Running head: ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 1

Action Research Project

Erin Teterud
The American College of Education


















ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 2

Action Research Project
Part 1: Purpose, Problem Statement and Research Questions
Students with learning disabilities have come and gone out of my life for the last 11
years. Students have many disabilities and come to school looking to find success and
knowledge. A special education teachers job is to motivate and teach students to reach the next
level of education. One area of weakness in my professional career is modifying non-
compliance behavior. Finding motivation for students has never been a huge challenge until this
year. I have a student that has spent the last two schools years at an alternative behavioral school
due to extreme behavioral difficulties. He is diagnosed with Emotional or Behavioral Disorder
(EBD), with schizophrenic behaviors and he currently lives with his grandmother. His reported
behavior at the alternative school consisted of extreme physical aggression towards staff and
students, extreme refusal of work, and he would spend the majority of the day hiding under desk.



Question #1:
How can teachers motivate non-
compliance student to work and be
an appropriate student?
Question #2:
What kinds of motivators will increase
positive student behavior for students that
are non-compliant?
Desired
End
Results
Improved Performance in task
completion
Improved motivation
Method
for
Achieving
the
Desired
End
Results
Reduce work demand with
immediate reinforcements
Offering an escape from work as reward
Specific
Student
Population
Emotional or behavior student Emotional or behavior student
How the
Question
Could Be
Slowly build on work completion

Finding the right the motivator that works
for each student

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 3

Answered Collaborate with other teachers Use student inventory to find out students
motivators
Possible
Question
Will it work with other non-
compliant students when
implemented?
Are there additional motivators that could
be used?

Knowing this, when the student started at out at our school we decided to modify his
behavior by having no work demand for the first quarter of school. Our first concern was
building a relationship with him and keeping him from hiding under his desk. Teachers were
asked to only offer the work, and lots of verbal praise for attending school, but no demands. For
the second quarter we offered the work by asking him to complete classwork with the reward of
candy. The results were disappointing. The student would hide the worksheets in filing cabinets
and in book shelves. Candy was not a motivator for this student. As a collaborative team we
(myself (resource teacher), his science teacher (BI teacher), and math teacher (BI Teacher) had to
go back to drawing board.
Part 2: Literature Review
Students with EBD require social skills education to be successful in school and in life.
There are many programs available to help teachers teach students with Emotional or Behavioral
Disorders. Skillstreaming, developed by Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein is one curriculum that has made
gains for students with EBD. The curriculum is a psycho-educational intervention that teach
behavioral skills to students that lack or have weak social skills. This program focuses on four
parts of direct instruction: modeling, role-playing, feedback and generalization to teach a range
of behaviors. The Skillstreaming program explains that some students may not know how to act
in social situations (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1997). So teachers need to be patient and
encouraging when students are learning social skills.
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 4

Cumming, Higgins, Pierce, Miller, Boone, and Tandy (2008), explored how to motivate
students with Emotional Disabilities. Students with EBD are masters at task avoidance,
misbehavior, and non-compliance. Generally, the result of misbehavior is the removal from
class, over time this leads to special education classification and inclusion. Cumming et al. states
in order for students with emotional disabilities to be successful in all classroom settings,
they must possess the social skills necessary to meet the expectations of both teachers and peers
(Cumming et. al.2008).
Cumming et al.s article explains that students are drawn to multimedia and suggest
students can use gaming to support the development of a social problem-solving skills
(Goldsworthy, Barab, & Goldsworthy, 2000). Multimedia may provide students with the answer
to motivating students. Cumming et al. also explains that video self-modeling can allow a student
to watch him /herself engaging in a behavior. This, for some older students is effective and less
intrusive than some other types of interventions.
Benner, Kutash, Nelson and Fisher discuss the Multi-tiered system of support as it relates
to youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. Bennar et al. states At every level of
prevention, effective instructional and classroom management practices provide the foundation
for youth engagement and learning, which in return is associated with decreases in problem
behavior (2013).
Step 1: Screening is the first step towards understanding the needs the student.
Step 2: Cant do/Wont do assessment (VanDerHeyden & Witt, 2007) this will determine if
the students has low skills (cant do) or a low or no motivation (wont do).
Step 3: Explicit instruction
Step 4: Achieving instructional momentum.
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 5

