Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

Title:  Is the Raines High School Working Lunch discipline consequence meeting the needs of our learners?

Needs Assessment:  The population of Raines High School is 90% at risk.  Many students are on free or reduced lunch.  Many of them have failed many classes before coming to us and their motivation seems to lack in areas that involve school work.  Students are assigned a Working Lunch for various reasons.  Working Lunch was originally designed as a way for students to make up the time missed from class if they were tardy.  The students would have to purchase a sack lunch, eat in the ISS room during lunch quietly, and complete an assignment from their class.  Students now receive Working Lunch for not using their class time appropriately and also for classroom behavior issues.  Our excellent group of Paraprofessionals collects the students 10-15 minutes prior to Working Lunch.  This in essence removes these learners from our classrooms 10-15 minutes prior to the conclusion of instruction.  Some of the students who are on the Working Lunch list however are the very students that need to be in class and cannot afford to miss any extra time.  The research plan would consist of collecting data on the # of students per day that attend Working Lunch, the names of students that are habitual attendees, the grades of habitual attendees in 1st period and 4th period (right before lunch), and discipline referrals for the habitual attendees.  Based off of the data, a decision can be made as to whether Working Lunch is meeting the needs of our learners or if new consequences need to be determined in order to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all our learners.  All teachers in the school will be involved in this study.  Full teacher buy in will be needed as we switch from one discipline procedure to a new procedure.  All teachers will be asked to attend a meeting where all the data will be presented to them on the current failures of our discipline procedure.  In order to gain full buy in from our teachers the data will need to be presented in regards to our student population to frame the context of our decision to move forward with a new discipline plan.  Data that will collected includes the following: 

A log of all Working Lunch students from 2011-2012

A copy of discipline referrals that led to Working Lunch attendance in 2011-2012

A copy of attendance for the 2011-2012 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2011-2012 Working Lunch attendees from 1st and 4th period

Time during the school day to meet with groups of students to discuss a problem/solution process

Full cooperation of staff to enact new discipline procedure during the 2012-2013 school year

A log of students who were consequenced under the new discipline plan from 2012-2013

A copy of all discipline referrals that led to consequences under new discipline plan in 2012-2013

A copy of attendance for the 2012-2013 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2012-2013 students consequenced under the new discipline plan from 1st and 4th period

Student anecdotal data, to be collected throughout the process

Objectives and Vision:  After the conclusion of the study we are hoping to see an improvement in passing grades for periods 1 and 3 of our students that are habitual working lunch attendees.  The percent failures of working lunch attendees for 1^st and 3^rd period for the 2011-2012 school year will be compared to the percent failures of working lunch attendees for 1^st and 3^rd period for the 2012-2013 school year.  We are hoping to see a gradual change over the first year of 30 percent less of the students failing than the previous year. 

Review of Literature and Action Research Strategy: 

The following websites have been used to collect information on their Lunch Detention procedures and success rate:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Behavior-Learning-School-1553/2010/7/Alternatives-lunch-detention.htm

http://www.lwsd.org/school/rhms/For-Parents/Pages/DisciplineProgram.aspx

http://www.salidamiddleschool.com/detentionpolicy.htm

https://sites.google.com/a/aps.edu/john-adams-middle-school/support-staff/lunch-detention

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-161730609.html

http://www.k12academics.com/education-policy/school-punishment/detention

http://www.rbschool.org/index.php?/middleschoolcourses

http://www.jamesmonroe.aps.edu/discipline_policy.htm

In the decision making process there were teachers, administrators, lunch personnel, and para-professionals involved.  After viewing the passing and failing data for 1^st and 3^rd period habitual working lunch attendees we came to the realization that pulling students from 3^rd period 10-15 minutes early was actually harming them and their grades in 3^rd period.  Also, the only luxury that students were losing by attending working lunch was the social time.  Students attending working lunch were still able to get the same lunch that anyone not attending working lunch could have.  To curb 1^st period tardies students in working lunch were given only 1 option for lunch, a dry chicken sandwich, but were given their choice of milk.  Lunches would be pre-purchased in the morning and would be delivered to the working lunch room.  Students would not need to leave class from 3^rd period now 10-15 minutes early.  3^rd period teachers would now be responsible for delivering students to working lunch.

Articulating the Vision: 

Student – Working lunch was sold to students as a natural consequence.  If you were tardy, you would make the time up at working lunch.  If you were behind on lunch, we would provide you additional time to complete assignments.  If you were not using instructional time appropriately, we would provide additional time to make up lost time.  The idea of 1 lunch option being offered was not well received by students.  However, they did not have to only have 1 choice if they handled their business and were not assigned working lunch.

