My learnings about Action Reasearch

After reading "Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principals as Action Researchers, by Nancy Fichtman Dana and forewords by Michael Fullan" I have realized how important it is for a principal to actively participate in the process of action research.  I thought that you would start by looking at data and make a plan of improvement, and that would be it.  I found it interesting that you need to start with a clear and concise question and how important the wording of the question is. Then you acquire the data and analyze it to help you answer your question, so you can make improvements and share your findings with others.  My campus has a rating of "Recognized"  this year, but we didn't meet "AYP."  I want to use action research to help my campus make needed improvements. I think my questions will be "What sub-group performed below the standard and in what area? Then  what do you already have in place to help these students and do we have any data to show it's working?"  I want to set up a committee and reflect on the data and make a plan of improvement. I would like to work with a committee because we all bring different ideas and experiences to the table. After reading about action research I feel like I'm ready to get started, it seems I have been giving the structure I need to get started.

An educational leader could use a blog to share his or her ideas with the other principals, faculty, committee, and parents. A blog is like a diary or a journal and others can respond to your post and maybe offer some additional insight or another point of view. I think that this would be a great way for principals to support other principals. They could share ideas and concerns about issues that have on their campuses and offer solutions.  I also think a school blog for the teachers, and principal would be beneficial, sometimes the principal will make a decision that no one on campus understands, but if we could have been reading a blog and saw the reflection and thought that went into making the decision and could offer our input. I feel that the staff would respect it better.  The school PTA could even have a blog with upcoming events and ask others for input on ideas for future fundraisers and carnival ideas.