Med.
Program Standard 3
Teacher
leaders will improve teaching and learning through the use of education
research at the classroom, and school levels.
Courses
Aligned with Standard:
EDU
6979
EDU
6980
Reflection
Beliefs
Prior to Courses
Prior to this course, I was fairly confident using
research to inform my instruction, however, I now recognize that my understanding
of quality research was relatively limited. My district, and principal regularly
provide us with relevant research that aligns with our vision, instructional models
and goals. While I still value this tremendously, and genuinely love and appreciate
all of the professional development opportunities provided, I recognize that
accepting research articles as the sole truth, and not conducting my own
research could be potentially limiting to my practice. When conducting
research, it is critical to consider multiple sources, and ensure that sources
are reputable and have high external validity. This is especially important if
I decide to apply these research findings to my own practice. While I trust the
teaching and learning department of our district to use current research when
enhancing our curriculum, it is also critical that I am a responsible consumer
of research and recognize quality research, and seek to find my own research.
Another way that my understanding of research has
changed is through my understanding of action research. Prior to this course I did
not understand that as a teacher, the most informative component of my practice
is my own action research that I conduct within my classroom. I always
considered myself a consumer of educational research, but never a practitioner.
Before this course, I used data daily to inform my instruction, and conducted
small scale, very informal research to determine the most effective instruction
delivery methods for my students but this was always done independently. Through
my action research course, and specifically, my research project, I learned how
powerful conducting action research can truly be in the classroom.
New
Learning and Impact on Practice
The most profound new learning I have gained from my
research courses is simply the transformative nature of action research in the
classroom. Sagor (2011) notes the incredibly complex nature of our profession,
and the crucial decisions we make constantly as educators. In order to be truly
impactful, we must consider the instructional design of our lessons, and we
need to be aware of the approaches that work for our students. This critical
work is done independently, and through our professional learning communities.
When educators and PLC teams using the four stages of action research to
conduct studies to determine the most effective methods of instructional
delivery, and interventions, we ensure that our students are receiving the
highest quality education. These stages
are clarifying visions and targets, articulating theory, implementing action,
and collecting data, and reflection on data and planning informed action
(Sagor, 2011). While these stages mirror our unit planning protocol in many
ways, as a team we have focused on using our research to determine not only
interventions that are effective, because all interventions are effective to
some degree, but rather, which interventions are the most effective for all
students.
My understanding of effective action research allowed
me to conduct my own research project that has been incredibly transformative to
my instruction, specifically for struggling students. After conducting
research, I created an action research project for my lowest performing
students in math operations and reasoning. The purpose of this action research project was to
determine what effects explicit math intervention would have on student
performance on reasoning and operations math instruction. This study included
my five lowest performing math students as determined by our grade level rank
order. These students received targeted, small group interventions twice a week
for an hour, taking place on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for four weeks.
These interventions used explicit, direct instruction and guided practice to
support student achievement in mathematics. The action research used a common
instructional format and progress monitoring to ensure validity. This action
research was based on the research design of Pool et al. (2012) which examined the
impact of direct math instruction through an explicit math intervention group. As
indicated below, the outcome demonstrated that there is a strong correlation
between explicit, small group instruction and math progress for struggling math
students. This correlation has proven much stronger than the correlation
between highly cooperative small group instruction, and student achievement for
our population of students below grade level, and has greatly influenced how we
plan our interventions.
From our statistical research course, I have
attained the vital skill of being able to distinguish between high quality,
valid research that I should use to inform my practice, and research that is
not particularly applicable. I now am able to effectively critique a source to
determine its internal and external validity and whether or not it is quality
research. Ravid’s textbook has also elucidated the importance of understanding
the correlation between two variables in research. This is especially
applicable to educational research as we are always attempting to determine the
strength of correlation between instructional decisions, and student success. The
article critique has undoubtedly enabled me to look critically at research.
Even recognized research can be flawed, and without a deep understanding of
statistical analysis, this can be hard to notice. It is not effective to apply even
quality research to your practice if you do not have a deep understanding of
the study, and if it does not relate to your specific demographic of students.
Research articles can be high quality, without being directly applicable to our
respective students. It is incredibly important to consider the demographics,
the design, the hypothesis, and any potential sources of bias before applying
research in our classrooms and instruction. When I look at research now, I
consider all of these components to make sure that it is applicable to my
setting, and demographics. This is the only way to ensure that it will be
effective.
Fashola (2004) explains that before we can truly use
research to enhance our practice, we must have a deep understanding of our clientele.
This involves knowing our district’s vision, demographics, goals, and needs. This
is the only way we are able to determine whether or not a research article is
directly applicable to our setting. While it can be valuable to look at a range
of research, it is only externally valid if the demographics of participants in
the study are comparable to the population we serve. If the program has proven
to be effective with students from similar backgrounds, it is far more likely
that it will be effective in our particular school.
Value
of Experience
After completing both courses, I feel prepared and determined
to not only be an effective consumer of researcher, but also a growing
practitioner of action research. I will no longer simply read the research
provided by my district to inform my instructional decisions, but I will also
actively seek out research studies that include students with similar demographics,
and needs as my own. I now have the knowledge to distinguish between a highly
relevant, applicable research study, and one that does not directly apply to my
practice. I also feel highly motivated to continue conducting action research
with my team to ensure that we are growing to meet the needs of our students.
Action Research Project: https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive
Article Critique: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Q92W_hzkml3z3yKy4bTO3UbI1TM5aFOkdvXTPwUH_s/edit
Article Critique: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Q92W_hzkml3z3yKy4bTO3UbI1TM5aFOkdvXTPwUH_s/edit
References:
Fashola, O.S. (2004). Being an Informed Consumer of Quantitative
Education Research. Phi Delta Kappan 86 (7). p. 532-538
Ravid, R. (2011). Practical Statistics for Educations (4th
ed.). Landham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Pool, J., Carter, G., Johnson, E., Carter, D.
(2012). The Use and
Effectiveness of a
Targeted
Math Intervention for Third Graders. Retrieved from
http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.spu.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/10534512124628
Sagor, R. (2011). The Action Research Guidebook: A
Four-Stage Process for Educators and School Teams. (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Waugh, M. Harrison, G. (2014). A
Brief Intervention to Bolster a 5th Grader’s
Regrouping Skills in Math. Retrieved
from
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