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MegenneyGL Spring2016 PDF
MegenneyGL Spring2016 PDF
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
of Master of Arts in Education
By
George L. Megenney
May 2016
CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
by
George L. Megenney
_____________________________________ ______________________
Dr. John Borba Date
Professor of School Administration
_____________________________________ ______________________
Dr. Susan Neufeld Date
Professor of Education
© 2016
George Megenney
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my wife Debbie Megenney and her resolute support
and patience as I made my way through a second graduate program with the dual
intention of self-improvement and application of new ideas for the benefit of the
young minds with whom I have been entrusted to work. The research and findings
that follow are also dedicated to my three sons David, Timothy and Michael, that they
may see that hard work, persistence, and study can lead to interesting and worthwhile
things.
without whose support and kindly upbringing I would not have been able to achieve
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. John Borba for his guidance and direction through
the process of creating the work that follows. Without his help, I daresay that the task
ought to seek an administrative credential and take on new and more challenging
responsibilities, this only proves that your power to influence goes far beyond young
minds! Without his gentle “nudge,” I would not now be presenting this work at this
time.
Escalon Unified School District, who have provided a great deal of guidance and
two of the finest school secretaries with whom I have worked, and without whose
assistance the collection of data would have been additionally difficult. I must also
thank Nicole Boyd, whose e-mail correspondence and additional assistance with data
Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Susan Neufeld both for serving on my thesis
committee and for providing additional suggestions for the improvement of this work.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... v
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER
Background .................................................................................... 1
Statement of Problem ..................................................................... 3
Research Question ......................................................................... 4
Hypothesis...................................................................................... 4
Significance of the Study ............................................................... 4
Limitations ..................................................................................... 5
Delimitations .................................................................................. 5
Definition of Terms........................................................................ 6
Summary ........................................................................................ 7
Introduction .................................................................................... 8
The Evolution of Disciplinary Policy ............................................ 8
A Brief Review of Tardy Policies .................................................. 12
Previous Studies Conducted on the Effectiveness of
Tardy Policies ............................................................................. 15
Research Studies ............................................................................ 15
Summary ........................................................................................ 23
Introduction .................................................................................... 24
Sample Population ......................................................................... 24
Treatment ....................................................................................... 25
Instrumentation and Data Collection ............................................. 29
Statistical Analysis ......................................................................... 30
vi
Summary ........................................................................................ 30
Introduction .................................................................................... 31
Description of the Analysis ............................................................ 31
Findings of the Null Hypothesis .................................................... 32
Summary ........................................................................................ 32
Introduction .................................................................................... 33
Summary ........................................................................................ 33
Conclusions .................................................................................... 35
Implications.................................................................................... 35
Recommendations for Further Research ........................................ 40
REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 42
vii
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
viii
ABSTRACT
The issue of increased student tardiness within U.S. schools and the resulting
allocation of time and resources required to mitigate its unwanted effects has been an
ongoing problem during the past two decades. Students who consistently miss the
beginning of instruction are more likely to suffer from lower grades and deal with
disciplinary consequences of their tardy behavior that later require additional school
time and monetary cost. The introduction of restorative justice concepts within some
schools’ disciplinary policies came about after the ineffective and damaging use of
zero tolerance policies drew criticism. Restorative justice, though originating from
the criminal justice system, was adapted in education to address problem behaviors
among students. Educators who have embraced restorative justice concepts expect
students who have transgressed school policies to engage in dialog about their
behavior. A paired sample t-test was used to determine the effects of a high school’s
revised tardy policy among a group of 163 students during the course of one
academic year. This researcher input the number of individual tardies for students
selected for this study for each of two academic school years into the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and set the alpha level at .05. The results of
the statistical analysis showed no significant change in the tardy rate among the group
when comparing the academic school year prior to the subsequent year when the
policy was implemented. The findings of this study suggest that the changes made to
the school-wide tardy policy did not significantly reduce tardiness among students.
