Behavior Problems : Can Character Education Improve it? Action Research Paper By Jacqueline Holzer EDU 703.22/Fall 2010

Introduction Behavioral problems have been a constant in the school environment for centuries. Recently the problem has begun to receive more attention, as the disruptiveness is impeding the learning and safety within the school environment. Within this paper, prior research of the concern with behavioral problems will be discussed, theorist views on children's developmental stages, current instructional strategies, along with the researchers implementation of character education and improving student behavior.

Statement of Problem With positive character not being effectively enforced within the school, as well as within the home, the school environment is becoming challenged. Teachers constantly deal with disruptive behavior in a classroom, thereby taking away from the teaching time. Some students may not be aware of why they are behaving a certain way, while others are aware and just don’t care. Children need guidance and with Character Education they are introduced to areas such as moral, respect and integrity. The researcher believes through character education students will grow into mature and respectful individuals, thinking about their actions before hand and/or resolving problems in the appropriate manner. “Citizens are realizing that a society cannot operate unless its citizens follow certain moral principals, and schools are realizing that without character education, which can help establish a good learning environment, education itself may not be effective“

Review of Related Literature Although there is no thorough data, character education can produce positive results (Winton, 2008; Skaggs & Bodenhorn, 2006) Children see their surrounding world and develop their character based on what they see and what they are taught (Rynders, 2006; Brannon, 2008) 97% of teachers agreed that schools need discipline and behavior to grow (Public Agenda, 2004) “Gradually students come to feel no moral discredit in rule violation and grow unresponsive to discipline” (Goodman, 2007) By teaching students how to handle and address a potential problematic situation they are able to better control their lives (Rynders, 2006; Gable, Hester, Hester & Hendrickson, 2005; McArthur, 2002) Peaceable Magnet School: Teachers and staff saw a difference in attitudes and behaviors in students as they discussed and explored “peace” (Celia & Anstine, 1999) “A teacher who is motivated and persistent regarding character education is likely to believe in his or how own ability to build students’ character and the ability of teachers in general to overcome negative influences outside of the classroom” (Milson & Mehlig, 2002; Varham, 2005b) “Citizens are realizing that a society cannot operate unless its citizens follow certain moral principals, and schools are realizing that without character education, which can help establish a good learning environment, education itself may not be effective” (Davis, 2006) Each community has different values they believe in (Bulach, 2002) “Character Education teaches students to do the right thing for the wrong reason” (Davis, 2003) “We cannot force the issue of character development. We can only reinforce the appropriate components of character when we have the opportunity to observe them in action” (Milliren & Messer, 2009)

Review of Related Literature Current Instructional Strategies “Character Counts!”: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship (Rynders, 2006; Barton, Richard & Wenglinsky, 1998) “PRIDE”: address both moral and performance character concerns Monday: Plan for Success, Tuesday: Reading, Wednesday: Improve your grades, Thursday: Develop your character, Friday: Enjoy your day (Butler-Banks, 2010) “Alternative Dispute Resolution”: negotiation and mediation. Peer Mediation: positive side of conflict, provide structure to handle conflicts, teach responsibility, develop life skills, promote understanding & sensitivity, higher level of citizenship, reduce disciple, increase teaching time (Varnham, 2005a) “Character Matters! And The CEP”: Tolerance, respect, caring and love for one another is practiced, taught and learned (Winton, 2008) “Grimm Approach”: Fairy Tales by the Grimm Brothers (Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel). Include moral law and general types of human experiences (Bryan, 2005) Character through Social Studies: Expose students to how women and men of our history were faced with difficult, challenging situations and how they overcame it through truth, integrity, honesty and loyalty (Sanchez, 2006; Ellenwood, 2006) “Judicious Discipline”: use “the language of citizenship rights and responsibilities into class meeting to teach positive goal setting and peaceful conflict resolution” (Landau & Gathercoal, 2000) Character Education goal: “to help young people understand, care about and act upon core ethical values” (Davis, 2006) Theorist Maria Montessori & Lawrence Kohlberg children develop character by exploring and making free choices (Brimi ,2009; Vardin, 2003) Maslow: Hierarchy of Basic Needs: the need of the individual to fulfill physiological requirements (Smith, 2001) Dr. Thomas Linkona: “Eleven Principals of Character Education Effectiveness” (Bulach, 2002)

