Action Research Project Title: School start times vs. student success

Blog URL: http://nkk1.blogspot.com/

Number of AR Project Documented Hours: 15

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):

So far I have met with my campus supervisor about my action research project, we have put our heads together and brain stormed a few ways in which I can pull data and use it to prove that a later school start time would not be better for students, but it would also be equally as financially efficient. I’ve researched a few studies online about the sleeping habits of adolecents and what it takes for them to function sufficiently in a learning environment. I’ve talked to a few students about their study habits and how getting out of school at 4:15 effects their learning. The main group of students that have the biggest issue with it are students who are in extra curricular activities after school, they say that they have very little time between when they get home and when they have to go to bed. Football players leave practice at 7pm most days and after eating, showering, and resting from practice its already almost 9pm which is nearly bed time if they want to get a good nights sleep. I still need to collect more data from the school and see how often students are pulled out of their last period class for road athletic events. I know there was an issue in the past in which freshman B team students had to leave class early for a home contest. This happened on several occasions last school year. I also still need to research other school districts which have changed to an earlier or later start time and see why they made those decisions and what have been the positive and negative effects.

Action Planning

Research Question: What is the relationship between high school school start times and a student’s success in the classroom?

Goal: Determine what is the ideal start time for a secondary high school

Action Steps	Person Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Meet with campus supervisor to about action research plan.	Nukah Kanabolo, Campus supervisor	March 2013	N/A	Reflect and determine whether I have access to all the necessary resources.
Review studies on sleeping habits of high school students	Nukah Kanabolo	March 2013	Google	Use finding to determine what time is best.
Survey high school students on the amount of time they spend studying	Nukah Kanabolo	April 2013	Students	Determine how much after school time is needed for students to study.
Survey high school students on their work schedules and ask whether getting out of school late has affected their search for a job.	Nukah Kanabolo	May 2013	Students	Determine if school start times effect a student’s ability to find work
Gather school data on how often students are released from their last period class for extracurricular activities.	Nukah Kanabolo, Attendance office secretary	June 2013	School Data	Interpret the data.
Gather data on the start times of high schools in other districts and survey schools that have recently changed their school start time	Nukah Kanabolo	June 2013	Google, Contact other schools	Interpret the information discovered.

Week Two Reflection

I learned that in order to be successful in the education field that we need to have a good concept of how to use research and be able to use it in the classroom/school building to impact student success. Producing results and increasing student performance are the ultimate goal in the education field.

How educational leaders might use blogs.

Educational leaders can use blogs to keep students and the community up to date on what is happening in the school beyond your typical topics covered in the morning announcements. Topics such as school security, building construction, school weather closings, or any type of new fees or policies being implemented by the school/school district. It could also serve as a vehicle to explain any controversial decisions made by the administration, such as a reduction in force, straight from the source.

What I have learned about action research.

                                             What I have learned about action research

Action research is the process of researching an area that needs improvement, then through using the information that was uncovered in the research, devising ways to improve that particular area that needed improvement. The goal of action research is to improve the educational process in order to allow it to run more efficiently.

Action research is mainly talked about in the Dana text on an administrative level, but good teachers should be familiar with action research because they use it yearly when they collaborate with other teachers. For example after a chapter test, three teachers may get together and compare results. If one teacher’s scores are dramatically better than the other two teachers’ scores those two teachers may research the successful teacher’s teaching strategies for that chapter then may implement them into their instruction in the future. I personally have and will continue to use action research in this way in the future.

On a more school/district wide level action research can be used to determine school start times. I am at a school district where school starts absurdly late in many people’s opinion (8:45 am). This late start time causes a late release time (4:15 pm) which causes students to continuously be released early from school for after school activities. I even know of a student who is involved in so many after school activities after school and on the weekend that he convinced his parents to get him out of school early so that he could just go get a haircut because their was no other time for it. Many people within the district have conducted action research to determine the pros and cons of starting school that late, but no plans for change have yet been announced.

Action research is a very good strategy to help school improvement. If an issue is properly researched and presented then it can have a progressive effect on the educational process.


Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.