Action Research

Administrators should do action research because it gives them permission to do what is best for their campus. Administrators are able to reflect on the needs of their staff, students and themselves. After this reflection and inquiry the administrator can then begin to develop a plan of action. According to the Dana text “administrative inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry.” It is a powerful tool for learning and school improvement. As a campus administrator I would always want to do what is best for my campus. The action research allows me to learn alongside my teachers. I like what Roland Barth said in the book “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” by N.F. Dana. “The more crucial role of the principal is as head learner, engaging in the most important enterprise of the schoolhouse-experiencing, displaying, modeling, and celebrating what it is hoped and expected that teachers and pupils will do.” Action research is inquiry based and determined by the needs of the administrator/teachers. It allows the administrator to question, analyze, reflect, act collect and interpret data based on the needs of the administrator’s campus. The following benefits are a sample of the ways in which I might use action research.


The benefits of conducting action research according to the Dana text:
1. Engaging in the process of administrator inquiry with other principals, or even in collaborative inquiry with a group of teachers within the principal’s own building, forces the principal out of isolation.
2. Principals become role models for the teachers and students in their buildings. Learning must be something teachers and students do, not something that others do to or for them.
3. Engagement in administrator inquiry can help best practices to flourish on a school’s campus.
4. By making and taking time to engage in inquiry, principals slow down the harried pace that characterize their work.
Doing what is best for my campus will always be my goal and action research will be used.