What I have learned about action research and how I might use it

Action research is a must in education.  Education is constantly changing and we as educators sometimes forget to change with the times.  It is a leader’s responsibility to make sure that the school is keeping up with the changing world.   Therefore, the leaders must continue to reflect on if their practices are being successful or is it time for a change.  When there is a need for change the leaders must collect relevant data and work on a plan to implement changes that will help the school be more successful. It is also very important to reevaluate the plan and how it is working.  There are often times that plans are put into place and not really working even if the data looks good.  As a leader, one must also be realistic that sometimes data is inaccurate because teachers will report false information. For example, at the beginning of this school year the assistant principals put into effect a new tardy policy, where the teachers call each time a students was tardy to their class up to three times then the teacher assigned the students a d-hall.  Well, the data shows that the tardies went down significantly, although I see students in the halls after the tardy bell all the time.  It is the teachers that do not want to call home all the time so they do not report the tardies.  The new policy did not correct or help the problem although according to the admin it did and it is great because the data shows it.  I believe to shoe that the tardy policy is working or not more action research needs to be done.  I would look at the tardies that are turned in and walk the hall and see how many students are in the hall after the bell.  I would also interview or survey the teachers.  An anonymous survey might be beneficial that way the teachers do not feel that they are going to be looked down on for being honest.   Action research keeps us moving forward and seeking to be better educators.  As our students change we must also change.