Staff – Staff were presented the data regarding student tardies, working lunch attendance #’s, and passing rates in 1^st period and 3^rd period.  The staff understood that they would be responsible for transporting students to working lunch on their lunch break.  There were some grumblings about this but 4 teachers decided to team up and rotate days.  Each teacher would be responsible for transporting all 4 teachers students at least once per week. 

Parents – Parents like the idea of working lunch because they are no longer responsible for having to arrange transportation afterschool for detention or on weekends.  The consequence is immediate with working lunch.  There have been no parent complaints about the working lunch program.

Manage the Organization:  The para-professionals that run working lunch keep a running list of who attends each day and for what reason.  This data that is collected is sent to me at the end of each 6-week grading period as well as at the end of each semester.

The counselor has gotten grades to me for students failing 1^st and 3^rd period courses for the semester for the 2011-1012 school year.

The staff are now responsible for delivering students to working lunch during their lunch break each day. 

The lunch personnel are responsible for making sack lunches with dry chicken sandwiches for each student that attends working lunch that would like to purchase a lunch.  The students are given 3 choices of milk, regular, chocolate, or strawberry.

When I was developing this plan the students learning and safety were my priorities.  Each student has to be given a time for lunch each day.  Each student has to be given the option of their choice for milk.  For some students this may be one of their only meals for the day so to me this dealt with safety.  Also, if students are consistently failing 1^st and 3^rd period, we needed to find a way to remedy this problem.  The plan that is being used helps to enhance all student learning throughout the school. 

There were no additional monies or materials that was needed to fund this plan.  For the plan to work the plan needed the assistance from all teachers, para-professionals, administrators, counselors, and lunch personnel.

 Manage Operations:  Based on the needs assessment the Action Research Plan was designed.  Our goal was to curb morning tardies by changing our Working Lunch policy and ensuring that student’s grades in 3^rd period before working lunch increased.  I undertook most of this task but assigned duties to the counselor, para-professionals, and teachers.  Consensus was built with the staff when the data on tardies and students failing 1^st and 3^rd period was at first presented to small group of decision makers then when it was presented to the entire staff. 

Respond to Community Interests and Needs:  Raines High School is built upon ensuring that students are employable for the future.  Being present at work and on time is a key to employability.  Our community needs students that are trustworthy and responsible.  By curbing students tardies with our Working Lunch program we are hoping that students in the future will transfer what they have learned here into the future. 

Many of our students are ED.  This program is still providing them with a meal at lunch because this may be their last meal of the day.  If students are on free and reduced lunch their pay rate is still honored. 

EDLD 5326 Week 5 update

Action Research Project Title:  Working Lunch Refined

Number of AR Project Documented Hours: At least 50

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):

My action research project calls for a look and change into the Working Lunch program we have at our school.  Last year any student that was tardy, was not working in class, or had behavioral issues was given a working lunch.  Working lunch is a time where students can have additional time to makeup the lost time in class.  Students were pulled from their 3rd period classroom 5-10 minutes before lunch and they were taken downstairs to buy a lunch.  They were then taken to the ISS room where they sat for a quiet lunch and worked on any missing, late, or unfinished classwork.  The issue that I saw with this plan was that students who are generally failing courses are the ones that are late or with behavior issues.  So why are they being removed 5-10 minutes early when they are the students that should be investing more time in the classroom?  I collected data from those habitually attending Working Lunch last year and their passing/failing rate for 3rd period.  What I found was correct.  These students were failing these courses.

 

This year we have implemented a new way of doing things.  We have made Working Lunch less desirable by using 3 new working lunch administrators and changing the place where working lunch is held.  The new room has no windows and students are designated a spot each day.  Also they are no longer given a choice of what they eat.  They are given the opportunity to buy the least bought meal (Chicken Sandwich) but are given a choice of what type of milk (required by law).  The students also don’t get to leave class early from 3rd period.  They are walked by their 3rd period teachers to the working lunch room at the end of 3rd period.  This plan just went into full effect as of Monday September 24th.  Results will not be available until January of 2013.  Not only are we trying to curb grades with this plan, but also curb behavior and tardiness. 

 

I have put more than 50 hours into gathering data and looking into student course success.  I have also worked in the working lunch room on occasion to see how things run and have tried to make it run more smoothly. 

Week 5 Reflection

I'm in my last week of my research class.  I have many to things to be thankful for that I have learned.  I have learned the steps of the research process.  I have also learned the ways to critique my research as I am going through the process to ensure it is authentic.  I have met with my supervisor and the research has been approved and I have already begun the data collection process.

