School Leadership through Action Research

School Leadership Through Action Research is designed to help educators bridge the gap between educational research and its practical application in schools and classrooms. In it, educators see how to use education research in practical ways toward school improvement, and to bring professional literature and education research into the classroom to guide improvement planning and professional practice for student learning. Included is a CD that supplements the book to help users save time and get access to additional materials, electronic resources, sample planning and research planning guides, electronic blank forms, and additional guides and format they can use to make the work easier to do, while learning the action research process.

Joyce P. Logan, Ed.D., is an emeritus associate professor of Educational Leadership Studies at the College of Education, University of Kentucky (UK). Dr. Logan’s primary responsibilities in this department included courses in leadership for school problem solving (action research) and leadership for human resources in schools. Other courses taught covered computer applications in educational administration, leadership for program improvement, and doctoral courses for leadership in educational organizations. She coordinated principal preparation portfolio reviews for the department and served on master’s and doctoral committees, chairing or co-chairing 15 committees for doctoral graduates. At UK she also taught in the departments of vocational education and curriculum and instruction prior to joining the Department of Educational Leadership Studies.

Dr. Logan has extensive experience as an educator. She was a high school teacher, state department of education regional coordinator for high schools and community colleges in ten counties of Kentucky, principal of a two-year health occupations postsecondary school, and division director in the Kentucky Department of Education. She also served as office head for technical schools for the Kentucky Cabinet for Workforce Development before becoming a university teacher educator.

School evaluation and accreditation have been major areas of expertise. Dr. Logan has been chair and an evaluation team member on numerous accreditation teams in career and technical programs, military training sites, and high schools and elementary schools throughout Kentucky, the United States, and Canada. Over a ten-year span, she served as a field coordinator for the American Council of Education for review of courses taught at military bases. She also reviewed high school and postsecondary school courses for the National Home Study Council, and chaired evaluation teams for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). She served as a member and chair of the Commission on Occupational Education when SACS began accrediting career and technical schools and also served two terms as a member of the SACS Board of Trustees. As part of her responsibilities at UK, she served two years as Kentucky State Director of the SACS Commission on Secondary and Middle Schools.

Dr. Logan has published peer-reviewed articles on school leadership and career and technical education in national and international journals. She has served as editor, contributing author, and co-author for books published by South-western Publishing Company and Cengage. She has made presentations at state, national, and international (London and Israel) conferences. She administered funded grants while serving as principal of the two-year postsecondary health technology school and as a regional coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Education. She served as principal or co-investigator of over $300,000 of grants as university faculty. Through grants, she has planned and conducted professional development activities for high school teachers and administrators, principals of technical schools, and adult education curriculum development for Kentucky and West Virginia.

Dr. Logan earned her doctorate degree in administrative leadership from Vanderbilt University. She completed a master-of-arts degree in secondary education and bachelor-of-science degree in business education at Murray State University.

Brief Table of Contents

Module 1: Using Action Research to Improve Student Achievement

Chapter 1: Action Research in School Settings

Chapter 2: A Knowledge Base for Action Research

Module 2: Identifying, Collecting, and Analyzing Research Data

Chapter 3: Data-informed Decision Making

Chapter 4: Data Organization, Summarization, and Analysis

Module 3: Summarizing Qualitative Data and Completing an Action Research

Report and Presentation

Chapter 5: Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data

Document Coding

Chapter 6: Recommendations, Reports, and Reflection

Module 4: Bridging Research with Practice

Chapter 7: Action Research as Part of Professional Practice

Research Contributions to School Practice

Chapter 8: Research, Reflection, and Professional Growth

Example Action Research Reports

Glossary of Research Terms

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