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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| About the Author | |
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| Introduction to Action Research | |
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| Why Conduct Action Research? | |
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| The Complexity of Routine Instructional Decisions | |
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| Key Terms and Concepts | |
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| Universal Student Success | |
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| Finding a Focus | |
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| Zeroing in on Your Priorities | |
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| Using Reflective Writing to Find a Focus | |
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| Using a Journal to Identify Action Research Foci | |
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| Reflective Interviews | |
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| Analytic Discourse | |
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| Team Reflection | |
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| Refining the Focus | |
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| Visualizing Success | |
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| Doing an Instructional Postmortem | |
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| Comparing Your Experience With the Experience of Others | |
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| Developing Criteria to Measure Changes With Priority Achievement Targets | |
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| Creating Rating Scales | |
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| The Special Problem of Long-Range Goals | |
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| Assessing Rate of Growth | |
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| Determining Adequate Yearly Progress in Real Time | |
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| Producing Your Own Rate-of-Growth Charts | |
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| End of Stage | |
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| Articulating a Theory in Action | |
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| If Not Us, Who? | |
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| An Adequate Knowledge Base Already Exists | |
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| Going Beyond Proven Practices: Building a Theory of Action | |
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| Two Kinds of Variables | |
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| Creating Mileposts on the Route to Mastery | |
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| Inferring Independent Variables | |
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| Using the Priority Pie to Identify, Clarify, and Weigh Independent Variables | |
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| Using the Priority Pie With Descriptive Research | |
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| Drawing a Theory in Action | |
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| Why a Map? | |
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| Building a Graphic Reconstruction | |
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| Graphic Reconstructions for Quasi-Experimental Research | |
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| Graphic Reconstructions With Descriptive Research | |
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| Determining the Research Questions | |
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| Three Generic Action Research Questions | |
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| Developing Your Own Research Questions | |
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| Two-Step Walk-Through | |
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| Drafting the Questions | |
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| Building a Data-Collection Plan | |
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| Data Collection and the Competing Demands for Your Time | |
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| What Qualifies as Teaching? | |
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| What Qualifies as Data? | |
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| Data in Descriptive Research | |
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| Data in Quasi-Experimental Research | |
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| Data Collection and Concerns About Precision | |
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| Fishing in a Sea of Data | |
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| Securing Research Assistants | |
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| Building a Triangulated Data-Collection Plan | |
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| Integrating Efficiencies Into Your Data-Collection Work | |
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| Using Technology to Compile and Assemble Action Research Data | |
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| Keeping a Researcher's Journal | |
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| Analyzing the Data | |
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| Trend Analysis | |
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| Organizing Data to Help Answer the Three Generic Questions | |
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| What Did We Do? | |
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| What Changes Occurred Regarding the Achievement Targets? | |
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| Disaggregation | |
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| What Was the Relationship Between Actions Taken and Any Changes in Performance on the Targets? | |
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| Drawing Tentative Assertions | |
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| Using Member Checking to Add Credibility to the Tentative Assertions | |
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| Additional Tools for Qualitative Data Analysis | |
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| Qualitative Data Analysis Using Bins and a Matrix | |
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| Low-Tech Strategies for Bins and Matrixes | |
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| High-Tech Strategies for Bins and Matrixes | |
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| Turning Findings Into Action Plans | |
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| Modifying Your Theory of Action | |
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| Data-Based Decision Making | |
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| Turning Your Findings Into Ed Specs | |
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| Solicit and Brainstorm Action Alternatives | |
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| Assessing the Action Alternatives | |
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| Completing the Cycle: Revised Theory of Action 2 | |
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| Reporting and Sharing Action Research | |
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| Common Issues | |
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| Formats for Reporting | |
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| Creating a Bank of Abstracts | |
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| Creating a District Archive | |
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| Conclusion: The School as a Learning Organization | |
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| The Two Keys: Coherence and Congruence | |
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| Putting the Pieces Together | |
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| How to Use the Feedback Forms and Summary Reports | |
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| Five Characteristics of a Quality Action Research Project | |
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| Applications for Leadership Projects | |
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| Glossary | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |