Goal number one will be to chart and monitor student’s academic progress within the BIC program. The purpose of this goal is to show any type of progression a student makes within the confines of the BIC classroom. Given that some students may be inclusive, while other students have the freedom to be in a classroom setting; the parameters of my progression monitoring may differ slightly. Students in a classroom setting will be monitored on a weekly, three week and six week assessment. While those students in an inclusive setting will be assessed more frequently, given the intensiveness of an inclusion program. Students in the mainstream setting will be assessed on their class averages which include all daily work as well as any unit assessments the teacher provides. Students who remain in the inclusive program will be assessed on their daily work as well as a weekly average in order to chart any short term growth within that inclusive program. Given that both control groups will be monitored on a weekly basis, it is my hope to show positive or negative trends when comparing inclusive and classroom based students. The progress will be under the direction of myself, the classroom teacher, the BIC teacher, all appropriate BIC aides, as well as the site supervisor for that particular campus. Given that my goal is chart and monitor students academic progress, I feel that the research requires a minimum of six full weeks. My resources for this particular goal will be any and all assignments provided by the classroom and BIC teacher, as well as unit assessments. It is also my intention to provide each student with an opportunity to give verbal explanation of what was learned within the course throughout certain points of the experiment’s timeline. It is well documented each students possess a different style of learning. And while different students excel in different learning styles, in fairness of providing accurate research; I am providing the students with the opportunity to express what they have learned in a different manner. It is my hope that when given this chance, students can showcase what they have learned and in doing so; provide solid data to contribute to the research as a whole. Along with their assignments and unit tests, I am providing all students with a weekly grading chart. This will be filled out by all appropriate teachers, including the BIC teacher.
Goal number two is to monitor and assess the student’s emotional needs. Given that majority of the students in this research of are pre adolescents, activities aren’t particularly needed to assess the emotional state of a student within the program. Most students in that age group will be able to verbally express how the program affects them. However, since the research will include elementary age students; there could possibly be a need for role play activities. These activities have proven effective when children cannot verbally express their emotions about a particular subject. Throughout the research, it may also prove effective for students who have difficulty expressing their feelings to draw out how the BIC program may or may not help them. Throughout this phase of the research, group and individual sessions will be attempted in order to give the students a chance to verbally express their emotions concerning their participation in the BIC program. Goal number two will also be completed on a daily and weekly basis as well. When considering that goal number two encompasses such a fluid topic, it is necessary to gather data on such a frequent basis. A good portion of the students involved in the BIC program have documented emotional and social difficulties, and it is necessary to chart these ever changing emotions on a more accelerated basis. Again the progress will be under the direction of myself, the classroom teacher, BIC teacher, site supervisor, and in this case, the school counselor. In charting their emotional progress, I am providing each student and teacher with an emotions chart. Each student will have access to a “feelings chart”. It is my hope that after an emotional outburst occurs; the student is able to express what they were feeling as well as what techniques the BIC teacher has equipped them with to handle the event. Coupled with the their feelings chart, I will be arranging group and individual sessions for the students to express how they felt at that time and if the techniques they have learned in BIC assisted them in returning to a calmer state. My hope is to chart these findings of emotional outbursts and their frequency over the six week period to evaluate the effectiveness of the BIC program. In addition to this, I will be providing all of the classroom teachers, BIC teachers, counselors and administrators with an evaluation chart concerning the student’s emotional outbursts and their frequencies.
Goal three is to research the student’s discipline in the classroom setting as well in the inclusive environment. Most BIC teachers have in place certain activities that are designed to achieve the optimal behavior desired. Some BIC teachers will put into place a reward system centered around good behavior while others just use verbal positive reinforcement. Given that my goal for this particular part of my research is to simply chart the progress of the student’s behavior, it is my conclusion that any activities I put into place will only discredit the validity of my research. My research tools and processes of monitoring my research are one and the same. Each student will be given a behavioral sheet. Depending on the age level, these sheets may range from faces depicting smiles or frowns; to point sheets which will tally up on a daily or weekly basis. Given also that behavior is an ever changing human aspect; my research will be collected on a daily, weekly and six week period. Alongside the student behavior chart, the teachers will also be given a more detailed copy. Thus allowing them to give detailed descriptions of the particular time, place and longevity of the behavioral outburst. Along with tracking the student’s academic, emotional and behavioral progress, it is a goal of my research to compare the current data with any available data the school has on the students before their entry into the BIC program. In order to assess the program’s effectiveness, my research must show both aspects of the student’s academic life. And lastly, I will provide the teachers with a detailed survey form on how useful and valid they believe the BIC program to be for their students. These surveys will be converted into an in depth graph depicting teacher’s views and thoughts on the BIC program as a whole.
My fourth and final goal will be to track the progress of all students who were removed from their home school and transplanted into a new school in order to continue attending the BIC program. Goal four will have the same parameters and activities in goals one, two and three, however this goal will focus solely on those students who were moved in order to continue their services. Their progress will be charted in the same manner as their fellow students, only separately to represent their apparent difference. As before, myself, classroom teachers, BIC teachers, and applicable aides will be involved in oversight of this research. The primary difference in goal four will be that the students and their parents be asked to fill out a survey regarding their emotions on having to be removed from their home school and transferred to a new location. Along with the parental survey, questions will be asked concerning their child’s behavior at home in their old environment versus their child’s behavior since the transplantation.
