Action Research at work....Week 2

I am a Catholic priest, ordained in 1990; and in my two decades in the priesthood, I have always been associated with Catholic schools with the exception of three of those years.  Now as pastor of St. Mary's, established in 1824,  in downtown Victoria, TX, I find myself without the care of a school since my assignment in 2010.  Next door to us is Nazareth Academy (NA), established in 1866 by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament.  I am excited to reacquaint myself with a new school community.  One's senses are overwhelmed with the bells, the schoolyard, the smell of the hallways, the history and all those things that define the culture of the school and make up the community of NA.  Of the three research action projects that I will undertake, the second is most exciting to me because it deals with the school culture and its long history in the community.  The other two are just as important, one addresses on-going professional development and the other dealing with low Math scores in the 6th grade class.   The obvious benefits of doing action research are not only to address the challenges but to celebrate the successes.