Tignor 1

Mary Beth Tignor

EDUC 501
Action Research Write-Up
November 2, 2016

Action Research Write-Up

Section 1 Identification of the Problem

What was the problem you identified for your action research?
o At the time of this class (spring 14), I was coordinating an after-school
program at Meadowview Elementary School. One of our greatest
challenges was managing the behavior and homework of our 25

participants.
Why did you choose this problem? Was it an important/practical problem that
could be beneficial to you or to others?
o I chose this problem because it was really important that we figured out a
viable plan of how to address both the behavior problems and academic
challenges of our children so that they could be successful in the afterschool program. This was especially important to the sanity of my E&H
student volunteer mentors.

Section 2 Action Plan

What was your plan of action to address your stated problem?

o Our plan of action to address the behavior problems and academic
challenges was a token reward system. This system could be
individualized to each child depending on their particular challenges. The
students and their mentors worked together to identify their goals. The
children earned reward beads for meeting their goals and could cash in

their beads for prizes from the treasure chest.

What was your timeline to accomplish this action?
o We implemented this system over the course of the semester (midFebruary to mid-April).

Section 3 Data Collection

Tignor 2

What type of data did you collect? Explain your process for data collection
o In order to collect data, each child had a data sheet in their folder which
their mentor could record their # of beads earned for each goal each day
as well as write notes back and forth to the childs teacher about the
students behavior or academic challenges. We collected the data to see if
the childrens behavior, focus, and academic success improved over the

course of the semester.

How did your literature review help you decide on what type of data to collect?
o The literature review offered many different ideas of how to set up a token
reward system or collect data and what kind of data to collect, but
ultimately it mentioned 2 things that became very important:
1) Keep the system simple so that the students and mentors could

understand it
2) Focus on the positives and accomplishments, not the negatives
or grades

Section 4 Data Analysis

What did you learn from the data? What patterns, insights, and new
understandings did you find?
o I learned that the system worked differently for different students. For the
younger students (particularly kindergarten and first grade), they
sometimes had difficulty understanding the system or figuring out what
they could afford to get from the treasure chest. The system worked very
well for the middle students (2nd and 3rd grade). For the older students,
they often tried to bargain with their mentors and the system, so it didnt
always work as well for them. I also learned that the system worked better
for students who had 1 consistent mentor throughout the week and not as
well for those who had a series of rotating mentors throughout the week
as different mentors treated the system differently and they all didnt

always communicate well.

What meaning did your data analysis have for you?

Tignor 3
o The system and the data analysis made me especially happy for those
students who had positive results from the system and really made strides
towards better behavior and academic performance.
Section 5 Future Action

What implications for practice does your study suggest?

o I think that the study suggests that token reward systems can be effective
tools for behavior management and academic gains, but how the system
is set up is very important, as is the consistency of the person proctoring

the program.
What might you recommend to others as a result of your study?
o I think that if I tried this system again, especially in a classroom, I would try
to have a more consistent set of criteria for the whole group (which would
hopefully all be the grade level) and have only one person, the teacher,
proctoring the system. I would also have the students be more involved in
the process of monitoring their behaviors and academic successes in
order to really see how the system works.