Supervisor Meeting - Action Research

First Topic:  The effects of technology on student performance.  My supervisor mentioned to me that he was not only concerned but curious about the effect that handheld devices have had on our students’ attention and performance.  The questions include; How many students have the devices?  How many are using them in the classroom?  And is the use of these devices taking away from time they should be focused on completing classroom assignments?  We decided that a way to study this would be to identify two teachers in the same subject matter, one with a strict management code concerning the use of handheld technical devices and another with an unrestricted policy.  Over one grading period we could then meet with the teachers involved and discuss the pros and cons and evaluate the results. 

Second Topic: Is “cyber bullying” something that is an issue in our school and are any of our students being affected by it?  My supervisor is worried, in light of the recent national stories, which include suicides prompted by the students being bullied through social networking sites.  Questions include: Are any of our students being affected by this?  If so, what can we do to not only find out, but to then deter it from taking place?  Idea:  We thought that a way to possibly find out if this is a problem would be to implement a random survey among students to ascertain if it is an issue in our school and if so, how prolific.  If we do determine that there is a problem we will then need to figure out how to address the issue and prevent it from continuing.  My administrator suggested implementing a program that would allow students to anonymously report who is being bullied, by who, and how.  A program could be put in place that includes the student council.  Once this is known to be an issue and students are being caught, it will be less likely to continue and we can make a difference.  The idea is to work toward a safe and comfortable learning environment. 

Third Topic:  Does a strictly enforced absentee policy affect academic performance?  My supervisor believes absenteeism is problem in our school and that too many students take advantage of our inadequate policy.  Students miss school due to outside extra-curricular activities, untimely vacations, and simply parental consent to stay home.  Idea:  Create a policy stating that regardless of the reason, each student is allowed a certain number of days missed and anything beyond that would constitute consequences in regard to their privileges.  An example would be if a student misses this number of days, they are no longer allowed to participate in certain school activities such as pep rallies or student clubs.