Lesson pacing
Effective transitions
Daily review
Teaching new content
Guided practice
Independent practice
Frequent reviews
Using these positive behavior interventions can improve engagement for instruction for students
with EBD.
The three aforementioned studies have shown success with students with behavior
disorders.
Methodology
In the beginning of the school year I have had students fill out a survey asking questions
related to their likes, dislikes, learning style and other information about themselves. This
information is helpful when having to use a motivator to change a behavior. I also conduct
reading and writing assessments at the beginning of the year to find out individual reading and
writing levels. These assessments helps to define the cant do verses wont do students.
The plan for this students is to motivate him to look like and act like a student. (For
example we want him to come into class, take his seat, get out required materials, listen to
instruction, complete work given and ask questions when he gets stuck). The three sources of
data include an observation check list completed at the end of the class period; a task completion
tracking sheet analyzes, which looks at if the student attempted the assignment, number of
problems assignment and number completed correctly; and is an engagement tally chart. The
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 6

chart will be on a clipboard and show tallies marks of teachers requests or demands, student
responses, and any tangible motivators and the effectiveness.
Observations:
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Sitting in his chair ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5
Is prepared with
required materials

___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5
Raises his hand to
speak
___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5
Is in class all period ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5 ___/5

Total Score



___/ 20

___/20

___/20


___/20

___/20

This is an observation sheet. I have created this sheet to monitor the behavior of one
behavior student. This data is both quantitative and qualitative. These sheets are filled out on a
daily basis and kept by the teacher. The teacher or instructional assistant takes this data at the
end of the each class period. Since this a resource class with Bi students in class, I teach socially
acceptable skills and English skills that students can learn. I provide explicit direct instruction of
modeling, role-playing, feedback and generalization to teach a range of behaviors. Students are
expected to use this skills to act appropriately in all their classes. As a special education team we
look at how the intervention is working and if is not, we discuss how we can tweak the
intervention to work. Keeping this data will help determine if our immediate and long term
motivators will increase on task behaviors.


ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 7

Task Completion Tracking Sheet:
Student Name: Short term motivator: Long term motivator:



Date


Assignment name

Attempted
Yes /No
Number of
problems
assigned
Number of
problems
attempted
Accuracy
of work
completed





This tracking sheet is designed to track if the student has attempted the assignment or not.
The tracking sheet will be completed simultaneously while grading classwork. The teacher or
Instructional Assistant (IA) can fill this sheet out. Each student could be required to attempt a
different number of problems. This student began the year with the expectation to complete 3
problems. It took awhile for him to reach that goal, but everyone works at their pace. This data is
both quantitative and qualitative. The team will analyze the data and continue to teach skills and
provide opportunity to attempt the work given. If the number of problems increase and the
amount of attempts increase, the motivators are working. If there is not an increase in the number
of problems, the motivators are not motivating.
Engagement Tally:
Student name: Date:
Teacher/IA engagement: Student response:


ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 8

This is the Engagement Tally Sheet. This sheet will track the number of times a teacher
or (IA) engages with the student. The teacher may individually give the student a directive to
complete a certain number of problems, re-direct the student, ask the student if he needs help
with the task, etc. The teacher or IA uses tally marks to count the amount of times of
engagement. The teacher/IA records the outcomes of the engagements. For examples leaves the
classroom, no response, hides, argues, and etc. This data is quantitative data that is used at
collaboration to triangulate the data about this particular student.
Data Collection Activity and Data Analysis #1: Observations
In September, my student came to class and was expected to look like a student by
getting to class on time, siting in a chair next to a desk, have materials ready (paper and pencil),
raise his hand when he wants to talk, and stay the entire 55 minutes of the class period. My staff
and I gave a lot of positive feedback for coming to school, being on time, and acting like a
student. Baseline data was indicated that when asked to attempt a task, he would refuse, and pick
up his belongings and walk out of the classroom and walk home, averaging a score of 4/20. If
nothing was asked of him, he was willing to sit in a chair at a desk and sit quietly the entire
period, averaging a score of 13/20 for the day. This data was collected on a daily bases by myself
or my staff.
By October, we started giving him directives for him to complete problems for a candy
reward (immediate reward). He refused to complete the directive and would hide his worksheets
hidden around my classroom. His ability to stay at school was increasing, but candy was not
rewarding for him. His average scores for the month of October was 7/20. The special education
team decided to use his inventory to decide what was motiving for him. As a team, we decided to
try letting him escape as a reward. I asked him what was a reasonable amount of problems that
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 9

