Calls for reform have suggested that classroom practice can best be changed by teachers who engage in their own research. This interpretive study examines the process of action research and how it contributes to the professional development of a first-grade teacher. The purpose of the study was to explore the research process experienced by the teacher as she examined whether portfolios could be used as an effective means for facilitating and assessing young children's development of science process skills. Data sources included a journal kept by the teacher, documents produced by the teacher and students as part of the portfolio implementation process, hand-written records of teacher's informal interviews with students, and anecdotal records from research team meetings during the study. Data analysis was designed to explore how the teacher's classroom practices and thinking evolved as she engaged in action research and attempted to solve the problems associated with deciding what to assess and how to implement portfolio assessment. We also examined the factors that supported the teacher's learning and change as she progressed through the research process. Data are presented in the form of four assertions that clarify how the action research process was influenced by various personal and contextual factors. Implications address factors that facilitated the teacher as researcher, and how this research project, initiated by the teacher, affected her professional development and professional life.

The journey started at a 2016 meeting of the college’s Learning Resources Committee, which I chair as Library Director, A student representative casually commented that our Library looked “dated”.  Not that we actually WERE dated, we have electronic resources, 24/7 remote access, printers, scanners, wireless, and a state-of-the-art Library Management System.  However, through the eyes of our young student, the Library looked “like something from the 1970s.”  Anyone who has lived through that decade’s will know that was not meant as a compliment.  The student’s criticism prompted the Dean of Academic Affairs, who sat in on the meeting, to ask when the Library had had its last “facelift.”   That was an easy one to answer - as far as I knew…never.  And I’ve been here over 20 years. Just like that, a renovation was born.  How hard could this be?  I would query the students on what a suitable update might look like, get a budget, buy some new furniture, and go back to the business of being a librarian rather than an interior designer.  Spoiler alert:  not so fast.

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