The Effect of Classroom Management on High School Academic Achievment - Research Proposal Example

?Running head: Factors Effecting Achivement The Effect room Management on High School Academic Achievement Research Proposal College Affiliation Abstract The purpose of this paper is to identify a situation in an academic situation and identify factors that play into a student's learning in order to develop a research proposal. The subject chosen to discuss is the effect of classroom management on high school academic achievement. Given this topic, this research proposal will attempt to further elaborate on this situation as well as formulate research that could provide insight on whether or not the management of a classroom does or does not impact high school achievement. The Effect of Classroom Management on High School Academic Achievement Research Proposal Introduction of Problem The purpose of this particular issue is to identify whether or not the management of a classroom by its teachers, aids and even administrators has an effect on academic achievement in high school students. In this proposal, a hypothesis will be developed as well as a look at how to design an appropriate experiment in order to test the hypothesis. Research already developed by other professionals in this field will also be taken into consideration if it has been published. This study will investigate the effects of classroom management on high school students using an applied method of research in order to perform an evaluation. The purpose of this is proposal is to identify the previous research already performed by other educational professionals, discuss their findings and then use that information to develop an additional experiment required in order to perform the actual research in order to further support or disprove the theory that classroom management may or may not have an effect on students in a high school setting. Additional factors other than just classroom management may also impact a student's achievements at school and achievement is crucial to the impact that each and every individual student will have on society and the way that their life will play out, having successful lives both in work and personally in the future. The importance is discovering the correlation, if there is one, that an implemented efficient classroom management series of methods can has on these students' achievements and potentially lay the groundwork for the rest of their lives. Research Problem The problem at hand is to determine whether or not classroom management can effect the academic achievement of high school students. Many factors may or may not play a role in this and will evaluate a teacher's discipline, organization, and other factors that could be reflected on how the classroom is managed. This problem could be determined in various high schools across the United States to see what hurdles a teacher's personal management of a classroom reflects on high school students' academic achievement. The hypothesis of this problem as discussed in this research proposal would be that if a teacher's classroom management will impact a student's academic achievement. It may not reflect in all students but it will impact most students. Literature Review Classroom management is a critical role in education aside from curriculum itself. Teachers play many roles in the classroom but their primary role is that of classroom manager. If a poorly managed classroom is full of students that are disrespectful and disorderly, there is a lack of discipline from the teacher, then both students and teachers suffer (Marzano, Marzono & Pickering, 2003). However, sound behavior management does not necessarily guarantee effective instruction but it does increase the foundation for an environment that makes for good instruction. Additionally, the teachers' abilities to organize the classroom and discipline the students effectively, letting students know who is in charge will help to keep the classroom under control and the students are more apt to respect the teacher and learn from her guidance. This will then establish a much better atmosphere that is critical for a student's ability to concentrate and learn (Oliver, Reschley, 2007). It is important to give the student an environment that promotes learning. A good student is one that is encouraged to learn and has the desire to achieve. Literature suggests that humanistic and democratic methods of running a classroom lead to higher academic achievement in high school students. Some teachers struggle with the classroom management, have difficulties with managing their classrooms from time management to implementing discipline. Young teachers often have difficulties corraling older students, particularly high school students, because they are not yet seen as respected adults, barely older than the students themselves. But working on the relationship between students and teachers can strengthen the classroom management practices. Research states that for the best classroom management results, it starts on day one of school (Rigsbee, 2010). Management strategies as simple as posting classroom rules, having specific classroom arrangement, the teacher moving about in the classroom and having administrators that are willing and capable to help with additional discipline for students and support of teachers is also helpful and will enhance a positive interaction with students (Shores, 1993). Some of the techniques to manage a classroom as recommended to teachers also include special strategies for monitoring the students and guiding classroom activities to ensure that the students are paying attention and gaining more from the curriculum that is being taught. Order in a classroom, however, does not have to do with the misbehavior of students; instead it is a direct correlation in how teachers chose to discipline the students and the way a teacher organizes classwork and makes use of classroom time (Moles, Doyle, 1990). There are numerous ways that a teacher can teach discipline both in and out of school that will help a teacher gain respect that is needed for effective classroom management. There are