Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

161

Date

2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Instruction and Curriculum

Committee Chair

Sally S. Blake

Committee Member

Allen H. Seed

Committee Member

Katherine A. Abraham

Committee Member

Denise L. Winsor

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between anti-bullying policies developed and implementation of those policies in the state of Arkansas. The researcher used quantiative research methods to determine the extent of relationship between anti-bullying policies developed and implemented. A self-administered survey was constructed for data collection purposes using methods described by Fowler (2008) and Maronick (2009) and was distributed through Survey Monkey to all school counselors and building administrators in the state of Arkansas. Data analysis was conducted on responses received from 547 building administrators and school counselors to determine if there are relationships between administrators' and counselors' responses to the survey. The findings from this study indicated that significant differences existed between perceptions of building administrators and school counselors as a whole and in four of the five geographic regions of the state of Arkansas. The study found no significant difference between the definition of bullying used by building administrators and school counselors, but the definitions used did not reflect the definition of bullying described in the literature. The study also found that building administrators perceive bullying to be a smaller problem as well as anti-bullying policies and bullying prevention programs to be more effective when compared with responses from school counselors. The results of this study provided valuable information about bullying occurring in schools throughout the state of Arkansas and how building administrators and school counselors perceive occurrences of bullying, intervention strategies used, and the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies in disciplining identified bullies and in reducing bullying incidents. The researcher provides recommendations for future study and implications for policy review including the development and implementation of professional development activities to be conducted within the state that will inform all stakeholders of how bullying is defined within the literature, development and implementation of effective intervention strategies into school curricula as determined in the literature in order to prevent bullying from occurring in schools, and the establishment of a task force to evaluate the effectiveness of current legislation in provoking change in the implementation of anti-bullying policies in schools.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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