Using Action Research and Provincial Test Results to Improve Student Learning, 6(20)

Abstract

During the 1999/2000 school year, seventeen elementary school teachers and five consultants, from two Ontario school boards, conducted action research based on the 1999 EQAO provincial test results for Grades 3 and 6 and used feedback/corrective action to improve those results. Paired with a “critical friend,” individual teachers analyzed their schools’ results and identified areas for improvement. They developed action research questions, investigated the questions in their own classrooms, collected data to evaluate the impact of their work, and recorded their investigations. The teachers’ own assessments and the 2000 EQAO test results indicated substantial success. Teachers began to see provincial test results as friendly data that schools can use to improve student learning and action research and feedback/corrective action as powerful methods to do so. The study contributes to understanding how provincial testing can be used to improve student learning and what constitutes effective teacher in-service education. It shows how professional teachers can play a leading role in school improvement by taking charge of their own professional learning.