Guiding School Improvement with Action Research

Guiding School Improvement with Action Research PDF Author: Richard Sagor
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 1416615903
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Action research, explored in this book, is a seven-step process for improving teaching and learning in classrooms at all levels. Through practical examples, research tools, and easy-to-follow "implementation strategies," Richard Sagor guides readers through the process from start to finish. Learn how to uncover and use the data that already exist in your classrooms and schools to answer significant questions about your individual or collective concerns and interests. Sagor covers each step in the action research process in detail: selecting a focus, clarifying theories, identifying research questions, collecting data, analyzing data, reporting results, and taking informed action. Drawing from the experience of individual teachers, faculties, and school districts, Sagor describes how action research can enhance teachers' professional standing and efficacy while helping them succeed in settings characterized by increasingly diverse student populations and an emphasis on standards-based reform. The book also demonstrates how administrators and policymakers can use action research to bolster efforts related to accreditation, teacher supervision, and job-embedded staff development. Part how-to guide, part inspirational treatise, Guiding School Improvement with Action Research provides advice, information, and encouragement to anyone interested in reinventing schools as learning communities and restructuring teaching as the true profession it was meant to be.

Guiding School Improvement with Action Research

Guiding School Improvement with Action Research PDF Author: Richard Sagor
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 1416615903
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
Action research, explored in this book, is a seven-step process for improving teaching and learning in classrooms at all levels. Through practical examples, research tools, and easy-to-follow "implementation strategies," Richard Sagor guides readers through the process from start to finish. Learn how to uncover and use the data that already exist in your classrooms and schools to answer significant questions about your individual or collective concerns and interests. Sagor covers each step in the action research process in detail: selecting a focus, clarifying theories, identifying research questions, collecting data, analyzing data, reporting results, and taking informed action. Drawing from the experience of individual teachers, faculties, and school districts, Sagor describes how action research can enhance teachers' professional standing and efficacy while helping them succeed in settings characterized by increasingly diverse student populations and an emphasis on standards-based reform. The book also demonstrates how administrators and policymakers can use action research to bolster efforts related to accreditation, teacher supervision, and job-embedded staff development. Part how-to guide, part inspirational treatise, Guiding School Improvement with Action Research provides advice, information, and encouragement to anyone interested in reinventing schools as learning communities and restructuring teaching as the true profession it was meant to be.

Guiding Students Into Information Literacy

Guiding Students Into Information Literacy PDF Author: Chris Carlson
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810859746
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Teachers often assume students know how to do research. However, most students lack important information literacy skills and often need guidance in order to be successful researchers. Sometimes the research projects students are assigned are not well devised or planned, and teachers often underestimate the amount of time or effort necessary to complete a project. These difficulties soon become compounded because students often have poor organizational and time management skills, which are essential in producing good research projects. The desire to make the research experience pleasant and worthwhile for students and the teacher who must assess their efforts has led authors Chris Carlson and Ellen Brosnahan to devise a logical system to help students not only gain valuable information literacy and time management skills needed but also to help the instructor have a better handle on what students are doing during the process. Information Literacy takes readers systematically through the management of a research activity, from conception to final product. Each chapter includes handouts that have been used by the authors with actual research assignments, websites for further information, and a bibliography of additional books that support the ideas in the chapter. An appendix with examples of research papers that have been done by the authors' actual students is also included.

Resources in Education

Resources in Education PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 764

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Book Description


High-School Biology Today and Tomorrow

High-School Biology Today and Tomorrow PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies
ISBN: 0309040280
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Biology is where many of science's most exciting and relevant advances are taking place. Yet, many students leave school without having learned basic biology principles, and few are excited enough to continue in the sciences. Why is biology education failing? How can reform be accomplished? This book presents information and expert views from curriculum developers, teachers, and others, offering suggestions about major issues in biology education: what should we teach in biology and how should it be taught? How can we measure results? How should teachers be educated and certified? What obstacles are blocking reform?

Applied Research Design

Applied Research Design PDF Author: Terry Elizabeth Hedrick
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506319440
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"The Terry E. Hedrick, Leonard Bickman, and Debra J. Rog text provides a framework for designing research that is adaptable to almost any applied setting and constantly reiterates the need for establishing and maintaining credibility with the client at each level of the research process. Although the applied research book is a practical guide, suitable to accompany any thorough applied design textbook, it does a comprehensive job of presenting the distinction between basic and applied research. It introduces many topics found in the general methodology textbooks. This overlap will help students to feel comfortable in using the general skills in a more specific and complex manner." --Contemporary Psychology "For researchers needing to know how to plan and design applied research projects, Applied Research Design will be a most welcome publication. . . . The writing is clear and concise, graphics are utilized helpfully, and this book will be much appreciated by beginning social scientists who are serious but uncertain about the methodologies possible for doing applied research." --Academic Library Book Review Aimed at helping researchers and students make the transition from the classroom and the laboratory to the "real" world, the authors reveal pitfalls to avoid and strategies to undertake in order to overcome obstacles in the design and planning of applied research. Applied Research Design focuses on refining research questions when actual events force deviations from the original analysis. To accomplish this, the authors discuss how to study and monitor program implementation, statistical power analysis, and how to assess the human and material resources needed to conduct an applied research design to facilitate the management of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Appropriate for professionals and researchers who have had some previous exposure to research methods, this book will enable the development of research strategies that are credible, useful, and--more important--feasible.

Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted

Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted PDF Author: Frances A. Karnes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000501558
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description
The newly revised and updated fourth edition of Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted is an excellent introduction to gifted education and real-world learning. The chapters of this comprehensive textbook are written by respected leaders in the field of gifted education. The authors review the unique needs of gifted learners and give current information on instructional planning and evaluation, strategies for best practices, and ongoing enhancement and support of gifted programs. Chapters include topics such as differentiated curricular design, extending learning through research, writing challenging instructional units, and developing leadership skills and innovative thinkers. Instructional practices such as problem-based learning, technology literacy, independent study, simulation and gaming, and more are addressed. A special focus is given to using the Gifted Education Programming Standards and Common Core State Standards. The fourth edition provides updated information on funding sources and public relations strategies for gifted education programs. It also includes updated lists of books, teaching materials, websites, and other resources for teachers of the gifted.

Knowing What Students Know

Knowing What Students Know PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309293227
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Education is a hot topic. From the stage of presidential debates to tonight's dinner table, it is an issue that most Americans are deeply concerned about. While there are many strategies for improving the educational process, we need a way to find out what works and what doesn't work as well. Educational assessment seeks to determine just how well students are learning and is an integral part of our quest for improved education. The nation is pinning greater expectations on educational assessment than ever before. We look to these assessment tools when documenting whether students and institutions are truly meeting education goals. But we must stop and ask a crucial question: What kind of assessment is most effective? At a time when traditional testing is subject to increasing criticism, research suggests that new, exciting approaches to assessment may be on the horizon. Advances in the sciences of how people learn and how to measure such learning offer the hope of developing new kinds of assessments-assessments that help students succeed in school by making as clear as possible the nature of their accomplishments and the progress of their learning. Knowing What Students Know essentially explains how expanding knowledge in the scientific fields of human learning and educational measurement can form the foundations of an improved approach to assessment. These advances suggest ways that the targets of assessment-what students know and how well they know it-as well as the methods used to make inferences about student learning can be made more valid and instructionally useful. Principles for designing and using these new kinds of assessments are presented, and examples are used to illustrate the principles. Implications for policy, practice, and research are also explored. With the promise of a productive research-based approach to assessment of student learning, Knowing What Students Know will be important to education administrators, assessment designers, teachers and teacher educators, and education advocates.

Practical Steps to the Research Process for Middle School

Practical Steps to the Research Process for Middle School PDF Author: Deborah B. Stanley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313009007
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Stanley applies the same user-friendly format that made her popular guide to teaching the six steps of the research process to high school students such a success. In this new volume geared toward middle school students, field-tested lessons, anecdotes, reproducible charts and templates, and research ideas all work together to transform the research process into bite-size steps that are both adaptable to various teaching styles and not overwhelming for students. By applying Stanley's methods you'll be pursuing education reforms including integrating technology, improving information literacy, teaching critical thinking, modeling collaborative instruction, and adapting research for second language learners and learning disabled students.

Expanding Opportunities to Link Research and Clinical Practice

Expanding Opportunities to Link Research and Clinical Practice PDF Author: JoAnne Ferrara
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681238055
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
This volume in the Research in Professional Development Schools book series considers the role professional development schools (PDSs) play in expanding opportunities for linking research and clinical practice. As in past volumes of this series, PDS practitioners and researchers make a compelling case for the power of micro?level initiatives to change practice. Contributors share ideas to expand PDS work beyond site?specific contexts to include a broader macro?level agenda for clinical practice. Authors hope to inspire large scale PDS reform through replication of successful initiatives featured in this volume. Evoking change is not easy. Nonetheless, series editors and contributors conclude that PDSs generate a critical mass of PK–16 educators willing to form partnerships to address enduring educational dilemmas. This volume represents a cross section of PDS stakeholders engaged in research along with innovative projects that uncover the richness of clinical practice. Higher education faculty, school practitioners, and preservice teachers featured in these chapters explore the ways PDSs deepen clinical practice while enriching teaching and learning. We begin with the discussion by Beebe, Stunkard, and Nath on the National Association for Professional Development School’s (NAPDS’s) role to support teacher candidates’ clinical practice through the cooperative efforts of university and school?based personnel. The authors explain NAPDS’ history and advocacy over the years to promote a context for schooluniversity partnerships to thrive and expand. As the premier association guiding the work of collaborative P–12/higher education partnerships, we welcome the insightful perspectives provided.

Self-Study Teacher Research

Self-Study Teacher Research PDF Author: Anastasia P. Samaras
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506332552
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Offer novice and experienced teachers guidelines for the "how" and "why" to do self-study teacher research Designed to help teachers plan, implement, and assess a manageable self-study research project, this unique textbook covers the foundation, history, theoretical underpinnings, and methods of self-study research. Written in a reader-friendly style and filled with interactive activities and examples, this book helps teachers every step of the way as they plan and conduct their studies. Author Anastasia Samaras encourages readers to think deeply about both the "how" and the "why" of this essential professional development tool as they pose questions and formulate personal theories to improve professional practice. Key Features A Self-Study Project Planner assists teachers in understanding both the details and process of conducting self-study research. A Critical Friends Portfolio includes innovative critical collaborative inquiries to support the completion of a high quality final research project. Advice from the most senior self-study academics working in the U.S. and internationally is included, along with descriptions of the self-study methodology that has been refined over time. Examples demonstrate the connections between self-study research, teachers′ professional growth, and their students′ learning. Tables, charts, and visuals help readers see the big picture and stay organized. Accompanied by High-Quality Ancillaries! A Student Study Site offers a wealth of resources, including additional examples and activities, web-based resources, study questions, and key terms. Intended Audience Self-Study Teacher Research: Improving Your Practice Through Collaborative Inquiry is intended as a core textbook for a wide variety of courses in the education curriculum, including Action Research, Qualitative Research Methods, Research Methods in Education, and the capstone/teacher researcher course required of all early childhood, elementary, and secondary education majors.