Swope's Action Research Blog to fulfill the requirements of EDLD 5301

What I've learned about action research and how I might use it in my campus leadership role:

At its core, action research is rooted in a single administrator’s practices, reflections and the needs of their individual campus.  It is a cyclical process, one designed to never end but instead to become a thoughtful habit of evaluating an administrator’s actions and thought process in order to effect successful school change.  Administrators identify their own needs as a leader and the needs of their campus rather than having those needs dictated from above or from an outside source.  Administrators choose how to investigate their issues, what type of data to gather and how, and are focused on improving themselves and their campus.  Because they are now heavily invested in the process, the practitioners of action research are far more likely to implement change with fidelity and with a long term approach to sustaining that change.

Traditional education research assumes that the entities best able to diagnose a problem and prescribe remedies are external.  Central Administration, university researchers, consultants all are allowed and encouraged to give their guidance to individual administrators and campuses.  This leads to a one size fits all approach which ignores that campuses are fundamentally different in every area from demographics to social concerns and school culture.  In action research, the problems are identified in house and the solutions are developed internally, only using external sources as the administrator feels they are necessary to accomplish the administrator’s own personally set goal.  Action research is focused on an administrator becoming proficient with reflecting on their own practices.  Traditional research is about the bottom line and disregards the crucial personal leadership and unique insight an administrator possesses into the needs and problems of their campus.  The last major break in traditional research and action research is that traditional research is closed once a result has been achieved.  Action research by its very nature is cyclical and becomes an ongoing process that not only implements change, but nurtures and sustains change at an individual campus.  

Now that I know what action research is and, equally importantly, is not I may effectively advocate for my campus and its needs.  When outside consultants and programs are pushed on me that may not suit my campus and population, I will be prepared and authentically able to resist these changes and develop an internal one that leads to effective change and enthusiastic buy in from my faculty. 

How educational leaders might use blogs:

 Physically meeting with other educational leaders often presumes time in the day that simply does not exist. By using blogs, leaders may bypass time and geographic barriers and reach out to communicate in depth and at will with other leaders who may share insights into the current action research a particular leader is working with.  They also decrease the sense of isolation top level campus administrators may feel.