Procure at least one type of school and/or classroom data source (e.g., student grades, student standardized test scores, student portfolio assessments, or field notes from observations of students at work in class). If you do not have access to this type of data, consider using the data element tool, Ed Data Express, provided by the United States Department of Education. After examining the data, identify one area of student performance that needs to improve (e.g., 75% of students do not understand the fundamentals of subject-verb agreement, 50% of students are not performing at proficient levels in number sense on the state proficiency test; or 25% of the students are not able to concentrate on essay composition for more than six minutes at any given time, as per observational field notes).
After the data examination has been completed, create a guiding question to drive your inquiry (e.g., what can I do to ensure that all students are able to concentrate on essay composition for at least a 15-minute time period? What strategy will work best to ensure that 100% of students perform at proficient levels in number sense on the state proficiency test?).
Next, create a plan for gathering additional data and information (i.e., research) to inform your inquiry. For example, you may elect to test a strategy that has been highlighted in the research to improve student performance in the identified target area, or you might elect to try a different assessment method in your classroom. Your action research plan should contain the following elements and be formatted as follows:
Identify one area of student performance that needs to improve and explain the data you used to identify the problem.
Create one guiding question.
Describe how you will investigate the inquiry.
Identify and summarize at least two peer-reviewed research articles, published within the last five years that provided you with information, strategies, or ideas to address the problem.
Describe the data you will collect to identify a solution(s) to the problem.
Describe how you will analyze the data you collect to inform a solution to the problem.
Describe how you will present or use your findings from the inquiry.