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Classroom Action Research

Cultivating Student Engagement in the Classroom: Empowering Learners to Achieve Excellence in Jesuit Schools.

The Center for Ignatian Pedagogy conducts research aimed at deepening learning and rooting student experience meaningfully in our Jesuit roots. Our faculty harnesses the generative power of the IPP (Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm) and the core principles of Ignatian Spirituality to elevate student learning experiences.

Informed by emerging research and best practices in the science of teaching and learning and Mind, Brain, Education, the Center for Ignatian Pedagogy’s ongoing research empowers educators and students to partner in action research projects rooted in the dynamic, real-life contexts of adolescent boys.

The iterative and mindful phases of action research mirror those of the IPP and provides an intentional and practical approach to classroom research that our teachers can implement to elevate their pedagogical and instructional practices. The iterative and mindful phases of action research mirror those of the IPP and provides an intentional and practical approach to classroom research that our teachers can implement to elevate their pedagogical and instructional practices.

Ultimately, our goal is to cultivate learning experiences for our students that nurture to excellence their God-given gifts and talents. 

 

 

Current Research

The Center for Ignatian Pedagogy conducts a number of classroom action research projects each year that aim to deepen our understanding of high-impact instructional practices, improve student learning, and foster the spiritual and cognitive formation of adolescent boys. Our studies are co-designed by student and faculty research fellows so that students and faculty can accompany one another in addressing relevant problems of practice in 21st-century Catholic education. Our current research examines research-based and MBE-informed instructional strategies through an Ignatian lens. Research projects for the current academic year are listed below.

Our 2025-26 Research Projects Include:

  • “Ensuring a Place at the Table: Piloting Universal Design for Learning Across the Curriculum and Boosting Academic Success in Catholic Schools"
    • This project is a collaboration between teachers in our high school and The Welsh Academy with our Walton Center staff. Teachers and Walton Center staff are collaborating to design, implement, and evaluate Universal Design for Learning in our school context.
  • "Understanding Perceptions, Behaviors, and Institutional Contexts for Academic Integrity at Saint Ignatius High School"
    • This project is a 100% student-led study designed to identify the nuanced institutional contexts and cultures that influence students' and teachers' behaviors and mindsets related to academic integrity.

 

Past Research

The Center for Ignatian Pedagogy conducts a number of classroom action research projects each year that aim to deepen our understanding of high-impact instructional practices, improve student learning, and foster the spiritual and cognitive formation of adolescent boys. Our studies are co-designed by student and faculty research fellows so that students and faculty can accompany one another in addressing relevant problems of practice in 21st-century Catholic education. All research studies implemented through the CIP examine research-based and MBE-informed instructional strategies through an Ignatian lens. All past research projects conducted by the CIP are listed below.

Past Projects Include:

  • "Examining the Impact of Teacher Interest on Students' Individual Interest, Engagement, and Achievement"
  • “Dynamic Feedback: Effective Feedback Cycles Across the Disciplines”
  • "Improving Feedback Quality and Student Responsiveness with Targeted Feedback Loops"
  • “Deepening Student Engagement in Academic Contexts: Student and Faculty Perspectives”
  • “Evaluating the Impact of Retrieval Practice and Spacing in a Rotating Snake Schedule”
  • “Retrieval and Spacing in High-Achieving Students’ Study Habits”
  • “Rigor and Cura Personalis in Jesuit schools”

 

 

Institutional Review Board

Saint Ignatius High School is committed to ensuring that its research projects are methodologically sound and adhere to the highest ethical standards of protections for human subjects. To ensure compliance with federal and state regulations related to research with human subjects, all research projects are reviewed by our Institutional Review Board (IRB). 

Institutional Review Board:

Saint Ignatius High School is committed to ensuring that its research projects are methodologically sound and adhere to the highest ethical standards of protections for human subjects. To ensure compliance with federal and state regulations related to research with human subjects, all research projects are reviewed by our Institutional Review Board (IRB). 

IRB Members include:

  • Mr. Guy Savastano, science teacher 
  • Dr. Karen Nestor, educational researcher and emeritus member of the Saint Ignatius Board of Regents
  • Dr. Anthony Fior, Principal at Saint Ignatius High School
  • Dr. Ryan Zayac, Dean at University of North Alabama and Psychology Professor
  • Ms. Melissa Lessick, school counselor

 

 

Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

The Center for Ignatian Pedagogy (CIP), an institutional action research center and learning lab that studies the cognitive, affective, and behavioral growth and wellness of adolescent boys, inspires deeper teaching and learning through action-based research.