Action Research for School Leaders

Spaulding and Falco (educational psychology and educational leadership and innovation, College of Saint Rose) help current and future school leaders build the research skills necessary for improving schools by increasing student achievement, as well as becoming more effective leaders as part of the research process. They provide the technical background and skills to read and critique educational research, methods to apply research and collect and analyze data in schools, and a framework for conducting action research for ongoing improvement. They discuss the role of leaders and how they work to improve buildings and education in general; different types and levels of action research, including its role in the classroom; building-level action research to identify a problem or issue; and the tasks of the research team and how they can incorporate past research in their analysis. Coverage also includes examining and critiquing cause-effect, correlational and survey, and qualitative research, and self-report data from teachers, staff, and others; working collaboratively to develop and implement a program or research plan to address the identified issue; gathering formative and summative data, including standardized measures; and using the logic model for reflection. They end with short case studies illustrating their five-step process. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dean T. Spaulding, Ph.D. is an associate professor in educational psychology at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. He teaches educational research methods and program evaluation. He is one of the authors of Methods in Educational Research: From Theory to Practice (2010) and the author of Program Evaluation in Practice: Core Concepts and Examples for Discussion and Analysis (2008). He has conducted program evaluation for the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Labor, New York City Department of Education, and New York State Department of Education, to name a few.

Dr. Spaulding’s evaluation work includes instructional coaches and teacher professional development, E2T2 Technology Integration programs, online professional development (OPD), elementary school counseling programs, Teacher Leadership Quality Partnerships programs, reading and literacy programs, Math Science Partnerships (MSP), STEM, nanotechnology, changing teacher practices through action research, and Model Transitional Programs (MTP) for Students with Special Needs. For the past 15 years he has worked extensively with school-leaders-in-training in the greater New York City area. He continues to work with school data teams and school leaders to improve student performance. Dr. Spaulding also serves as a lead consultant with Z Score Inc. and can be contacted at DSpaulding@zscore.net.

John Falco, Ed.D. currently serves as Director/Faculty of The Institute for New Era Educational Leadership and Innovation at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. In addition to offering course work for New York State School Building Leader certification, The Institute provides professional development opportunities to educators throughout upstate New York.

Dr. Falco has served as Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent in upstate New York, as well as Deputy Superintendent, Principal, and teacher in New York City.

During his career, Dr. Falco has led collaborations that secured over $40 million in federal and state grants. He has served as a principal investigator for a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant and co-principal investigator for a National Science Foundation grant. He has partnered with C-Span and Time Warner on cable-in-the-classroom pilot projects.

Dr. Falco serves as co-editor of K-12 Video-conferencing: Best Practices and Trends (2007). He has contributed chapters to edited books and authored and co-authored research papers and articles in the area of technology. He has presented at conferences including the National Summit for Technology, Washington, D.C.; New York State Council of School Superintendents’ conferences; New York State School Boards conferences; and New York State Reading Association conferences. Dr. Falco’s work has been featured in District Administrator and Education Week, as well as PBS television and Tech Valley Report .

Dr. Falco has won several awards, including being honored by the New York State Computer and Technology Educators as Outstanding Superintendent for 2000–2001. In addition, he was honored as Outstanding Superintendent on the floor of the New York State Assembly and by resolution in the New York State Senate. Dr. Falco received the Malinda Myers Education Partnerships Award from the Schenectady NAACP in 2004. The New York City Council recognized Dr. Falco as Outstanding Citizen in 1992 and on January 6, 2006 was named in his honor by p