The Importance of Data

Listening to the lectures has created an interest in me about learning more about all the data an administrator has access to. I’m a computer Science Engineer and I have always guided my teaching using the data I can obtain. Now, I would like to produce some changes (action research) where teachers can have more frequent, unified, and real data to modify the rigor of their teaching to increase students’ performance according to the needs that the data shows, and so that the administrators can also have a better picture of what is going on in the school.

How educational leaders might use blogs

Educational leaders might use blogs to keep a written track of the continuous reflection that must occur when you practice action research. It might be used to extend the amount of good sources for discussion and analysis of any problem when you follow other people’s blogs. The educational leaders might use it to find a way to connect with people that are in the same page with you and that in regular situations would be impossible to put together to work collectively because of their location or agenda’s situations.  

Action Research

Administrative inquiry or action research is a process of endless reflection of your own work, or as Dana (2009) describes it in her book, it is to take charge of your own professional development to become the head learner in your school. You could describe it as seeing you in a mirror at all times to find ways of improving yourself to be more productive as an administrator for your students and teachers. The administrator has a role as a proactive insider instead of an outsider observer and critic. It includes steps that involve a continuous analysis of what needs change for improvement, asking critical questions, collecting data, analyzing data, and using related readings to make plans of action to implement and share. It is becoming a model in the learning process. Administrative inquiry is a fascinating view because you become a part of the problem that needs to evolve to achieve the goals.

This approach might be used in many aspects. It might be used with your students now. You can reflect on why your students are failing and how you could change your teaching/approach to improve the results. You can collect data from this year and previous years to try to find a trend on the grades. You can find readings about good practices for teaching the subject. You can use the blogs to discuss different possibilities. Gathering the data, reading and discussing you can make a plan of solutions to implement and share with other teachers that are going through the same situation.