Task 1: Prospectus

Capstone: Bullying in Schools

PART A: Bullying Impacts students’ academic Performance

A study done by the Barrington (2018) shows that bullying exists in almost every school bout private and pubic and the main effect it has on students is the decline of their academic performance. In the research that involved 200 students from the grades 4 to 12 showed that the academic bullying affected their performance by 19% since they started being bullied. The results also show an interesting effect on the academic performance of the bullies which shows that the bullies’ academic performances are affected by a 3.8% change when involved in bullying activities. Academic performance is also affected indirectly by bullying because it is because it leads to lack of engagement in class discussions or missing school sessions altogether. It is therefore evident that bullying has an adverse effect on performances.

This is a problem for school administrators because those affected by bullying tend to miss classes and due to the lack of a proper learning environment in school. As Barrington (2018) explains, 10% of all those who are bullied end up dropping out of school. The problem that this presents to the administrators is that students fail to achieve their full potential while in school. School administrators are responsible for ensuring that students have an environment where they can learn peacefully and perform well in their studies. Administrators should create programs that will stop bullying because bullying deters students from realizing their full academic performance and it is also because of bullying that 10% of students drop out of school. To prevent this from happening school administrators need to be vigilant in creating a learning environment that will serve the students effectively.

 

PART B:

Problem Statement

Bullying affects students’ academic performance and is one of the major reasons students struggle in school, exhibit low self-esteem, perform at a lower level and in some cases, drop out of school. The problem of bullying affects the local school setting by negatively impacting the school environment making it harder for administrators to provide a conducive learning environment for their students.

Problem Explanation

Bullying refers to the use of force and threat to intimidate others. The study done by UCLA shows that students who are frequently bullied report lower academic performances and less involvement in school activities (Oliviera et al, 2018). Barrington (2018) also shows that bullying is a leading cause of dropouts in school. Bullying is can be caused by a possible number of elements such as depression, behavioral change from students and mental health issues.

The propagation of bullying in the school is caused by the lack of proper governance from school administrators. School administrators need to create proper reporting systems and anti-bullying programs to mitigate bullying. Bullying is also caused by the lack of school administrators’ involvement. Bullying requires stringent policies and school administrators to place systems that will deter such activities.

Solution

The solution here is to educate staff about how to identify students who are bullies, and those who are victims, how to respond to them, who to report to and what to report, and how to become an advocate to both instigative students and victims, ultimately reducing bullying and creating a more conducive learning environment. This will all be accomplished through a professional development training.

Proposed Research

The research will utilize the feedback from 20 educators, staff and counselors that interact with students daily. These staff members will vary in gender, age, race, and number of years of experience in education. 16 of the 20 will be female and 4 will be male. 5 of the 20 are under the age of 30. 6 of the 20 are between the ages of 30-50, and 9 of the 20 are over the age of 50. All 20 are Caucasian. 10 of the 20 have less than 5 years of experience in education. 3 of the and 20 have between 5-10 years of experience in education, and 7 of the 20 have more than 10 years’ experience in education.

Research Questions

There are two research questions, and they will be measured and defined before and after the professional development that will be implemented.

Quantitative – What is the difference in knowledge of the participants about the intervention to improve or prevent bullying before and after the professional development has been implemented?

Qualitative – What is the difference in knowledge of the participants about the intervention to improve or prevent bullying before and after the professional development has been implemented?

Answering the Research Questions

Quantitative – I will be issuing a Likert format 5-7 question survey via Google Forms, whereas all questions will be relative to the professional development. This will be given to the staff pre-training and post-training.

Qualitative – I will be issuing a questionnaire with 2-3 open ended questions with narrative response answers via Google Forms. The questions will be relative to the professional development. This will be given to the staff post-training only.

Data Analysis

Quantitative – I will be using a descriptive statistical analysis approach. I will take the average of each question pre professional development and compare to the average of each question post professional development. I will then use a positive or negative compare and a positive or negative contrast difference. I will report this data using a chart or graph.

Qualitative – I will be using a descriptive narrative analysis approach. I will take the responses for each question and categorize them into common themes and similar responses. Once that is done, I am then going to look for the most predominant response and use that for the response to the question. I will report this data using a simple table.

References

Oliveira, F. R., de, M. T. A., Irffi, G., & Oliveira, G. R. (January 01, 2018). Bullying effect on student’s performance. Economia, 19, 1, 57-73.

Barrington, K. (May 01, 2018). How Does Bullying Affect a Student’s Academic Performance? Public School Review.

Shetgiri, R. (November 01, 2017). Bullying and Children’s Academic Performance. Academic Pediatrics, 17, 8, 797-798.