Here is my Action Research Project Plan:

Tool 7.1  Action  Planning Template

Goal:  To determine the social, behavioral, and academic effects of a high school Special Education Social Skills class on students with Autism.

1. Determine positive social and behavioral effects of students currently enrolled in Special Education Social Skills class.	Me	One week	Teacher Surveys Parent Surveys Student Surveys IEP Progress Reports	Use survey data to generate an analysis of the social and behavioral effects of the class.
2.  Determine effects of Social Skills class on student grades.	Me	One week	Online grade database Student Surveys Teacher Surveys	Analyze trends in students grades throughout the year based on grade and survey data.
3.  Determine possible changes for Social Skills curriculum for next year	Me, Social Skills Teacher	One week	Current classroom curriculum Additional Social Skills curriculum resources and interventions	Use data from previous steps and information from meeting with Social Skills teacher to make changes/improvements in the curriculum for next year.
4.  Regularly assess benefits of students enrolled in the class next year	Me, Social Skills Teacher	August 2013 – June 2014	Progress Forms Online grade database IEP Progress Reports Tracking Forms	Use Progress Forms and Tracking Forms to monitor the effects of particular lessons/interventions from the Social Skills class on each student throughout the school year.

Action research provides an opportunity for educators to devote structured time to addressing issues that need attention.  Often times these issues are identified, but when educators are left to their own individual devices to come up with a solution, the issue becomes washed away in the multiple other demands and responsibilities of the educator. 

Action research provides a facilitated, structured opportunity for educators to focus only on addressing the important issues that are in need of change.  It allows for interventions to be developed by those who are on the “front lines” of the issue, rather than being told what to do by individuals who are not completely familiar with all of the issue’s aspects and complexities.

Most importantly, the cyclical nature of action research provides for a perpetual improvement process.  If structured correctly, the solution to one issue simply means the identification of a new issue or problem to be addressed.  It isn't about focusing on an individual problem, but rather striving for continuous progress.

Educational leaders can use blogs as a quick and easy way to share and communicate their action research processes to other educators.  Rather than "re-inventing the wheel," monitoring a network of blogs can allow educators to review processes that have already been tried.

The two types of reflection (on-practice and in-practice) are both crucial skills required by educational leaders, both regarding action research as well as to be used in their daily routines.  In action research, reflection is a necessary step required to even begin the process and identify an issue.  It is also necessary for the entirety of the procedure in order to identify changes and improvements in the intervention taking place while it is being implemented.  Reflection at the end of an action research "cycle" is helpful in possibly identifying the next issue to be addressed by reflecting on the results of the previous cycle.