As I reflect on the past few weeks of this course in Action Research, I feel appreciative of the knowledge that has been imparted to me through the lectures and readings. Through interaction with the texts in the course of completing the assignments, I have gleaned much useful information that will certainly benefit me as a future administrator. In sharing thoughts with my peers on the discussion board and blogs, I have made connections with other future administrators and, hopefully, we will be able to maintain these connections throughout our administrative careers; perhaps even helping each other with future inquiries. I must confess I had never heard the term “action research” before enrolling in this course; now I wonder why. There are many times over the previous years of my career as an educator that action research would have been useful. To a degree I have utilized action research or at least parts of the process to find answers to problems in the past without realizing it was action research. My hope is to incorporate the process I have learned in this class to improve any schools that I have in my charge in the future. Improving schools and helping students become more successful is the main goal of any administrator and action research is one more tool that I now have at my disposal. I have added many strategies to my administrative repertory during this course, such as the Quality Indicators (Dana 2009), the Delphi Method, Nominal Group Technique, and Force Field Analysis (Harris et al. 2010). Additionally, I have really enjoyed getting better acquainted with the administrators at our school, especially my site-supervisor who is the head principal. Our school is a CCC middle school and is a very busy place. Because of this, I have never had many opportunities to spend much time in the front office. Generally, I am busy with my duties and administrators with their own. Interacting with our campus leaders on a regular basis has given me a fresh perspective on our school. Through meetings with my site-supervisor, I was able to gain focus and clarity regarding my inquiry and reached consensus on a project that will improve our school. This is exciting to me. I am finding new ways to contribute to the success of even more students at our school and this has given me a greater sense of pride and ownership in our campus.

References

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge:  The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education Press.