St.

Anthony’s College
San Jose, Antique
HIGHSCHOOL DEPARTMENT

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

Lesson: Understanding Data and Ways To Systematically Collect Data

Individual Learning/Home Study:

This task can be done by group consist of 4-5 members each but if you wish to do it individually
you can do so.

Look for a published research study and answer the given questions below. Attach the research
study you have selected together with your answers in the google classroom. Submit individually.

I. Problem to be investigated
The research seeks to answer the following inquiries: (1) What are the views of
administrators, tenured teachers, and parents regarding current discipline practices? (2)
What factors, as perceived as barriers to effective discipline practices? (3) What aspects
are perceived as barriers to effective discipline practices? and (4) What ideas can
administrators, tenured teachers, and parents contribute that might enhance effectives
discipline practices?
The purpose of this study is to investigate common threads of effective school
discipline practices as perceived by administrators, tenured teachers, and parents of
students in 20 schools in East Tennessee concerning discipline practices in elementary,
intermediate, and middle schools, focusing on grades 5 through 8.

II. Procedures
The research design used is exploratory and descriptive. In order to optimize the
results of the study, snowball sampling was used to seek professionals with expertise in
discipline plans (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996). The qualitative approach to this study
allowed the researcher to describe in depth the perceptions and thoughts expressed by
the tenured teachers, administrators, and parents concerning school discipline practices.
 Participants involved in this study were interviewed and asked open ended questions
using a qualitative design.
The data collected through the open-ended questions were reported in the
participants’ own words through the process of audio tape recordings and transcriptions.
The text of the interviews and questions served as the primary source for interpreting
and analyzing data. The interview is more than a session of questions asked by the
interviewer that stimulate answers from the interviewees. The role of the interviewer is
vital. The role of the interviewer is to make it possible for the person being interviewed
to bring the interviewer into his or her world. The quality of the information obtained
during an interview is largely dependent on the interviewer. How the interviewer sees
his or her role and the participant’s role and how the interviewer constructs questions
and conducts the interview make the interviewer the most crucial tool in the research
process (Patton, 1990).

III. Findings (results of study)

The results of the study identified several aspects, which shows that all students,
parents, and school personnel should be aware of a school’s discipline practices. Also,
discipline policies should be written in a readable handbook to be given to all students,
and discipline practices should be implemented fairly and consistently. In addition,
appropriate curriculum, counseling, mentoring, and training sessions must be provided
for teachers, students, parents, and administrators in order to establish and maintain
positive and effective discipline practices.

IV. Conclusions
Parents are the first link in preventing problems in effective school discipline
practices. Parents who are involved in their children’s daily school lives have a better
understanding of what is acceptable, and expected, in the school's environment. Many
parents are distressed to find that the classrooms they remember--with orderly rows and
students paying quiet attention-- now look disorderly and chaotic. Acts of student
violence, chronic disruptions, bullying, and intimidation are all too frequent. Turning
this picture around requires a partnership between families and schools. Investment in
prevention works. The first step is to involve parents in cooperative preschool education
programs where they learn good discipline practices firsthand from early childhood
educators. Then parents must continue to be engaged as essential partners throughout
their children’s school years.
Administrators and teachers stated they feel more confident about effective
 school discipline practices evolving when they have access to quality professional
development opportunities. These opportunities should emphasize practices in
prevention, including attention to equity issues and how to access existing support
services. Time for dialogue and administrative support are key components. Teachers
should be given time to engage in conversations about strategies that work, with ample
opportunities for peer coaching and refresher courses. All staff members should be
assured that habitually disruptive or violent students will be suspended or recommended
to attend an alternative educational program. The climate should be free of intimidation
and disruptions for students and staff members alike.
Rewarding students for their good behavior and positive contributions to the
school community is important. Activities, programs and opportunities should be
planned to focus on positive behaviors and appropriate actions of the students. Every
attempt should be made to put students’ names, pictures and groups in newsletters,
school hallways, the local newspaper, and school assemblies to let everyone know that
the school is pleased with positive behaviors and good reports.
Effective discipline practices thrive on consistency and teamwork. The staff and
administrative team should be expected to reinforce the same behavior for all students
and to follow common discipline practices. A staff should work together for the
common good of the students and the school. Students and staff want to be certain they
are safe and every precaution and intervention should be considered to be sure this goal
is accomplished.
Evaluation should be ongoing and strategies for reducing school disruptions
should be assessed continuously for their impact on the overall success of the school
discipline practices. Several suggestions from teacher participants were to establish
focus groups that work with at risk students, and counseling and positive peer mentoring
for students that receive repeated discipline referrals. Data should be collected and used
to continuously improve current discipline practices and implement any new procedures
that could improve the process. An annual evaluation should be conducted with the
strengths and needs of the discipline practices.

V. Recommendations
The following recommendations for practice are based on the findings from this
study and personal experiences from my 27 years in public education. Based on the
results of this study, it is recommended that schools with safe, orderly, and effective
discipline practices contain the following components:
1. High behavioral expectations. Staffs in well-disciplined schools share and
communicate high expectations for appropriate student behavior.
2. Commitment from the staff to establish and maintain appropriate student behavior as
an essential precondition of learning. Effective schools tend to be those in which there is
a schoolwide emphasis on the importance of learning and intolerance of conditions that
inhibit learning.
3. Clear and broad-based rules. Rules, sanctions, and procedures are developed with
input from students, are clearly specified, and are made known to everyone in the
school. Widespread dissemination of clearly stated rules and procedures assures that all
students, parents, and staff understand what is and is not acceptable.
4. Warm school climate. A warm social climate, characterized by a concern for students
as individuals, is essential for a well-disciplined school. Teachers and administrators
should demonstrate an interest in the personal goals, achievements, and problems of
students and support them in their academic and extracurricular activities.
5. A visible, supportive principal. The principal tends to be very visible in hallways and
classrooms, talking informally with students and teachers, expressing an interest in their
activities.
6. Delegation of discipline authority to teachers. Principals in well-disciplined schools
take responsibility for dealing with serious infractions, but they empower teachers to
handle routine classroom discipline problems.
7. Specific consequences for misbehaviors. Consequences for student’s misbehaviors
should be clearly identified and made known to students and staff at the onset of the
school year.
Although this study was limited to 63 participants in 20 schools in East
Tennessee, questions have developed that may lead to further research regarding
effective school discipline practices. From the findings of this study the following
recommendations are suggested:
1. The findings of this particular study are not generalizable beyond the 63 participants.
Further research should examine this topic with another group of participants in order to
substantiate similar findings or add to the research base other effective discipline
practices.
2. Further research should evaluate classroom strategies and how they relate to the
reduction of classroom disruptions and their impact on students' behavior
3. Further research should be done to reinterview some of the participants in this study
as time passes, to see if their perceptions have changed since their participation in the
study.
4. Further research should include students as participants and record their perceptions
and comments concerning school discipline practices.
5. This particular study looked at administrators, tenured teachers, and parents from 20
schools in East Tennessee. Further research should examine participants from other
areas in Tennessee.
6. This study concentrated on grades 5 through 8. Future research should include a
broader base of grades such as grades 3 and 4 and high school.
7. Future research should examine the effects of different levels of consequences for
students with several referrals.
8. Future research should examine established agencies and practices that have been
found to offer support and guidance for families of students who have experienced
severe discipline problems. These findings should be made readily available to educators
and parents.

MEMBERS:
1. Horfilla, Yella Rose
2. Imbang, Celine Heart
3. Mission, Rhonabelle
4. Sadio, Edgar Michael
5. Tabuyan, Kaunitz