TARGET

Newsletter
March, 2011

Our next meeting will take place:

To Do:

•Register for the TARGET

Saturday, April 2 Symposium by clicking here
•Email Erica Sprules to let her know if
9 am - 12 pm you will be attending the meeting on
April 2
Toronto
Crescent School
2365 Bayview Avenue
•Fill in the member profile form and
email it to Erica Sprules (before you
Action Research
leave for the March Break)
Group for
We will be spending the meeting preparing
for the TARGET Symposium on April 11,
Excellence
2011. Please bring all necessary materials
(research, notes, data etc.) so that your
time can be spent productively finishing
TARGET in Teaching
the last touches of your poster board or
preparing for a round-table discussion. In
addition, please feel free to join us, even if
Erica Sprules
you will not be partaking in the
Symposium, or if you would simply like to Chair - Steering Committee
learn more about the action research Leading and supporting
process. esprules@sterlinghall.com practitioners and
educators through the
For more information, contact: 416-785-3410 ext. 315 action research process
Erica Sprules (esprules@sterlinghall.com)
 Keynote Summary
We were delighted to welcome Maria Yau
(Research Department, TDSB) to our
meeting on February 24. Below is a
summary of her presentation.
• Action research is completed to inform
our practices to improve student
learning.
• The benefits include identifying the
needs of our students, understanding
how students respond or receive
interventions, and assessing the
TARGET
effectiveness of new practices.
Steps involved in action research:
• Defining the scope of inquiry
• Formulating research questions
• Literature review
• Data collection methods and design:
• Focus group, individual interview,
survey questionnaire, checklist, test
results, reflective journals
• Take into consideration:
• Ethical/confidentiality issues
• Parental consent issues
• Data collection
• Data inputting
• Interview transcription
• Coding open-ended responses
• Reporting, presenting, publications
TARGET
Symposium Details
The Toronto Action Research Group for
Excellence in Teaching
cordially invites you to a celebration of
action research and professional
development.
Monday, April 11, 2011
There are two types of research methods 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
used for action research:
• Quantitative:
Keynote: Dr. Shelley Stagg-Peterson
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Various funders and other
administrative connections need to Toronto
"Teachers learning together through action
research"
see the ʻnumbersʼ to determine
levels of support for programs Action
Poster Research
presentations and round table
• Well-defined issues, very discussion with educator-researchers to
follow
structured, some background
research already exists Group for
Please RSVP online.
• Numerical data
PreparingExcellence
• Qualitative: posters:
• Questions are very open-ended
in
• A templateTeaching
will be sent out to all
TARGET members
• Very little background research
exists
• You will be given time (and direction)
• Includes dialogues, observations, to work on your posters at the April 2
writing, documents etc. meeting
• Mixed Methods: Leading and supporting
• Posters arepractitioners
due by theandend of the
• It is best to combine components of meeting oneducators
April 2through the
both types of research
action research process