even ways to reframe the problems and turn them into positive opportunities within the classroom. Connection, competence and control are all internal forces that motivate a student to act inappropriately. Once these motives are smashed and the teacher-student relationship is a more positive one, the students will learn to change the way they interact with the world and eventually the teacher will have the classroom organized to eliminate bad behavior that could make the classroom so chaotic that learning is difficult for all students (Curwin, Mendler, & Mendler, 2008). One hint for classroom management is to set up a space that is suitable for students without distraction. It is also important to develop a method to have a rigid daily school schedule with fixed time frames and a consistent framework for time management in the classroom (McLeod, Fisher, & Hoover, 2003). Oftentimes, the situation of negative behavior of students is not just a reflection of the managing classroom teacher. Other variables that influence academic achievement could be related to gender, ethnicity and social cognitive factors, the students' interest, their stress in addition to the student-teacher relationship (Hacket, Betz, Casas, Roca-Singh, 1992). Instead, it could be a result of other environments that the student is in, not just at school, but also in their home and communities. Parent-teacher collaborations can also help achieve better behavior within a classroom making it a more pleasant environment for students to achieve (Danforth, Boyle, 2006). Additionally, when changed relationships occur between teachers and students, it can enhance the entire classroom environment, making it a more positive experience entirely. It can be a difficult change, especially when one student already has behavioral issues (Beaty-OFerrall, Green & Hanna, 2010). Research indicates that not only does classroom management impact student achievement, but so does overall school culture, cultural external environment, motivation, and the students' age levels. Situational factors, personal factors, and motivational factors are all influences upon classroom learning and achievement (Renchler, 1992). But has society seen a decrease in student motivation? Are the external factors of uninvolved parents, a depressing economy and violence in school systems also play a role? These are factors to consider but are not taken into account in this research proposal. A previous experience measured teacher efficacy in classroom management and discipline showed discussed the correlation of the teachers' efficacy and results in the classroom. In this experiment, 119 pre-service teacher education students and 42 student teachers were tested through efficacy scales. Management and discipline efficacies differentiated from overall teacher self efficacy and showed that there was no relationship between their self concept and their ability to perform well in the classroom (Emmer, Hickman, 1991). From the information provided through the literature reviews, it is evident that there is a need to conduct research to see for the sake of teachers and students alike, if an improved classroom management modification could in fact enhance the way that the high school students learn. Is there a direct correlation in this situation or are there other additional factors that may be variables? According to this research, it seems the hypothesis of this research examination would be that there is a correlation between classroom management and academic achievement. The focus on classroom management has typically been in conjunction with behavioral management and what is used to control and shape students' experience in the classroom. There are many positive and negative reinforcements that are used by teachers including consequences and punishments or rewards. However, classroom management does not necessarily need to include disorderly conduct in the classroom but should also take into consideration the modes of learning. Teachers now may be taking a more proactive approach to the management process that aids students in problem-solving, decision-making and setting rules within the classroom so that the classroom can operate in a productive manner. The major problem here is to determine whether or not high school students have a greater academic experience in well managed classrooms than those of high school students who are in a poorly managed classroom with little foundation or ground rules for which the students should comply. Research Design The design of this experiment would be qualitative and the experiment would be intended to analyze data that shows students in different classroom environments and analyzing the classroom management styles. The students would then need to be assessed academically to collect numerical data of test scores that would reflect if the classroom environment did in fact make a difference on their standard tests. There would have to be different high school classrooms researched to see if there is a causal relationship to see if these variables have a relationship. Researchers would not participate other than to provide a standard curriculum that each classroom should be teaching so that it would be an independent variable in the experiment. To analyze the experiment, take in mind the criteria set of what the community is like, what the school selection is like, the teacher, the students, the role of the researcher, the data sources and collection and data analysis used in the method of collection. The variables researched would be the teacher, the classroom management skills of the teacher, and the assessment of the students. Teachers of each classroom should be interviewed first to see what their philosophy of classroom management is to see if it is in fact present during their classroom presentation. When selecting schools, they should be selected at random but should all be high school students. Some other variables that would need to be taken into consideration when conducting this experiment and may influence the outcome of the results is whether the school is a large or big school; the class size; the ages of the students and