Teacher Action Research With a Social Justice Focus: A Path to Community Change

• In Event: Collaborative and Community Action Research: Working Together for Change

Abstract

This three-year qualitative study represents a multi-layered approach to examining teacher action research, through the lens of the faculty researcher, as well as two teacher researchers, who were graduate students and teacher-leaders in their own schools. This study examines how a 6-credit action research course series can support social justice aims, guide teachers in developing voices for change, and create new forums for “public scholarship.” In the initial years of the program, teachers tended to avoid action research projects that involved more global changes beyond their individual classrooms. By the third year, over 50% of the teachers actively engaged their communities in the change process. A small percentage of teachers encountered explicit institutional resistance to their research.

Authors

• Michelle Y. Szpara, Cabrini College

• Carolyn Pencheff, Pequea Valley School District

• Sheila Harrison, Eastern Lancaster County School District