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.