Draft Action Research Plan Progress Report

Targeting Motivators in Minority Males to Improve Repeated Behaviors Seen in the Classroom

            A need for improvement was noticed when dissecting data presented at a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports meeting. When looking at the data it was noted that there were several students of the same ethnicity and gender repeatedly receiving office referrals due to the same behaviors. Of the overall office referrals for the months of August through March of the 2010-2011 school years, forty five percent were from the same group of minority male students. Of the male students eight are of the African American ethnicity and seven are of the Hispanic ethnicity. The behaviors that were recorded by the teacher on the office referral were as follows: repeated refusal, language used against a student or faculty member, repeated breaking of classroom rules. Several students were also simultaneously receiving bus referrals as well.

            When looking at the data collected from the months of August through March of the 2010-2011 school years, there is a change that needs to occur. Interventions and specified motivators need to be put in place for these male minority students, so that they can be able to achieve the most success possible on their individual levels. A plan will be put in place to collect data, interview specific students, put interventions into place, look at resulting data, and make a decision based on the data on how to implement the successful interventions for all African American and Hispanic male students.

            Although I could not locate a recent article, I did find research done in Orange County, California that validates the action research that I am conducting. The research done was based on the lack of interest in learning seen in African American and Hispanic male students. The study lists issues seen in the curriculum, school leadership issues, and motivational issues seen within the students. All of the issues listed above have suggested best practices and resources available for each.       

           The vision was communicated to teachers, paraprofessionals, and administration through a staff meeting. They were given the details of the action research and how the plan was going to be carried out. Parents, students, and community members were going to be told of the research after it has been completed so that specific data can be included in a meaningful manner. Once the project has been completed and the data has been compiled, they will be notified during a Title I night, and through the school newsletter.

           Most of the project’s responsibility was held by me. There was data e-mailed to me by the assistant principal, however there weren’t any other materials needed. I chose the students that were the “repeat offenders”, spoke with their teachers about times to interview them, and did the interviewing through the course of two weeks. I used my planning time, which matched to the students recess time, to meet with the students and discuss their motivators and their behaviors that have been recorded. I was sure to not interrupt their learning by pulling them from class at inopportune times. Their learning comes first, especially with this set of students.

            A timeline was followed that was developed at the beginning of the project. I received the data and analyzed it, to aid in choosing the students that would be interviewed. I met with the teachers of the students and decided upon the best days and times to interview them during their recess time. I then developed a list of questions to ask all students, to keep the data from being skewed. There were a few students who did not want to communicate at first, but after some casual conversation for them to feel more comfortable they opened up and started answering the questions.

              This action research project will serve the needs of all male minority students within this campus and surrounding areas. Many of the schools in surrounding areas are struggling with the same issues seen on my campus, therefore they could benefit from seeing the results of this action research project. By finding the root of the behaviors and finding motivators and interventions to aid in correcting those behaviors, the students and teachers, both, can focus more on the learning that should be going on in the classroom and not so much on the negative behaviors.

                                                                     

References

Strategies for improving instruction for black and hispanic male students. (2008, June). Retrieved from https://www.ocps.net/cs/services/initiatives/Documents/Strategies Document.pdf

Action Research Plan

Action Planning
Goal: Find the root problems behind the behaviors of minority male students and target motivators that would encourage these behaviors to change.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Retrieve data from office referrals to target the minority males that have re-occurring behavioral issues.	Lauren Fair get data from Mary Dawn Murr.	April 1, 2011	Data from office referrals for minority males.	Identify the students who have the re-occurring behaviors and set up interviews with them.
Interview students that were identified with the re-occurring behavior issues.	Lauren Fair	April 6, 2011-April 8, 2011	Students, set of predetermined questions	Review the data received from the interview to determine what the issues may be that are causing these behaviors.
Develop a list of motivators and interventions to try based on the interviews	Lauren Fair	April 8, 2011-April 10, 2011	Interview results	Look at interview data and come up with motivators and interventions that may work for these students.
Implement the motivators and interventions.	Lauren Fair, classroom teachers of students.	April 18, 2011- May 18, 2011	Motivators and Interventions in place in the classroom.	After a few weeks see if the students’ behaviors are improving, staying the same, or declining.

Always a Learner

After watching the interview with Dr. Timothy Chargois I really understood why action research is so important to education. He said that "a teacher should always be learning...if you are green you're growing, if you're brown you're dying". Action research is a great way to always be learning. Each year will always present new problems within a campus or a classroom. By doing action research a teacher or administrator will constantly be learning and changing things in a positive way.

Action Research

I have learned many new things about action research that will help me as an educator and administrator. Using action research as an educator in the classroom will help my students be more successful because I will be studying my mistakes. By reflecting on my own teaching strategies I will improve my teaching and therefore increase the success rate of my students. By applying action research in the classroom it will improve both behavior and academic issues. By focusing on the main issues that are found within the classroom one at a time, it will surely lead to more success.

Using action research as an administrator will help improve the campus as a whole. In an administrative position, one could encourage their staff members to use action research to ensure taking steps in the right direction of improving each and every teacher. Also, it is great personal development that every teacher should be involved in each year, not a onetime occurrence.  As an administrator I could not only encourage my staff to use this tool, but also use it myself when tackling campus wide issues. Administrators can use this tool to address and solve issues such as behavior and academic problems that are school wide.

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