ix
CHAPTER I
Background
on the forefront of federal and state mandated reform efforts since the publication of
A Nation at Risk in 1983. The Reagan era report represented an 18-month effort to
uncover weaknesses within the American public school system; the end result was a
the point that they no longer have a central purpose. In effect, we have a
cafeteria style curriculum in which the appetizers and desserts can easily be
Previous attempts to improve education dating back to the 1965 passage of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) focused on the academic progress
designed to foster equal access and equity. Waves of reform that followed the
and academic rigor without fully appreciating or acknowledging just how overzealous
the focus on testing could become (Grinell & Rabin, 2013). Such trends were evident
in 1999, the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, Race to the Top in
1
2
2009, and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by several states
When we ask our students merely to be ‘academic performers’ and then press
individualized skills and abilities and complex needs, goals and desires into
has been addressed by the more flexible parameters of the CCSS, the pressures
manifested by the need for improved academic achievement and accountability have
not dissipated. Educators may therefore ask, is there a connection between student
lack of eagerness to attend class and the general perception that standardized,
In order for schools to meet academic achievement targets and remain within
of methods and techniques designed to keep students both engaged in learning and
punctual are desirable. Students who are chronically tardy to class present their
3
learning time to themselves and others, additional demands on administrative staff
Restorative justice techniques have been employed in many schools across the
nation with the specific intention of educating and teaching appropriate behaviors
justice is a concept that originated within the criminal justice system. It may be
This study will examine how the tardy policy changes made at a rural high
school in the Central Valley of California reflect the use of some restorative justice
concepts in an effort to determine whether or not the alterations made to the policy
Statement of Problem
including lower academic achievement, discipline issues and the additional school
administrators and teachers are spending more time dealing with student punctuality
4
Research Question
Hypothesis
year prior to the implementation of a more lenient tardy policy and the same students
Beneficiaries of this study may include habitually tardy students and their
revealing with regard to how policy implementation and enforcement impact students
among students, their families, and school staff (Hudson, 2009). This study may lead
policies in light of the demands made upon educators regarding accountability and
5
Limitations
This study was limited to one high school, grades 9-12, located in the Central
Freshman student records for 2011–2012 academic year were accessed, as were the
sophomore records of the same students for the 2012–2013 academic year in order to
track changes within the same cohort. Students listened to and read explanations
about the school’s tardy policies during Reading Period within both of the academic
years under examination. At a staff meeting prior to the first day of school, the
teaching staff was instructed by the assistant principal to review the tardy policy with
all students during Reading Period. However, it cannot be determined how many
teachers followed the required administrative procedure of reading and focusing the
desired attention on student disciplinary policies during the requisite time period, or
how engaged students were at those specific moments when policies were being
study. Additional access to the written policy was also provided via the student
handbook and made available to all stakeholders online through the school’s website.
Delimitations
standardized test scores of students, parent involvement and teacher experience were
not considered.
6
Definition of Terms
participation in sports, dances, and club field trips offered to students who do not
violate the following academic and behavioral criteria on a progress report or report
card: two F’s and one U (unsatisfactory citizenship), or one F and two U’s in any
class.
silent reading, but also used for school-wide safety and discipline instruction and
Tardy policy. A specific set of rules and consequences for students who have
7
Zero tolerance. Strict and uncompromising enforcement and interpretation of
Summary
accountability have been measured through the lens of punitive action, such as with
some of the harsher elements contained within portions of the original NCLB, recent
rather than relying on traditional disciplinary models may yield new insights about
how best to help students. Students cannot be successful if they are habitually late to
class, missing instruction, and then subsequently pulled out of class to face
disciplinary consequences for their tardy behavior. This study will compare the
tardiness rates of the freshmen of the 2011–2012 academic year with the same
a change in the school’s tardy policy reflecting ideas drawn from the restorative
justice model had an effect on tardiness rates. Chapter II will present a review of the
CHAPTER II
Introduction
The purpose of this study is to determine how tardy policy changes made at a
rural high school in the Central Valley of California reflect the use of some
made to the policy resulted in a substantive decline in the number of late arriving
time, a brief review of the variety of tardy policies in use in some California high
tardiness. The review of literature that follows is intended to provide the reader with
a broader understanding of the general topic of student discipline and its relationship
improve student learning and achievement has been the need to better understand
student misbehavior. During the early to mid 20th century, public school educators
adolescent habits. These included the use of a primitive form of in-school suspension
in one room school houses where students who crossed disciplinary boundaries were
sometimes required to stand or sit in a corner with a dunce cap on their head (Morris
8
9
& Howard, 2003). Corporal punishment was another appliance in the limited toolbox
of disciplinary methodology, and continues to be in some states that have not yet
banned its use. Challenges to the legality of corporal punishment during the 1970s
resulted in the elimination of methods to deal with wayward adolescent habits. These
included the use of a primitive form of in-school suspension in one room school
houses where students who crossed disciplinary boundaries were sometimes required
to stand or sit in a corner with a dunce cap on their head (Morris & Howard, 2003).