Supervisor Conference and Consensus

After meeting with my principal we have come up with the following action research plan for the end of the 2011-12 school year to be completed during the 2012-13 school year.  The principal is fully onboard with this plan of action.  She suggested that I start right away collecting the data on discipline this year, as our discipline files are archived at the end of the school year.  At that point I will not be able to access this information.  She also told me that I may not have full buy in from our staff.  This is one of the issues that I am worried about and have spoke about in our discussion board.  She suggested that I try and meet with the staff and present the data to them so they fully understand why we are making the decision that we are making.  She still warned that full buy in may not be reached.  My principal agreed that students should be given a voice in this process.  When she’s spoken to the students that are currently having to serve Working Lunch, they do not understand what the point of this discipline procedure is.  When she’s asked them to come up with a new plan, they do not know and say that they’ll just attend Working Lunch.  I believe if we use the Delphi method, we may be able to reach a consensus from the students on a new discipline plan.  The principal told me to step back and not just go through the motions when doing my assignments.  Take a look at how the students or teachers react when meeting with them.  These can be added to my leadership toolbox for future purposes.  She said that sometimes when a leader makes a decision, or a suggestion, a ripple effect often occurs.  You can predict some events, but others that won’t even cross your mind arise.

In the end the principal agreed that this is a very good research topic.  She is here to support me with whatever I need.  There were no changes that were made or additions that needed to be added.  Below is the final plan.

Goals and objects/outcomes of the research investigation

To determine if Working Lunch is meeting the needs of all Raines High School students as a discipline consequence.

Activities designed to achieve the objectives

Meeting with the principal to discuss data that can be provided on the following areas:

-       # of students per day that attend Working Lunch

-       the names of students that are habitual attendees

-       the grades of habitual attendees in 1st period and 3rd period (right before lunch)

-       discipline referrals for the habitual attendees

-       collection of student anecdotal data

Meeting with a group of students to discuss a problem/solution process in which their voice will help shape the discipline/consequence structure at Raines High School

Enacting a new discipline/consequence structure at Raines High School and collecting data on this.

3.     Resources and research tools needed for data gathering

A log of all Working Lunch students from 2011-2012

A copy of discipline referrals that led to Working Lunch attendance in 2011-2012

A copy of attendance for the 2011-2012 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2011-2012 Working Lunch attendees from 1^st and 3rd period

Time during the school day to meet with groups of students to discuss a problem/solution process

Full cooperation of staff to enact new discipline procedure during the 2012-2013 school year

A log of students who were consequenced under the new discipline plan from 2012-2013

A copy of all discipline referrals that led to consequences under new discipline plan in 2012-2013

A copy of attendance for the 2012-2013 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2012-2013 students consequenced under the new discipline plan from 1^st and 4rd period

Student anecdotal data, to be collected throughout the process

4.     Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities

Gathering data starts immediately (March 2012)

Student meetings needs to occur before the end of the school year (June 2012)

Implementation of new discipline procedure needs to be agreed upon by the staff by the start of the 2012-2013 school year (August 2012)

Implementation of new discipline procedure needs to be discussed with students on the first day of school (September 2012)

Data needs to be collected throughout the process (September 2012-ongoing 2013)

Final analysis (May 2013)

5.     Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan

Jonathon Gutierrez – Masters student

Becky Tucker – Principal

Alys Shorter – Assistant Principal

Raines High School Staff

Raines High School Students

6.     Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives

Collecting data as discussed in #3

Student anecdotal data

7.     Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study

Success will be measured by tardies, attendance, grades, # of discipline referrals, promotion to the “auto” program and possibly graduate success.   

Developing an Action Research Plan

1.     Goals and objects/outcomes of the research investigation

To determine if Working Lunch is meeting the needs of all Raines High School students as a discipline consequence.

2.     Activities designed to achieve the objectives

Meeting with the principal to discuss data that can be provided on the following areas:

-       # of students per day that attend Working Lunch

-       the names of students that are habitual attendees

-       the grades of habitual attendees in 1st period and 4th period (right before lunch)

-       discipline referrals for the habitual attendees

-       collection of student anecdotal data

Meeting with a group of students to discuss a problem/solution process in which their voice will help shape the discipline/consequence structure at Raines High School

Enacting a new discipline/consequence structure at Raines High School and collecting data on this.

