Draft Action Research Project Report Part 2

The implementation of my action research project has occurred to this point fairly smoothly. My campus administrator and I agreed on the topic of whether or not involvement in extra-curricular athletics has an affect on student attendance. I then took the point on this particular project and began doing some of the research others had done on similar topics. I decided to set up my research by measuring the attendance rate of students that were in season athletics with those that were not in season or in athletics at all. I looked at the attendance of freshmen that were in my class and currently involved in season with a UIL athletic sport. To be able to participate students have to pass their classes to be able to play. Being in class is an important aspect of passing classes and I hypothesized that students that were in season would have a greater attendance rate than those that were not. I would measure 25 randomly selected freshmen students and see if they were involved in athletics. From there, I would measure their attendance throughout the semester making note of whether or not they were involved in athletics, both in and out of season, and if they were not involved in any extra-curriculars. After one semester of gathering data, I determined that it would be necessary to gather data in the following semesters as well. My school administrator and I also thought it important to include other classifications instead of just freshmen. We decided to start with this school year and measure attendance in the fall as well as the spring for 25 students in all classifications to get a wider range of data. From there we will be able to analyze that data and determine what steps need to be taken next.

            The process that we used to build the shared commitment to the action research project is fairly easy.  Seeing as how I am the main person involved in the research project, not very much buy in was necessary. In talking with some of my coworkers and some of the faculty, they very much see the need to understand the results of my research. The majority of those that I have discussed this with can definitely see the need for researching whether or not attendance is affected by involvement in athletics. If we can see a correlation, between being in season and increased attendance and out of season or non involvement and a decrease in attendance we can try and do some things to improve the attendance of those not currently in season. By discussing with my fellow teachers and discussions on blogs and discussion boards, I have been able to effectively communicate my vision for my project. When those I would discuss my project with had ideas to better the research, I was then able to reevaluate my research and revise some of the ideals I was pursuing.

            Some methods that I would utilize in sharing the vision of my action research project would be to share my results with our athletic director and principal so that they would be able to see the importance extra curricular athletics has on student attendance. I would then set up an opportunity to discuss these results with the head coaches and teachers in the school to brainstorm some ideas to improve our schools attendance rates. It would then be easy to collaborate and communicate my results with the community to express to them the importance of attendance in the classroom, even when out of season in an athletic sport.

            I was able to utilize our attendance office to help aid me with some of the legwork and logistics of my action research project. Both our our attendance clerks were able to provide me with information concerning student attendance in class. I was also able to look at the students schedule to determine if they were involved in athletics or not as well as whether or not their sport was currently in season. By utilizing a computer program called Skyward, the attendance office and I are able to look up student schedules, attendance, and whether or not a student is involved in the athletic program. Together we were then able to compare the rates of in season athletes, out of season athletes, and non athletes.

            Throughout this research project we have not had to use very many community resources to support our vision. The extent of the resources that we have used has been the Skyward computer program that our school has purchased and uses. We have not had to use very many other resources at all and most of our research and data has come from the Skyward program.

            Testing whether or not attendance is affected by students that are in season athletics, out of season athletics, or not involved in athletics can provide some very positive results that can be utilized to help increase overall attendance in our school. The results of this action research project  can help promote a positive school culture that meets the needs of all students by providing data that can help determine if student attendance is altered when in season. By knowing this information, coaches can help encourage their student-athletes to attend their classes when out of season. Administrators can encourage students not typically involved in extra-curriculars to join and become a part of an athletic team. Hopefully knowing this information can improve attendance rates all around for our campus.

            In discussing with other faculty members about the need to increase student attendance, many agreed that there was probably going to be a correlation between being in season and out of season for students that were involved in athletics. The entire school would be impacted if we were able to increase the attendance in classrooms. By being absent, a student does not receive all of the class information that he or she normally would. By being present in class, they are at least ensured of having the opportunity to hear and learn as the rest of the class does. Initially, we saw a need to determine if there was such a correlation between attendance and athletics. By measuring this data, we were able to determine that there was a difference in attendance for students that currently were in season for their athletic choice, students that were currently out of season for their sport, and students that were not involved in athletics in any capacity. By coming up with this information, we are able to conclude that our teachers, coaches, and administration need to do something to encourage the students that are athletes and not currently in season to attend their classes.

