Teacher Action Research Initiative

Started in the spring of 2012, the MERC Action Research Initiative works with teachers and other school staff from the MERC school divisions to develop practitioner-led research projects that address the everyday problems of classrooms and schools. The MERC Action Research Initiative has four goals:

1. To train K-12 teachers from the Richmond Region in the theory and methods of action research.
2. To support teachers as they design and conduct action research projects in their classrooms and schools.
3. To help with the dissemination of action research within schools, divisions and the broader educational research community.
4. To build a network of teacher action researchers across the region.

Through the 2016-2017 School Year, a cohort of teachers from the Richmond Region participated in an action research program coordinated by MERC and sponsored by the Metropolitan Educational Research Alliance (META). For the program the teachers participated in three-day summer workshop designed (1) to introduce participants to the theory and practice of teacher action research, (2) to develop some skills in research design and methods, and (3) to pose initial questions for investigation. Through the course of the school year, each teacher conducted multiple cycles of action research inquiry in his or her classroom or school, and then met four times bi-monthly to share the results of their projects and receive critical peer review. As a culminating activity, most of the members of the cohort wrote a short summary of their projects and participated in an interview with the program facilitators about their work. In the interviews the teachers discuss the problem addressed by the research, the questions posed, the methods of data collection and analysis, and the key findings. They also address both the opportunities and the challenges of conducting research in a school setting. We encourage you to review these action research profiles and consider the value of teacher research both as a form of professional development and as a way of building practice-based professional knowledge for teaching.

Teachers as Researchers

Check out the work by our Teacher Action Researchers by reading their research summaries and listening to their interviews!

Other Cohort 6 Teacher Action Researchers

Amber DeLauri – Martin Luther King Middle School, Richmond City Public Schools

Laurie Messer – Carver College and Career Academy, Chesterfield County Public Schools

Patricia Woodberry – Chimborazo Elementary, Fox Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, and Swansboro Elementary, Richmond City Public Schools

Program Facilitators

Jesse Senechal – VCU, MERC

Jenny Smith – Quioccasin Middle School, Henrico County Public Schools

For more about action research, check out Episode 4 of Abstract, which features a conversation with Margaret, Marivic, Liza, Jesse, and Jenny about this program!

• Mission
• History
• Members
• Governance
• Team