Improving Schools Through Action Research: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

by Cher C. Hendricks (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This text emphasizes the reflective processes used in planning and conducting action research studies, data analysis techniques (quantitative and qualitative), and displaying and explaining results. It provides specific information needed to complete each step of the action research cycle with chapter activities that help the student/reader conduct projects focused on school improvement. Each activity includes a research paper component that helps students create a research paper as they complete the activities.

From the Back Cover

Improving Schools Through Action Research, 2/e

Cher Hendricks

0205578462

 

This brief, user-friendly text provides everything a pre-service or in-service educator needs to know to follow the research cycle and conduct an action research project.  It emphasizes the reflective processes used in planning and conducting action research studies, data analysis techniques (quantitative and qualitative), and displaying and explaining results. The text provides specific information needed to complete each step of the action research cycle with chapter activities that help the student/reader conduct projects focused on school improvement. Each activity includes a research paper component that helps students create a research paper as they complete the activities.

 

New to this edition:

• Chapter 3, Connecting Theory and Action, has been extended to provide more detailed information on synthesizing and writing the literature.
• Chapter 6, which focuses on validity issues, has been streamlined and clarified. Validity issues are described in an understandable and simple way, and examples and tables are provided to help clarify difficult concepts.
• Internet links and other supporting information are provided on using Microsoft Excel for data entry and analysis.
• An in-depth discussion of writing in APA format is included in Chapter 8, Writing and Disseminating the Action Research Report. The chapter also provides alternative ways to report findings including via narrative accounts, portrait writing, and artistic forms.

Here’s what your colleagues are saying:

 

“This is the most effective text currently available to help teachers systematically examine their practice and make research-based changes in their classrooms and schools to increase student engagement and student achievement. Hendricks succeeds admirably in creating a handbook that teachers can actually use to gather and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data in their classrooms, helping them to procure far more meaningful data about student performance than any standardized test could ever hope to provide. If our nation is serious about closing the achievement gap, we need much more investment in the meaningful professional development that occurs when teachers study their own practice in the ways that Hendricks describes.”

–Joseph M. Shosh, Moravian College

 

“This book is an excellent introduction to action research for a beginning teacher researcher. It is written in a style that seems to put the readers at ease, even those who are initially apprehensive about conducting research.”

–Elizabeth Fogarty, East Carolina University

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon; 2 edition (March 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0205578462
• ISBN-13: 978-0205578467
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,683 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Conducting and Disseminating Education Research, May 11, 2008

By	J. Olson (Acworth, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As educators we often desire to determine the status and effectiveness of a program, process, or intervention. To examine the results of a teaching strategy or intervention we need to research the activity in a manner that provides valid results. Improving Schools Through Action Research is an excellent guide for designing action research projects, conducting the research, and generating results of the research for publication or communication with others in the field.

The book is divided into easy to follow chapters with activities that guide the researcher through each phase of the research process. Relevant examples and Internet resources are provided throughout the book so novice researchers are comfortable with the process.

I highly recommend this textbook as a course text or as a reference for educators conducting action research to improve teaching and learning at their schools.

5.0 out of 5 stars Student Evidence Based Assessment Strategies, September 19, 2008

By	Emily J. Haxton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book would be of value for educators who focus on student evidence based assessment methods.