Action Research
Research for Action is a strong proponent of action research – a process in which RFA staff engage with groups who are not formally trained in research to help them understand and use research as a means of achieving their goals. This process involves:
- working with these groups to understand their concerns and frame appropriate research questions;
- figuring out how to collect the right kind of data;
- and helping them to look at the data to fully understand it and its implications for action.
RFA has engaged in numerous action research projects, working with students, parents, out-of-school youth, educators, community members, and program staff.
New Media, New Literacy: Learning from Youth in Philadelphia and Chester
Can you find a teenager today who doesn’t have a cell phone, iPod, laptop computer or digital camera? Teachers in classrooms everywhere are in a near-constant battle to pull students’ attention from gadgets – but they hold untapped potential as learning tools. What can we learn from students’ interest in technology and communication to enhance their literacy skills and improve their education? That was the question posed by Joslyn Young as she spent a year in residence at Research for Action as a Stoneleigh Junior Fellow studying the role of out-of-school media literacy and its effect on learning. Click here to access her portal of information on the role of media literacy and its effect on student learning.
Selected Projects
Southeastern Pennsylvania was selected as one of four sites for funding from Communities for Public Education Reform (CPER), a national philanthropic collaborative aimed at increasing student and parent power to affect school reform. CPER-funded groups seek to improve education for all students by building the power of low-income and minority communities to influence educational policies at the local and state levels. The funded groups include ACORN, Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, Good Schools Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Student Union, and Youth United for Change. RFA is providing technical assistance about how to incorporate research evidence into the coalition's campaigns. Two other groups -- Education Law Center and the Philadelphia Public School Notebook -- are also playing supportive roles. All of the funded groups are members of Philadelphia Cross City Campaign for School Reform, which serves as a forum for coordination. CPER-funded work will focus on two primary campaigns, one for school funding reform both statewide and locally and one for high school reform in Philadelphia.
YUC is a group of Philadelphia students organizing to change their high schools. RFA was asked to interview the students and adults with whom YUC worked closely and to create a summary of different perspectives on YUC so that YUC could use this information as it continued its work and planned for the future. RFA also provided YUC with technical assistance around research skills and assisted the students in writing research papers required for graduation. From this work, the researcher developed a Guide to facilitating action research for youth, which was created to aid youth activists and youth development organizations that are using research as a tool to engage youth in school reform and develop their leadership and literacy skills.
Taking Stock/Making Change was a collaboration between RFA and the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Urban Ethnography which supported study teams in five Philadelphia elementary and middle schools in their efforts to connect self-assessment to school restructuring. The self-study teams describe their work in a series of case studies that were disseminated to both local and national audiences. The project was funded as part of the Knight Foundation's Excellence in Education grants.
