Assessment Plan!

Social Change Effort Project (SPEC) Assessment Plan

We are beginning the second portion of our Social Justice, Human Rights, and Macro Social Work course with an expanded group. We have maintained former group members Nicole Gordon and Gabrielle Ernest, both with the Canyons School District, and have added new group members Kari Cunningham with Guadalupe School in Salt Lake City and Victoria Choate with the Davis County School District. We are hopeful that the expansion of our group will provide us with a greater volume of data for the possibility of greater reliability and validity. We are also aware of the variability in individual school needs, which may influence selected interventions and strategies as we continue addressing the issues of bullying and conflict resolution among school-age children.

Recruitment process

In consideration of our practicum placements, we are going to administer the survey using one of the following methods: Hand delivery to teachers with a verbal introduction of the survey, distributing surveys individually to teacher mailboxes, or administering surveys verbally during work or lunch breaks. Identifying the most effective method of distribution of surveys in each of our schools can benefit future research.

Number of people to include in the assessment and number of surveys to be conducted

To better assess the bullying and conflict situations in each individual school, we have collectively decided to conduct a survey regarding teachers’ perceptions of these issues. Each group member will distribute 25 surveys at their respective schools. Statistics from the National institute of Health state that 60% of surveys are typically returned. If this statistic holds true we should receive roughly 60 surveys. However, we hope to receive at least the minimum of 20 surveys required for this course.

Time and location of the assessment

Before survey administration, our group will address instructor feedback at week 3. We hope that this feedback will address ways in which we can improve this survey for maximum effectiveness. We will administer the surveys between week 4 and week 6 of the course, so that we can analyze the data between week 6 and 8. We will inform our survey participants that the surveys need to be completed by February 18^th; the surveys will be completed at each school during school hours.

Roles and responsibilities

Each of our group members shall do a general evaluation of her received data and full analysis shall be conducted as a group on March 5^th.

Semi-structured assessment guide

Introductory verbal script

“We are a small group of graduate students in the College of Social Work at the University of Utah. We’re conducting a survey of teachers and staff in Title 1 schools in Salt Lake and Davis Counties regarding their perceptions of bullying and conflicts among their students.

We hope to gather information that will support our teachers, students and families. Your perception is important to us and will help us create interventions to improve students’ abilities to appropriately report bullying and manage conflict. Your feedback will also help us identify a target group of students on whom to focus our efforts for additional bullying help as well as conflict management skills. Both positive and negative comments are helpful.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary and confidential. We estimate this survey will take about 10 minutes of your time.”

Survey Questions

1. What age groups do you work with?

2. How do you define bullying?

3. What do you believe are the common demographics of students who are bullied? (ex: age, ethnicity, sexual orientation/gender identity/gender expression, socioeconomic class, etc.)

4. What do you believe are the common characteristics of students who are bullied? (ex: hygiene, appearance, weight, physical ability, etc.)

5. How frequently do you see incidents of bullying among your students?

            Never

            Rarely (1 to 2 times per school year)

            Sometimes (3 to 6 times per school year)

            Frequently (7 to 12 times per school year)

            Constantly (More than once a month)

6. How do you respond when a student comes to you with a complaint of being bullied?

7. How do you define conflict?

8. What does conflict look like among your students?

9. How frequently do you see incidents of conflict among your students?

            Never

            Rarely (1 to 2 times per school year)

            Sometimes (3 to 6 times per school year)

            Frequently (7 to 12 times per school year)

            Constantly (More than once a month)          

10. What do you believe are the common demographics of students who are involved in conflict? (ex: age, ethnicity, sexual orientation/gender identity/gender expression, socioeconomic class, etc.)

11. What do you believe are the common characteristics of students who are involved in conflict? (ex: hygiene, appearance, weight, physical ability, etc.)

12. How do you respond when approached with student conflict?

Wrap up

“Thank you for your time and dedication to improving our school community!”