Using Action Research Templates

Video Transcription

In this tutorial, after a review of action research, you'll learn how to evaluate action research templates. Finally, I'll walk you through the evaluation of a sample template. Let's get started.

Let's begin with a review of action research. The collaborative process of action research can be used by both PLCs and site-based management teams to address identified areas of concern. The team develops a plan using a systematic process and using research-based approaches to improve achievement. The impact of the plan is monitored through both student achievement data and student and teacher perception.

There are many different action research templates that are available for your team or school to use. So it's important that you select a tool that matches the focus or the purpose of your school or team improvement plan. So let's learn how to evaluate an action research template in order to determine whether it's going to be the right model to fit the needs of your team or school.

Since action research is aligned with Stephen Brookfield's critical thinking theory, we can use the four processes in his critical thinking theory in order to evaluate our action research templates. Let's go over those four processes. The first is contextual awareness and deciding what to observe and consider. This entails being aware of what is happening around you in a given context or situation and also being aware of what it is important for you to take notice of in that context.

The next process is exploring and imagining alternatives. This involves being able to develop multiple solutions to a problem of practice at hand. The third process is assumption, recognition, and analysis. We need to be aware of our own personal preferences and possible biases that might influence our thoughts and our actions.

And the fourth and final process in critical thinking is reflective skepticism or deciding what to do. In order to engage in critical thinking, we need to self-reflect in order to understand why we identified the particular problem that we wanted to address and to understand how our beliefs and values might influence our actions and our focus.

So let's apply these four processes of critical thinking to the evaluation of action research templates. First, in the process of contextual awareness and deciding what to observe and consider, ask yourself whether the template includes a section for outlining the current reality. Does it ask you to record the setting, who was involved, what is currently being observed, what the data currently indicates and what feedback currently indicates?

For the second process, exploring and imagining alternatives, ask yourself whether the template requires one specific approach or solution or whether it simply provides a foundation for your team to develop your own solutions or actions. It's important that you choose a template that allows your team to do some individualized planning so that you can engage in authentic inquiry as you develop your action steps.

For the assumption, recognition, and analysis process, you'll want to determine whether the template asks your team to analyze the current reality and to identify assumptions that might get in the way of a solution. It's important to note that many templates don't include this step, and so you might find that you'll need to add this to the inquiry protocol that is on whatever template you choose if it's not included.

For the final process, reflective skepticism and deciding what to do, does your template provide options for monitoring progress towards the goal? Does it allow you to adjust your actions if progress is not adequate? This is an important element in the template because it goes deeper than simply looking at data. It also involves asking the why behind the data. Did we follow the actions as planned? How do our students perceive the teacher's actions? How are the teachers feeling about the actions that are being implemented?

There are many templates that are available both online and in educational texts. But if you don't find one that meets your needs, you might opt to simply modify one of these existing templates so that it meets the needs of your particular focus based on these questions that I've just shared with you, or you might opt to create your own action research template if you are not able to find one that you think is going to work.

So that you can see what this process might look like, I'll model the evaluation of an action research template for you. Here is a sample action research template that is in the form of a spreadsheet so that all of the team members can view the spreadsheet and contribute to it simultaneously. Let's check this template for alignment to the four processes of critical thinking.

First, does the template include a section to outline the current reality? Unfortunately, there's not a great deal of alignment here. The good news is that we can easily increase alignment by simply adding in some specific questions that will ask the team to outline the various elements of the current reality.

Next, does the template require the team to use one specific solution or approach or does it allow the team to specify their own solution or actions that they're going to use to address the problem? There is great alignment here. The team is allowed to select the instructional strategies or the actions that they are going to implement in order to try to solve the problem.

Next, does the template require that the team analyzes the current reality and the assumptions that might get in the way of their solving the problem? Unfortunately, we're misaligned here. We can, once again though, easily increase alignment by simply adding in one more question that will ask the team to be aware of those potential areas of assumptions or of bias.

And finally, does the template allow the team to revisit their progress towards meeting the specified goals? And does the template allow the team to adjust actions when necessary if progress is not evident? There's great alignment to this process. The template does indeed allow for adjustments to be made based on revisiting and monitoring of the team's progress.

So now it's your turn to stop and reflect. If you've already located an action research template, try your hand at checking that template for alignment to the four processes of critical thinking. As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set. Thank you for joining me today. Have a great day.