During the 1960s, the use of out-of school suspension began to take hold as a
preferred and more enlightened method of dealing with unruly behavior (Allman &
Slate, 2011). Although suspension from school may have temporarily removed
disruptive students from classrooms, such policies did not address the causes of
exacerbated the misconduct of already troubled students (Allman & Slate, 2011).
The development of zero tolerance policies that originated in the 1980s was
meant to stifle drug and weapon related crime. However, given that A Nation at Risk
was published in 1983, it should shock few educators today that connections were
(Teske, 2011). The ghastly shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 only helped
to cement these attitudes both within the nation’s schools as well as within its
10
According to Teske (2011), school suspension rates more than doubled
between 1974 and 2001 from 1.4 to 3.1 million students. Although zero tolerance
policies were originally intended to deal with drug and weapons related offenses,
their application by school officials during the 1990s had a trickle-down effect that
led to their use elsewhere in school disciplinary codes, including truancy and tardy
The adoption of No Child Let Behind (NCLB) in 2003 did not witness the
classroom management and state level fiscal incentives that clearly supported
disruptive students from the classroom. In order to receive funds from this program,
states must adopt a zero tolerance policy for violent or persistently disruptive
students” (Bush, 2001, p. 26). Yet, according to 2009 data from the National Center
for Education and Statistics (NCES), despite ongoing efforts to decrease student
reported by schools has not changed…to a measureable degree since the 2003-4
school year” (Allman & Slate, 2011, p. 3). Furthermore, additional research suggests
that removing students from classrooms for non-violent offenses can have long-term
damaging consequences for students, families, the school and larger community
11
There is a continuum of entry points into the school-to prison pipeline ranging
breaking and probation violations which involve the juvenile justice system
The impact of zero tolerance policies on American public schools during the
past two decades will continue to require careful research and evaluation while
Although in-school suspension (ISS) of the type given to students in the one
grounds while suspending them from the classroom remains in practice. ISS
programs of the distant past removed students from the general student population for
a day, isolated them and denied them access to their teachers and normal curriculum
(Morris & Howard, 2003). However, trends in place during the past decade have
witnessed some ISS programs that incorporate the use of certified teachers or
means to decrease the loss of instructional time (Morris & Howard, 2003).
Zero tolerance ideology operated under the premise that unruly behavior
might diminish if disruptive students were not given second or third opportunities to
disturb classrooms. Yet, as educators became aware that such policies had not led to
desired results, the emergence of less punitive alternative methods in the early 2010s,
12
such as restorative justice, suggested that rule breaking could be dealt with by
methods by which school administrators use to reduce such behavior boil down to
two methods: behavioral modification and needs based approaches (Muir, 2005).
detention, clean up duties, after school detention, Saturday school, or ISS as discussed
(Muir, 2005).
On the other hand, needs based methods presume that students have a reason
for being late to class and take the next logical step to determine what causes delays,
and what might be done to prevent them in the future. “This approach is based on the
idea that before a school can change the behavior of at-risk students, they must
understand what is going on in those students’ lives” (Muir, 2005, p. 1). According
to Muir (2005), successful needs based strategies can include identifying chronic
as counseling or work programs; contacting and working with parents; and instituting
free breakfast programs. Although needs based strategies are not identical to
restorative justice concepts, they do share at least one commonality, the presumption
that students’ needs should be addressed before any punitive actions are taken to
remedy misbehavior.