Statement of Hypothesis/ Research Design HR1: Implementing character education to 15 third grade students in P.S X after school program in Brooklyn, NY will decrease behavioral problems and produce a positive and safe learning environment. Quasi Experimental: Nonequivalent Control Group Design One single group pretest- posttest design One single group is pretested (O), exposed to treatment (X), and post tested (O) Symbolic Design: OXO Groups are not randomly assigned

Participants/ Instruments 15 third grade students in an after school program at P.SX in Brooklyn, NY 11 female and 4 male 1 teacher/researcher Instruments Heartwood “Character Counts” curriculum- two times a week for six weeks Parent & Principle consent form Parent Pre-survey- 10 questions to asses the adult in the participants lives and the exposure to positive morals Pre-Post-Survey- 15 questions to asses the traits of the participants

Possible Threats to Internal/External Validity Threats to External History Being a follower, desire to be accepted, act out to gain attention Ecological Validity Different views based on their atmosphere & up-bringing Maturation Overtime experience a difficult time & default back to behavior problems, curriculum can become repetitive Pretest Treatment Testing before the treatment may affect results Testing/Pre-test Sensitization May not answer honestly can affect results, knowing they are being surveyed may result in temporary behavior change Selection-Treatment Interaction Upon agreement from family member, students are not given an option of participating Differential Selection of Subjects Each child has different personalities & outlooks Experimenter Effects Passive elements- some students may respond & engage more than others. Gender can be a threat to response & participation Selection-Maturation Interaction Some students mature faster than others Reactive Arrangements/Participants Effects Hawthorne Effect- students may change their behavior if they think they are being studied. Present as a way to get to know them.

Procedure/Results Procedure Results “Character Counts”- forty minutes- two times a week for six weeks Read aloud- “Fly Away Home”, Magical Hands”, “Even That Moose Won’t Listen To Me”, “Teammates” etc Lessons included writing, listening, team work, drawings Example lesson- students draw a web identifying the main attributes of the character in a story, discuss about their own experience Example discussion- speaker holds the line of string and passes to the next person who wishes to speak Touched on the Heartwood attributes Courage, Loyalty, Justice, Respect, Hope, Honesty, Love Results Positive-Weak correlation between the parent/guardian implementing positive character attributes and the effectiveness of “Character Counts” in the classroom Researcher compared the parent responses to question 10 to the student responses to question 1

Pre-Survey & Post- Survey Data Parent Pre-Survey Question #10- Are positive morals are enforced in our household? Student Post-Survey Question #1-Do you take responsibility for you actions? Post Student (X) Pre Parent (Y) x y 4 3 2 1 Rxy= 0.688976004

Pre-Survey Post-Survey Average of Data Average of each survey question from the parent and student pre-post-survey Parent Survey Average Student Pre Survey Student Post Survey x y 3.1 2.2 2.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 2.6 1.9 1.8 2 2.5 3.2 2.9 2.3 *Figure 2- the blue represents the student post-survey; the pink presents the student pre-survey and the yellow represents the parent pre-survey.

Discussion/ Implications The statement of hypothesis was not proven wrong, but was not proven to be 100% successful Analyzing the data you can see the trend line is moving in a positive direction There was minor improvement in the students behavior The results show that parent involvement does not prove to have a significant impact Implications Time & Place- if the study was conducted during regular school hours the researcher believes there would have been a stronger correlation Different schools/different students- the program is mixed between PS.X and a nearby school Surveys- wrong choice of wording. If asked different questions or presented in a different way the results could have had accurate responses Prior expose to curriculum- student participants are exposed to Character Counts in their nearby school Parent post-survey- this would have assessed their change in addressing behavior and exposing their child to positive morals Comprehension/writing- if participant has difficulty writing and comprehending the lessons would have been frustrating due to the assignments

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