Securing Our Schools One Day at a Time

I believe in a world that is every changing and the violence that is being shown more and more on TV, the security of our schools is becoming one of the top priorities within our school systems.  I know there have been some bomb scares on university campus just within the start of this school year and some of our students have questioned their safety and what guidelines we have in place.  We practice lockdown drills and it never fails that students question us on what would happen if it were real.  As a teacher, you see that this often makes kids realize the seriousness of the situation.  Security also refers to things like stealing and bullying – again, issues that are becoming more problems throughout schools. 

Our school has a vision statement like every school does.  The point of our vision statement that applies to my plan is:  The learning environment should be safe, respectful and honest.  Obviously, as previously discussed, we do already practice lockdown, fire, storm and disaster drills on a regular basis.  We also have in place a hotline students can utilize when they are feeling bullied or even overwhelmed and just need someone to listen to them.  I do not really know how much this hotline is being used nor how effectively, so, this is going to something that I focus on improving.  I am not really sure how to make this a measurable goal and is something I will discuss with my campus mentor.  One goal I would to make sure is 100% is ensuring that all staff and visitors have or get a badge from the front office upon entering our building.  This will be a hard task and will require the effort of many on our campus.  I would like anyone who notices an adult on our campus without a badge to report that offense to me and this can be very quickly done through an email.

One of the articles I researched discussed a program called “COPS Secure Our Schools.”  This program is a nationally funded program that gets the local police department involved in securing our school and is grant funded.  The look into helping with 3 major topics:  Community Partnerships, Organizational Transformation, and Problem Solving (Dept. of Justice, 2012).  Their job is to ensure that not only is the school safe from shootings, but also to provide counseling help for students who may need it.  There is also a push to keep gangs out of our schools and one of the associations is G.R.E.A.T.:  Gang Resistance Education and Training.  They are geared towards developing “partnerships with nationally recognized organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Families and Schools Together (FAST), and the National Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, Inc (PAL) (Gang Resistance Education, 2012.)  This really isn’t too big of a deal at my school, but at a nearby school, gangs do play an issue, so, this article could be extremely beneficial to them.  Something that really surprised me when researching articles was the correlation between sports and security.  I always hear about youth leagues and how out-of-hand parents can be, but I never really thought about how it relates to school sports.  One article I found cited may different incidents relating to security at games.  Most of the issues occur during football games and when an incident occurs, school response to the problem varies.  Some administrators fall somewhere between denial and bargaining (Upton, 1).  Overall, the majority of school security articles that I could find were related to shootings and mass destruction, I couldn’t really find anything on a more basic level like just security in general.  I really did like all the articles I found and was really surprised by all the violence that goes on in our schools and how unaware we are until we take the time to do the research.

I articulated this vision with staff, parents, students and community through a memo sent out to our faculty and staff.  It detailed the reasons why I was interested in choosing to research not only the security of our school, but of schools in general.  I cited some incidents that have occurred in our school that prompted me to look into this subject.  For instance, there were items stolen one night from offices in our front office that were supposedly locked, instances of theft among students, destruction of bathrooms and the just the ever-scary of knowing we could face disastrous situations at anytime.  Many replied with shocked answers saying knowing they had no idea that some of these incidents had even occurred.  I also explained my vision to the parents and students through the surveys I sent out.  At the top of each survey, I included what the project was for, the role they would play, and how I planned to use this information to better our school.  I haven’t really discussed my vision with community members except for some of our parents who own local businesses and may be interested in donating to help make some of our ideas possible.

As of right now, all the organization has lain on me.  I have been responsible for creating the surveys and deciding how/what to research.  However, I will be handing out the surveys next week and will be relying on those who are given the surveys to complete them and return them to me.  I have also asked my principal and vice-principal to begin gathering information on the current security programs we have in place and why they were chosen.  I have told them that I would like to look at ways that we can improve them.  I am also giving surveys to other teachers that have students that I don’t in class, so, I am relying on them to send out and receive that information as well.  I am also going to talk to someone at central office to gather data on how all the schools in our district manage security.  Overall, I think I am delegating some responsibility, but of the workload will be done by me