13
California Education Code (§48260) does not delineate consequences for
students who are tardy to class unless they are 30 or more minutes late or they miss
more than 10% of instruction, in which case they are defined as “truant” rather than
tardy. School districts in California are open to devise their own policies regarding
the discipline of students who are tardy rather than truant. A random review of seven
California high school tardy policies located via basic Google search corroborated the
above findings; none were identical, though some contained similar elements, which
Table 1
Justification Zero
School posted on Tolerance Progressive Behavioral Needs
Name website Policy Consequences Management Based
Ceres √ √
Culver City √ √ √
Dana Hills √ √
Heritage √ √ √
Redlands √ √ √
Weed √
Westminster √ √
Three schools posted justifications of their tardy policy, while four others
explained their policies or cited California Education Code as a legal citation. For
example, Weed High School (n.d.) justifies its policy this way:
One of the goals of WHS is to prepare our students for a productive adult life.
As we all know, a vital part of adult life is holding down a job. Employers
14
often say that the first step is that of BEING THERE and being there ON
TIME! Our attendance and tardy rules are designed to help students develop
Only one school, Westminster High School (n.d.), was found to have a zero tolerance
policy.
Interpretation of the posted tardy policies of six of the seven schools suggest
be the preferred pathway of high school administrators who deal with the problem of
tardiness. Five of the seven schools employ progressive systems of discipline for
students who violate tardy policies. For example, Culver City High has a progressive
policy based on behavioral management concepts. Students at Culver City High can
first expect a warning, followed by an assigned detention, and then Saturday school if
Only one school, Heritage, introduced elements of needs based ideas in its
tardy policies with the inclusion of required parental notification after a fourth
offense, and required counseling after the eighth offense (Heritage High School, n.d.).
Weed High School is an outlier, as its tardy policy could not adequately be described
Habitually tardy students who attend Weed High School will find that the
consequences of their actions lie entirely within their individual teacher’s disciplinary
mood: “Each teacher will administer a tardy policy that is part of a student’s
participation grade in each of their classes” (Weed High School, n.d., para. 10).
15
Previous Studies Conducted on the Effectiveness of Tardy Policies
The purpose of this review is to investigate and share the findings of studies
regarding student tardiness and school-wide intervention efforts designed to deal with
this problem. Discussion regarding the perceptions of teachers and students on the
Research Studies
Tyre, Feuerborn, and Pierce (2011) studied the results of action research
intervention plan and incorporated key elements of positive behavior support (PBS)
Fact-finding related to the tardiness problem was initiated when the vice
anecdotal observations about the tardy problem. The results of the data collected
supported perceptions of the problem across all grade levels and instructional periods.
16
Administrators selected a staff development tool called Safe Transitions and Reduced
Tardies (START) to address tardiness. The START plan included guidance for the
periods, clear definitions and explicit expectations for behavior during transition
The school site council, including administrators and teachers, also gathered
qualitative data related to tardy behavior through informal discussions with students
and staff. Results from this action research suggested that student punctuality was
After investigating the causes of tardiness, the school site council developed
strategy used to create a safe environment for children by training adults to efficiently
monitor locations and prevent injuries and conflict by carefully watching, counting,
consequences for students’ tardy behavior ranged in severity from the writing of a
postcard with the date and time of the infraction, to afterschool detention on Friday
and a conference with parents. Student expectations were defined and taught to
17
students during a 3-day period. Teachers received 3 hours of training and practiced
students who were tardy per day was 60. After the plan was implemented, the 18-
month average decreased to 20 tardy students per day. As the new policy was
classroom made the effectiveness of the lessons impossible to accurately assess (Tyre
et al., 2011).
