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Research is Important

"(M)any teachers and administrators who could benefit from converging research evidence do not yet trust the idea that educational research can inform their teaching. When asked why, they typically report that the research lacks authority, is frequently of poor quality, is not easily accessible, is not practical, and is usually communicated in an incomprehensible manner. Further, many teachers and administrators report that "educational research" is frequently used to tout a particular instructional "magic bullet" which typically fails to accomplish what was expected and then is replaced by the next "innovation." Analysis of these "magic bullets" almost always reveals that they are based upon assumptions that have either never been adequately tested or have been assessed using weak research methodology"

Source: Lyon, G. Reid, "Education Research: Is What We Don't Know Hurting Our Children?", statement to the House Science Committee Subcommittee on Basic Research U. S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C., October 26, 1999

More Research is Needed

"The primary purpose of teacher education research is to inform the effective practice of classroom teachers in order to improve student performance. Rigorous experimental and qualitative research that defines and characterizes effective teaching methodologies that demonstrate improved student performance is limited. This persistent and major gap in the extant knowledge base must be addressed. Efforts should be made to answer the important questions in this critical area."

Source: "Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read; Next Steps"

You Can Conduct Action Research in Your Classroom!

When you try something new in the classroom, you are engaging in an informal version of action research.

"Action research can be described as a family of research methodologies which pursue action (or change) and research (or understanding) at the same time. In most of its forms it does this by

using a cyclic or spiral process which alternates between action and critical reflection and

in the later cycles, continuously refining methods, data and interpretation in the light of the understanding developed in the earlier cycles.

It is thus an emergent process which takes shape as understanding increases; it is an iterative process which converges towards a better understanding of what happens.

In most of its forms it is also participative (among other reasons, change is usually easier to achieve when those affected by the change are involved) and qualitative."

Source: Dick, Bob (1999) What is action research? Available on line at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/whatisar.html

Action research can lead to concrete gains in student performance. Unfortunately, there are very few opportunities to share with others - outside the classroom, and especially beyond the school or district - insights and knowledge gained through action and experience. All educators and researchers ultimately suffer the consequences of this isolation.

Fortunately, Altec at the University of Kansas has stepped in and is attempting to fill the need for better sharing of information. Altec has created the Action Research Network, which provides a free database of action research reports filed by teachers. The Network also provides teachers with a user-friendly framework for creating new action research projects and filing reports so that valuable insights and knowledge may be shared through the Network.

Academic researchers commonly look to the classroom to identify new topics for research. By reporting on classroom-based action research, teachers can help inform and drive new research. Research is important; more research is needed. And you can play a critical role in the process: As the Action Research Network database grows, teachers and researchers will benefit from an accumulation of insights and knowledge.

So, we hope you will support the Action Research Network: Use it as a resource. Share your own action research through it. And tell your colleagues about it. As far as we can tell, no one else is doing this. More to the point, it doesn't appear as if anyone else out there is going to pick up the ball if these folks don't succeed. They deserve our support - and it is in our interest to support them.

We also encourage you to become involved in other professional networking [http://www.textmapping.org/network.html] activities, including discussions [http://www.textmapping.org/discussions.html], listservs [http://www.textmapping.org/listserv.html], sigs [http://www.textmapping.org/sigs.html], and other such opportunities to collaborate [http://www.textmapping.org/collaborate.html].

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