Well, like I stated in my previous assignment, I kind of dropped the ball with my action research plan.  So, I kind of started to panic a little bit and my new vice-principal came to the rescue and helped me develop a plan that was both needed at my school and easier to measure than my previous plan.  She also helped me evaluate all the different areas we could explore and different ideas for how to improve our school in these areas.  I also talked with some fellow teachers to see if they felt that security was something that needed to be addressed, looked at and possibly enhanced.  I was surprised when many answered that yes they did think it was something that could possibly be kicked up another notch.  They brought up some good points that many people get here early and stay late and that at some spots around the building, there isn’t adequate lighting.  There is also the issue that the only keypad that works all the time (and not just 8-5) is the keypad by the front office.  Unfortunately, there is limited space in the parking lot closest to the office so many teachers have to park far away and this could potentially lead to a dangerous situation.  They were very onboard with me trying to figure out ways to help with this situation.  I haven’t actually resolved any conflicts yet, so, this is hard to answer.

We already have some things in place to help protect our special needs students.  For instance, parents are required to drop their children in front of the building in our front parking lot.  However, our special needs parents are required to drop their children off in the side parking (only allowed for staff members) and is right next to our cafeteria doors where all students convene in the mornings.  There are hardly any cars and teachers know to be on the lookout for stopped vehicles or students exiting vehicles.   We also have our special needs students get picked up in the same area about 45 minutes before the rest of our students are dismissed.  I haven’t aimed anything specific at the protecting the needs of our special students, but this is something I plan to discuss with my mentor.  As far as how my plan will help students with diverse backgrounds, I think my plan will help all students.  I am not going to really gear towards any one specific culture, economic, or special interest group because I don’t security is biased against any of those.  The only one that might affect specific groups is bullying; if I see this arise in my research, then I will re-asses how to handle and try to eliminate this problem. 

Now that I have such a great idea for a project, I am really excited to get started and begin collecting data from teachers, parents, and students.  I can’t wait to see how I can make my school a more secure place.

References:

United States Department of Justice.  COPS:  Community Oriented Policing Services.  Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=35.

Gang Resistance Education And Training.  Prevent Youth Crime, Violence and Gang Involvement.  Retrieved October 27, 2012. http://www.great-online.org/.

Upton, Jodi.  Violence at Games Means Trouble for All:  School Districts, Fans Suffer Consequences.  Retrieved October 28, 2012. http://www.great-online.org/.

New Plan of Action

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
To see where we can make improvements to the security of our school	7/8 Staff Questionnaire	Computer, paper	Mine; core teachers	October
To see how students interpret the ways the school strives to ensure their safety	7/8th Grade Student Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine;students	October
To see how parents think the school provides security and what they feel needs to be improved	Parent Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine; parents	November
Deteremine what security we have in place already	Discuss with my principal/vp	Their resources/ plans of action	Principal/vp	November
Determine what we planning on already doing for the rest of this year and next school year	Discuss with my principal/vp	Their resources/ plans of action	Principal/vp	November
Determine how many incidents of lack of security have occurred (break-ins, stealings, etc)	Discuss with my principal/vp	Their resources	Principal/vp	November
To see what incididents of security breaches teachers think have occurred	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to just discuss security in general and what their thoughts might be		Mine; core techers	December
To see what students think about the security of our school	Conduct interviews with a focus group of students who did and did not turn in homework to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test.	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October	To see what teachers think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test
To see what parents our school to secure our school	Conduct interviews with parents to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October

Reflection of Course 5301

When I saw that this course was going to be centered around research, I was extremely apprehensive.  I was a history minor during college so my interpretation of research was just going to the library and looking through books, newspaper articles, the Internet, etc.  It required many hours of just sitting and reading.  This is why I agree so strongly with the quote from the Dana text, “images that the word research conjures up come mostly from the process-product paradigm” (Dana, 2009, p. 6).  However, as I continued reading and watching the videos, I quickly realized that this course was not going to be this way.  While researching through books and articles would be required, the research I would be doing was actually more action based.  I like the use of the word inquiry instead of research because I actually feel like I am not conducting research but looking into a problem and trying to determine how to fix it.

