The Project Plan- Tardy Policy at Southwest High School

Southwest High School is an open campus where students come to

school at various times of the day due to scheduling and where students are
expected to self-manage and do what they are supposed to do at all times.
The school has the feel of a college campus with many spaces for students
to study. There are lots of students who have release periods. Students are
coming in and out of the building as no one is monitoring the doors as
students walk in or to keep students in school. It is the expectation of the
school that students will do what is best for their education.

Currently, SWHS does not have a tardy policy in place for the whole
school. However, each teacher is expected to have and enforce a policy in his
or her classroom. As a result of the no school-wide policy, some students
struggle making their way to classes. After the bell rings, there are a lot of
students in the hallway. One thing that makes clearing the hallways difficult
is the lack of adult bodies in the hallway. There are four administrators and
three support staff members who work as deans for a school of 1800
students. The building is relatively large and it takes a while to get around.
You also have to take into account the number of students who have release
periods and independent study who are studying in the hallways and study
areas.

One policy that is school wide that was put in place to help keep kids
out of the hallways is that no teacher should give students passes the first
and last ten of each period. In addition, teachers are expected to take
attendance at the beginning of class and for those students who arrive late
to class they should be marked tardy. At this time, a lot of students who
are going late to class are not being marked tardy. In fact, when you analyze
the data in Discovery, it would seem that on average about 15 kids are tardy
every period. As a result, from this data, it would seem like there is no tardy
issue at Southwest.

The purpose of my project is to collect data and to reduce the number

of students in the hallway who arrive late to class, to make inferences
(based on the quantitative and qualitative data) about why students are
going late to class, to check for discrepancy between the data that I collect
and the data that teachers put in Discovery.
 In addition to using data from Discovery, I will also conduct a
student-focused group of 30 students. I will couple this with a teacher
survey. To provide more detail on the quantitative data that I will collect, it
will primarily consist of tracking the number of students who are in the
hallways, periods 2, 4, and 6. These were chosen intentionally to avoid
lunches and period one as many students are coming late to school and the
school knows this and they wanted me to just look at other periods.

Executive Summary: Summary, Findings, and Solutions

Key points from teacher survey (62 responses- 50% of licensed staff):
1. Is there a tardy problem at SWHS?
YES (91.67%)
2. Do you have a tardy policy?
YES (89.29%)
3. Do you enforce that policy consistently?
NO (30%)
4. What can we do to reduce the number of tardies?
Have consequences for kids who are late (66.67%)
5. Should SWHS have a uniform policy?
YES (90%)

(Survey) Themes in the comments:

- What is administrations role and response to the tardy issue at
SWHS?
- Hall Sweeps- Many teachers want to try conducting hallways
sweeps. (Administration is against this policy, as it will hurt
culture).

Teacher Comments in the Survey:

We need a uniform tardy policy that holds kids accountable, and honestly,
we don't need additional duties for teachers.

Hall sweeps. The fear of getting caught helps. And we'll consistently catch
the group that is always tardy.
Administration needs to have a consequence other than what the teacher
consequence is. There is no back-up when the teacher has done everything
possible by them.

(Students Focused Group 30 students)- What are the students saying?

Out of 30 students, students shared that only 22% of their

classrooms had and enforced a tardy policy.
Most tardy policies included students losing points and it
impacted their grade.
In the majority of their responses, students stated that in
some of their classes, they are aware of the expectations and
the tardy policy in place.
In those classes, the teachers consistently enforce the policy
and they have consequences in place.
Summary:

From the data collected, the majority of the teachers would agree that
SWHS has a tardy problem. The majority of teachers also said they have a
tardy policy. However, 30% of the teachers admitted to not enforcing their
tardy policy. Even more problematic was that there was a huge discrepancy
between the data that I collected which averaged about 100 kids in the
hallway who were tardy to class. If you study the table below, you will see
that the data does not match up. However, there are some missing data
points; I was not able to differentiate in the hallways which students had
independent study or a release period. Even if I was to account for those
students and deduct that number, the number would still be close to what I
have because that number of study would not be a lot. It is clear from the
staff survey that the teaching staff wants the administration to enforce a
school wide policy and to set some consequences for students who come late
to class. 90% of staff wants a uniform policy set by administration and 66%
want consequences to be set in place. However, the administration team
wants teachers to have a policy and to enforce it consistently because in the
student focus group, the students talked about how when the policy was
clear and there were aware that were consequences and follow up, they were
going to class on time. The administration team wants the power in the hands
of teachers and wants to support them. They believe that if the teacher is
to set the policy, they are more likely to follow it and own it.
Data collected by Amin vs. Data in Discovery

Tardy Counts
Discovery Data 11/28 Observation 11/28 Discovery Data 11/29
Observation 11/29 Discovery Data 12/1 Observation 12/1
Discovery Data 12/2 Observation 12/2
148
124 119
118 116 117
105
84
71 73 75

45 41 39 43
24 27 29 25 27
22 22
10 13

Possible Solutions:
1. Take accurate attendance/ mark tardies. This is critical because when
the parents are called, there is data that shows accurate numbers.
Administration will communicate this expectation again to teachers to
make sure this is being completed.
2. Teachers should have a policy in place and enforce it consistently.
Administration will connect with teachers to help them develop plans
and ensure that they communicate those expectations to students.
3. Teacher should contact parents when student does not follow the
policy.
4. Teachers should contact administration when they assistance with a
student.
5. Teachers can stand by their doors and keep doors open. If a kid is in
the hallways, ask them to move along or call office for support.
6. Administration runs a lunch detention everyday and teachers can give
their students detention if they are coming late.