he could do and we compromised on 4 problems. We cut down the amount of problems that he
was expected to do to 4 and continued to provide him with positive feedback.
By January, we began to see a change in his ability to attempt school work. Our
expectations of him were; he had to complete 4 questions and his immediate reward was not
having to do any more work for the class period (he could draw, put his head down or just sit).
His average observation score increased to a score of 13.5/20.
By May, his workload was increased to 7 problems, and allowed him to escape the rest of
the work load. His average for the month of May was 14.5/20. I continued to increase the
workload, and positive feedback, and continue to observe his progress using my observation
sheets. This was a great sign of growth due to the fact that he was able to escape work for the last
two year of his schooling by hiding under a desk.
The data has shown me that motivation tools are dependent on the individual student.
Data Collection and Data Analysis #2: Task Completion Tracking Sheet
Collecting this data did not start the same time as the observation tracking sheet. I had
next to nothing to evaluate in until the middle February. I had to go back through my grade book
to collect the data about the students grades from February, March, April, May and half of June.
The results are as follows:
Number of
attempted
assignments /
total number of
assignments
Number of
problems
assigned per
assignment
Number of problems
attempted / number
of possible for the
attempted problems
assignment
Average percentage of
accuracy of work
completed
February 6 /15 4 24/24 87%
March 10 /17 5 47/50 93%
April 11 /17 6 60/66 97%
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 10

May 8 /17 7 12/56 63%
June 5 /6 7 30/35 90%

The data indicates something happened in the month of May that effected the students scores.
The student experienced some irregularity in one of his main teacher and case manager which
resulted in a huge setback for the student. After getting back on track in June, our team feel we
can continue his progress toward accomplishing more assigned problems. We collected both
quantitative and qualitative data. The team analyzed the data and continue to teach skills and
provide opportunity to attempt the work given. If the number of problems increase and the
amount of attempts increase, the motivators are working. The team discussed that fact that after
we asked the student what motivates he we started to see improvement because we allowed him
to escape work.
Data Collection and Data Analysis #3: Engagement Tally Sheet
The data collected for this tally sheet began in the beginning of June, due to this class
assignment, so the information is from the last few weeks of school. We were only able to
collect data on 5 days. Data is as follows:
Date: Number of
teacher / IA
engagements
or requests
Teacher Engagement with Student and Students Response
6-2-14 9 Acts like he cannot hear class room request to begin working.
Gets out a pencils, and acts like he is working. Begins working,
after 10 minutes of sitting. Teacher reminds him of the
requirements for putting his head down. Student complete
assignment after reminder. Teacher praises student. Teacher asks
student to turn in the assignment and he does. Teacher praises
him again. Student is reminded to be quiet at least 3 times.
6-3-14 7 Student is reminded of the requirements for the day as student
walks in before his peers arrive. IA reminds him to get out paper
and pencil and begin the task. Student searches for pencil in his
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 11

backpack for 6 minutes. Teach offers him pencil, he declines the
offer. Student finds his pencil and completes the required
amount of work. The teacher praises him for completing the
task. Then student turns in his work and puts his head the down
the reminding 9 minutes of class. Student is praised at the end of
the day for hard work.
6-5-14 13 Student is asked to stop yelling in the door way, he stops after 3
reminders. IA asks student to sit down 3 times. Asks him to get
paper and pencil out 3 times. Teacher redirects, student is unable
to sit still and needs to pace in the back of the room for 5
minutes. Student is praised for making a good choice of pacing
instead of running home. Student is reminded of expectations
and student is able to sit down. Student needs more explanation
on class work and teacher sit down to assist him. He is able to
work for 7 minutes before the end of class. Teacher praises him
for working. Teacher reminds him he has homework. Student
responds by saying I know, I will do it.
6-6-14 6 Student comes in the classroom and sit down. Teacher
welcomes him to class and asks for homework. He produces
yesterdays assignment the last problem required complete.
Teacher praises him. Teacher reminds him to get out pencil and
paper. After two requests to work he works on the assignment
and turns it in. Student is reminded to use his indoor voice and
he complies. He works on assignment and turns it in. Teacher
praises him.
6-9-14 3 Student was asked to get out pencil and paper, student was non-
compliant and ignored the teachers request. Became agitated
and picked up his backpack and walked out of class. Teacher
requested to returned and continued walking. Parents and
administration were contacted. Later, parents called and said he
walked home.