Another thing that really caught my attention during this course were the videos from current superintendents and the information they had to share.  The one that stood out the most was Dr. Johnny Briseno.  The advice he gave was when you have an issue with your school, look to see if there is research that pertains to the same topic.  He says, “Why re-invent the wheel?”  Since watching his video, I have been looking up different areas of interest and have found a wealth of information.  It has really been an eye opening experience to see how much research there really is when it comes to the educational system and what techniques/strategies different schools have tried and been successful with.

Through this course, I also learned how to create an actual research action plan.  This course showed me the steps and tasks that are necessary to create an action research plan and actually put it into action.  I had never heard of an action research plan until I started taking this class so I was extremely overwhelmed when I read that we had to create one.  However, after reading Chapter 3 from the Dana text, I was way more relaxed.  It outlined the four areas that you should focus on when conducting research: Providing Background Information, Sharing the Design of the Inquiry, Supporting the Learning and Supporting the Statements with Data, and Providing Concluding Thoughts.  These steps really help to organize your thoughts and allow you to layout your plans for your research.

I also learned different strategies to use while conducting my research like the Force Field Analysis, Delphi Method, Nominal Group Technique and CARE Model.  I really like the Delphi Method because it is an “important strategy for identifying ways to sustain improvement and looking futuristically at school needs” (Harris, 2010, p. 95).  I really like this method because it allows for input from teachers or administrators who are involved in the day-to-day running of the school system.  It allows those people to state issues they have within the school, but is also allows for them to be the ones to come up with solutions for those same exact problems.

Overall, I learned to have a new outlook on the term research and to understand the positive effect it can have, especially in a school setting.  I really learned that research doesn’t always have to be associated with negative connotations and can be really useful.  I am very excited to get started on my research action plan.

Reflection on Week 4

I discussed my Action Research Plan with my mentor and we both like the way it is, so, I haven't changed anything from my original posting.  However, I know that once I actually get in to implementing the plan that new challenges will arise and I will have to re-adjust my plan.  I really learned a lot from reading the Harris text and think the Delphi Method of research will be the most useful technique for me to use.  I am also going to be using the Nominal Group Technique because I think it is important in any research plan to include those who are most directly related to the research you are conducting, in this case, the teachers.  I really feel that their opinions and thoughts will be what makes my research a success.  I work with a fantastic group of teachers and I am so excited to see what we can achieve through my research action plan.

Draft of my Action Research Plan

Here is the action research plan I have chosen to complete.  I am going to try find what best motivates students to learn and if completing homework helps students to be more successful.

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
To see the different ways teachers motivate students	7/8 Staff Questionnaire	Computer, paper	Mine; core teachers	May or Over the summer
To see how students interpret the ways teachers/parents/self motivate them	7/8th Grade Student Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine;students	August/September after summer break
To see how parents motivate their child / to see how parents interpret ways teachers motivate their child	Parent Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine; parents	August/September after break
To see the percentage of students turning in assignments	Teachers give me percentages	Grade Books	6/7/8 Grade Teachers	August/September/October
To help teachers try different methods of motivating students to complete homework	Conduct a meeting with fellow teachers to offer ideas collected through staff questionnaires / percentage data	PowerPoint / Graphs	Mine	August maybe as part of a staff development
To see percentage of students who are passing Benchmarks	Collect Benchmark Data	Printouts of Test scores	Principals or Department Heads	October	October District Curriculum Based Assessment - CBA
To see what teachers think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine; core techers	October
To see what students think about homework completion versus Test success and if there is a correlation.	Conduct interviews with a focus group of students who did and did not turn in homework to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test.	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October	To see what teachers think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test
To see what parents think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with parents to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October
To see if thoughts have changed about homework completion and test success	7/8th Grade Staff, students, parents	I will resend questionnaires to see if thoughts have changed about motivation for completing homework and if they believe they had a relationship to good test scores.	Mine	November
To see how students are doing on tests given by the teacher	7/8 Teachers and Students	I will ask teachers to get me their percentage of passing rates on tests they give to students in their class throughout the 9 weeks.	Mine/Teachers	August – October	Chapter / Unit Tests