Action Research: Are Teachers Finding Their Voice?

In this article I consider the various meanings of action research both historically and as it is currently manifested. In attempting to define action research and to use it for the diverse goals of teacher professionalization, improved knowledge, and social justice, university researchers have sometimes overlooked teachers' struggles with implementation and outside expectations. In particular, in action research efforts there is often a lack of teacher "voice," a term others have used metaphorically to describe women's ways of knowing. I draw parallels between this lack of voice and the "silencing" some researchers have witnessed in adolescent girls. I refer to a National Science Foundation project on enhancing teacher professionalism on which I worked and to my own struggle in guest editing this special issue for examples to support my claims.