This blog is about an important movement in education--action research, also known as administrator inquiry or principal inquiry.  Personally, I prefer the first term becuase it seems more applicable to educators who are not in the principal or administrator roles, but are nevertheless leaders in their own environments.  From my reading, I have learned that all effective educators engage in action research.
That is not to say research makes them effective because effectiveness must be quantified my many aspects, not just the ability to research a topic and take action.  But those who strive for effectiveness usually use some form of action research and may not have put that particular label on their behavior.

Action research occurs when an educator notes a problem or trend and chooses to inquire as to why this observance has an impact on the students or on her particular practice.  Action research can also occur as the result of simple curiosity, especially when the teacher has a sense that a "happening" may inmpact how she works or how her students learn. 

An example of a simple curiosity might be, "Does allowing students to listen to I-Pods during an exam cause poor scores?"  The educator would then design a simple research project to answer that curiosity.  The outcome is meaningful to her and her students, especially if she is considering allowing the use of I-Pods during exams.

An example of a wider reaching observance might be, "Does a 30-minute break from classes in the afternoon improve student behavior at school?"  This would need the collaboration of many teachers many campuses and observance of many grades before reaching a conclusion.  The idea is that any decision about providing a break in the afternoon would be based on local facts, perhaps compared to other districts.  The educators involved would develop a set of crieria to be observed during the research phase, plan meetings to discuss findings, set a policy based on those facts and implement the change.

As with all plans for improvement, though, measurements before and after the change must be documented.  This is the only way to evaluate improvement or lack thereof.

The main fact about action research is that is does not have to be complicated, expensive, or too time-consuming.  It does not require professional researchers, nor does it have to herald widespread change.

Action research is done for the purpose of local improvements, using local resources and evaluating the result of local change.  If the changes noted are tremendous improvements, then action research projects also provide data and rationale for others wishing to begin this process in their own districts.

One tool that can take action research and its results to a wide stage is the blog.  This tool has tremendous potential for educators, especially when all participants uderstand action research or inquiry and want to put an intentional effort into their practice.  Rather than just handling what comes up, teachers who blog hear from other professionals about issues, problems, solutions on a daily basis. Thus when a similar situation arises for them, they can make intentional choices about resolution.  The blog opens available resources from a local level to a worldwide level, providing experts on various topics and improving learning by collaboration.  The collaboration is important to opening one's self to new ideas, spotting new education trends and finding potential solutions that may be tried quickly.  Blogging allows interaction by those from rich school districts, large districts, poor districts and small districts so that the various advantages can be shared among the professionals who teach our youth today.  By joining a blog group an educator has instant support, which can be important to his ability to continue in his role.