            The plan that we will utilize to disseminate the results and recommendation of my action research project throughout the faculty, staff, administration, and community starts with presenting my findings to our athletic director and school principal. After both principal and athletic director are informed, I would take an opportunity to inform the head coaches and teachers of our school to start brainstorming ideas to increase classroom attendance. The head coaches can have a profound affect on their own particular student-athletes attitudes towards school as it pertains to attendance even when not in season. By letting these athletes know that they are looked up to and they should lead by example, hopefully we would see a rise in attendance.

            Some professional growth strategies that will enable our schools faculty to realize the vision of this action research project is plainly enough a brief presentation during a faculty meeting. By pointing out the need to increase attendance and how athletics can have an affect on that attendance, our teachers can see the vision and why there is a need. Presenting the data to the staff allows them to see a hard copy of how things currently are and then provide ideas on how to increase the attendance of students not in athletics or in off season athletics.

            In reviewing my topic for my action research project some important key words or phrases that could help others search and find information on my topic of athletics affecting attendance are as follows:

-        Athletics affecting attendance

-        The affect of in season vs off season athletics on attendance

-        Increasing school attendance

-        Attendance rates

-        Student – Athletes

-        Student first, athlete second

Draft Action Research Project Report Part 1

Does participation in extra-curricular athletics have an effect on student attendance?

            The need to research student participation in extra-curricular athletics and the effect it has on attendance was determined by looking at my own classes and noticing what looked like a trend in my students’ attendance rates. My site supervisor and I looked at a few areas that we felt could benefit us as a campus and we chose this particular topic because we felt that it would provide feedback as to whether or not participation increased attendance due to the “no pass, no play” policy and the fact that those students were in season and required to be at practice.  As I looked at my own classes and the number of football players that were absent during the season as compared to out of the season, it seemed as if there may be some sort of discrepancy in the two semesters. More football players were absent during the spring as compared to during the fall. In looking at that information, I wondered if it was only football players or if other sports saw the same difference in numbers. This is how we determined a need for this type of research.

            If my hypothesis proves to be correct, which is that attendance is effected by in season as compared to out of season athletes, then it can be beneficial for administrators to know these results to help determine if more students need to be encouraged to take part in extra-curricular activities. I also feel that we could identify the need to encourage student athlets to continue to attend class even if they were not in season because they should be role models for the rest of the campus. My vision is to utilize the data collected to better our campus attendance rates when athletes are out of season as well as determine if it would be beneficial for more students to take part in extra-curricular athletics.

            In reviewing different types of literature related to whether or not participation in extra-curricular athletics has an affect on student attendance, I was able to provide various examples of previous research done by other authors and researchers. Most shows that the participation in athletics can increase students academic achievement.  According to Vanessa Schley athletics promote “citizenship, sportsmanship, lifelong lessons, teamwork, self-discipline, and facilitate the physical emotional development of our nation’s youth” (Schley, 2002). The National Federation of State High School Associations believes that, “students who participate in activity programs tend to have higher grade-point averages, better attendance recores, lower dropout rates and fewer discipline problems” (NFHS, 2002). Two other authors, Mahoney and Cairns feel that participation in extra-curricular athletics will decrease the students tendency to drop out due to the fact that students that are at-risk now have an opportunity to build the “positive and voluntary connection to the educational setting” (Mahoney and Cairns, 1997). All of these authors reinforce my hypothesis that I have established for my action research project.  The decision to pursue this particular topic for my project was determined as I noticed certain athletes attendance rates going down in my classroom once they were out of season. I wondered if it was strictly due to being in season or out of season and the “no pass, no play” rule in effect within the UIL. I discussed this with my site supervisor and we felt that it was a quality topic to look into and determine if my hypothesis might be correct. The benefits of knowing the effect on attendance for our school would be very beneficial.

            While working on this action research project, it is important to communicate the overall vision to other staff members, parents, students, and community members. By doing so, you can inform them of the results of your research. To do this, I will present my research project to our principal and athletic director and inform them of the importance of this project and its potential results. From there, I would like to present my findings and vision to the rest of the coaching staff and teaching staff and hope they get on board with the attempt to increase student attendance. The staff and administration could then help push the community and student body to increase school attendance.

