In 2006-2007 I did action research with a group of at-risk students using appreciative Inquiry. At the time I could not find any research that used AI with students. I was very happy with the results.
Thesis Involving Students in Authentic Research: Does Appreciative ...
I am Lecturer at at African Rural University(ARU). The institution 's philosophy and methodology is based on the creative orientation and It uses the visionary approach in its work. The main research methodology used is Participatory Action Research(PAR). In addition to that Appreciative Inquiry is also used at ARU.
However your question is requesting for high quality studies that used Appreciative Inquiry as a methdology in an educational study. for now I cannot refer you to any study of that nature.
You can also have a look at this website :
http://www.urdt.net/
In addition to that you also to look at a publication I uploaded recently on AI and rural transformation.