Use of blogs by educational leaders

Educational leaders can utilize blogs, by creating Leadership Teams and Professional Learning Communities.  Engagement in inquiry with these teams is a way that educational leaders can assure that learning is another way to make inquiry a regular practice.

Action Research

The basis in “inquiry” is the ability of an administrator to evaluate his/her administrative practice and take action for any change that is learned as a result of the inquiry.  The ability to gain a better understanding of the unique settings of the school, students, staff, and parents, provides the administrator with an insight of what may be necessary/required to improve student learning.

The difference between action research and traditional research, is that action research provides the administrator the opportunity to pose questions or wonderings, collect and analyze data, make changes based on new understandings, and share information with others.  Whereas traditional educational research has limitations as to what an administrator can implement.  In a research based traditional setting, finding or highlighting areas considered problematic can have its repercussions.  Also, although process-product and qualitative research have generated valuable insights, it is still generated by “outsiders” to the school and classroom.  This type of research makes you think, the one size fits all, is appropriate for all schools, and does not take into consideration the differences between communities, finances, staff and most importantly what works best for the students and their learning.