Assess
How will you know if your plan is successful? What are some strategies for assessing the impact of the changes you are making? How do those changes align with your school's goals, and how will you make that alignment visible?
Evidence-Based Practice
Evidence-based practice (EBP) focuses on what works – what specific practices have an impact on student learning. Researchers seek out the best available evidence of effective practice that has an impact on student learning. From an evidence-based practice point of view, the importance of local action research by practitioners becomes increasingly important.
Action Research
In education, action research refers to a range of research methods to address questions that teachers might have about specific practices and help them to develop practical solutions and strategies. Action research is based in practice and not separate from it. Action research is undertaken by practitioners such as teachers or librarians rather than external experts. Practitioners facing a problem in practice or trying to improve practice by exploring a new technique employ an action research approach to integrate learning and continuous improvement into their practice.
Do we really matter? Do our actions improve student outcomes and have an impact on their learning and their lives? Do the strategies that we use in the library program have a positive influence on how well the school reaches is goals? These questions should guide what data we gather, how we analyze that data, and how we share the results of our research. The CSL Research Toolkit offers the guidance you need to assess the changes you are making.
Innovation is at the heart of strategic thinking. With innovation comes accountability: the process of articulating goals, evaluating the success of new strategies, reporting on our progress, and using that information to inform future plans.