Thursday, August 2, 2012

Action Research Plan Final.

Action Plan Template
Goal: To Understand The Benefits Of School Uniforms With Regards To Grades, Attendance, and Behavior.





Action Step(s)
Person(s) Responsible
Timeline: Start/End
Needed Resources
Evaluation
1. Gather research articles and books regarding the benefits of school uniforms with regards to grades, attendance, and behavior.
John Thomas
August 27th-2012/ December 21st 2012.
Articles, E-Books, Professional Literature.
Research paper to be written at the end of the project.
2. Obtain permission to hand out/ conduct survey on student benefit of school uniforms in 6th grade homeroom class and fill out at home.
John Thomas, Campus Principal.
August 20th-2012
Written permission from Campus Principal for research to take place.
N/A.
3. Obtain permission from parents of selected students (if necessary).
John Thomas, parents of involved students.
August 27th-2012/August 31st 2012.
Written permission from parents of students involved.
N/A.
4. Select 6th grade class sample.
John Thomas
August 27th-2012/August 31st 2012
Student survey
John Thomas
5. Monitor class sample assignment progress and compare/contrast to last year when students did not wear school uniforms.
John Thomas
August 27th-2012-December 21st, 2012.
Access to student grades from last year and first 5 months of this year.
Compare and contrast the assignment data, draw conclusions from the data.


6. Monitor class sample attendance progress and compare/contrast to last year when students did not wear school uniforms.


John Thomas/ Attendance officer.


August 27th-2012-December 21st, 2012.


Access to student attendance records from last year and first 5 months of this year.


Compare and contrast the attendance data, draw conclusions from the data.

7. Monitor class sample behavior progress and compare/contrast to last year when students did not wear school uniforms.
John Thomas/Assistant Principal.
August 27th, 2012-December 21st, 2012.
Access to student discipline referrals from last year and first 5 months of this year.
Compare and contrast the behavior data, draw conclusions from the data.
8. Interview 6th grade class sample.
John Thomas
December 3rd 2012/December21st 2012.
Participating students, interview questions to be determined.
John Thomas
9. Write research paper presenting the various bits of information stating the benefits of school uniforms gathered from August 27th, 2012 to December 21st 2012. Contrast research findings with 6th grade class student results and interview answers.
John Thomas
January 2013/May 2013.
Articles, E-Books, Professional Literature.
Student records of grades, behavior, attendance, and interview answers.
6th grade class sample results based on access to student records, in class observation, interview answers.
10. Present findings and 6th grade sample conclusions to Elementary School staff; make recommendations for how to promote school uniforms with the students for 2013 school year.
John Thomas
May/June 2013 staff meeting.
Research paper that discusses findings, 6th grade class sample conclusions.
Staff sign in sheet, question and answer session.







14 comments:

  1. Your plan looks good! You took it step by step. My only suggestion is to have a visual presentation and handout with the information from your findings for the staff. Great work!

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  2. Wow! I am very interested to see research showing how school uniforms can affect grades and attendance. I absolutely know how much uniforms affect behavior. This was something I longed for in a previous district that I worked in. It was a much needed "discipline" step to take. But, administrators were too afraid of backlash from the community. They never instituted it, even they they all agreed it would drastically improve many problems.

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  3. I would love for our district to require school uniforms. With your permission, I'd love to share your findings with my principal.

    Please follow my blog and leave me some feedback.

    http://causey-actionresearch.blogspot.com

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  4. Tiffani,

    Thats usually the problem. For us, the school board is the key that unlocks the doors. Get them on board, and the Principals won't have a leg to stand on.

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  5. I like Debra's idea of having a visual of your findings for the staff. You did a great job!

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  6. It seems that you have a great deal of student involvement vs. study of the student. I like that! It makes me think I may need to clarify my areas of student involvement that look like observation. Some sort of presentation would be nice for the visual learners who will be evaluating your project and findings. Good work! I look forward to hearing the results.

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  7. I think it might be interesting to find out what your school is most focused on changing: behavior, grades or attendance (since, in fact, I think they all have a relationship with each other anyway). I wonder also if you could somehow identify the severity of the misbehavior. I mean, you could have less referrals only because that one crazy teacher who wrote kids up for EVERYTHING finally retired. OR you could have more referrals only because they are being referred for being out of the new dress code. Just something to think about--with every new change comes a lot of push back.
    My blog is
    http://scrantonicity22.blogspot.com/ if you feel so inclined to comment.

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  8. Thanks guys!! I agree, visual aid or power point will help in the presentation. Will make sure to add it in!!

    Amanda, we do have some of "those" teachers in school that write up kids faster than a Texas Twister. Thanks for the tips!

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  9. When people hear "school uniforms", I think sometimes they conjure up pictures in their head of collared shirts, plaid skirts, and expensive "dress up" clothes that have to be ordered from a special company. School uniforms don't have to be any of those and can still fit the bill. Something simple like t-shirts with the school logo on them that come in several colors, solid color or khaki shorts are also very effective school uniforms and are affordable and easy to find. At the private school my daughters attended several years ago, they had the school t shirts available all year round in the "school store" and the khaki or blue cuffed shorts were also available or there was a "swap sale" twice a year held by the PTA in the cafeteria. The convenience as well as the price made this dress code easy to enforce with very little backlash from parents.

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  10. I am interested to see the effect on discipline. We don't have a lot of problems at my school with the way students dress, but we have a rule that their shirts must be tucked in. We have many problems with this. I can only imagine the problems we would have if we told the students they all had to wear the same thing.

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  11. I am interested in your results. Many administrators have moved to a uniform and/or standardized dress code as way of assuming control over the student body. At the elementary school level, I don't find uniforms/standardized dress to be reasonable as far as a way to curb discipline issues. Shirts are expected to be tucked in and that's okay with me. However, the older a student gets, I believe that following a uniform/standardized dress code is a good idea. At my son's high school, the principal instituted a standardized dress code. Students could wear a collared shirt with slacks/uniform pants or bottoms on Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, students could wear a collared shirt with blue jeans. This did not go over too well with the students and it was revised just this past year to where students were now able to wear a collared shirt with blue jeans every day. The students loved this and the discipline referrals for dress code violations dropped significantly. I would love to see how your research develops.

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  12. I thought Ms. Longoria's Action Research Adventures post was very interesting. I think uniforms can act as a way to show students how it's like in the real world. Sometimes it's necessary to dress a certain way to be treated a certain way when it comes to jobs and how you are perceived. As a business teacher I always tell students that they can act however they'd like and they may not be that type of person, but it's all about perception and if someone perceives them as a slacker or uneducated because of the way they dress or act, it's on them. I'm interested to see the results of your project!

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  13. Can not wait to see how this unfolds. Our district has gone back on forth many times on the issue of uniforms. As states above, our administrators believe it would alleviate discipline issues but are afraid of what the community might do. So once again, the school board wins and we do not have uniforms and lots of discipline issues, especially at middle and high school.

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