Status Update

My Action Research is successfully in progress. As of today, I have accomplished the following activities from my “Action Planning Template” and I am right on schedule.

Create Discipline Committee	Me and interested Staff	May 13, 2013	Discuss with staff	Discipline committee will help with collecting data and implementing Peace Builder curriculum.
Analyze staff survey	Discipline Committee  and staff	May 8, 2013	Staff survey	We will determine what other necessary actions will be needed. (Reteach students, reteach noon aids, etc.)
Create power point to show appropriate behaviors and rules for the playground.	Discipline Committee	August 2013	Rules, expectation, power point	Lead student expectations assembly and show power point presentation on student behavior.
Staff will continue to collect and log student citations beginning next school year 2013-14. I will collect and document citations.	Staff Me	Daily End of every month	Citations	I will determine if there is any evidence that student citations are decreasing. I document progress.

There were a few speed bumps made though out the course of my action research project.  For one, the first collection of student citations (to establish a baseline for the average amount of student citation collected in a month) was not an accurate collection because many teachers commented that the noon-aids just stopped giving them out because they either ran out of citations or “they just gave up” since it was towards the end of the year. While the citations collected did not give us a true picture of our school status, the data however, provided us  with what behaviors/rules that many students violated. This data helped us to focus on the specific behaviors/rules that we wanted to address for the following school year.

At the beginning of this school year, my principal and I collaborated and came up with ways to increase positive student behavior. We established three school-wide rules: 1. Be safe. 2. Be respectful. 3. Be responsible. From there we wanted to implement student assemblies each month to focus and teach each school rule per month. In August, our focus was Safety. I helped create a PowerPoint presentation to show correct and incorrect behavior on the playground, cafeteria, and classroom. This presentation helped students to understand what is expected of student safety.

In addition to each monthly assembly, we acknowledge students who exemplified correct student behavior. These students were also named the “Student of the Month.” We also wanted to encourage positive behavior by giving out “praise notes”. When a student was “caught doing the right thing and/or following the school rules” they received a praise note. At the end of the week, each class picked one student who received a praise note to get a prize from the principal. We also partnered with an “Anti-Bullying” program to teach students how to respond to bullying, how to not become a victim of bullying, and ways to foster positive relationships within the school campus. So far, we have been getting awesome results.

Reflections - Highlights of EDLD 5301

One of the many highlights of this course was having us work very closely with our administrator during the action research plan. This being my first year working at my school site, I have established a deeper relationship with my principal because of this program and specifically with this course because we now share a common goal to accomplish. By establishing a common goal together, I feel that I have also become an advocate for the staff and the students. I definitely enjoyed working on the actual action research plan because it was somewhat of an affirmation that I have a plan and this will eventually get done. It also showed me how dedicated my principal was to helping me accomplish my project, not just for me, but for the whole school. Just last week, she came back from a principal meeting excited about what the district will be doing next year that was related to my action research topic.

Another highlight of this course was the use of blogs. This was my first time creating and using a blog to share my thoughts and read up on others. I find this tool useful because it allowed me to learn from others and receive feedback from my classmates in order that I can improve my action plan.

The greatest highlight from this course was our instructor. Through our web conferences, Professor Abshire made it clear that she was here to help in any way that she could. She was timely in her responses and answered all the questions that I had.

I am very pleased with this course. Not only have I learned a great deal from the readings, our professor, and my classmates, but I can now look forward to an action research plan that will benefit and improve my school in so many ways.

Let the Action Research begin!

We are off to a great start!

Last Wednesday, I was able to accomplish the first 3 activities in my action research plan. I lead my first staff meeting (just the first 15 minutes) to introduce my action research  project and explain that I will be collecting student citations for the month. Afterwards, I conducted the initial survey with all staff members. While the staff was filling out their survey, I handed out my letters and provided an envelope with a reporting form to collect all citations for the month. I almost had 100% participation on the survey except that the absent staff members did not fill out the survey. 

The staff seem to have received me well and  I was quite pleased with the experience. The original plan was to have my principal introduce me, but because she was stuck in another meeting, I had to start the meeting all by myself. I was so nervous! 

My next step is to evaluate the surveys and determine what action steps will follow.

**I also made a few slight changes to my action research plan. Some of the dates were moved up and the percent increase on my goal was not determined. Dates were changed because of time and my principal said that we couldn't make a SMART goal until we established a baseline from the initial collection of student citations at the end of May.**

Action Planning Template
Goal: Reduce the number of citations by __% that students receive on the playground.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Draft and send letters to staff about action research.	Me	April 29, 2013	Letter	Staff will be aware of action research topic and expectations.
Survey staff about “Peace Builders” and their current discipline plan.	Me and Staff	May 1, 2013 (Staff Meeting)	Survey	We will evaluate survey to determine effective or non-effective discipline plans and if “Peace Builders” should be used or revised.
Staff will collect all citations received by students from the school site aids and log citations to establish baseline.	Staff	1 month (May 1 – 17, 2013)	All citations received	Student citations will be categorized by misbehavior to determine specific behavior problems that need to be addressed
Create Discipline Committee	Me and interested Staff	May 13, 2013	Discuss with staff	Discipline committee will help with collecting data and implementing Peace Builder curriculum.
Analyze staff survey	Discipline Committee  and staff	May 8, 2013	Staff survey	We will determine what other necessary actions will be needed. (Reteach students, reteach noon aids, etc.)
Create power point to show appropriate behaviors and rules for the playground.	Discipline Committee	August 2013	Rules, expectation, power point	Lead student expectations assembly and show power point presentation on student behavior.
Lead Peace Builder/ Discipline  Committee	Staff	August 2013 – May 2014 (weekly/monthly)	Peace Builder curriculum	-Research and read literature reviews on effective ways to decrease misbehaviors on the playground.  -Plan and implement Peace Builder curriculum and hold assemblies to spot light student “Peace Builders”
Staff will continue to collect and log student citations beginning next school year 2013-14. I will collect and document citations.	Staff Me	Daily End of every month	Citations	I will determine if there is any evidence that student citations are decreasing. I document progress.
Final Collection of Student Citations.	Staff, Discipline Committee	May 25, 2014	Citations	I will analyze data and determine if we met our goal.