whether or not they are late high school students or fresh out of junior high school; their previous standardized testing scores; and the socioeconomic status of the community. These are just a few factors that may influence and limit the outcomes of the research. Part of the research taken into consideration will be causal-comparative research to make an attempt to see if the reason behind the academic achievement does relate to the classroom management methodology of the different teachers. Administrators of participating schools may want to be interviewed and asked to provide some sample test scores. Typically, state curriculum is all the same so to narrow the research down, it would be best to take one type of class that has the same academic expectations and compare them. For research purposes we will use examples but for different class subjects, it could also have different outcomes based on the students interests and motivation to perform well in the class. High schools students are typically put in different subjects and as far as student interests' they may have different attitudes on the subject of the class or feel that the teacher has a bias. For example, take an 11th grade English class that is specifically designed to cover biology of science and they are in Missouri. Across the state, all 11th grade biology classes in Missouri should be evaluated. It would be best to also survey the students to see what their thoughts on the particular class is to see if their low interest makes a difference on their achievement. If a student does not like a class, they typically will not enjoy it and will therefore have poorer achievement scores but the classroom management may also influence test results. Methodological Design First, researchers will need to decide what subject in a classroom they will evaluate. It should be one that requires computational and critical thinking rather than a creative class like music or art. It should be a subject such as English, Mathematics or Science and the sub-category courses within these subjects. Researchers also need to define the criteria of what they think a poorly managed classroom is versus what a well managed classroom is and that includes the disciplinary actions, the enforcement of structure in the classroom and if the teacher is in overall control of the scenario. To gain a full idea of the direct correlation of classroom management and achievement, research should be conducted in several classrooms instead of just a couple. It would be best to conduct research across a minimum of 15 school districts. For this hypothetical research proposal, 15 school districts in the state of Missouri will be chosen and the subject will be high school biology. Any scores of standardized test scores completed by these particular classes in relation to any science class should be considered and their results should be compiled just to see what the achievements were in a previous classroom. Limitations could be that the year before in a science class, they had a different teacher with different classroom management methods. This may shed some light into the subject that is being researched. The 15 schools should be chosen at random throughout the state. Additional research could be done at a further date to conduct nationwide experiments to see if the regional external factors also play a role in this which will not be discussed in this particular proposal. There are many things that should be considered when conducting the research and several questions that should be asked. What is the teachers' years of experience? How many students are in each classroom? Is this a public, private or alternative school? Are there students with learning disabilities in it that may make an impact on the results? What is the school size? What is the environment of the classroom (windows, loud classrooms next door, and other possible external distractions that make a difference)? Additionally, researchers need to know what they are looking for in order to analyze and compare each classroom's anticipated results. What do they see in the classroom as a distraction? What teaching methods are being used to teach the subject (textbook or hands on projects)? What is the relationship between the teacher and students (positive, friendly, negative)? What does the teacher's attitude seem to be? Is the teacher motivated or enthusiastic about the subject they are teaching? Are they willing to help students that have questions? Are there interruptions in the classroom? Are students falling asleep? What kind of disciplinary actions are being taken? Are there behavioral issues from certain students and if so, what are they? Does the teacher post the classroom rules on the first day? How does the teacher enforce these rules of action? Do the students appear to show respect to the teacher? All of these factors should be taken into consideration when evaluating the correlation between academic achievement in high school classrooms compared to classroom management. Focus should be made on teacher-student, student-student, and student-teacher interactions. This is small component of the classroom management models that teachers will establish in their classrooms. At this time, all 15 teachers of high school biology should be questioned or interviewed to define their classroom management methods including the way their classroom looks, the atmosphere, discipline and student activity and participation. What is the teacher's motivation to be a teacher? Do they just do it for the money or are they truly interested in offering knowledge and inspiring youth? This could make a difference in how they choose to organize their classroom and how interactive their classroom is. The researcher may wish to take a look around the classroom to further get a feeling (in person) of what a classroom is like. In retrospect, the high school students should be given a questionnaire that would remain anonymous about their feelings about the subject, what their average grade point average is, what subject they struggle in, if this is a subject they struggle in, what their level of interest is in this subject and what