Draft Action Research Project Report

How successful has Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) been in improving the overall disciplinary environment of our campus since its implementation?

Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) is a behavior program that has been implemented in all schools district-side to define, teach, and implement strategies at the school wide level to encourage positive behavior and create a positive and safe school environment. The program was implemented to eliminate behavior issues in the classroom that adversely affected the instructional time. My research has focused primarily on students who repeatedly get in trouble due to behavior issues. The relevant data includes all students who get office referrals from Kindergarten to 5^th grade. I have compared and combined data to look for patterns. I have observed patterns such as time and location of offenses, students who are frequent flyers to DMC or repeated offenders, home environment, academic struggle, and so on. I have analyzed data that I have collected from the the PBIS Committee, DMC faculty, at risk specialist, and teachers.

The chart below shows the how the topic for research was chosen. There is a need for improvement in order for the school to become exemplary.

Table  1- AEIS Comparison Chart

Mathematics	Exemplary
All Students	96-90=6 above standard
African American	92-90=2 above standard
Hispanic	95-90=5 above standard
White	96-90=6 above standard
Econ. Disadvantaged	94-90=4 above standard
Reading
All Students	90-90= on standard
African American	93-90=3 above standard
Hispanic	88-90=-2 below standard
White	85-90=-5 above standard
Econ. Disadvantaged	88-90=-2 above standard

As indicated in the 2010-2011 AEIS report, the current demographics in our campus is:

AFRICAN AMERICAN	HISPANIC	WHITE	NATIVE AMERICAN	ASIAN	PACIFIC ISLANDER	TWO OR MORE RACES	ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED
21.5%	48.9%	16.2%	0.1%	9.4%	0.3%	3.7%	77.5%

Based on the 2010-2011 AEIS report, our campus has a significant number of students from economically disadvantaged families. This raises our level of concern even further as these students do not receive the academic support from home as they should be. It has been observed that students from economically disadvantaged families exhibit behavior issues. The administration team along with the rest of the faculty has put in tremendous hard work and effort to utilize PBIS to help students excel academically and socially.

The following chart is the behavior matrix that is implemented school wide for behavior expectations during arrival, dismissal, in classrooms, restrooms, hallways, library, bus and playground.

	Indoor Activities	Restroom	Hallway	Playground	Classroom	Assembly	Cafeteria	Arrival	Library	Bus	Dismissal
	1) Use appropriate voice level 2) Be courteous to neighbors 3) Respect materials 4) Share	1) Respect the privacy of others 2) Voices off, no noise 3) Keep floors, mirrors and walls dry	1) Keep feet and objects to self 2) Hands in place 3) Allow for personal space 4) Stay silent 5)Respect property	1) Keep hands and feet to self 2) Use appropriate language 3) Play friendly	1) Keep hands, feet and objects to self 2) Use appropriate voice 3) Use polite words and good manners 4) Respect personal space	1) Keep hands, feet, and objects to self 2) Allow for personal space 3) Sit flat	1) Voices off when entering and exiting 2) First 5 and last 5 are silent 3) Table talk only at appropriate times 4) Use polite words and good manners 5) Touch and eat your own food	1) Keep hands, feet and objects to self 2) Voices off 3) Be patient, courteous, & considerate 4) Greet adults and peers appropriately	1) Keep hands, feet and objects to self 2) Use a whisper voice 3) Use polite words and good manners	1) Keep hands, feet and  objects to self 2) Voices off in line 3)Speak only to seatmate once seated 4) Keep backpack on lap when seated	1) Keep hands, feet and objects to self 2) Listen for information 3) Voices off
	1)  Continue to follow classroom rules 2) Move quietly 3) Leave no trace	1) Always flush. 2) 1 pump, 2 pulls 3)Paper towels (brown) go in trash can 4) Toilet paper (white) in toilet. 5) Report restroom concerns to an adult. 6) Leave no trace	1) Use walking feet 2) Stay in line 3) Stop at directed checkpoints	1) Share and use equipment the right way 2) Stay in assigned area 3) Play safe 4) Remember your personal belongings 5) Leave no trace	1) Use materials as directed 2) Use time wisely 3) Get the teacher’s attention appropriately 4) Accept correction appropriately 5) Leave no trace	1) Continue hallway behavior when entering and exiting assembly 2) Stay in assigned area 3) Voices off	1) Know your lunch number 2) Get everything you need while in Food Zone 3) Only speak with servers in Food Zone 4) Sit down promptly and stay seated	1) Walk straight to your own class 2) Listen to announce- ments	1) Take good care of our books 2) Use a browsing stick 3) Return books on time and in good condition 4) Leave no trace	1) Use appropriate silent signals to help each other 2) Eyes forward, ears open, card in hand 3) Sit in assigned seat 4) Sit seat to seat and back to back 5) Ride safe 6) Leave no trace	1) Gather materials and be ready to go 2) Be in appropriate area 3) Leave no trace
	1) Be ready  to listen for directions 2) Stop activity when directed	1) Use time wisely 2) Use assigned restrooms	1) Move directly to your destination 2) Walk to the right	1) Start & end at squad lines 2) Respond to whistles appropriately	1) Arrive and be prepared to learn 2) Keep eyes on speaker 3)  Follow directions right away 4) Move as asked	1) Listen and watch 2) Respond appropriately to speaker 3) Follow directions right away 4) Move as asked	1) Signal teacher to throw away trash 2) Leave no trace 3) Heads down when your trash is gone 4) Follow directions right away 5) Move when sked	1) Be prepared for learning 2) Follow your teacher’s morning routine	1) Choose a book quickly 2) Check out quietly 3) Go to assigned area after checkout 4) Wait quietly for story time	1) When the bus stops, your voice stops 2) Watch and listen for directions 3) Be ready to exit the bus	1) Read a book while you wait 2) Follow directions right away

The following charts show some of the data collected from year 2010-2011 regarding office referrals. The data is disaggregated by location on the campus and month of occurrences.