Draft - Action Research Plan

In what ways can we decrease disciplinary and behavioral problems on the playground?
Goal: Reduce the number of citations by 90% that students receive on the playground.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Draft and send letters to staff about action research.	Me	April 29, 2013	Letter	Staff will be aware of action research topic and expectations.
Survey staff about “Peace Builders” and their current discipline plan.	Me and Staff	May 1, 2013 (Staff Meeting)	Survey	We will evaluate survey to determine effective or non-effective discipline plans and if “Peace Builders” should be used or revised.
Create Discipline Committee	Me and interested Staff	May 6, 2013	Discuss with staff	Discipline committee will help with collecting data and implementing Peace Builder curriculum.
Staff will collect all citations received by students from the noon aids and log citations to establish baseline.	Staff	1 month (May 1 – 25, 2013)	All citations received	Student citations will be categorized by misbehavior to determine specific behavior problems that need to be addressed
Analyze staff survey	Discipline Committee  and staff	May 8, 2013	Staff survey	We will determine what other necessary actions will be needed. (Reteach students, reteach noon aids, etc.)
Create power point to show appropriate behaviors and rules for the playground.	Discipline Committee	August 2013	Rules, expectation, power point	Lead student expectations assembly and show power point presentation on student behavior.
Lead Peace Builder/ Discipline  Committee	Staff	August 2013 – May 2014 (weekly/monthly)	Peace Builder curriculum	-Research and read literature reviews on effective ways to decrease misbehaviors on the playground.  -Plan and implement Peace Builder curriculum and hold assemblies to spot light student “Peace Builders”
Staff will continue to collect and log student citations beginning next school year 2013-14. I will collect and document citations.	Staff Me	Daily End of every month	Citations	I will determine if there is any evidence that student citations are decreasing. I document progress.
Final Collection of Student Citations.	Staff, Discipline Committee	May 25, 2014	Citations	I will analyze data and determine if we met our goal.

Revised Action Research Summary - (I made some changes)

After several meetings with my principal, it was clear that student behavioral and disciplinary problems are a huge issue at our school. Initially, my principal and I wanted to research ways to decrease student behaviors and find a correlation to staffs’ discipline plan and implementation of current “Peace Builder” program. We realized that our huge problem was too much to take on and that we needed to narrow our action research. We wanted to look specifically at behavioral and disciplinary problems on the playground, since much of the problems occur when the students are on the playground.

My new action research question is: In what ways can we decrease student disciplinary problems and misbehavior on the playground? Other questions that will be considered: What are teachers doing to teach and encourage correct behavior on the playground? What do teachers do when students’ misbehavior arise and what are teachers doing to prevent student disciplinary problems and misbehavior  Although our school has adopted a program called “Peace Builders” to address some of these issues, the question is - are we fully implementing it? Is this program effective at our school? 

Beginning the Journey - First Steps

Action Research Question: In what ways can we decrease student disciplinary problems and misbehaviors that occur in and out of the classroom? 

Description of the context or setting of my study – My school site has the highest elementary suspension rate in the district. Every day, on top of the endless to-do list, my principal is bombarded with student disciplinary problems and referral forms. Teachers are worn out at the end of the day trying to deal with students who constantly misbehave in the classroom. Not one day passes without one of our paraprofessionals writing up a citation. Parents are either in denial that their child does anything wrong and refuse to take responsibility for their child’s actions or they just don’t know what to do to help their child. I would like to turn to action research to gain insight into the following question: In what ways can we decrease student disciplinary problems and misbehaviors that occur in and out of the classroom?  Other questions that will be considered: How are teachers actually managing their classrooms and what are they doing to teach and encourage correct behavior? What do they do when students’ misbehaviors arise and what are teachers doing to prevent student disciplinary problems and misbehaviors? Although our school has adopted a program called “Peace Builders” to address some of these issues, the question is - are we fully implementing it? Is this program effective at our school?

Target population – My target population will be a group of students from each grade level (K-5) who repeatedly receive referrals, citations, or has been suspended, as well as the teachers and principal.

How will I select my sample? - I will select my sample by reviewing students’ previous referrals, citations, and/or suspensions.

A brief description of how I will conduct my research – I would like to begin my action research by gathering data from students who are repeat offenders. I will look at frequency of behavioral problems, description of offense, and personal background. I will then take a survey by asking teachers the following questions stated from my inquiry. (How are teachers actually managing their classrooms and what are they doing to teach and encourage correct behavior? What do they do when students’ misbehaviors arise and what are teachers doing to prevent student disciplinary problems and misbehaviors? Are they implementing “Peace Builders”? If not, why not?) From there, I hope to see the correlation between student data vs. the teachers’ response. 

Lessons Learned from the Scholars

After listening to 3 interviews on Action Research by Johnn Briseno, Timothy Chargois, and Kirk Lewis, I learned how beneficial action research is to any administrator, teacher, and most importantly to students. I learned the importance of really looking into data and facts to make decisions that would impact the classroom. When action research is used, an administrator can make positive change with their students’ performance and success in mind.  As a result, all stakeholders can take ownership of their work and specifically address issues that pertain to their own school.