Curtis Elementary Case Study

The following is my critique of the Curtis Elementary Case Study:

1.       Area of focus-Does the area of focus involve teaching and learning?

Without question, the area of focus involves learning and teaching.  Jonathan is questioning his teaching methods and the impact of those methods on student learning.

2.       Research questions-Does the researcher state questions that were answerable given the researcher’s expertise, time and resources?

By limiting himself to one question, Jonathan’s study was able to make sure that his question was answerable given his expertise, time and resources.

3.       Locus of control-Was the area of focus within the researcher’s locus of control?

Given the school wide involvement in action research, it would be easy for a researcher to have an area of focus that was to wide, but Jonathan limited himself to just his students and his curriculum changes.

4.       Data collection-Did the researcher use appropriate data collection techniques to answer the study’s research questions?

Jonathan used appropriate data collection techniques to answer his study’s research questions?  He included both qualitative (interviews, observations) and quantitative (assessment scores) techniques, that provided a well-rounded data set.

5.       Ethics-Did the research face any ethical challenges?  If so, how were they resolved?

The research does not appear to have faced any ethical challenges.

6.       Reflective stance-In what ways has the action research effort contributed to the researcher’s reflective stance on the ways teaching and learning are viewed?

Jonathan appears to be continuing his action research process the following year.  This shows me that he has truly embraced a reflective stance.

7.       Action-Did the outcomes of the study lead to action?

Jonathon’s vocabulary reinforcement will be extended throughout the following areas of reading and written expression with his students: group novels, published poetry, current events, magazines, storytelling collections, student-created stories, narratives, opinion papers, descriptions, research papers and oral presentations.

He also plans to use various techniques to monitor, modify and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of his vocabulary intensification efforts.

8.       Action-data connection-How is the proposed action connected to the study’s data analysis and interpretation?

There appears to be a strong action-data connection based on the information provided by Jonathon.   His proposed plan of action is clearly based on the data he collected, analyzed and interpreted.