Action research: professional development to help support and retain early career teachers

This article analyzes how participation in teacher-led, semester-long, action research projects influences early career teacher (fewer than three years of teaching experience) perceptions of support and learning. All teachers at an urban, newly developed, small high school participated in action research projects as a result of the administrations' attempts to modify the school's approach to professional development to better meet the teachers' needs. Two cycles of action research projects were implemented and teachers provided feedback through an end-of-project evaluation. Data were also collected through participant observation and informal interviews. Results show that teacher-led action research projects as a professional development structure contribute to the development of a supportive professional culture, feelings of context-specific support, and feelings of empowerment and being overwhelmed in an urban school staffed primarily with early career teachers.