Tyre et al. (2011) suggested that programs similar to START can offer
schools with student punctuality problems an intervention strategy that may prove
useful. Their study offers promising evidence that school-wide intervention efforts
Northwestern state. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of a
18
Colvin et al. (1997) studied three different transitional time periods: entering
school, exiting to the cafeteria, and departing school. Baseline data regarding
prohibited areas were collected for the three transition periods. The staff developed a
list of three expected behaviors they felt students should exhibit during transitional
times: walking rather than running, keeping hands to self, and using quiet voices
(Colvin et al., 1997). The school-wide discipline team trained all teachers to
were used to demonstrate positive and negative examples of active supervision and
A multiple baseline design across three target transition settings was used to
make probability statements about the relationship between the number of supervisor
and student interactions and the frequency of problem behavior exhibited during
Colvin et al. (1997) found a significant inverse correlation (-.83, p < .05)
19
problem behaviors were exhibited. There was a significant reduction in the frequency
findings (10.63, p < .01) corresponded to the contribution of active supervision and
transitions (Colvin et al., 1997). Above all, Colvin et al. (1997) suggested that it is
behavior and not the number of supervisors on hand that can make a difference. In
other words, their findings suggested that the quality of teacher-student interactions
may play a more determinant role in reducing problem behavior than the quantity of
that involved 1,701 ninth-grade students who attended a technical and vocational
school in Belgium. The purpose of their research was to examine the link between
harmony between the sum of specific context factors on the one hand and personal
needs and expectations towards the school on the other hand” (Engels, Aelterman,
Van Petegem, & Schepens, 2004, p. 128). Van Petegem et al. (2006) collected data
via a 9-item questionnaire given to students, and analyzed results using confirmatory
factor analysis with Lisrel software. Various aspects related to teaching methods and
20
staff and administrators were questioned. Teachers were asked to complete a more
Van Petegem et al. (2006) found a direct link between student and teacher
correlation test where the alpha was set to .77 (Van Petegem et al., 2006). Student
leading, helpful and friendly. Results from the study indicated that students who
perceived their teachers as uncertain or dissatisfied, even when their teachers reported
al., 2006). The authors suggest that when ‘learning’ is the motive for attendance, as
wellbeing was found at the school level, suggesting that classroom interactions
influence wellbeing more than school size (Van Petegem et al., 2006).
between tardy behavior and attendance and student persistence. Powell, referencing
studies by Light (2008) and Tyre et al. (2011), noted that tardiness has been a rapidly
growing trend in the United States since 2000. U.S. Department of Education
research on tardiness indicated a 24.9% increase in the problem between 2000 and
2006 (Light, 2008). Through his study, Powell hoped to improve understanding
about the root causes of tardiness and develop strategies to eliminate the problem
21
Powell utilized a mixed methods design in which data were obtained and
triangulated from three points: student attendance records, school policies, and
being constituted of five components: (a) impact of transportation, (b) social and
Quantitative data were gathered from archived student records through its
was gathered from a roster of 85 in which every third record was randomly selected.
socioeconomic status, grade level, grade point average (GPA), and status of family
Powell’s (2013) research supported other studies that suggest that tardy
behavior disrupts teaching and learning, impacts overall achievement, and interferes
with personnel and school operations (Light, 2008, Tyre et al., 2011, Reid, 2007).
achievement as measured by current student GPA. This led to the rejection of the
null hypothesis that there was no significant relationship between on-time attendance
22
Qualitative data were obtained with Survey Money, an open-ended
teachers, administrators and staff (Powell, 2013). Powell used Atlas.ti software to
synthesize and analyze interview data resulting in the identification of seven themes
as they relate to the problem of student tardiness: (a) disruption, (b) use of resources,
(c) staff time, (d) elimination of tardiness versus reduction of tardiness, (e) immediate
parental contact regarding student tardiness, (f) time management curriculum and, (g)
administrative support and consistency (Powell, 2013). Key findings among the
drain on school resources, and office staff time, and led to attitudes of disrespect.
Parents expressed concerns that more could be done to support and positively engage
efficient communication from the school regarding student tardy behavior (Powell,
2013).
system, such as a software application tied into the school’s attendance system
designed to promptly contact parents by phone, text or e-mail when students are
tardy. Also suggested was the design of time management and personal development
23
curriculum for students with an emphasis on organizational skills, as well as
professional development for administrators, faculty and staff related to tardy policy
Summary
new and more effective methods by which to resolve problems such as habitual
academic and vocational achievement requires that educators maintain focus on the
regular attendance, greater engagement and an overall sense of wellbeing. Chapter III
will present the methods and procedures used within this research.
