What changes can we make to our discipline procedures to make them effective in discourage students from repeating offenses?

In our school there is a group of students that are repeat discipline problems.  These students are constantly in the office or ISS for the same or similar issues. This creates problems beyond just the discipline issue, lost instructional time, class room disruptions, time consuming for teachers and principals to deal with to name a few.

Discipline should not be just a punishment for undesirable actions, but also a motivator to keep students from repeating the same or similar actions.  By evaluating and improving our school’s discipline procedures, we can decrease the number of discipline problems and the other problems that are associated with them.  This action research will benefit the student, teachers, principals and parents.  

Action Planning Template
Goal: Decrease the number of repeat disciple problem, decrease the amount of time teachers and administrators spend on dealing with disciple problems
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Identify students who have 5 or more discipline referrals	David Brown	May/June	Principal/ Student discipline folders	Personal notes
Identify types of discipline problems of students with 5 or more discipline referrals	David Brown	May/June	Principal/ Student discipline folders	Spread sheet showing types and frequency of discipline problems
Identify what is the current discipline procedures of the most frequent discipline issues	David Brown	May/June	Principal/ Student discipline folder	Personal notes
Research discipline methods that have be proven to be effective in decreasing discipline problems	David Brown	June/ July	Internet, articles, books, talk with other principals about there discipline procedures	Take note on ideals that might be successful in my school
Develop new discipline procedures	David Brown/ Principal	July/August	Notes from research of discipline methods, copy of existing discipline procedures	New discipline Plan
Implement new discipline procedures	Principal	August /Dec	New discipline plan	Number of discipline referrals for identified students
Evaluate new  discipline procedures	David Brown	January	Principal/ student discipline records/ teacher survey	Compare the number of discipline referrals under new discipline plan to the number  of referrals of the previous plan

Week 2 , road to action research

Through our reading in the Dana text and reviewing and reflecting on the professional interviews I now have a good ideal of what I want to do my action research project on.  I have learned the importance of gathering data to help better define problems, the importance of keeping student data confidential and the befits of cross grade communication among teachers.

By defining the 9 passion areas for action research  I have concluded that action research can be use on any problem or process that affects school. I have defined my action research question and look forward to the next step.

Educational Leader and Blogs

There are several ways in which educational leaders can use blogs.  They can use them as a reflection tool.  They can put their thought, ideals, and research about an inquiry in a blog and receive feedback from the people they chose to let view it. Blogs can also be use a tool for communicating with faculty, students, staff, parents etc. 

Action Research

During the first week of 5301 I have defined action research, learned of its benefits for both the practitioner and the organization and reflected on how I might use action research. 

Action research is a practical way for individuals to explore the nature of their practice and improve it.  Because action research is driven by the practitioner, it encourages them to become knowledge-makers, rather that being mere knowledge-user, which would be the case in using traditional research methods.  Action research is a cyclical process that alternates between action and reflection, which it a great tool for the facilitation of the use of best practice.

Action research can lead to positive change in the class room and school.  It is a means for professional development and continual growth and improvement, on both a personal and organizational level.  Action research helps to break down the walls of professional isolation by providing opportunities fro collaboration with colleagues. 

Because action research is such a powerful tool in bettering practices and solving problems, the ways in which I could use it are endless. I will be using action research, in the context of university coursework, in pursuit of my master’s degree and principal certification.  I will use action research to improve my teaching methods and my student’s performance.   I also will have an opportunity to practice action research as a part of my school site based committee this year.