Leadership for Action

I’m studying and need help with a Social Science question to help me learn.

During this module, you used the Forming Ground Rules protocol and Force Field Analysis process to clarify (a) how your team will operate, (b) the purpose and goals of your initiative, and (c) the environment conditions within which you will be striving for success. You may have explored other protocols on the NSRF website or in the course readings. The last steps for your Module 4 application were to assign tasks to team members and consider how you might evaluate the success of your teacher leadership initiative.

A parallel can be drawn between the inquiry cycle used by PLCs and CFGs and other teams in your school such as Response to Intervention (RtI) and Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) teams. Such a cycle is followed very systematically in action research and is essentially the scientific method. The process you have moved through, beginning with the identification of a need or issue to address and proceeding through action planning and deciding on ways to evaluate, can be reasonably viewed as collaborative action research.

For this discussion, you are asked to think about the value of the tools and processes you used in this module and the potential benefits of evaluating your initiative systematically as action researchers. Action researchers typically “triangulate,” meaning they gather various types of data including quantitative and qualitative, and do so for formative and summative purposes and to enhance reliability. Use the questions to guide in preparing your discussion post and responses to at least two classmates.

• How scientific and systematic have you been so far, and where might you need to be more so?
• Will you need to triangulate using different types and sources of data?
• If your teacher leadership initiative is a form of collaborative action research, explain how.
• What is your opinion about whether or not the success of teacher leadership in your school depends on being highly systematic and deliberate for all to see?

Optional Resources (not required reading): Reading at least one these articles in addition to viewing the Module 4 presentation on action research is recommended.

Access resources through the library database unless noted otherwise.

Brighton, C.M., & Moon, T.R. (2007). Action research step-by-step: A tool for educators to change their worlds. Gifted Child Today, 30(2), 23.

Diana, T. J. (2011). Becoming a teacher leader through action research. Kappa Delta Pi Record, (47)4, 170-175.

Lee, J. S., Sachs, D., & Wheeler, L. (2014). The crossroads of teacher leadership and action research. The Clearing House, 87, 218-223.