Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan:   The Tardy Monster Goal: The goal of my action research plan is to develop and implement a program that will reduce tardies and referrals and encourage students to get to class on time. Objective:  My objective is to collaborate with the administration and the entire staff and implement the “Tardy Monster” to help reduce tardies and referrals at our campus. The “tardy monster” is basically a lock your doors hall sweep system that will be put into effect to encourage students to get to class on time. Activities/Action: Schedule meetings with the administration and staff that will be taking part in implementing and enforcing the ”tardy monster”. This will ensure that the campus and district policy is being met and followed. I will also meet with the security officers to determine the best and most efficient plan for the monitoring of the halls, the lunchroom, and the corridors that students use to get to their classes. This will give provide me with a diagram of where I will need to place my “tardy monsters” or campus monitors that will be performing the sweep. Meeting with the truancy officer, the counselors, and with the attendance office personnel will also be required so that I may pull existing data to compare to that of my action research.  I will also be researching the travel time that it takes for the students to go from the main building to the portable building areas as well as to and from the gym, the lunchroom, and the fine arts building. I will continue the wondering process on my initial inquiry by conducting student and staff interviews to determine why the students are arriving late to their classes. Interview questions that I will propose for further inquiry will be: Why are the students late for class? Why are students not motivated to get to class on time? What needs to be done to alleviate the problem of tardiness on campus? What consequences should be implemented or imposed to encourage students to get to class on time? I will also research the district policy and student code of conduct to determine what consequences may be imposed or can be modified to remedy the situation. Holding the students as well s the parents accountable for failing to comply with the directive and tardy policy must be a priority and I feel that my program may be able to help control the problem we are having at our campus. I will compare and analyze the data to ensure that the plan is working and resolving the issues when it comes to tardies and referrals. Resources and Tools: The administration and staff, parents, and the students themselves are all valuable resources that I will use to help with my action resource. I will also attain the cooperation of the security officers, the truancy officer, the attendance office and the maintenance personnel. I will review the district policy as well as the student handbook to ensure compliance of my plan. I will be meeting with the department heads as well as the administration to inform them of my goal of implementing the “Tardy Monster” so that they in-turn may pass the information to the members in their departments to ensure total collaboration and participation from everyone on campus. Each department will be given their assignment in order to help with the implementation of the program. Timeline: It will definitely take a month or so to get everyone on board and well informed of my plan. Once everyone has been briefed and informed of what is to be expected, I will then put the “Tardy Monster” into effect. My plan is to spend one day a week acquiring the data from each of the department heads, the attendance office, and the counselors office for the entire year. I will also gather information and data from the security and truancy officers as well as the administration to ensure an accurate count of tardies and referrals. I will evaluate the data on a weekly basis and then once more at the end of each month. I will then total the numbers at the end of one year and compare the data from the previous year to determine if the “Tardy Monster” was a success or if it needs to be modified. Persons Responsible: Myself, Administration, Teachers, Students, Parents, Security Officers, Counselors, and the Tardy Monster (aka the hall sweepers) and the ISS department. Monitoring the Achievement or Goal: I will collect the data from the teachers, counselors, attendance office, security officers, and the administration on a weekly basis to see if the plan is working or if it needs to be modified. Researching how many referrals have been issued on a weekly basis will also provide data that can be evaluated as well. Interviewing the staff (hall sweepers) will also serve to provide valuable information for my achievement research. Evaluating their grade books as well as their roll sheets will provide on the spot data that I will use to monitor the achievement of the program.