The Action Research Guidebook: A Four-Step Process for Educators and School Teams - Softcover

Sagor, Richard D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761938958 ISBN 13: 9780761938958

Publisher: Corwin, 2004

Synopsis

"The handbook demystifies the action research process and engages the reader in what becomes a viable, doable, accessible venture."
Giselle O. Martin-Kniep, President
Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd.

Giselle O. Martin-Kniep, PresidentLearner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd.

Turn your school into a learning community using action research!

As an educator, you are committed to helping every single student prosper. The Action Research Guidebook gives you a tool-action research-to uncover the critical knowledge and insights you need to improve your teaching practice and come ever closer to the goal of universal student success.

Blending qualitative and quantitative research methods, action research is a practical tool for improvement where your school or classroom is the laboratory. Choosing the area that holds greatest promise for improvement, you will study your own professional action and make changes within your sphere of influence. Author Richard Sagor, an expert in action research, provides tables, charts, forms, and worksheets to demystify and simplify the process.

Each chapter provides concrete strategies for immediate use. Realizing the needs of the busy educator, Sagor has written this guide so that you can get started on your own action research project after reading just a few chapters. Each chapter prepares you to take the next step:

• Finding and refining your focus
• Articulating and drawing a theory in action
• Determining the research questions
• Building and analyzing a data-collection plan
• Turning findings into action plans
• Reporting and sharing action research

This book provides the guidance needed by individual teachers and teacher teams, preservice teachers in teacher education courses, principals, counselors, and other educators as they work toward their goal of school improvement.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Sagor recently retired from his position as professor and director of the Educational Leadership Program at Lewis & Clark College. In 1997 he founded ISIE (pronounced “I see”), the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, to work with schools and educational organizations on the use of action research and data-based school improvement while he was a professor of educational leadership at Washington State University (WSU).

Prior to his work at the university level, Sagor had 14 years of public school administrative experience, including service as an assistant superintendent, high school principal, instruction vice principal, disciplinary vice principal, and alternative school head teacher. He has taught the entire range of students, from the gifted to the learning disabled, in the areas of social studies, reading, and written composition.

Educated in the public schools of New York, Sagor received his BA from New York University and two MA degrees as well as a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oregon.

Beyond his work as a teacher and administrator, Sagor has had extensive international consulting experience. He served as a site visitor for the United States Department of Education’s Secondary School Recognition Program and has worked with the Department of Defense’s overseas schools, numerous state departments of education, and over 200 separate school districts across North America. His consulting has focused primarily on leadership development, the use of data with standards-based school improvement, collaborative action research, teacher motivation, and teaching at-risk youth.

His articles on school reform and action research have received awards from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Educational Press Association of America. Sagor’s books include The TQE Principal: A Transformed Leader; At-Risk Students: Reaching and Teaching Them; How To Conduct Collaborative Action Research; Local Control and Accountability: How to Get It, Keep It, and Improve School Performance; Guiding School Improvement With Action Research; Motivating Students and Teachers in an Era of Standards; and Collaborative Action Research for Professional Learning Communities.

Sagor can be contacted at the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, 16420 SE McGillivray, Suite 103–239, Vancouver, WA 98683, or by e-mail at rdsagor@isie.org.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761938958
• ISBN 13: 9780761938958
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200