their motivations are, what they would change about the class is and what their attitude toward their teacher is. These questionnaires will be simply used to gather a general attitude about the different classrooms and their teachers as well as their attitude toward the subject of the course that is under experimental evaluation. They will not directly make a difference on the research outcome but it will help to identify the student's attitudes as well as any other variables and limitations that could be taken into account when considering further research opportunities. A team of researchers with similar credentials should meet to come up with a set of guidelines to look at when it comes to classroom management to identify the different behaviors of the class, the different atmospheres and what to look for when it comes to efficient classroom management and to define what is inefficient classroom management. This way all researchers are looking for the same traits. Researchers should then be placed into the classrooms for a time frame, perhaps over a semester to get the full effect. If money is an issue when conducting the research, it is possible to put web cams in the classrooms to conduct surveillance. Teachers and students have the tendency to act different if a stranger is sitting in the classroom. Actually, if a person is present that is not a regular participant of the class, it can make students and teachers both nervous and unnatural, making the researcher's presence in the classroom an added distraction to the classroom. The surveillance camera would probably be the best method to go with to identify what the real atmosphere of the classroom is and the students as well as the teacher will act more normally as they would if they were not being researched in an experiment. During this time, surveillance should be monitored to see what the relationship of the teacher and students. Researchers should take notes to see what the behaviors and interactions are between them. Researchers should also take note of disruptions or incidences that require discipline referrals to where the students are sent to administrators' offices. Generally if there is a positive relationship between the teacher and student, they will have more respect for their teachers and their academic achievement may be up. At various times throughout the research time frame, a series of tests should be given to each class at the exact time frame to see how they score academically. The test would be universal to all classrooms that were participating in the research. There should be at least three or four tests taken throughout the semester to measure the academic achievement of each student. Once these tests are taken, the tests should be divided out, graded and then used to discover a median and mean test score. If there is a significant difference in each classroom, the surveillance of the classrooms should be replayed to see what was going on in the classroom that may have caused higher test scores versus the classrooms in which there were lower test scores. A class will typically perform on an average with a few exceptions, one student that does exceptionally high while one student does exceptionally low. First, the averages of each class should be compared. Then the classroom management methods should also be compared. This could provide insight on the causal relationship. Data Analysis Data should be analyzed first by analyzing the tests scores at the various times at each school. Tests should be kept separate per school and classroom. Their tests should be graded and recorded at each testing interval with a final test given at the end. The test scores should be compared on a scale that shows what the average test scores are per school. If there seems to be a lower average at one school but a much higher average at another school, researchers should review the surveillance tapes and their notes to see what the classroom management differences are. References Beaty-O'Ferrall, M.E., Green, A., & Hanna, F. (2010). Classroom management strategies or difficult students: promoting change through relationships. Middle School Journal 41(4), 4-11. Curwin, R., Mendler, A. & Mendler, B. (2008). Discipline with dignity, 3rd edition: new challenges, new solutions. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Danforth, S., Boyle, J.R. (2006). Cases in behavioral management. (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. Emmer, E.T., Hickman, J. (1991). Teacher efficacy in classroom management and discipline. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51(3), 755-765. Hackett, G., Betz, N.E., Casas, J.M., Rocha-Singh, I.A. (1992). Gender, ethnicity and social cognitive factors predicting the academic achievement of students in engineering. Journal of Counseling Psychology 39(4) 527-538. American Psychological Association. Marzano, J.S., Marzano, R.J, & Pickering D. J. (2003). The critical role of classroom management. Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve. McLeod, J., Fisher, J. & Hoover, G., (2003). The key elements of classroom management: managing time and space, student behavior, and instructional strategies. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve. Moles, O.C., Doyle, W. (1990). Classroom management techniques. Student discipline strategies: research and practice. (pp. 113-116). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Oliver, R.M., Reschly, D.J. (2007). Effective classroom management teacher preparation and professional development. (pp. 1). Washington, D.C.: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and Education Commission of the States, Learning Point Association and Vanderbilt University. Renchler, R. (1992). Student motivation, school culture and academic achievement: what school leaders can do. Trends & Issues. (pp. 3-6). Eugene, OR: Eric Clearninghouse on Educational Management. Rigsbee, C. (2010). The relationship balance. Good Teaching in Action, 67. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Shores, R. E. (1993). Classroom management strategies: are they setting events for coercion? Behavioral Disorders, 18(2), 92-102. Read More