3.     Resources and research tools needed for data gathering

A log of all Working Lunch students from 2011-2012

A copy of discipline referrals that led to Working Lunch attendance in 2011-2012

A copy of attendance for the 2011-2012 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2011-2012 Working Lunch attendees from 1^st and 4^th period

Time during the school day to meet with groups of students to discuss a problem/solution process

Full cooperation of staff to enact new discipline procedure during the 2012-2013 school year

A log of students who were consequenced under the new discipline plan from 2012-2013

A copy of all discipline referrals that led to consequences under new discipline plan in 2012-2013

A copy of attendance for the 2012-2013 school year (looking at tardies)

Grades for 2012-2013 students consequenced under the new discipline plan from 1^st and 4^th period

Student anecdotal data, to be collected throughout the process

4.     Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities

Gathering data starts immediately (March 2012)

Student meetings needs to occur before the end of the school year (June 2012)

Implementation of new discipline procedure needs to be agreed upon by the staff by the start of the 2012-2013 school year (August 2012)

Implementation of new discipline procedure needs to be discussed with students on the first day of school (September 2012)

Data needs to be collected throughout the process (September 2012-ongoing 2013)

Final analysis (May 2013)

5.     Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan

Jonathon Gutierrez – Masters student

Becky Tucker – Principal

Alys Shorter – Assistant Principal

Raines High School Staff

Raines High School Students

6.     Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives

Collecting data as discussed in #3

Student anecdotal data

7.     Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study

Success will be measured by tardies, attendance, grades, # of discipline referrals, promotion to the “auto” program and possibly graduate success.

Week 3 - What I've learned

One of the best ways to get your information out is to present your information orally.  Usually throughout the year many hours are devoted to professional learning days.  This time can be used to get your information out.  Teachers from around the district can sign up to hear the information that you have gathered on the research topic you have worked on.  Also, major education conferences are always looking for speakers to present their information and findings.  My school just participated in the Educational SXSW conference last week in regards to using ProjectShare from Region 4 in the classroom with students.

Also, writing your research findings and getting them published is a great way to get your information out.  Most administrators and continuing education students subscribe to journals and sites where information is published.  This is a great way to get your research and studies out to an even bigger number of people.

Lastly, providing the information from your action research plan can be used to make a change on your campus.  Sharing the information that you have found can be provided to colleagues on your campus so they can enact the same process.  They can further add to the research if they follow the same process that you started.  This is what I plan on doing with my Action Research Project.  The information that I gather will be used to enact a new discipline/consequence plan school wide.  I’m hoping that my colleagues will buy in to the new approach, and in turn provide the data necessary for my project.  At the end of the study I will provide the overall data collect from the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years.  In the end a decision will be made based off of this data.

Information will be provided along the way.  The first piece of information that will be provided to the staff and students is background information.  Working Lunch was an idea that originally worked, but has failed to meet the needs of all our learners

The second piece of information that will be provided to the staff is sharing how the design process will proceed.  I will share with them all forms of data that will be collected including, the # of students per day that attend Working Lunch, the names of students that are habitual attendees, the grades of habitual attendees in 1st period and 4th period (right before lunch), and discipline referrals for the habitual attendees.

The third piece of information that will be provided to the staff is sharing the learning from the research.  After the 2-year study is completed all the data will be presented to the staff.  An argument will be built to support my findings by providing evidence in the form of data. 

The fourth and final piece of information that will be provided to the staff is that of concluding thoughts.  This will be the answer to the original question that was used for the research, “Is the Raines High School Working Lunch discipline consequence meeting the needs of our learners?”  More questions may be generated after the concluding thoughts, but this process tends to be cyclical.  Future studies can be launched from these new questions generated.

Week 2 - What I've learned

I have met with my site supervisor to begin narrowing down my action research project.  I didn't think she'd be open to at least 1 topic, but she is fully interested in all 3.  It will be hard narrowing down which one I'll pick.

This week I also learned that there are 9 different areas that action research falls into.  They are as follows:

1.     Staff development

2.     Curriculum development

3.     Individual teacher(s)

4.     Individual student(s)

5.     School culture/community

6.     Leadership

7.     Management

8.     School performance

9.     Social justice or equity issues

I also was able to find examples for each of these categories.  I believe my 3 action research topics fall into School culture/community and school performance.

3 Possible Action Research Topics

Topic #1:  The purpose of my action research is to find what types of motivators are successful in motivating at-risk learners on a 90% at-risk campus to succeed in their coursework. The students at this school have seen a lot of failures in their 10-15 years of education. Different motivators including, parent involvement, rewards, peer tutoring, adult mentoring, and discipline will be examined to determine which motivator produces the greatest amount of success in a student’s semester. Success will be measured by tardies, attendance, grades, and possibly graduate success.

