Action Research Project Process Overview

District Vision: The district's schools will maintain an engaging environment conducive to student learning and employee effectiveness.
School Vision: Smith Middle School staff will implement behavioral strategies to reduce the number of discipline incidents related to inappropriate physical contact in the 2009-10 school year.
Research Goal: Will the implementation of a proactive and positive school-wide behavior management program have an impact on the number of student discipline referrals?

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION –
Through collaboration with the principal, administrative team, and key stakeholders, the site-based decision making committee, decided that we have a behavior problem on our campus and the number of referrals written each year is a concern. The district was starting schools as PBIS sites for the following year if they had the student and teacher buy in using results from a survey. The action research is to determine if the implementation of the PBIS program in the school will decrease the number of discipline referral written.
I will be developing, reviewing, revising, and completing my draft action research plan in the week four assignments.
All of the hours I am spending working on my action research project are hours I may record as campus supervised internship hours.

2. ANALYZING DATA –
We will use discipline referral reports from the previous year and current school year to identify problem areas. We will appoint a data analysis person for our PBIS team. We will also use district data and trainings for developing the PBIS program on our campus. We will use the data to determine the six areas of concern (where the discipline is happening).
I will find it helpful to revisit this step throughout my action research project.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING –
The initial data gathering is likely to lead to additional questions and concerns and in effect cause the staff and committee to dig deeper into the understanding of the pros and cons of the PBIS program and selecting the six areas of concerns to create the matrix. Once the areas of concern are determined, staff will determine a school-wide positive reward system. All parts of the PBIS program. The data collection for referral information is very simple in our district. We have a program called cognos, which can run a report on almost any type of information. The referral data is entered into a program and a report is then sent to the PBIS campus coordinator (chair).
It will be substantially complete in week four assignment and I will find it helpful to revisit this step throughout my action research project.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION –
You begin to ask some reflective questions regarding choices and consequences of particular data. Every month the committee will meet for 1 hour to review the data for the previous month and determine the three most areas referral are written and the least. Once the areas with the most referrals are determined, we will reflect on data and ask the questions: What could be the reason for the referral numbers being so high?
What steps do we already have in the matrix?
What ideas we could see to help decrease the number of referrals?
Will our initiative cost money and/or do we have the money in the budget to support the initiative?
Do the student/teachers need additional training on matrix?
Do we have the resources needed to train the teachers and students?
Step four continues throughout my action research project.

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS –
After digging deeper and posing the reflective questions, I will begin to formulate a more definite solution, and begin to consider the programmatic impact of the solutions. I will gain others opinions of the pros and cons of the program with the survey in December. I will use the survey half way through the year to be able to state the skills and resources that I think are essential to the success of the project implementation. The more pitfalls I can identify before implementing the solution, the better the project.
Step five continues throughout my action research project.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION –
I am ready to launch my action research project but I must be able to answer the following questions:
A. Am I clear on what I am attempting to solve (your research questions)?
B. Have I adequately addressed the skills and resources questions?
C. Have I established a collaborative approach to the issue?
D. Are my timelines realistic?
E. Do I have a reasonable plan to monitor the project?
F. Do I have a reasonable plan for determining the level of success – how will I evaluate if the plan is effective?
G. How will I revise and improve the plan based on monitoring and evaluation?
It will be emphasized in week four and five assignments. It will be re-evaluated throughout my action research project.

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT –I will use the committees to assist me with my action research project. I will develop a written plan of action.I will use Template 7.1 to create my action plan. I will monitor the project (formative evaluation) monthly and prepare a summary report (summative evaluation) of the results of your action research project addressing the implementation of positive behavior school-wide program on the campus.
Step seven will be reviewed in week four and five assignments. It will be implemented along with my internship program after I have completed the course.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT-
Learn to maintain the positive aspects of the action research project. The things that improved the learning, cultural, and climate should be appreciated and maintained over time. For example, if my research revealed the implementation of a positive behavior program to lower the number of discipline referral, I would want to share the results with others on my campus and in my school district. I would also want to share the results with my online colleagues. The campus should try to apply the same skills and knowledge used to gain the improvement in discipline referral with positive behavior management to other areas of the school, classroom management and participate in professional development.
Step eight will be reviewed during week four and five assignments. I will address it in depth during the months following the completion of my action research project.