Action Research Project

Smart use of Smart Phones: Is the zero tolerance policy of cell phone use applicable in today’s student learning?  What are the impacts of this policy and can it ever be changed?

Process overview

Review of district policies on cell phones in class.  Would a supportive cell phone policy benefit student learning, classroom management and disciplinary (administrative) time management?  Is it possible to intertwine school appropriate smart phone usage into teacher lessons, and will there be an impact on student behavior, discipline, and classroom management?

Setting the foundation –

I plan on meeting with administrators, site based campus committees, and a sampling of teachers to determine the impact of inappropriate use of cell phones in classes.  My goal is to asses if the district policy on cell phones (zero tolerance) is working, and if not, what are some of the ways that the policy can be reviewed for better student management?

Analyzing data –

I plan on acquiring data from the district on how many cell phone write-ups were handled by administration on a campus and district wide level.  Using this information, I will interview principals to determine the amount of time spent per week on cell phone violations. 

I will then interview campus paraprofessionals to determine the amount of clerical time spent on processing all the cell phone violations and take into account their views on the current district policy.

The next step in the data collection will come from a sampling of teachers, to determine the amount of time spent correcting inappropriate use of cell phones (classroom management) and their views on the district policy.  I will also take into account any suggestions at this point for research improvement and or district policy improvement.

The last step in data collection will be the sampling of parents and students who use cell phones in class.  What is their main usage of the cell phones, how many have been affected by district policy, and if given a set of constraints, how many would use their cell phones in a constructive way for classroom learning?  The parent sampling will hopefully shed light on the public perspective of the current district cell phone policy and whether a change is warranted. 

Developing deeper understanding –

This would come from peer review of the data and participation in campus committees to judge if the policy in question is flawed, or if the research topic is still viable.  I would also like to meet with various teachers (some for and some against a new policy) to better understand the pros and cons of the research topic.  Literary reviews will also be conducted in the forms of blog research, other district policy and reviews, and professional publications regarding cell phone use in schools.

Engage in self reflection –

This is a great time to play “devil’s advocate” to a new policy.  Many district resources would have to be modified to implement a new policy.  What is the monetary impact of these changes?  What would be considered the new “norm” in classroom management? Are teachers willing to use the new technologies in a way that can possibly better classroom management?  This can be done through peer review, administrative conferencing, and campus based committees.  The last thing to consider would be new teacher training on the policy should it be changed. 

Exploring programmatic patterns –

This step will entail extensive peer review and administrative meetings to determine the “fairness” of a new policy.  Would students without cell phones be placed in a burden because of financial support?  Also, some teachers who do not have smart phones may be hesitant to accept the change of a technology that they themselves do not possess.  Many other ideas will most likely come to light during this phase of the plan. 

Determining direction –

After steps 1-5, a rewrite of the research question may be in order.  The data will have to be checked and monitored using last years data to this year’s data to establish a pattern of use.  Is the pattern increasing, decreasing, or stagnating. 

Assessing the timelines of a new policy will have to be checked against district policies and do proper systems exist to monitor the new usage policies? 

As for evaluating success, a new policy would have to be in place for a small sampling of students (dual credit, or AP students) for a given term with observations taken during that term.  This would increase the timeline to determine effectiveness.

*NOTE – This step is only in practice if the district agrees to a new experimental policy. Otherwise the research project will stay on the original path of determining the effectiveness of the original district policy.*

Taking action for school improvement –

This would be done by gathering a group of teachers who also feel a need for reviewing the district policy and coming up with a staff workshop to better understand the view of teachers/administrators in regards to the current district policy. 

From the input of this committee and workshop, alongside the data I have collected, I will write a formal summary of my action research policy to present to the head Principal (Ron Webster) of Klein Oak and from there (with approval) submit to a district level policy review committee.

Sustain improvement –

The results of the research will be shared using the resources available to me.  Blogs, write-ups, district presentations, and online collaboration are just some of the ways to share the final outcome of the research. 

No matter the outcome, the entire process of reviewing a policy that has negative impacts on administrators, teachers, and students will start a conversation into what we as educators can do to positively impact students in a changing world.