EDLD 5301 Week Five Assignment – Final Reflections

It is interesting that in the first few pages of reading for the first week, we saw similarities between the concepts of "formative assessment" and "action research". As Dana notes in chapter one, “administrator inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry.” (2009) When a principal decides teachers will be validating the students at different intervals during the semester, they are not only engaging in formative assessment, but also conducting the action research to determine if classroom practices are effective. Both processes identify strengths and weaknesses in what the school is doing and determining if change needs to be made.

I would like to learn more about practicing the technique of active listening. (Harris, 2010). As part of ”Examining the Work Step 3: Developing Deeper Understanding”, the technique of active listening would be very valuable both in conducting action research, but also in my professional role in public relations with the school district.

From the week 2 assignment where we were exposed to three school administrators who earned their doctoral degrees at Lamar, I was particularly interested in what Dr. Lewis had to say. In Dr. Lewis’ video, he gave the advice that teachers, or researchers, need to do what is practical for them. Though this seems like an obvious concept, he noted that a lot of times research is done for the sake of doing research without having any practical application to the researcher's real problems. Lewis drove home his point by saying that researchers need to look into practical things that they need to know to apply directly to student learning.

Educators can use blogs to help them organize the findings after reflecting upon various practices. Educators owe it to themselves to continuously reflect upon the activities they and their teachers are engaging in. By blogging the results of the reflection, the educator not only produces an online “diary” in which to record reflective thoughts, but also potentially provides that information to fellow educators who may be facing the same challenges. Ultimately, a blog can serve as a repository for ideas and techniques that the educator can revisit over time to remind themselves of how they created a certain plan, or how they accomplished a certain task.

In the week one video, Dr. Jenkins mentioned the text Preparing Principals for a Changing World. I made a note of the title and author, and a search result revealed a similarly titled report from the Wallace Foundation, and written by the same authors. Darling-Hammond, et. al., explains how her group conducted their action research of administrator preparation programs and their findings. Their lessons learned involved creating systematic learning opportunities for leaders, successful elements of preparation programs, building and developing programs and generating funding, and strategies to replicate successful programs.(2007) What was more valuable to me from this report wasn’t necessarily the findings, but noting how the authors conducted their research and the style they used in reporting their findings.

Finally, the lectures presented by Dr. Aterbury and Dr. Jenkins were very insightful. Their straightforward language and explanations made it easy to grasp the concepts presented each week. Specifically, as Dr. Jenkins was explaining the purpose and significance of an action research project in the first video of week two, his explanation served to alleviate any doubt as to what exactly was being asked for in that week’s assignment. Likewise in the week three video, Dr. Aterbury effectively and succinctly summarized the effectiveness of using the supplemental text from Harris, Edmonson and Combs. Through Aterbury’s explanation, I was able to get an initial idea of the eight steps and how they could be implemented in my action research.


Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education.

Linda Darling-Hammond, Linda, et. al. (April 2007) Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World: Lessons from Exemplary Leadership Development Programs. Retrieved August 13, 2010 from www.srnleads.org/data/pdfs/sls/sls_exec_summ.pdf.