CHAPTER III
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to determine how tardy policy changes made at
a rural high school in the Central Valley of California reflected the use of some
made to the policy resulted in a substantive decline in the number of late arriving
students. Chapter III will describe the methodology of this study including the
analysis.
Sample Population
The high school selected for this study is located in the Central Valley of
California serving approximately 850 students during the 2015–2016 academic year.
The district consists of four elementary schools that feed into a single middle and the
high school that was selected for this study. The town in which the school is located
has a population of approximately 7,300 residents (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). The
racial makeup of students attending the high school is approximately 43% Hispanic,
52% Caucasian, 2% Asian, and less than 1% African American, American Indian,
“two or more races,” or “mixed.” This Title I school serves a distinctly socio-
economically mixed rural farming community that includes low income to upper
24
25
middle-class families. Enrollment has been declining steadily since 2004–2005 when
the student population reached a high of 1,064 students (Ed-Data, 2015). Freshman
attendance records from 2011–2012 and sophomore attendance records from 2012–
2013 will be used to determine whether any significant difference in tardiness can be
detected between 1 year prior to the implementation of the more lenient tardy policy
and 1 year after implementation. Students who began attending after the first day of
school or exited before the last day during either academic school year were
eliminated from the study as were any students who were not in attendance during
both academic school years. Institutional Review Board approval for this study was
Treatment
During the 2011–2012 academic school year students who attended the high
school were expected to obey the following tardy policy regulations described in the
student handbook:
A student that arrives to class within the first ten minutes of class time will be
considered tardy; after ten minutes it will be considered an absence that needs
citizenship grade for the current grading period. Three additional tardies in
the next grading period will result in an unsatisfactory citizenship grade for
the semester. A student’s 3rd & 4th tardy to any individual class will result in
additional tardy. Class tardies are accumulated on a semester basis and at the
The net effects of the policy were warnings given to students for first or
second tardy policy violations, a referral and 1 hour detention for the third or fourth
violations, and required Saturday school attendance for any tardy above and beyond a
fifth. It should be kept in mind that violations were tracked based on late arrivals
within the same class period. The issuance of unsatisfactory citizenship grades after a
fifth tardy within a grading period could impact a student’s ability to participate in
extracurricular activities depending upon overall grades and citizenship status within
a student’s remaining classes. For example, if a student had arrived late for the fifth
time to one of his class periods, in addition to serving a Saturday school for the policy
violation, he would be given an unsatisfactory mark by the class teacher that would
be used in the determination of the citizenship grade. Any combination of three F’s
At the beginning of the 2012–2013 academic school year, the high school
A student that arrives late to class within the first ten minutes of class time
27
disciplinary action will be taken. Five tardies to a single class in a grading
period will result in an unsatisfactory citizenship grade for the current grading
period. Tardies are also accumulated as a total across all class periods.
10 tardies = Detention.
12 tardies = Detention.
administration.
n.d., p. 7)
2012 and 2012–2013. The altered policy eliminated the method by which teachers
had been counting student tardies toward disciplinary action and replaced it with
holistic tracking in which a student’s total number of late arrivals across all periods
were tallied together rather than counting only those that had taken place during the
same class period over a span of time. The total number of violations of the policy
without disciplinary repercussions was lifted from five within a single period to 10
across all periods before administrative action would be taken. In addition, teachers
were no longer held responsible for tracking their students’ tardy data in order to hold
28
them accountable for unsatisfactory citizenship marks. Instead, the office staff would
keep track of this data and inform teachers at the end of each applicable grading
period about students who had met the applicable tardy violation threshold.
