Teachers advise each other and comment on the progress of individual efforts. Engaging in collaborative action research helps eliminate the isolation that has long characterized teaching, as it promotes professional dialogue and thus, creates a more professional culture in schools. With the newly acquired autonomy, comes new responsibilities. Teachers, local schools, and school districts are accountable to all stakeholders for the policies, programs, and practices they implement. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to be much more deliberate in documenting and evaluating their efforts.
Action research is one means to that end.
Action research assists practitioners and other stakeholders in identifying the needs, assessing the development processes, and evaluating the outcomes of the changes they define, design, and implement. Action research provides teachers with the opportunity to gain knowledge and skill in research methods and applications and to become more aware of the options and possibilities for change. Teachers engaging in action research attend more carefully to their methods, their perceptions and understandings, and their whole approach to the teaching process. As teachers engage in action research they are increasing their understanding of the schooling process. What they are learning will have great impact on what happens in classrooms, schools, and districts in the future.