Harrison Elementary School Action Research Deployment Team

Defining The System The system we want to improve at Harrison is student social- emotional growth and increased student satisfaction. Through a decade of staff focus on brain research, we know that if we enhance the student social emotional and behavioral development, then academic achievement will improve as well. Our systems goal matched the district mission in the following ways: –The mission is to create students who are world class learners and responsible citizens –A district goal is to enhance student social, emotional, and behavioral development.

Defining The System (cont.) We are using the Baldrige Framework to assist our team in defining our system. Key measures for this process: –Student Success System (Harrison Designed Intervention Data Collection Tool) –Harrison student survey –District student survey

Baldrige Framework

Define the System(cont.) Key measures for this process: –Student Success System (Harrison Designed Intervention Data Collection Tool) –Harrison student survey –District student survey

Harrisons Student Success System

Assess Current Situation Harrison Student Survey has been used for eight years. Eight years of surveys have indicated that students at Harrison feel good about their learning and interactions with adults. However, our team noticed that there was no information in regards to how students felt about their relationships with other students at Harrison.

Harrison Student Survey

Assess Current Situation(cont.) In the District Student Satisfaction Survey, we discovered that most measures of social-emotional growth looked strong. However, student-to- student relationships seemed weaker.

District Satisfaction Survey

Assess Current Situation(cont.) To further assess our current situation we developed a scattergram activity to assist our Action Research Deployment Team in creating a baseline.

Student Scattergram Activity

Graph of Scattergram Data

Analyze Causes In reviewing the baseline data, we noticed that there was greater satisfaction with peer relationships shown on the four weeks of scattergram data than on the other surveys that had been completed. Surveys completed were only a snapshot of students satisfaction taken at one point in time.

Analyze Causes(cont.) Affinity diagram activities will be completed with all students to assist us in understanding how students define a bad day at school, or what being unhappy at school means to them.

Affinity Diagram Activity

Graph of Affinity Diagram Data

Preparing for our Improvement Theory According to our scattergram results our students were more satisfied with peer relationships than the surveys first indicated. Although our affinity diagrams showed that there were some factors that we, as educators, can influence. We have developed a Social-Emotional Focused program entitled Pay it Forward( this program was developed using concepts from the movie Pay it Forward)

PAY IT FORWARD Baseline Datas Been Collected Inspector Respector Target Talk Random Acts of Kindness Respect has been Detected Badges Community Circle Topics Literature Links

Target Talk What is Target Talk? Target Talk provides an opportunity for your students to understand what the behavior or skill looks like, sounds like, and feels like, and does not look, sound, or feel like in varying situations. 3 Steps to Target Talking Use the students first name. Diego… Label the Lifelong Guideline/Lifeskill that the student is using. Diego, you were using the Lifelong Guideline of Active Listening… Identify the action. Diego, you were using the Lifelong Guideline of Active Listening when you faced the speaker, looked interested, and were able to tell in your own words what the speaker meant. Target talk and modeling are the two most powerful ways to teach the lifelong guidelines and LIFESKILLS, both strategies must be fully mastered or become second nature and automatic. Week 1 Respect Kindness Caring Week 2 Honesty Truth Trust Week 3 Dignity Cooperation Friendship Week 4 Responsibility Concern Patience Week 5 Encourage Compassion Generosity Week 6 Helpful Charity Unselfish Week 7 Fair Considerate Flexibility Week 8 Respect Kindness Caring

Respect Has Been Detected Badge Mutual Respect

RESULTS of Pay it Forwad Scattergram results (May) District Student Surveys Harrison Student Surveys Harrison Parent Surveys

Results from District and Building Surveys District Satisfaction Results: Overall, similar results. Minor improvement in these five areas: Students in my school make me feel welcome, My School is safe and secure, Students in my school treat me with respect, I understand the rules for appropriate behavior in my school, and I am satisfied with the effort I put into my school work Building Results: Many results were very similar to the last years results. We made improvements in these areas: cooperation, technology, lifeskills, writing (up in K/1, 2/3….down in 4/5), teachers available (up in K/1, 2/3…down in 4/5), Happiness (down about 9%), portfolios Awareness about kindness / respect is up through Target Talk, etc…perhaps kids are being choosier about what fits kindness / respect. –The team felt that it was very bizarre that there were significant differences in the results between the district survey and the building survey, which is not surprising to us as we have theorized for quite some time that the results are dependent on the time of day, the mood of the children, or particular events which may have occurred.

Scattergram Comparisons

Another Look at our Results

What do the Scattergram results tell us? There has been improvement in every grade level with the percentage of students who feel that they are treated from decent to wonderfully and wonderfully and treat others decent to wonderfully or wonderfully (with the whole school improving from 45% to 61% of the students) Many students shifter from thinking things were ok or decent to the wonderful range (a 15% shift) from January to May. The whole schools results on how they were treated or treated others awful, awful –poor, poor, or poor-okay changed from 7% originally, to 5% in early May, while there is improvement, we felt that we need to be aware of some of the reason that may show why there are still students in this area –This could be due to student own perceptions( The Eeyore Syndrome) –This small change could be the result students perceptions of that particular day rather than an over all feel of how things are going –Approximately ten of our Harrison families have had some traumatic experiences within their lives. These experiences could have accounted for some of the feelings these students are exhibiting. Our team feels that the scattergram results are probably more accurate, because the scattergram is given in a more timely basis and scores are averaged together, while the building or district survey is a snapshot yes / no answer taken at one moment in time.

Standardize our Improvements How can we incorporate the new way of doing things (that produced positive results) to make it part of our regular practice?

Plan for Continuous Improvement How will we sustain or keep up the positive changes? What areas should we look at next?

Looking Ahead… Morning announcements, continue Inspector Respector. Different focus each trimester…do service project in the fall (Ronald McDonald house, Hurricane Katrina relief) as usual First trimester focus could be procedures, Inclusion stage on the TRIBES trail….Active Listening and Personal Best (use radar chart to track active listening progress….5 components for active listening …you, your ears, your eyes, your heart, your undivided attention). Flow chart designed to compare good active listening to poor active listening, etc. Second trimester….influence stage on the TRIBES trail….truth and trust. Third trimester….community stage on the TRIBES trail….mutual respect (PAY IT FORWARD IDEA) We will need to have a kick-off, something incorporated into the morning announcements, a calendar included with teacher activities, CC topics, ordered videos available through LMC

Social Emotional School GOAL – Harrison staff will enhance student social, emotional, and behavioral development through implementation of one community building activity in each classroom every week, along with twenty minutes of daily focus on life skills and procedures in each classroom. The goal will be measured through weekly implementation logs for teacher.