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Paper Abstract: Proposes a study to test whether school uniform policies reduces incidents of physical conflict in schools. Positive effects of elimination of gang-related clothing; enhanced school spirit. Controversy over mandated uniforms & students constitutional rights. Accelerated school violence. Review of research & theory. Hypotheses. Variables. Methodology to be used. Anticipated results. Paper Introduction: Abstract The purpose of the proposed research project is to the investigate the correlation between school policies requiring the wearing of uniforms and the incidence of physical conflict school. Using a convenience sample of elementary and school principals, a survey instrument developed by the researcher will be employed to test the hypothesis that there is negative correlation between schools with uniform policies and he incidence of physical conflict in the school. It is anticipated that the research, which will employ a sample of no less than 100 secondary school administrators, will support the hypothesis. Introduction Statement of the Problem As violence in schools Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. WeeklyCompilation of Presidential Documents, 32 (9), 368 - 37 . Conference of Mayors endorsed he policyin 1998, but Wilkins (1999) has argued that enforcement difficulties, thecost of uniforms themselves, student resistance and First Amendment rights,and the inability of such a policy to eliminate all signs and symbols ofgang membership are among the drawbacks of the policy. School uniforms. NationalCatholic Reporter, 32 (22), 22- 23. Jet, 89 (2 ),12 -17. (1996). The school uniform policy, to be considered a "formal" policy and tomeet the criteria for inclusion in this study, must consist of detailedinstructions and requirements for shirts/blouses and pants/skirts, alongwith a listing of what cannot be worn on campus. Many schools have turned to such programs as conflictresolution, peer counseling, character education, and early intervention toeduce or eliminate violence from their facilities. Such policies are incorporated into the school'sdisciplinary code, but many have criticized the initiative as begging thequestion (Wilkins, 1999). The U.S. NASSP Bulletin, 8 (581), 83 - 89. No criteria for inclusionother than such a position will be employed. Will school uniforms help curb student violence? (1996). Should school uniforms be mandated in elementaryschools? (1996). A letter explaining the purpose of the study,along with a survey instrument, will be sent via mail to each potentialparticipants. The dependent variable of school disciplinary actions/incidentswill be measured in terms of categories and level by type. McCarthy, C. One of the explanations for this expectation has been identified byKing (1998), who stated that schools which have implemented a mandatoryschool uniform policy also tend, on the average, to be schools that haveimplemented other disciplinary odes supportive of conflict reduction andresolution. It must be mandatory,indicating that the school or the school district (and its stakeholders,including parents) have consented to the policy.Research Hypothesis The research hypothesis to be tested in the proposed study is: Therewill be a negative correlation between schools with school uniform policiesand the incidence of physical conflict the schools. Subjects addressed in this manner will consist of schoolprincipals or their designated subordinate charged with the responsibilityfor oversight of the school's disciplinary code. At the same time, however, someopponents of school uniforms contend they place an undue economic burden onparents while serving largely as a tool of administrative power (Caruso,1996). African-American educators, according to Jet magazine(Will school uniforms..., 1996) , appear to be highly enthusiastic aboutthe potential effects of school uniforms, particularly on students andschools in high crime, inner-city, poor neighborhoods. Donohue, J. In theory, school uniforms are regarded as eliminating tensionsbetween groups of students -those who cannot afford to purchase expensiveclothing and are therefore members of the "out group" and between studentswho are involved in rival gangs and who wear gang insignia to class (King,1998). It is anticipated that the research, whichwill employ a sample of no less than 1 secondary school administrators,will support the hypothesis.Introduction Statement of the Problem As violence in schools has become more and more pervasive in thenation's public schools, educators, parents and elected officials areexamining ever means possible, including school uniforms, to reduceclassroom tensions (Uniform improvements, 1999). References Caruso, P. This experience has been replicated elsewhere. (1996). The Long Branch policy appears, after several years, to havesucceeded. To control orextraneous variables, data regarding other aspects of the school's effortsto reduce or eliminate violence will also be acquired in the survey.Results After the data are collected, correlation analysis using Pearson'scorrelation coefficient will be employed to test the research hypothesis.Frequency distributions and other inferential statistics (potentially a t-test) will also be used to determine whether or not a relationship may besaid to exist between the presence of a school uniform policy and areduction in the level and types of physical conflict in the participatingschools. Subjects will be grouped, based on their responses, into two subsets.Group A will be comprised of participants reporting formal, mandatoryschool uniform policy as described above, while Group B will be subjectslacking such a policy.Procedure Subjects will be asked to complete a survey instrument that capturesdata regarding the nature, type and requirements of the school uniformpolicy (if a policy exists), disciplinary code violations and incidents ofphysical conflict by type for a school year, student test scores, anddemographics characterizing the school, its faculty, student body, andcommunity served. (1999). Inother words, the research question is "Does a school uniform policy resultin a reduction of physical conflict in the schools?" Review of Research and Theory In 1996, then President Bill Clinton endorsed school uniforms in hisState