A Reflection on Research Methods

The role that research remains imperative to the public education system. As a special education provider, I rely on research to inform the decisions I make, the systems I put into place as well as the instruction that I plan and execute. This course has strengthened my understanding that research, both scientifically based research and action research, play a vital role in nearly every facet of education including the development of systems, planning of instruction, reflecting on assessments, and classroom management policies.

Research helps improve classroom teaching. Scientifically based research (SBR) improves classroom teaching by offering up extensive studies conducted across broad audiences that face similar situations in the public-school environment. For instance, when I struggled with how to improve reading comprehension skills I used the opportunity to find out what the scientifically based research had to offer about the topic. I found several articles and ended up using four, which were all peered reviewed and qualified as scientifically based research. This information proved useful as I designed a plan on how to solve my problem. A large part of that plan was to execute an action research project. These improve classroom teaching by allowing educators to specifically target a situation through a narrower lens. Yet when executed with fidelity, the action research can provide solid results that can inform future instructional practices. A major obstacle that interferes with using research to improve education would likely be the time that it takes to investigate the SBR and/or execute the action research project. Possibilities to overcome such challenges would be to enlist administration and/or district staff for support. Ways that I can integrate research into my classroom would be to reflect on pedagogy on a regular basis and question where I have deficits or determine where students are not growing sufficiently. From there I can investigate SBR and/or initiate an action research project to gather data to help determine reasons why and possible solutions.

Research can impact school wide achievement by offering either predictive, descriptive or causal data that offer insight toward a solution which is backed by studies of like situations over broad and diverse audiences. Currently our school uses SBR with fidelity to determine curricular decisions. However, the same is not true when making decisions regarding school wide behavior management. I believe much would improve in our school if we developed a Behavior Matrix (Knoff, 2007). Instead of piecing PBIS when convenient and folding it into more punitive practices when the need arises, our school needs to adopt a practice that has proven true according to research. Not to dismiss PBIS, but I have observed that we are not even using that with fidelity. SBR can turn the behavior situation around at our school in hopes to improve the overall environment to improve growth and learning for all students.

Regarding student academic achievement levels, we consistently use a variety of assessments including state and district scores, Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) reading level assessment, diagnostic, formative and summative assessments from unit studies, running records and Individualized Education Plan assessment data to name a few. I use this extant data to collaborate with general education teachers, the school psychologist, other specialists such as the school’s Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and Occupational Therapist (OT), and administration when concerns arise about students’ academic and/or social development. This process can be improved by hiring more special education teachers to reduce the roster sizes. Currently I serve roughly 30 students and to meeting their IEP goals as far as instruction and intervention, I need to analyze the data closely and use it to inform further instruction and intervention. The presents needs are so pressing that even working 60 hours every week does not meet the demands. This could be the subject of a future action research topic. Would reducing roster size for resource room teachers improve academic and social, emotional, behavioral and adaptive (SEBA) growth for students with IEPs?

In closing, it remains vital that research helps mold and shape the instructional practices and policy development of schools, whether it be SBR or action research or ideally both. Test scores show that the growth of students in our high poverty, high ELL, low performing school is too precarious to just rely on unsubstantiated opinions. This course has proven that when research is valid and reliable, as in SBR and proper action research, it improves academic growth in all content areas. As educators we owe it to our students to provide them with a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and using and relying on effective, sound research as shown in SBR can give us the tools and data we need to function effectively to see necessary growth in all students.

References

Knoff, H. M. (2007). Developing and implementing the behavioral matrix. Little Rock: Project ARCHVE.