Action Research: Authentic Learning Transforms Student and Teacher Success

Abstract

An overview from a longitudinal ethnographic study illustrates the transformative nature that action research played in the lives of the teachers and the children they taught to read and write. Teacher vignettes from action research reports provide trend data that describe the transformative nature of action research as job-embedded professional development and the impact derived from this form of learning. The data document how teachers were empowered to produce unprecedented gains in student achievement, through the context of learning in their own classrooms, by greater depth of content knowledge, and by new insights into results-based instructional practices. Teacher engagement with action research resulted in authentic learning that transformed teaching and improved student achievement.