Students who violated the policy in excess of the 10 tardy limit were required
to meet with the assistant principal to discuss their individual circumstances. This
mirrored at least a portion of the disciplinary process already in place for routine
sent home to the parent or guardian to inform them of any policy violation. While the
to provide students with the legal opportunity to hear charges laid out against them
and likewise respond with their opinion or version of events, it does not demand that
educational leaders provide counsel or guidance to students while the process unfolds,
though it might nevertheless be common sense for them to do so for the long-term
Restorative justice methods, on the other hand, suggest that the disciplinary
discipline to incentivize desired behaviors and improve attitude. Above all, fairness
lies at the core of restorative justice ideas (Wachtel, 2012). According to Wachtel
(2012),
29
When authorities do things with people, whether reactively—to deal with
happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive
changes in behavior when those in authority do things with them, rather than
To that end, the more lenient tardy policy implemented during the 2012–2013
altering the method by which disciplinary actions were taken, i.e., fewer single period
students and administrators to engage in proactive conversations about the root causes
of the tardy behavior and how it might be eliminated for the student’s benefit.
Although the result of such conferences was likely the issuance of a consequence for
rather than a traditional bureaucratic punitive response was designed to help students
understand why their cooperation was valued within the school community.
The instrument to collect data for student tardies was the Aeries Student
Information System (Eagle Software). Aeries was in use at the high school as its
attendance software, and was also in use during the school years in question for this
accounting of all tardies across all periods. Tardy records for the freshman class of
30
2011–2012 was obtained and tabulated for the school year. Tardy records for the
sophomore class of 2012–2013 was similarly collected and counted for the year.
Statistical Analysis
Tardy data from both school years was used for statistical analysis. Data was
entered into the Statistics Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A paired sample t-
test was used to determine if there was a significant change in tardiness rates between
Summary
data collection, and method of statistical analysis. Chapter IV will present the results
CHAPTER IV
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to determine whether tardy policy changes that
reflect the use of some restorative justice concepts resulted in a substantive decline in
the number of late arriving students. The study sought to examine the effectiveness
among the same group of students during 2 consecutive school years: before
implementation of policy changes during the 2011–2012 academic school year and
after implementation of changes to the policy during the 2012–2013 academic school
year. This chapter will present a description of the analysis, findings, and a summary.
The sample consisted of 163 students from the freshman 2011–2012 and
sophomore 2012–13 classes who were in attendance during the entirety of both
academic school years. Students who added after the first day of classes, or who
transferred from the school before the last day of either academic year were
eliminated from this study. Likewise, students who were not in attendance during
both academic years were excluded from this study. A paired sample t-test was used
to determine if there was a significant change in tardy rates between the academic
year prior to implementation of the policy and the year following. For this analysis,
31
32
Findings of the Null Hypothesis
to the implementation of a more lenient tardy policy and the same students as
rates among students after the implementation of the revised policy. The number of
student tardies did not significantly increase or decrease; hence the null hypothesis
Table 2
Group n M SD t p
Summary
CHAPTER V
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to determine whether tardy policy revisions that
reflected the use of some restorative justice concepts resulted in a substantive decline
in the number of late arriving students. This study sought to determine the
effectiveness of changes made to a high school’s tardy policy between the 2011–2012
and the 2012–2013 academic school years by comparing a group of students who
The study used quantitative data from the Aeries Student Information System
(Eagle Software), the school’s attendance tracking system. This chapter will present
research.
Summary
American schools and the resulting allocation of school time and resources required
to mitigate its unwanted effects. Likewise, Powell (2013) studied the negative impact
school resources evidenced by the time used by school staff to address individual
student infractions of tardy policy. Students who consistently or routinely miss the
beginning of instruction are more likely to suffer from lower grades and must also
33
34
deal with the disciplinary consequences of their tardy behavior, such as serving
their normal class schedules, all which require additional staff time and come with a
monetary cost.
