Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan
Goal: In what ways can a character education program be developed at my school to meet the needs of our students to help learn and grow into mature adults?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Setting the foundation-develop and action research plan (character education program)	Julie Deen, Principal	June 2012-July 2013	Interview principal	Journal/reflection in blog
Analyzing data-research previous programs used; create outline of program	Julie Deen	August 2012-April 2013	Published resources; outline of weekly lessons	Journal/reflection in blog; feedback from staff
Develop a deeper understanding-document and observe lessons being taught.	Julie Deen	August 2012-May 2013	Weekly character/real-life lessons-documents; observations	Analyze sample of weekly lessons for data collection
Engage in self reflection-survey sample group to get a better understanding of program’s current progress.	Julie Deen, Staff, Students	August 2012-May 2013 (Monthly)	Journal Survey	Journal/reflection in blog
Exploring patterns of data collected	Julie Deen	August 2012-April 2013	Spreadsheet Graphs	Review lessons and surveys-analyze data collected;
Determine the direction-survey 1st semester lessons to make adjustments to 2nd semester lessons (if necessary)	Julie Deen, Staff, Students, Parents, Principal	January 2013-May 2013	Survey; observations	Journal/reflection in blog; monitor progress
Taking action-conduct interviews on progress and possible changes in Character Education program.	Julie Deen	March 2013-May 2013	Interviews	Update Action Research Plan
Sustaining improvement-present findings, updates and success stories to continue program the following school year.	Julie Deen, Staff, Administrators	April 2013-May 2013	Questionnaires, Spreadsheet, Graphs, PowerPoint	Present findings to staff, administrator and parents

Wondering Questions

This week I spent time learning about the nine passions of wondering. Wondering comes from one's own difficulties and concerns of real life experiences. Action research gives the opportunity to principals/administrators to explore what they wish. By asking wondering questions you drive your inquiry and then you can celebrate the completion. I like the idea of having the opportunity to explore my concerns.

Educational Leaders Using Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs as a powerful tool. It is a great way to journal your ideas, complete surveys, an interactive format to post comments, pictures and videos, and receive feedback from people all over the world.  

Learning About Action Research

In this first week of class I learned the difference between traditional educational research and action research. Traditional is when you bring in outside experts, which is not the way I like top operate and I do not feel is practical in education today. Action research is where you are involved in every part of the research from diagnosing the problem, data collection, interpreting the data, how to resolve the problem and evaluate the effectiveness; this provides an interactive aspect for the principal, teachers and students. When using action research you are bringing change to the situation as well as ownership to your plan. Again, this is not something that happens in the traditional approach because you have outsiders come in and tell you what’s wrong, which they might not truly understand what the problems are or how to handle them when they are not the ones dealing with it on a daily basis.

I feel that I can use this because I am a hands-on person and being able to take the responsibility of addressing a problems and follow through with the steps to make a change for the better can be rewarding knowing I have made a difference. Also, with bringing in teachers and students to take part it provides for everyone to grow, be motivated and be successful.