            In the process of researching whether or not students involved in athletics have an effect on school attendance, we used various strategies for organizing and implementing.  I did most of the leg work on this project with the assistance of our attendance clerks and assistant principal.  The first thing that we did was sit down and look at twenty-five random male students and twenty-five random female students. We measured their attendance over the length of a semester and then determined whether or not they were involved in an athletic sport during that semester. By measuring our data we were able to see any correlation between students involved in-season with athletics and those that were out of season or not involved in athletics at all. We felt like it would be important to continue our research through the next couple of semesters measuring other classes of students as well to gauge a wider view of how attendance is affected by students involved in athletics.

            To undertake a research project such as this, it is important to strategize, plan, and set priorities to allow the research project to go smoothly. The main priority for this project was to gather quality data measuring the affect on attendance of students involved in-season athletically as opposed to those that are out of season or not involved at all. I took the lead on this research and looked into this data for the most part by myself, utilizing a little help from our assistant principal and attendance clerks. The extent of my communication with the others was just to check in and make sure that I was researching ethically and in a timely manner. The attendance clerks also were able to provide me with some attendance data that I did not have access to throughout this project. My assistant principal and I sat down at the start of the project and discussed the parameters that we would follow. In this discussion, we realized that the scope of the research project was a bit to big and that we should specialize specifically on student athletes that were currently involved in-season as opposed to all members of extra-curricular activities.  He and I were abole to come to a consensus on who we should be measuring attendance wise and measure that particular group compared to the others throughout this process.

             This project will help serve the needs of many different students. By understanding the results of this research, administrators and coaches can work together to promote attendance by out of season athletes as well as encourage students that are not normally involved in athletics to begin to participate. The sense of belonging to a team and a part of the school setting coupled with the “no pass, no play” mandate by the UIL should ultimately drive up school attendance by athletes in season. Knowing these results can aid coaches to encourage their out of season athletes to be leaders and continue their attendance rates as if they were in season. Students that may not necessarily always attend school could be motivated to attend if they were apart of an athletic program. Ultimately,  student achievement can not be increased if students are not present in the classroom.

Mahoney, J.L., & Cairns, R.B (1997). Do extracurricular activities protect against early school dropout? Developmental Psychology, 33(2), 241-253.

National Federation of State High School Association (2002). The case for high school activities. Retreieved July 20, 2011, from http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3262&terms=the%20case%20for%20high%20school%20activities

Schley, Vanessa (2002). The effects of athletic participation on academic achievement and social status. The graduate school of Wisconsin-Stout, 4-27.

Sharing Action Research Results - Formally and Informally

It is extremely important to be able to express your results of your action research. This can be done a number of different ways. It can be informally as in conversation with your peers or formally presented and documented. By expressing your results informally with fellow workers, it allows for new insight on your topic of research during conversation and allows for brainstorming to occur which can grow new ideas for future resartch. Formally, documenting your findings is important for others to be able to view your work and analyze it in their own settings. Your findings may benefit someone else in another district, another city, or in another state. You should be able to present your findings in staff development presentations to your school, your district, or other professional type meetings discussing your results. No matter the way you are able to express your results and share them, you should be able to help others learn from your action research and hopefully spark some interst in your topic by other educators.

Sharing Action Research Results - Process

As I conclude my research, I will need to be able to share the results of my study with others. To do so, I will approach this in a number of different ways. The first thing I will do, is share my results with members of my department and other members of the coaching staff. I would like to see their views of my research and obtain any extra thoughts and opinions on this topic that they would share. I would then take my results and present them to our athletic director and principal. If the results proved my hypothesis and showed a higher rate of attendance for students that were in season as opposed to out of season, I would then hope to be able to present this information to all of our head coaches during the head coaches meeting each month. I would present with a power point presentation and provide some ideas for increasing attendance of athletes when out of season.

Sharing Action Research Results - Target Audience

My action research will deal with student involvement in extra-curricular athletics and their attendance records. I am interested to see if students involved in athletics have a higher attendance rate during the season due to “no pass, no play” and the need to be at practice to be successful as opposed to those that are out of season or not involved in any extra-curricular activity. The target audience that I would like to share the results of my action research project data with will be the head coaches of all of our sports as well as our administration. The information can benefit the coaches of the athletes to help encourage them to increase their attendance when not in season and it can benefit the administration to see what motivates students to attend class. Knowing these results could benefit school attendance numbers all around if there is a correlation between in season athletics and attendance.