[NLA] Practitioner research - Just do it!

[Eileen Eckert]

The practitioner research Sherry describes looks like a great contribution 
to the field, but the size, scope, and expense of the project does put that 
kind of research beyond the means of most programs--at least under current 
spending plans. Before we got onto the question of legitimacy, I was 
advocating for program-based research based on practitioner control of the 
process. Let me give a few examples.

As a faculty/coordinator, then director of a community college-based 
program, I got the bird's eye view of the program, and as our enrollment 
grew and our curricula evolved, I noticed (as did others) that we had a 
bottleneck at "Math 2: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents." Students were 
moving through the reading and writing curricula, passing those sections of 
the GED test, but they were not getting through Math 2, and 
observation/discussion told us that fractions were the hang-up. So, two 
choices (at least). One, find a better way to teach fractions--that always 
has to be done anyway. Two, figure out another way to get past the barrier. 
I started examining students' math placement tests not only to see what they 
got right or wrong, but what they did with the question. Then, in the 
placement interview, I started asking students if they had learned and 
forgotten how to do fractions or if they had never known, if they thought 
they needed a quick review or more thorough instruction and practice, if 
their goals entailed passing the GED quickly even if that involved relying 
more on test-taking tips than on a real understanding of the subject (this 
will stir up some controversy!), and a few other questions. Quite a few 
students chose to take our "quick review" course that went over all the GED 
math in ten weeks rather than work their way through the levels. Enrollment 
shifted and I think testing patterns started to change too; unfortunately I 
didn't get to see this through. This is an example of informal research; 
practitioner inquiry rather than "research."

Another example is the master's thesis one of our part-time teachers did on 
students' perceptions of and satisfaction with the program. She did a survey 
and followed up with some interviews. We used her conclusions to improve the 
program. Another person doing a master's thesis did a follow-up study about 
a year later. These studies took some time on my part to work with the 
researchers, but they did not put a great burden on program resources, and 
the graduate students had to do research somewhere--we lucked out that they 
wanted to do it with us.

Another example is the outcomes assessment project our faculty undertook. 
This required some resources--we had a $9000 grant from the college--but it 
was also a great professional development tool.

Last example: I had my intermediate and advanced ESL students conduct a 
survey among the college population. Our survey was not program-related, but 
if it had been, we could have done program-based research. The students were 
involved in research design, data collection, data analysis, and reporting. 
If only I had encouraged a focus on a program- and/or learning-related 
research question! Well, hindsight's 20/20, and nothing I did came close to 
the ideal, but it was valuable experience and produced great learning and 
program improvement, and I hope I get the chance to improve upon it. Some 
projects cost money, but others just involve deliberately learning more from 
and sharing the results of informal research that's already happening in 
many programs. I think building on this is a way to enhance local control 
and empowerment.

Eileen

>From: Art LaChance <arthur at ellijay.com>
>Reply-To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Subject: Re: [NLA] Practitioner research - Just do it!
>Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 19:51:38 -0400
>
>The problem Sherry, is not finding teachers who want to do this, the 
>problem is finding state folks to support the evolutions.  I participated 
>in three years of practitioner research with no additional funding, we did 
>our own interviews, we did our own data, we did our own printing, etc.  We 
>didn't get the equivalent of a years salary to do our projects.  What you 
>spent on your project would have paid the salary for at least three part 
>time teachers.
>
>Doesn't sound like "just do it" to me.
>
>Art
>

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