I have uploaded a summary document that outlines KVEC and REL’s collaboration on the Action Research Process.

Beginning in 2013, the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) and partners across southeastern Kentucky established the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative (ARI) through a federal Race to the Top–District grant. ARI goals include increasing instructional innovation and empowering teachers to be professionals who support student learning. To encourage classroom innovation, ARI offers teachers the opportunity to apply for “innovation mini-grants” of $1,000 each year. In their applications, teachers must specify a problem of practice in their classroom, describe the innovation they will implement to address the problem, and detail plans for conducting action research to document the outcomes of the innovation. Teachers who are awarded grants must commit to presenting their innovation plans at a Promising Practices Summit in the fall, and to share results at an Action Research Summit in the spring.
From 2014 through 2016, Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Appalachia partnered with KVEC and ARI to provide technical assistance that would build the capacity of KVEC staff, local ARI partners, and teachers across southeastern Kentucky to systematically incorporate action research into their practice. Teachers receiving innovation mini-grants were the initial target audience for the capacity-building, but workshops and materials developed through this partnership were available to educators throughout the region. This memorandum summarizes the capacity-building process and describes the products that were developed for KVEC during the technical assistance.