The Action of Action Research: An Analysis of Action Research Projects Completed in the UNT/Denton ISD PDS

Abstract

Action research is the inquiry part of a Professional Development School (PDS) model that all UNT elementary education, pre-service teacher/student interns complete with mentor teachers during student teaching. Approximately 300 projects were completed across four years in the Denton PDS. The 300 projects were examined to determine the trends in action research. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, there were no hypotheses, only assumptions that there were trends. The method used to examine the projects employed qualitative analysis techniques using the electronic program NVIVO. The results indicated that there were trends in questions that tended toward behavioral and transition issues in the classroom. The major research conclusion is that the Denton PDS follows the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) PDS Standards in the categories of “At Standard” and “Leading” in the area of action research implementation.