Becoming an Education Activist Through the Action Research Dissertation

From Ideas to Action

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2025.579

Keywords:

action research, secondary students, anxiety, DBT

Abstract

Watching Columbine unfold as a first-year teacher, I realized student mental health was more important than my English lessons. In subsequent years, I became increasingly worried about student anxiety exhibited in tears, outbursts, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and sadly, suicide. When I watched the murder of George Floyd occur blocks from where my most marginalized students lived, I finally knew I had to act. Completing my action research dissertation in the Education Doctorate program at the University of South Carolina-Columbia gave me frameworks to define problems, opportunities to research interventions, skills to both enact research protocols and pivot when needed, and insight to evaluate solutions. This process replaced my paralyzing worry with confidence to act. Now, when faced with problems, I can effectively investigate the issues, explore interventions, enact realistic solutions, assess outcomes, and make improvements. When educators use and refine research-based practices students are more likely to survive and thrive. 

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Published

2025-11-11

How to Cite

Hawley Cronin, E. (2025). Becoming an Education Activist Through the Action Research Dissertation: From Ideas to Action . Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 10(4), 39–45. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2025.579

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 4 (2025): EdD-Activism: The Dissertation in Practice and Beyond

Section

Themed- EdD-Activism: The Dissertation in Practice and Beyond

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Copyright (c) 2025 Erin Hawley Cronin

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