Mission:

The mission of the Center for Community and School Action Research (CCSAR) is to inform educational practice and policy, through action and investigative research activities, thereby promoting educational improvement, resulting in optimal student development and high levels of achievement.

Goals:                                                                 

The Goals of CCSAR are to:

1. provide opportunities for SCSU professors and students to engage in action research activities in school settings as teaching and learning experiences, and service projects to schools.
2. explore and examine issues related to the improvement of teaching, learning, safety and health in schools.
3. conduct collaborative research on topics and interventions related to the healthy physical, psychosocial and academic development of students in schools.
4. conduct research on school climate and context factors that influence students' development and learning.
5. support the improvement of schools and communities through collaborative interventions and evaluations based on documented need.
6. disseminate research findings and share conceptual ideas on educational and social practices and policies to a wide audience, through publications, presentations, seminars, workshops and other methods.

Structure and Function:
                                                       

A. Governance: The Center for Community and School Action Research (CCSAR) has a director. He is a full professor and member of the faculty in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology. An Advisory Board provides input, guidance and advice to the Director. The board is chaired by the Dean of the School of Education at SCSU, and includes representatives from various departments at SCSU, the New Haven Public Schools, Yale Child Study Center, Waterbury Public Schools and community agencies, and other area school Chairs, the Dean of the School of Education, The Vice President for Academic Affairs, SCSU, The Associate Dean of the School of Medicine at Yale University and the Director of the Yale University Child Study Center, with rotational chairmanship, provides direction and policy advice to the Director.

B. Operations: The Center conducts, promotes and supports a number of activities in six interrelated areas. The areas of activity are: 1.) Teaching 2.) Interventions 3.) Action Research 4.) Investigative Research 5.) Publications 6.) Presentations

1. Teaching: The Center plans to offer courses in action research, and qualitative and quantitative methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Short courses in areas of high interest will also be offered through the Center. Students, supported and mentored by professors, will also participate in school-based intervention and action research evaluation projects as part of their course work and field experiences. The Center will also serve as a resource and support for students in their research.
2. Interventions: The Center supports school-based interventions and related evaluations undertaken by SCSU professors and colleagues in school districts and schools when these activities are consistent with its mission and goals.
3. Action Research: The Center encourages, supports, and conducts intervention-based action research. Programs and interventions in schools involving faculty and students in various departments at SCSU, constitute the basis for action research activities. Some of these activities involve the New Haven Public Schools and may be done in collaboration with faculty at the Yale Child Study Center. The Center is currently involved in a multi-year evaluation of the Safe Schools and Healthy Students Initiative in Waterbury and in evaluating the State of Connecticut Department of Education Early Literacy Success Program. These activities provide documentation of program implementation and outcomes and feed results back into the implementation cycle to improve and enhance the interventions and increase their effectiveness.
4. Investigative Research: In addition to action research activities, the Center conducts and supports relevant research projects that are designed to address questions pertinent to the mission and goals of the Center. These research activities are designed to generate knowledge about the relationship between certain variables of interest and to test certain hypotheses. The results of these studies lead to the development of specific interventions.
5. Publications: The Center supports the preparation and submission of manuscripts for publication in professional peer-review journals and other sources. The Center has established relationships with major book publishers with a view to exploring the feasibility of book contracts for members of faculty. The Center will also publish position papers on critical issues and a quarterly newsletter highlighting important work being done by faculty, students and affiliates. The Center also plans to establish a resource library that will house relevant and significant publications.
6. Presentations: The Center conducts and support presentations by students and faculty at major national and regional professional conferences. The Center also sponsors or co-sponsors symposia, seminars and workshops on critical issues related to educational practice and policies, counseling and school psychology, children's health and development and school reform and improvement. The Center also sponsors annual student and faculty research poster sessions during which the works of students and faculty are shared in poster format and reviewed, critiqued and discussed by other students and faculty.