Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify to what degree elementary principals use action learning strategies for continual school improvement. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to identify and describe the effective action learning strategies, perceived by elementary site principals as most important. Finally, it was the purpose of this study to identify and describe the action learning strategies that principals perceive positively contribute to continual efforts toward developing a learning organization. Methodology. The subjects of this study were 31 elementary school principals. Using a mixed-method, descriptive study structure, subjects participated in an online survey producing quantitative results, and qualitative data gathered from 3 follow-up telephone interviews. Findings. The 2 action learning strategies elementary school principals used most were (a) groups, teams, and collaboration, and (b) data collection and analysis. Overall, principals identified those 2 strategies as important for continuous improvement efforts, supporting organizational learning, and to support the development of a learning organization. Principals scored the 11 action learning strategies higher in improvement efforts, clearly identifying a disconnect between the principals' view of important strategies and the extent of their use. The need for implementation time arose from interviews and open-ended survey responses. Finally, 4 action learning strategies were consistently identified as the lowest: (a) learning cycles, (b) passionate sponsorship, (c) applied group learning, and (d) presentation and recommendations. Conclusions. All 11 action learning strategies are critical to elementary school improvement. Time to appropriately allow groups to review and analyze data and determine plans of action to improve instruction is critical. Principals lack understanding of some components of action learning. Principals realize the importance of all 11 strategies but do not apply their use. Principals are not leading staff to problem identification, hindering focused improvement efforts. Recommendations. Many questions arose, and more research could be done in several areas from this study. Case studies could observe action learning through its development process. A broader study, similar to this one, could be replicated at the high school or university levels. A study could be completed correlating student achievement scores with the implementation of action learning.