 Participating teachers and administrators engage in a form of reflective practice known as action research (AR). AR encourages and enables participants to become better learners themselves and to achieve new, more reflective levels of professional practice. Teachers become investigators themselves, creating
and following systematic, structured inquiries into their own practice, reflecting both individually and with their colleagues on the effectiveness of their work based on its impact on student learning.
Typically, a D&D expert coach works with a team of teachers to select an umbrella research topic, such as:
Why are ELL students who are born in the US not as successful on tests as students who were born outside the US?
The team may spend some time reading research that relates to their inquiry question (and they may return to read additional materials as the work proceeds and other issues arise).
Each teacher may then craft an inquiry topic to pursue in his or her classroom, or a group may examine schoolwide data together.
They plan an intervention or select a strategy to pilot, to see if there will be a favorable effect on student performance.
Teachers are encouraged to keep journals to record their action steps and their reflections on the process as it develops.
Following this "action" step, they will collect and review a new set of data to determine the effectiveness of the strategy. Teachers "match" their strategies with research in the field. For example, research on support for the first language for ELLs translates into better reading practices and comprehension of the content.
As the work proceeds, AR team members are encouraged to share their experiences and reflections with others.
To order "Making It Work For ELLS" video, click <HERE>*
To see our action research questions, click <HERE>
To see action research reports, click
<HERE>
For action research WWW links click <HERE>
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An Overview of Action Research 
