Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A QUICK VIEW

Context
Seventy percent of our student body is considered at risk which classifies my school as Title 1. A large portion of our students are in need of assistance at school and at home. Our student’s parents are usually not home when their children get there and they are normally gone or asleep when our students are getting ready for school. Many of our students are being raised by their older brothers and sisters who are not much older than they are. In my school the mistreatment amongst peers is very evident and even at times more evident to the students in the school but out of sight of the teachers. The Safe School Ambassadors program (SSA) will focus in on the students who have more clout with their fellow peers and train them to use nonviolent communication and intervention skills to prevent, de-escalate and stop mistreatment among their peers. This will hopefully decrease AP/Counselor Referrals as well as decrease the tardiness to classes and Truancy percentage of our student body.
Target
My target will be 70 students who will go through the SSA two day training and continue through the year in small family groups lead by two family facilitators (Staff Members). The student ambassadors will target the whole student body over a period of eight months.
Sample Selection
The faculty has been asked to give recommendations to the counselor of students they feel have a major impact on our student body. These names that are given are then looked at by the counselors, family specialist, ISS monitor, and our administrators. Seventy names are decided on to participate in the student ambassador program. Once the two day training has taken place then the family group facilitators select their group of seven to ten students who will reside in the family group for the remainder of the year. These groups will meet on a bi-weekly time frame.
Sample Size
Starting out small to see if the program makes an impact is kind of where my school has started. The data collected from this group of seventy students should give us a better insight as to the students concerns on our campus. Knowing the culture of our students and getting feedback from them as their fears should help us to make a better decision to help our student’s climate and feeling of safety. We would like to administer this program to the whole campus but it is too early and costly at this time to do so. Mini “cliff note” version assemblies to show our whole students body are being worked on at this time. Eventually we want to have all the students trained in the SSA strategies but for now the sample size is on a lower scale.
Research Description
The student ambassadors will be placed in a family group of about seven to ten students. These family groups will be run by family group facilitators. They will conduct a bi-weekly meeting with these students and document information given within the group time. The information given is strictly confidential to the group unless the facilitator has to act according to law and notify the appropriate people. The student ambassadors are notified of this during their very first meeting so not to have any surprises when some information has to be released to the appropriate people. They are also notified of the confidentiality policy as well. The student ambassadors have to keep an action log of any situations they took the role of an ambassador in. These logs state the situation, what actions the student took and what the outcome was with the situation. This will be the data I will use to narrow down the tardiness, AP referrals and counselor referrals. This should also enlighten us about any other situations being conducted on the campus that we are not aware of or have not been able to catch in the act. We hope to also decrease the amount of truancy’s on our campus to where the students want to come to school.

2 comments:

  1. Julie, your project sounds absolutely fantastic and has the possiblity to change lives. From the sounds of it, I haven't worked at a campus like that in years. I used to go to work everyday reminding myself, that "you can't expect every student to succeed". I commend you for your ambition and passion and wish you success.

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  2. The SSA program sounds very promising for student success. The outcome of these students that will be enrolled in the SSA program will be life changing for them and the peers they influence. We have a similar program going on at my school that involves 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders that meet every Monday in seperate sessions for 45 mins. each. and I am happy to report that I have seen some positive changes in their attitudes toward school. Best of Luck!!

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