Action research is inquiry or research focused on efforts to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. It is designed and conducted by individual practitioners who analyze the data to improve their own practice. The team approach, called collaborative inquiry, can be doneby teams of colleagues.

Action research can generate genuine and sustained improvements in schools. It gives educators new opportunities to reflect on and assess their teaching; to explore and test new ideas, methods, and materials; to assess how effective the new approaches were; to share feedback with fellow team members; and to make decisions about which new approaches to include in the team's curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans. (NCREL)

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