increasing the teacher's effectiveness toolbox

Using Action ResearchTo Empower North Carolina Educators

A Race to the Top Initiative

NC Department of Public Instruction

Educator Effectiveness Division

Increasing the Teacher’s Effectiveness Toolbox

Joni AllisonHenderson County Public Schools

Rugby Middle and West Henderson High

What is Action Research?

Systematic inquiry conducted by teachers and other educators to find solutions for critical, challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms and schools.

Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014

What is Action Research?

Main Goals Include:•Positively impact student outcomes•Identify and promote effective instructional practices

•Create opportunities for teachers to become reflective practitioners

•Share research results with other educators


What is Action Research?A systematic research process to:● Identify an area of focus (critical, challenging

issue)● Develop an action research plan● Implement action research plan in

classroom/school● Collect, analyze, and interpret data● Share findings to inform practice


Title of Project

•What is the problem of practice investigated?•Why is this important?•Who would benefit from reviewing my research?•How will this innovation benefit students?

Problems of Practice•Design an activity for your participants to generate or brainstorm lists of problems of practice within their school setting

•Remember how you generated lists of issues and instructional challenges from your own experiences during summer training

•This is a good time to get your participants up and talking

What the Peer-Reviewed Research says about…TEACHERS’ CONCERNS

“Like other constructs, such as intelligence and self-concept, a teacher’s concerns about an innovation cannot be directly observed and measured. It can only be inferred from the measurement of some predefined affective dimensions.”

Cheung, D., Hattie, J., & Ng, D. (2001). Reexamining the Stages of Concern Questionnaire: A Test of Alternative Models. Journal Of Educational Research, 94(4), 226.

What the Peer-Reviewed Research says about…

TEACHERS’ DATA LITERACY“Given that ‘[a]n aim of data-driven decision making is to link the results of summative testing to formative information systems that teachers can use to improve instruction across school’, it appears vital to have teachers who are data-literate and collaboratively involved in the DBDM process.”

Crum, K. (2009). Building the Foundation for Data-Based Decision Making: Creating Consensus on Language and Concepts. International Electronic Journal For Leadership In Learning, 13(5),


BENCHMARK ASSESSMENTS“District administrators often cited intentions that the assessments would be used to inform instruction. However, the realization of instructional purposes was limited by the type of information provided by predominantly multiple choice items, a lack of substantive professional development, and minimal coherence with respect to shared understandings of assessment purposes and uses across district, school, and classroom levels.”

Davidson, K. L., Frohbieter, G., & National Center for Research on Evaluation, S. T. (2011). District Adoption and Implementation of Interim and Benchmark Assessments. CRESST Report 806. National

Center For Research On Evaluation, Standards, And Student Testing (CRESST),


TEACHERS’ SENSE OF EFFICACY“Teacher-centered instructors with low efficacy fail to adjust to the individual needs of students, a concept at the heart of DDDM.”

“Thus, teachers in this study who were more confident in their ability to successfully engage in DDDM were more likely to be working with colleagues to improve and increase use of DDDM in their classrooms. ”

Dunn, K. E., Airola, D. T., Lo, W., & Garrison, M. (2013). Becoming Data Driven: The Influence of Teachers' Sense of Efficacy on Concerns Related to Data-Driven Decision Making. Journal Of

Experimental Education, 81(2), 222-241.

What the Peer-Reviewed Research says about…EFFECTIVE DATA USE

“First, we use a broad and encompassing definition of data, meaning anything that helps educators know more about their students.”

“Second, data use means the actions in which educators engage as they collect these data, organize, and analyze data, and draw meaning from them to inform practice. ”Wayman, J. C., Cho, V., Jimerson, J., & Spikes, D. D. (2012). DistrictWide Effects on Data Use in the

Classroom. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 20(25),

What the Peer-Reviewed Research says about…EFFECTIVE DATA USE

“Third, we often use the term effective data use to distinguish between data use practices that benefit educators in their practice (and which thus benefits student learning) from other data use practices that have been to shown to actually hinder educational work.”

Wayman, J. C., Cho, V., Jimerson, J., & Spikes, D. D. (2012). DistrictWide Effects on Data Use in the Classroom. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 20(25),

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References

•List your references from your research articles

Conclusion of Presentation

•Thank you for your participation.

Contact Information:Name:School/District:Phone:Email:Website:

Discussion

•Discussion topics

Questions

•Questions

Activity

•My activity

increasing the teacher's effectiveness toolbox

Education

action research plan

research results

peerreviewed research

systematic research

teachers concerns

teachers data literacy

practice mills

educators mills