Action Research

This year my PDPLC team focused on increasing the in class work completion of our students by using focused interventions. During my 2nd quarter my baseline data indicated that that 65% of my students completed some of their work in class, and 40% of students completed all of their work in class.

I implemented specific and random reinforcement principles to increase the work completion within my students. I started by allowing students to listen to music as a class. This included listening to music via the classroom speaker, or individually via headphones. The requirements were only that students did not use their phones for personal use, and if they were they would have their phone taken by the special education staff. I allowed students who completed all of their work to use their own personal electronic devices for individual use.

Additionally, I would randomly bring in treats for classes that had a high degree of in class work completion. Since the reinforcement was completely random, and based only on my observations, students were motivated to complete their work to ensure that they would be able to receive their reinforcement.

My final data indicated that 95% of my students completed some of their classwork, and 80% of students completed all of their in class work. The application of behaviorist principals clearly positively impacted the growth of my students, and the development of academic skills.