Date of Award

Spring 1-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Jill Hutcheson

Second Advisor

Dr. Sherrie Wisdom

Third Advisor

Dr. Beth Kania-Gosche

Abstract

This program evaluation of Caring School Community was conducted by two educators who studied the implementation of this character education program in an elementary school. In an effort to foster a culture of respect and kindness, where students, staff, and parents are treated as valued, contributing members of the school community, an elementary school implemented a character education program called Caring School Community. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the implementation of Caring School Community and its possible impact on student achievement. The evaluation of this program involved observing classroom instruction to track student engagement, teacher engagement, instructional climate and lesson plan completion using a computerized walk through tool and the results of student, parent, and staff surveys. All third through fifth grade students took the computerized surveys to determine the success of implementation based on their sense of autonomy, belonging, and competence. This study examined the results of implementing Caring School Community and its possible effect on student achievement. The companion dissertation examined the results of implementing Caring School Community and its possible effect on student attendance, student discipline, and positive behavior referrals. Caring School Community is a research-based K-6 program, which has four components: class meetings, cross-aged buddy activities, homeside activities, and schoolwide community-building activities. The fidelity of implementation of Caring School Community was measured using a computerized walk through tool to track classroom observations and student, parent, and staff surveys. Those results were compared with student attendance, student discipline, and positive behavior referrals, and student achievement data prior to and after two years of implementation of Caring School Community. The findings of this study indicated that implementation of Caring School Community had no statistical impact on student attendance, student discipline, and positive behavior referrals, or student achievement after the first and second year of implementation. Future studies should consider allowing a longer period of time for the study and studying several cohort groups or several schools with the same demographics.

Rights

Copyright 2011

Download

Share

COinS