disciplinary policies came about as a reaction to the ineffective and damaging use of
zero tolerance policies viewed at one time as a solution to various student discipline
issues. Restorative justice, while originating within the criminal justice system, was
have embraced restorative justice concepts expect students who have transgressed
school policies to engage in dialog about their behavior. This allows transgressors
freedom to express their point of view, and explain the specific circumstances
accountability during the past half century. The focus of federal education reform
efforts in the 1960s was equality of access and aid for the impoverished. Poor
achievement in 1983 (A Nation at Risk) led to waves of change during the following
35
two decades, including adoption of statewide testing standards, No Child Left Behind
(NCLB), Race to the Top, and Common Core. Chapter II discussed the history of
reform efforts. The use of zero tolerance policies first seen in the 1980s was followed
discipline and academic achievement at once. Chapter III described the methodology
and statistical analysis used within this study, while Chapter IV presented the results
Conclusions
A paired sampled t-test was used to determine the effects of a high school’s
revised tardy policy among a group of 163 students during the course of one
academic year. This researcher entered the number of individual tardies for each
student selected for this study for each of 2 academic school years into the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and set the alpha level at .05. The results of
the statistical analysis showed no significant change in the tardy rate among the group
when comparing the academic school year prior to the subsequent year when the
revised policy was implemented. The findings of this study suggest that the changes
made to the school-wide tardy policy did not significantly reduce the number of
Implications
This study analyzed the tardy rates among the same group of students during
36
tardy policy. While the results of the statistical analysis revealed a slight decrease in
the student tardiness rate between 2011–2012 and 2012–2013, the lack of significant
change (p = .179) is demonstrative of policy alterations that did not have the desired
or intended effect. It is important to consider what may have led to this result.
The changes made to the tardy policy came about in an effort both to reduce
student tardiness and streamline disciplinary procedures. While the more lenient
tardy policy implemented in 2012–2013 may be seen through the lens of a restorative
justice framework, the use of some restorative justice concepts to curtail student
tardy behavior and a de-emphasis on punishment, did not seem to be the focus of the
policy alteration. The Aeries Student Information System eliminated the burden of
tracking student tardies from teachers and re-directed it into the hands of office staff,
office staff and administrators who relied upon established punishments such as
discussions were not having the desired impact. Faculty and administration
benefitted from the creation of a more efficient process, but students were, in effect,
still experiencing the same consequences for transgressing policies without the
37
learning opportunities that were supposed to come about from a restorative justice
mindset.
cannot be measured here, nor can the perception of students who experienced the
held between students who faced disciplinary action and administrators tasked with
effect the inconsistent nature of the challenges and day-to-day responsibilities that
efficient processing of student disciplinary issues was favored over a more time
The school in question has one assistant principal who is generally in charge
of student discipline. The likelihood that students called out of class and lined up
outside of the assistant principal’s door would briefly be asked why they were tardy,
asked to fill out required paperwork attesting to their undesirable behavior, and then
given the specified punishment and date of service for the infraction is more likely to
have occurred than not. In effect, the changes made to the tardy policy were designed
to streamline the process of handling students, and reduce teacher paperwork rather
than focus on limited restorative justice elements infused into the pre-existing system.
Considering that restorative justice is not a set program, but more akin to a
38
that already required student-administrator conversation, i.e., acknowledgement by
the students of their infraction and thus the reason for assigned punishment, likely
gave little room for conversations to be altered from pre-established norms. If the
administrator tasked with enforcing the new policy did not embrace or fully
employment of restorative justice concepts, any benefits incorporated into the new
occur when educators have a direct stake in the growth of students under their care.
least some attempt to take into consideration the multitude of variables that impact
human behavior and well being. In this instance, a school’s tardy policy was altered
Administrators, teachers and parents should therefore ask whether or not the policy,
to Burke (2013), a key component of restorative justice is problem solving, both from
the point of view of the school and perhaps as importantly from the perspective of the
39
transgressor. Is the newer policy achieving the desired level of efficiency that was
originally sought when the revisions were made? If efficiency standards have been
consequences, does the new policy need to be reexamined to address the lack of
the new policy, given its lack of effectiveness at significantly reducing student
well being increased when interactions between themselves and educators were
perceived to be friendly and helpful. This speaks directly to the efficacy of the
restorative justice framework in giving students a voice and a stake in the process by
which they are asked to alter undesirable behaviors for their academic success.
Schachter (2010) noted that restorative justice, when used to provide students with
impact from an otherwise negative situation created the basis for desired results, a
the revision to the policy? Given the day-to-day interaction between students and
teachers, if the effort to generate greater efficiency resulted in a decrease in the efforts
of teachers to directly address tardy behavior, it can be assumed that any positive
effect had by such conversations was also likewise reduced. These are relevant and
40
attendance and student achievement are highly desirable outcomes of any future
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42
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