Picking an Action Research Topic

Initially I chose to do my action research project about motivating minority males. However, I felt this topic was a bit too broad for my first action research project, so I decided to choose a topic that my principal suggested. The topic is "What effect does afterschool tutoring have on the improvement of standardized testing". Our school earned a Recognized rating this past year, but our goal is Exemplary. Beside RtI, afterschool tutoring is our only other intervention to help our at-risk students academically. I have wondered many times in the past years if the effects of after-school tutoring are significant and worth the effort. My opinion is yes, but I think that the tutoring results vary according to several factors. I want to see if time of day changes the effects of the tutoring. I also want to look at the results of our minority males, in particular, because this is the subgroup that has been performing lowest on our standardized tests.