This tally sheet collected by the IA and teacher on a clipboard, daily. The data is quantitative
and qualitative. This data helps to see the trend of behavior. The student needs lots of positive
feedback to continue to work on the assigned task. Even after the positive results of this student
working I have found that some habits are hard to break. This data helps the team to triangulate
the data and help answer the action research questions. The goal is to increase work completion
and motivate student engagement while and minimizing non-compliant behavior. Motivation
seems to be the major factor in all the three of these data collection activities.
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 12

Conclusions
Motivating a non-compliant student is difficult, but after building a relationship,
interviewing them, and trial and error a teacher can find some motivator that will work. This
process takes time and energy, but the results are well worth it. My student spent the last two
years hiding under a desk and refusing to work in an alternative school. So, adding to his
diagnose of EBD, he also was at least two more behind academically. This year we worked
endlessly to motivate him and help him become a student. Through building personal
relationship with him, interviewing him, observation, task completion tracking sheets and
engagement tallies sheets we found that progress and changing behaviors takes a reward of
escape. Escape can take on different forms, for example he could escape by going in a timeout
room, or escaping from an assignment or escaping from a few problems that are assigned. As a
team we decided to allow him to escape from some assignments in the beginning and then a few
problems. The process is slow, but we began to see small steps in the right direction to becoming
a student. One set back was when one of his teachers had an irregular schedule for the month of
May and saw a decrease in production of work. We realized the connection when the teacher
returned for the month of June. As a team we discussed the importance of his relationships with
adults, keeping him in class, and slowly building the amount of work demand at a pace that does
not overwhelm him. His involvement in the work demand is a major key to his success.
Part 2: Communicating My Findings
This particular student has been a year long collaboration topic so I was able to meet with
one of my colleagues, Danielle Troup, (personal communication, June 23, 2014) to have
conversational interview to look at and discuss my finding and ask for her input. I presented my
findings to her and she already knows the students and has a relationship with the student. We
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 13

looked at my data and wondered if pushed, would our student revert back to hiding under his
desk or would he rise to the occasion of acting like a student (siting in a chair at a desk, with
materials needed and etc.)? We agreed for this student we would rather have him make progress
in small step rather than pushing to hard and losing the progress we have made. D. Troup
brought up the interesting point that one of his teachers (male) expects more out of him and he is
able to tolerate more demand from him than both myself and Mrs. Troup. She pointed out that
our student lives with his grandmother and does not have a healthy relationship with his birth
parents. His birth father left his mother and himself at very young age (3 or 4). His birth mother
has been in and out of his life the majority of his life. This background information sheds some
light on the point that this student might not trust women. This could be the reason why his male
teacher can demand more and get more from him. This would also would explain why it took
Mrs. Troup and myself such a long time to connect with this student.
Part 3: Future Actions
My next step is to continue to work with this student and continue to increase his work
demand. I anticipate we can continue to work with our student to increase the progress next
year. At the end of this school year his behavior and task completion was back on track and we
ended the school year on a positive note. If I could do something differently, I would want to
compare data of a male teacher and myself (female) and see the difference results. I think that
the gender of the teacher could have significant results with a student with his background. I
truly believe that my research is eye opening for me as teacher because I learned that the best
resource was the student himself. He was able to tell me what he was willing to work for, and a
reasonable amount of work he was willing to do. Knowing this information made my research
easier because his information eliminated one of my questions. I expect that the student will
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 14

increase his ability to complete tasks that are longer than a few questions and will not need to
escape from tasks on a regular basis. I would like to see him be able to complete 80% of
assignments at 80% or better and phase out the reward of escape. This could be one idea to
further my action research project.



















ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 15


References
Benner, G. J., Katas, K., Nelson, J. R., & Fisher, M. B. (2013). Closing the achievement gap of
youth with emotional and behavioral disorders through multi-tiered systems of
support.Education and Treatment of Children, 36(3), 15-29.
Cumming, T. M., Higgins, K., Pierce, T., Miller, S., Boone, R., & Tandy, R. (2008). Social
skills instruction for adolescents with emotional disabilities: a technology-based
intervention. Journal of Special Education Technology, 23(1), 19-33.
Goldsworthy, R. C., Barab, S. A., & Goldsworthy, E. L. (2000). The STAR project:enhancing
adolescents' social understanding through video-based scenarios. Journal of Special
Education Technology, 15(2), 13-26.
McGinnis, E., & Goldstein, A. P. (1997). Skillstreaming the elementary school child.
Champaign, Ill: Research Press.