Teachers are the single most important element in helping every child succeed in school. Action Research for Teacher Candidates has been written in the hopes of equipping teachers-in-training with the skills needed for action research: a process that leads to focused, effective, and responsive strategies that help students succeed. Robert P. Pelton is also the author of Making Classroom Inquiry Work: Techniques for Effective Action Research, which is designed to serve those who wish to delve deeper into their action research or as leaders in teacher research and reflective practice. These two books serve as both a perfect training curriculum for pre-service teachers at the undergraduate or graduate level and as an excellent vehicle for professional development for in-service teachers.

"Pelton (Stevenson Univ.), an educator with research interests in action research and professional development, has edited a coherent, useful book for teachers and teacher educators interested in action research. Pelton offers a needed addition to scholarship on action research in education. The book's strength is that it provides a methodology for preservice and in-service teachers to gather classroom data while navigating the multitude of obligations and strictures that characterize precollege education. Contributors offer suggestions and examples of how to design research projects for various grade levels, ranging from early childhood to high school. The focus is on classroom settings in the US, but contributed chapters do accentuate the diversity of contemporary US classrooms. Contributed chapters exemplify strong social science research practices, even harnessing behavioral science methodology. Essays discuss ways action research can serve as intervention in, and even prevention of, adverse educational and pedagogical outcomes. This balanced collection introduces teachers to the history, context, usefulness, and methods of action research for teachers. Current and pre-service teachers interested in any of these areas will find the book useful. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - CHOICE