of the Union Address, arguing that by leveling the clothing playingfield, schools would reap the benefits in terms of diminished wearing ofgang-related items, educed tensions between student groups, and enhancedschool spirit and identification (Donohue, 1996). A uniform policy designed to reducetensions generated by clothing choices is perhaps most effective in thelarger context of their efforts. B. conformity: The issue behindschool uniforms. America, l75(2), p. Colman McCarthy(1996), on the other hand, believes that uniforms cannot stop schoolviolence, which can only be prevented by early intervention, counseling,and a less violent upbringing for students; others, including Caruso (1996)and King (1998) believe that such policies are vulnerable to attack in thecourts on the grounds that they may be unconstitutional and in violation ofstudents' First Amendment rights. President Clinton hadbeen impressed by a school uniform policy in the Long Branch, California,public school system; in 1994, that district became he first to introduce aschool-uniform policy (Clinton, 1996; Donohue, 1996; Uniform improvements,1999). Individuality vs. The NationalAlliance of Black School Educators believes that uniforms have thepotential to enhance other disciplinary actions and to reduce conflict overfashion, while centering students' thoughts on education. There's something about a uniform. Accordingly, PresidentClinton instructed the Department of education to distribute to all of thenation's 15, school districts a manual explaining how school uniformscan be useful n reducing campus violence (Donohue, 1996). Uniforms not a cure for schools' ills. Such violence may bedirected against people (including students, faculty and staff) andproperty. King (1998) argued that despite the reported benefits of a uniformIi policy emerging from the Long Branch experience, there is littleempirical evidence that requiring elementary school students to earuniforms significantly improves student behavior; in fact, says King(1998), such policies may be little more than a "band " that does notaddress the root causes of school violence and conflict, which areresistant to change.Dependent and Independent Variables The dependent variable in the foregoing research hypothesis is schoolviolence or physical conflict, operationally defined and measured in termsof the number of reported incidents per school per year that involve sometype of physical violence exhibited by students. Journal of School Health, 68 (1), 32- 38. Others disagree. The data generated by the proposed study are amenable to analysisin several discrete operations, including analysis by type of uniformpolicy and/or school setting, type of disciplinary code violations, andstudent demographics. This will offer greater insight into the potentialeffects of a school uniform policy in several different environments. Nevertheless, as King (1998) noted, morethan 7 percent of the members of the National Association of SecondarySchool Principals believe that uniforms will reduce violent incidents anddiscipline problems. King, K. A. Using a convenience sampleof elementary and school principals, a survey instrument developed by theresearcher will be employed to test the hypothesis that there is negativecorrelation between schools with uniform policies and he incidence ofphysical conflict in the school. Based on theexperiences reported by the Long Branch School District, and those of otherschools such as Chicago's Farragut High School, it is anticipated that thedata generated by the study will provide support for the researchhypothesis. Uniforms are also said to have the ability to reduce competitionbased on fashion, to eliminate the wearing of inappropriate or evenprovocative clothing, and to foster a sense of school community that unitsotherwise diverse students (Caruso, 1996). Psychology Today, 32 (5), 14. Others pursue parentalinvolvement and enhanced policing. Abstract The purpose of the proposed research project is to the investigatethe correlation between school policies requiring the wearing of uniformsand the incidence of physical conflict school. (1998). The independent variable of a school uniformpolicy, operationalized as above, will be held constant to create subjectgroups. The Humanist, 59 (2), 19 -2 . Clinton. (1999). In describing this manual, President Clinton (1996) noted hat manyAmerican school districts and individual schools including those ofBaltimore, Miami, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Nashville, Phoenix andSeattle, have adopted mandatory or voluntary school uniform policies withpromising results. Uniform improvement. MethodsSubjects To test the research hypothesis presented above, a sample f no lessthan 1 elementary and middle school administrators in the state in whichthe researcher is located will be randomly selected from all potentialmembers of this population. Donohue(1996) reported that at Farragut High School in Chicago, a school uniformpolicy created a 1 percent drop in violence. Though mandatory schooluniforms have aroused controversy regarding the question of whether or notsuch policies violate students' First Amendment rights (Wilkins, 1999),some evidence indicates that a uniform policy does reduce certain tensionsand lead to a reduction in school-based violence (Uniform improvements,1999) .Thus, the problem to be examined in the proposed research is whetheror not school uniforms are negatively correlated with school violence. Data reported by the school district indicated hat sinceuniforms were mandated, overall crime in the school district dropped by 91percent; additionally, suspensions were own 9 percent, sex offensesdeclined 96 percent, and vandalism decreased 69 percent (Uniformimprovements, 1999). The independent variable is a school uniform policy that mandatesthe wearing of only a designated set of clothing while n the schoolproperty for regular classroom and other activities, or while attendingevents off campus as part of a school function. (1996), Memorandum on the school uniforms manual. Additionally, the instrument will contain a series ofitems regarding perceived and actual efficacy of the uniform policy whichemploys scaled responses. 18 - 21. Wilkins, J. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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