EDLD 5301 Action Research Plan

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Week 2 Assignment Reflection

This week's assignment was very insightful. I was struggling with determining a problem to investigate. After seeing examples of real life inquiries I was able to come up with more concise questions of my own. My initial inclination was to pose questions that were to broad. I have since been able to define more specific questions for inquiry.

Research Topic

I will research TAKS testing data, THEA testing data, SAT score data, and ACT score data to determine if there is any correlation to college admission requirements. I will compare this data with the admission requirements of a pool of universities. These will include University of Texas at Tyler, University of Texas at Austin, Sam Houston State University, and Tarleton State University. There seems to be an increasing number of students who meet admission requirements and are said not to be college ready. Therefore, these students are placed on probation or required to take remedial classes. My intent is to show what deficiencies, if any, can be addressed at our high school to make our graduating seniors more college ready. I believe that this information will be beneficial to our students planning to attend college after graduation.

Reflection on Action Research

Action research was a topic that I knew very little about prior to the start of this course. I have learned that administrative inquiry is different from traditional research. Traditional research is typically done at institutions of higher learning where teaching is viewed as a linear activity that depicts teachers and principals as technicians. These studies are highly complex and are intended for academic audiences. Action research can be utilized at every level of education. The information gained from these inquiries can provide very useful data for educators to base decisions on. Data can be used by teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching methods. Inquiries done by teachers can produce "by in" that can help kick start the implementation of change. This will be an effective tool for me to use in my current role. I can use action research to gather information about services provided to our special needs students. This information can be used to more effectively provide these services as well as the potential need for future services. I also believe that if a person makes time to conduct these inquiries they can keep their finger on the pulse of the school that they lead.