the referral reasons with other staff and brainstorm solutions to combat the multiple referrals.
Distribute referral reduction strategies to other campuses	Principal	Batch 1: December 2010 Batch 2: May 2011	Compilation of strategies based on discussion of findings	This step will be determined to be successful if the other schools actually use the strategies and we see a reduction in referrals.
Follow up visits to campuses	Self	February 2011 September 2011	-Reports from other campuses on strategies they used -Observations of classrooms with former DAEP students -Referral sheets	This step is necessary to see if the strategies are actually being used and to gauge their effect on the targeted students.
Compare results of incoming students for 2011-2012 school year to previous year	Self Staff	Batch 1: December 2011 Batch 2: May 2012	-Incoming referral sheets -Previous year attendance database	This step is to compare the following year’s students to the previous years students to see if :1) the total number of referrals has decreased and 2.) the percentage of African American males has decreased. A decrease in either of the two will indicate that our suggestions were effective in reducing the recidivism rate for DAEP.

Lessons Learned From Week 2 of Research

During week two the main thing I took away from the lesson was the importance of finding out what others have already done on the topic. As Dr. Johnny Briseno mentioned, there is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel. Good leaders will first try to see what information is already out there on a certain topic and see what actions have been successful in dealing with a particular problem.

If there is something that can then be applied to your current situation then you can always borrow from the expertise of those who have already dealt with the problem. If there is no solution that fits your circumstances then it is good to collect your own data and find your own solution.

How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs as both a plan of action and a record of what actions they have actually taken. It is easy to use a blog to journal your thoughts on things that you want to achieve in the future so that you have a plan to refer to. You can then go ahead and update the blog as you complete the actions so that you have a visible reminder of your accountability in attaining your goals.

Educational leaders can also use blogs to communicate with other leaders when it may not be possible to schedule meetings or phone calls. One simply has to read what someone else has written and then leave comments which can offer great feedback to the writer.This is an excellent forum for collaboration as the information is available to anyone who has access to the blog and it is not constrained by time or country.

Blogs also help with professional development as we hope that people will take more time in formulating writing of a certain standard, knowing that it will be available to everyone on the internet. Since blogs are truly modern technology, they can also be used to connect to students who may also have blogs or may be inspired to use blogs for their own education as well.

What Is Action Research And How Can We Use It?

The main thing I have learned about action research is that it is a process that we go through in order to become better leaders. Action research involves three main steps which are as follows:
1. Identifying a problem or area of concern
2. Gathering data on this area to be studied
3. Making decisions based on the data collected

Reflection takes place at every stage of action research because truly great leaders recognize the need to think about what they are doing. By reflecting at every stage you can see if there needs to be a change in strategy if what you first began to do is not going to produce the results that you want. It does not make sense to wait until the very end to reflect because if wait too long you may have to undo a lot of work in order to get things moving in the right direction.

Traditional research was based more on using the findings of others and was focused on simply getting a better understanding of a problem. This approach is suitable for some situations but as educational leaders we need to do more and that is why we practice action research.

During action research we not only get a better understanding of a problem but we also find solutions to the problem, which is the ‘action’ part of the process. This shows why it is important to reflect on every step because only through deep thinking do we really see if what we are doing is having a positive impact on the area of concern.