Moving Forward with the Plan

As expected, my site supervisor and I agreed that it would be most relevant and feasible to determine the most effective communication method that a school principal can employ.

I work in the public information department for the entire district, and each year we produce a "manual" for use at each school. Principals appoint one of their staff members to serve as Public Information Network representatives. These representatives gather news items from their school and submit it to me on a weekly basis for publishing in the district newsletter or sent to the district television production team. Our department also provides professional development to these "PIN" representatives regarding what constitutes a news story, and how best to put together the news and events from their school and forward it to our department.

The findings from this action research project can be integrated into the PIN manual, and can be carried back to each school for the principal to review. This would only constitute advice to the principal as our department does not have the authority to mandate principal policy. However since this study would be done with the input of current and former principals, it should be met with a bit more optimism.