Topic #2:  The purpose of my action research is to determine if a change in the schedule at Raines High School will have an effect on student learning and success.  The plan would entail a change of the schedule including cutting the advisory period in half, moving the advisory period to the beginning of the day, shortening each class by 10 minutes, and adding and additional period to the day.  Since there are a number of tardies during 1^st period placing advisory at the beginning of the day will mean students are not missing out on key topics in their core content courses.  Adding an additional period on to the day will mean that students are have the ability to pick up additional content courses in areas that they may struggle.  If they struggle in science, they may have 2 science courses they are working on concurrently.  If the student is struggling with a certain core subject area on their standardized test, a remediation period can be added in this slot to all core content teachers.  The need of the remediation periods can be researched ahead of the start of the semester to determine the number of students that need the remediation and the number of remediation courses that will need to be offered.

1^st period – Advisory – 7:35 – 8:00

2^nd period – 8:03 – 9:13

3^rd period – 9:16 – 10:26

4^th period – 10:29 – 11:40

Lunch – 11:40 – 12:10

5^th period – 12:13 – 1:23

6^th period – 1:26 - 2:35

Topic #3:  The purpose of my action research is to determine whether our current discipline consequence (Working Lunch) is meeting the needs of our learners.  Students are assigned a Working Lunch for various reasons.  Working Lunch was originally designed as a way for students to make up the time missed from class if they were tardy.  The students would have to purchase a sack lunch, eat in the ISS room during lunch quietly, and complete an assignment from their class.  Students now receive Working Lunch for not using their class time appropriately and also for classroom behavior issues.  Our excellent group of Paraprofessionals collect the students 10-15 minutes prior to Working Lunch.  This in essence removes these learners from our classrooms 10-15 minutes prior to the conclusion of instruction.  Some of the students who are on the Working Lunch list however are the very students that need to be in class and cannot afford to miss any extra time.  The research plan would consist of collecting data on the # of students per day that attend Working Lunch, the names of students that are habitual attendees, the grades of habitual attendees in 1^st period and 4^th period (right before lunch), and discipline referrals for the habitual attendees.  Based off of the data, a decision can be made as to whether Working Lunch is meeting the needs of our learners or if new consequences need to be determined in order to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all our learners.

How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs

Blogs can be used as a means of collaboration.  The information that an educational leader, teacher, or district administrator possesses can be shared to an infinite number of people in any area of the world.  This wealth of knowledge does not need to be confined to just 1 person, it needs to be shared for all to see.  In the world we live in today people sometimes don't have the amount of time it takes to read an entire journal or article.  The Blog allows for a short snippet of information that can then be further researched if the reading party is interested.

What I have learned about Action Research Plans

Inquiry is a powerful tool used to help principals learn while at the same time help to improve their schools.  Administrators use it to gain deeper insight into their role as an administrator and their job as leader in improving their schools.  Administrative inquiry is a methodical process.  Each question asked and each piece of data or information collected is very calculated.  The data collected in this process provides a better understanding for the administrator and ultimately helps shape his/her decision which at this point should be more successful.  Administrators are life long learners and their staff development should focus on helping students succeed and achieve.  Through administrative inquiry, this is often possible.


Many times in our schools we are subjected to mass produced district, state, and even nation wide staff development.  The individuals that come in to our schools do not know us as teachers, do not know our students, and do not know our community and needs.  The information they provide us is based off research that someone else has done.  This is traditional educational research.  Action research differs in that the people actually involved in the day-to-day of the school are involved.  These individuals design the plan themselves, collect the data themselves, and interpret the data based off of the original question posed.  Knowledge is gained based off of the realities of the environment.  Outside researchers are not involved in this process as they are in traditional educational research.  The individuals involved in the action research ultimately research the process which tends to make them feel more accountable which in turn facilitates change.


There are many benefits to using an action research plan as a teacher.  Teachers study their own students learning allowing them to reflect on their current teaching practices and continue to improve student learning.  Action research is data driven and brings about change based on these results.  Teachers can reflect based off of the results of their action research plan.  Teachers using an action research plan will continually be motivated to improve their teaching based off of the results of their students.


The area that I am most interested in researching is that of student motivation. Working in an alternative, 90% at risk campus, I would like to know what motivates our students. Is it rewards? Is it discipline? Is it a close bond with an adult? Is it parent involvement? Is it dreams of a better and brighter future? Many of the students that I work with are very apathetic towards anything in regards to their education. Note that I said many. Not all students are like this. I'd like to tap into what currently motivates these few students to achieve and achieve at a high level. Concurrently, I'd like to explore what will motivate the students that are not currently motivated. I'd like to put some of my ideas in motion as well as some of the students ideas in motion and compare the short and long term effects of these motivators.