Educational Leaders and Blogs

Blogging is an excellent way for educational leaders to build a professional learning community. A principal could using blogging among staff members to conduct inquiry and engage in action research on a specific campus. An administrator could also use blogging to communicate and learn from other professionals in the same administrative positions and gain insight from others" experience and expertise.

Action Research

Administrative inquiry or action research is the process of looking at your own leadership practice in a very systematic way by collecting data, asking reflective questions, talking and collaborating with other professionals, then using what you learned to make changes that will be effective in school improvement. School leaders need to engage in action research in order to improve their schools and increase student success. It is a key practice to effectively change and meet the needs of a specific campus. Action research can help an administrator focus on what is important. Many times school leaders get lost in the many day to day duties of their jobs and forget why they are there. Reflecting on how you lead your campus, examining data, talking and sharing with your staff members, and collaborating to find solutions to problems that are campus specific is beneficial to all. In the long run the students will reap the greatest benefit which is success in school.
During this week's study I learned the difference between action research and traditional educational research. Traditional education research typically comes from outsiders that are not involved directly with schools but make provide solutions based on educational theory. Action research comes from within. It is a practice that can be conducted not only by new administrators, but veteran administrators. Action research can be practiced by teachers as well in order to examine their own teaching and make improvements in their individual classrooms. Action research is a continuous, ongoing process that can be used in professional development opportunities as well. I believe that action research greatly empowers an administrator. It allows the adminisrator to be a true leader for their campus.