Stages of the Research Process

The most critical stage of the research process is identifying a problem and/or developing a research problem. This stage can be considered the most difficult to understand. “A useful way to approach the research process is to state the basic dilemma that prompts the research and then try to develop other questions by progressively breaking down the original questions into more specific ones” (Cooper, D. & Schindler, P., 2011). We are going to take a look at bullying in our school systems, and no child left behind act. Children are the future, and we as leaders, mentors, and parents need to take better action to ensure the safety and well-being of our children. I would like to know if there is enough being done to ensure a future for our children. Are parent’s doing enough, and do they have the knowledge about this epidemic? What laws are in place, and what is being done to enforce those laws? Are we educating our children on bullying, and how serious this is? Most importantly, what can we individually do to stop this from happening? “

A stunning (and probably stunned) 71% of teachers stay out of or ignore teasing and bullying of students, according to a recent study of elementary-school bullying and teasing by Educational Equity Concepts (EEC), a national nonprofit organization that promotes bias-free learning” (Schroeder, 1999). I personally am appalled by this. Parents are expected to entrust teachers with their children’s welfare. Teachers must become more proactive, and get involved immediately. I believe there should be mandatory training that teachers must go through, to learn how to handle these situations immediately, and have the knowledge to notice this is happening before it gets out of hand. The independent variable is how much “bullying” is happening without the teacher’s knowledge, and the dependent variable would be once they are trained how much “bullying goes unnoticed. Let us know take a look at the No Child Left behind Act.

There are many questions to be considered when we think about this Act. Does this act work or not? Where does the nation stand with this Act? Does this Act work, or is there any benefit to this Act? Can we improve this Act? Does bullying lead to children being left behind? Is the lack of federal funding hurting the No Child Left behind Act? In researching this question I found an informative Public Finance Review of the act, and because the manner with which the funding for the “No Child Left behind Act” (NCLB) is, it promotes school districts to support low standards for performance because there is no funding for schools that have higher standards. “Because of the limited federal funding and the severe penalties in NCLB when a school does not meet its state’s standards, states have a strong incentive to keep their standards low. NCLB needs to be reformed so that it will encourage high standards” (William Duncombe, 2008).

Several states within the U.S. have sued the federal government because of the lack of (inadequate) funding received. “Unequal funding within states and within districts, it rests on a fault measurement capacity, the foundation for highly qualified teachers rests on qualities that ought to affect early recruitment and preparation of teacher, but rarely do, parents and communities are almost shut out of the reform process, and its labeling of poorly performing schools is a barrier to developing community support for the schools” (Lewis, 2007). Has the diminishing funding for our school districts made it possible to not follow the NCLB? It seems that the money is being hung over the heads of our schools to make sure they conform to the government standards. In some cases schools report false information or fail in their teachings for fear of losing the schools funding. It starts with parenting, and making sure that parents are educating themselves to acknowledge these wrong doings. Our scholastic program is suffering because of money issues.

If were not educating ourselves, and educating others what does that leave us? It starts at the very bottom and goes all the way up. These laws and acts were placed to benefit our children, the future of our country. It is not one individual’s responsibility to adhere to these laws and acts, it is everyone’s responsibility to do so. Our government needs to ensure that our schools are not falsifying information to get their funding. Our parents need to make sure they are staying active within their children’s scholastic lives. Bullying needs to be stopped immediately, because no child should have to suffer that mental and physical abuse. Remember children are innocent, and their minds and way of thinking are determined by what they are taught is right. If we all practice what we preach we can make a drastic decrease in the problems with our children.

References
Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2011). Business research methods (11th Ed.). New York, NY McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Duncombe, W., Lukemeyer, A. & Yniger, J. (2008). The No Child. Lewis, A. (2007). Suggestions for Reform of the No Child Left Behind Act. The Education Digest Schroeder, K. (1999). The Education Digest. Bullying