Inquiry into Student Tardiness

Vision: We believe that it is the responsibility of all staff members to keep our school safe and secure, to model responsible adult behavior, to create and maintain a friendly learning environment, and to demonstrate and encourage respectfulness from all.

Goals: The campus of Lee, ISA NESA and STEM will ensure student and school safety by creating and maintaining a safe, civil and respectful climate in the halls, stairwells, restrooms, and campus cross ways during passing periods. Adults and students will interact with courtesy and respect.
All staff members will work together to provide comprehensive adult supervision of the entire school.
Develop a teacher friendly tardy management system.
Reduce student tardiness by 90%.
Expected outcomes:
Reduction in tardiness and discipline referrals from halls and passing periods.
Increased staff coordination and consistency in dealing with student behavior.
Improved school climate.
Enhanced school safety.
Increased positive interaction between staff and students.
Improved staff skill in effective supervision and positive behavior management.
Data based decision making regarding behavior and discipline practices.

Activities:
A committee formed from a larger staff training will develop a tardy management system using the Start on Time system from Safe and Civil Schools.
Teacher and staff inservice will be planned.
Teachers and staff will be trained in the Start on Time tardy management program.
Teachers and administrators will be assigned zones to cover. Zone managers will be chosen and sweep duties assigned by individual zones during inservice.
Staff will have a dry run of tardy sweep procedures during inservice.
Teachers will receive lesson plans to cover with the students during the first week of school. Lesson plans will cover tardiness as well as other character traits that relate to the causes of tardiness. Identified character traits are Respect and Responsibility. These plans will be used in every classroom and every grade level as a form of a blitz in educating the students on expectations and the rationale for those expectations.
Teachers, staff and administrators will be present in the halls, passageways, stairwells and other areas during passing periods.
Teachers will interact with the students in a positive manner and manage the student behaviors in the hallways.
When the bell rings, teachers with classes will close the door and begin teaching.
Teachers who are sweeping the halls will escort students to the tardy processing center and then to class.
A series of consequences for tardies will be implemented as needed.
Parents will be contacted on every tardy by letter and an automated phone call.
Students will be rewarded for excellence.
Parents will be informed of the new policy at every possible event.

Resources/Tools needed:
Start on Time manual and training materials.
Processing materials- tardy forms with parent letter attached, discipline referral forms desk or table, electrical outlet, signs and the tardy round up computer program.
Adequate staff development.
Campus maps with zones clearly marked.
Complete campus commitment to the program.

Responsibility to address activities:
Debora Rohan and Donald Poole will be responsible for data collection and follow up activities.
The Start on Time committee members will be responsible for staff development, revisions to the tardy policy, and analyzing data collected.
All staff members will be responsible for implementation and maintenance of the tardy procedures.
The committee will be responsible for implementation of student incentives.

Time line:

The planning began in June of 2010. Time line for the implementation of the tardy management program is August 2010 to June 2, 2011.

Assessments:

Monthly tardiness records will be used.
Teacher, student and staff surveys will be used in the beginning, mid-year and end of the school year.
Behavioral referrals and suspensions from halls, common areas, and restrooms will be included in data collection.
Percentage of total tardy reductions will be used as well.

Revisions:

Revisions will be made to the program as problems present themselves. This will be an ongoing process. The program as a whole will be evaluated at the end of the school year.

Action Research Topics

I have really been overwhelmed, yet excited about this project. There are a great deal of different topics one could choose to inquire about. In general there are nine areas that principal inquiries fall under. They are staff development, curriculum development, individual teacher(s), individual student(s), school community/culture, leadership, management, school performance and social justice. My action research falls into two areas. One of those being individual students and the other is school climate. We will be addressing the tardy policy and tardy issues in order to change student behavior, thereby changing the culture on campus. One of the items we have planned is a week long, class by class, set of lesson plans on the importance of being on time and time management. These lessons will be taught across the entire school on all grade levels.
If anyone has good resources that would help me in this endeavor, please feel free to post them!

Educators using blogs?

Educators using blogs? Why not? It is a great way for educators to stay in touch with other educators without having to take precious time from the already overloaded day. Educators can share ideas and issues, troubleshoot and encourage each other. It is also an excellent way to discuss trends or books that have been read and share resources. Blogging also gives educators a forum for discussing pitfalls that they may have encountered in implementing programs and the like.

What is action research?

From what I have gathered so far, action research is a means of problem solving and professional growth that allows the persons most directly affected to analyze the issues through a series of questions and data gathering. Once the data has been collected, it can be used to form a plan to address the issue. The plan is then implemented and evaluations are made to determine effectiveness and make necessary changes. This process is beneficial because it creates ownership of the process, which in turn leads to greater success. By continually asking questions and examining issues a campus can sustain improvements.

There are several benefits to principal inquiry. One of those being professional growth. Reflecting is a means of stepping back and asking the hard questions that will, in the long run, help one to develop best practices. It also allows for the principal to collaborate with other principals, thus combating the issue of isolation. Action research also allows for the growth of the faculty and ensures that best practices will be used with greater success across the campus. Lastly it allows the principal to step out of the usual bindings of his job and relax on some level.

As we move forward, I hope to learn to be an effective action researcher. Learning the questioning techniques will be beneficial in the classroom as well as an administrator.