5301 Research Week 2 - Nine Areas of Wonderings for Principals

Principals must wear quite a few hats these days.  The responsibilities can be overwhelming, so implementing action research to examine areas of concern to principals can be very useful.  Dana (2009) suggests nine areas of wonderings for principals.  These include:

• Staff Development
• Curriculum Development
• Individual Teacher(s)
• Individual Student(s)
• School Culture/Community
• Leadership
• Management
• School Performance
• Social Justice or Equity Issues

After examining these areas and seeing examples for each one I was able to formulate questions for my own action research. Three questions in which am interested in conducting action research are:

• In what ways is Eagle Time as a consequence for zeros in class affecting student performance?
• What is the relationship between students' participation in Green and Gold Academy - Credit Recovery Program and their success in high school?
• What is the relationship between student success and the improvement of parent/family involvement in a high school setting?

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 29-68.