Scholar #1: Dr. Timothy Chargois, Director of Research, Planning and Development in Beaumont ISD
One area for action research discussed by this scholar was a performance management grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Their website describes in more detail what Dr. Chargois mentioned. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation “strongly emphasize the use of performance management an approach that fosters a culture dedicated to accountability and collaboration and uses technology to gather, analyze and report information. We believe student performance can be improved by giving administrators and teachers access to timely, relevant insights they can use to make decisions, predict performance levels and graduation rates, and change the course of students at risk.”
One suggestion or purpose described by Dr. Chargois for conducting action research is that it needs to offer immediate results that can be acted upon. He discussed how in the “old days” we had to wait an extended period of time for results. However today we use services and software that offer quick feedback and we have the ability to manipulate data and make predictions. He also spoke of ways to quantify qualitative data and to look at how we can change student performance. He explained that it is not good enough to touch the life of one child, we need to increase the student performance of all students. He discussed the performance measures and that schools must show significant improvement of all students.
Scholar #2: Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent, Pasadena ISD
One area for action research discussed by this scholar was a research based grant geared toward ninth grade students called “Expectation Graduation.” Dr. Lewis discussed how the district was “data rich” and how research such as this was being looked at by the teachers, principals, and administrators and that it was having an effect on the way instruction was being delivered. He also spoke of research not being new to most administrators since most have at least a masters and some a doctorate degree and that in these type of graduate programs you are exposed in varying degrees to conducting research. He acknowledged that many teachers without graduate degrees and who were in teacher preparation programs from years ago may not be as familiar with conducting research but they absolutely know what they are looking at when looking at research results.
One suggestion or purpose described by Dr. Lewis for conducting action research is that it is important to dissect others research and compare their analysis and results to your own school or district and to see “how it fits.” He concluded that it is vital to ask yourself “what is practical?” He said that it would be easy to conduct a study that would look great in a journal but if it’s not practical it is not reasonable to pursue.
Reflection on both scholars:
Both scholars stressed the importance of analyzing data and using the results to direct the actions of their district, schools, teachers - right down to the individual student for the improvement of their results. Both looked at basic questions to keep in mind: “What is practical?” and “Will it increase student performance?” These questions will help me as I design my research study and I believe will keep me focused on doing what is reasonable and in the best interest of my students.
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