 

 

According to these data, the largest number of office referrals happens in the classroom. This means that students are sent to the office or DMC (Discipline Management Classroom) therefore miss part or all of instruction.  Even though our campus has been exemplary for the last 4 years, I would like to find the correlation between students missing instruction because they are removed from the classroom and test scores.

Based on data obtained the beginning of this year, bus referrals are the second largest number of referrals received in our campus. I have come to know that several other campuses in the district have introduced a reward system called the “Royal Bus Race in order to reduce the number of bus referrals. All the bus numbers serving a campus are displayed on a large bulletin board primarily cafeteria. Each bus driver rates the behavior of students in a form. The points earned by each bus is graphed. Bus numbers with highest points are announced during morning announcements and students are praised for exhibiting desired behavior. I have put forward the proposal to initate the same plan in our campus as well. If it is approved, I will be responsible to collect all the data.

At the end of the school year, after the STAAR results are announced, I will collect data from office referrals and test scores to compare and evaluate the correlation between PBIS and test scores. I will present data and results to our campus personnel during our final staff meeting.

References:

Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher (pp. 29-67). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: The goal of my action research is to identify the extent of the success of PBIS since its implementation and its effect on increase in instructional time provided by teachers and student achievement.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Interview Behavior specialist of our campus to discuss behavior issues before and after PBIS implementation.	Atiya Ahmed	Start-April 2012 End-May 2012	Interview questions/Scheduled time for interview	Analyze responses to questions and draw conclusions based on them.
2. Meet with the members of the PBIS Committee and collect documentation on PBIS system and the components of the system.	Members of the PBIS Committee	Start-April 2012 End- May 2012	Interview questions/Scheduled time for interview	Examine documentation and PBIS and analyze its effectiveness.
3. Meet with the DMC teacher and examine the patterns in office referrals.	DMC teacher	Start- May 2012 End- June 2012	Interview questions/Scheduled time for interview	Examine responses of the DMC teachers and documentation of office referrals to understand patterns.
4. Identify repeated offenders or frequent flyers to DMC for last year and the current year	Behavior Specialist-Atiya Ahmed and the DMC teacher	Start-May 2012 End-June 2012	Access to office referrals for previous year and current year	Evaluate and use the findings for further comparison of TAKS/STAAR results
5. Compare TAKS/STAAR results	Assistant Principals and Instructional Specialist	Start- April 2011 End-May 2012	TAKS results from last 2 years and STAAR results from this year	Compare test scores to analyze the success of PBIS since its implementation
6. Conduct a survey to gain insight about their view on PBIS and its advantages and disadvantages. Solicit responses from the teachers on how it has affected their instructional time.	Random sample of teachers	Start- May 2012 End-August 2012	Survey Questionnaire and interview questions	Draw conclusions based on their responses about the success of PBIS
7. Share findings with administration	Principal and Assistant Principals	Start-August 2012 End-October 2012	Data from interviews, surveys and documentation. Reports that I generate in the process using the relevant data.	Analyze the success of PBIS

EDLD 5301 Week 2

Week 2 has been quite of a roller coaster as I struggled to find a topic for my action research. I had narrowed down to 3 topics and with the help of my supervisor I finally decided to conduct an action research on the success of Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS). Our school implemented a new behavior program last year called the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) to define, teach, and implement strategies at the school wide level to encourage positive behavior and create a positive and safe school environment. My wondering is how successful PBIS has been since its implementation. I would like to evaluate the effectiveness of PBIS in students’ academic performance and overall school environment. Has PBIS been successful in eliminating or lowering the amount of behavior problems in the classroom? How can we help teachers spend their time teaching and not correcting students?

How Educational Leaders Might Use Blogs

Technology has made it easier for educational administrators to communicate with each other and blogs can be a great source of continual learning. Through blogs, educational leaders can gain insight on how to cope with the common problems that they face in their day to day routine as educational leaders. Blogs can also be helpful in keeping leaders up-to-date with the latest news and issues in education. They can serve the purpose of discussion boards where educators and all stake holders can express their views and opinions on topics of interest.

Action Research

An action research is the process of self reflection and learning by doing. It is a method in which an administrator studies and evaluates his or her own actions and practices. During an action research, an administrator first identifies a problem in his actions and practices, then collects data, analyzes it, makes changes in accordance with his findings and research and finally shares his findings collaboratively with his or her team. It is a very successful tool to help improve one’s efficiency and productivity at workplace. Action research can be successfully employed in education or any other context as long as the procedure and the underlying principles remain the same. Action research can be successfully employed by instructional leaders in all areas of school leadership including factors affecting students' success, student behavior, staff development, curriculum implementation, establishing a positive culture, parental involvement, and so on.
Action research can be incorporated into several activities of my internship plan. As I was reading the assigned text on action research the first wondering that I wish to explore is the success of the Positive Behavior Intervention Systems that has been in place at our school since last year. Discipline management is a big concern in every campus as it greatly affects students' academic performance. I wish to research on how effective and successful Positive Behavior Intervention Systems have been in reducing the number of discipline referrals and the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions.