School Research Placement

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School Research Ideas

The following topics have been suggested by school district administrators and teachers as areas where more research may be helpful. Graduate students and faculty may find this listing helpful as they pursue their research interests.

If you have any suggestions for topics or focus areas please forward your comments to Anne S. Robertson. Please include your position (e.g. school employee, teacher, principal, school counselor, parent), and a short description of the issue or concern you feel would benefit from future research.

Behavior

Behavior and discipline systems for diverse groups.
Character education.
Impact of behavior on grades (and vice versa?).
Middle level behavior.
Starting with younger children and tracking children's behavior of the years - longitudinal studies.
What are some of the psychological issues that may be going on with children that are impacting behavior and contributing to discipline problems?
Attendance and its relationship to behavior.
Bullying, intimidation, harassment, humiliation, during secondary school and the transition in high school.
Racial interactions and tensions related to education and behavior.
Emotional, behavioral or mental health issues that impact secondary students and their educational success.
Student engagement with school.

New Choices

Accelerated programs.
Gifted Education.
Alternative schools.
Transferable models of successful, small urban schools.
Summer bridge programs.
After school academic intervention and enrichment programs.

Parental involvement and full service community schools

Addressing the full spectrum of issues preventing their child's school success e.g. homelessness.
Mapping current services that either are in the school system, community, or are linked to the system.
Working with the most 'at-risk' or 'vulnerable' populations particularly those with young children.
Family literacy.

Curriculum Issues

Vertical teaming ( university of Austin ) K-12 alignment of curriculum or possibly P-16 beginning with math.
Early intervention - particularly with vulnerable populations.
Foreign language including dual language program and immersion programs. How would a dual-language program impact students who may not be proficient in either their maternal language or English.
Required reading programs in 6, 7, 8 - what are the alternatives? What is the documented value?
Well defined models of support for struggling adolescent readers.

Scheduling of students

Block scheduling at the middle school level.

Staff Development and Training

Teaming at the middle school level - productive use of time, team meetings, and planning time.
Effective methods for staff training.
Success of training modules.
Looking at 3-4 year benchmarks of productivity.
Staff training of excellent teaching methodology (lesson planning and lesson structure).
Training teachers to be good administrators, researchers etc.

Issues related to the compliance with federal education laws

Impact of a consent decree and how that has affected the district compared to other districts that have had a consent decree.
Analyzing available secondary data being gathered for No Child Left Behind.

Additions appearing in bold and italics have been made based on a recent needs assessment conducted by the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities.