Reducing Teacher Tardiness

At Roosevelt Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District many teachers are chronically late in the morning. According to administrative policy, the work day begins at 7:30 a.m., although the students do not arrive until 8:00 a.m. Of the 33 classroom teachers, 13 to 17 teachers arrive from 7:40 to 7:50 a.m., causing numerous difficulties--lack of student supervision on the playground before school, administrative uncertainty about who will be working each day, and last minute rushing around among the late teachers.

In an effort to solve tardiness problem, a problem-solving team has been selected to work together, using the Phases of Integrated Problem Solving (PIPS) instrument for group process.

The PIPS instrument, designed by William C. Morris and Marshall Sashkin, provides a rather simple sequential task structure consisting of six basic phases as follows:

VI. Evaluation of the product and the process

It is a basic assumption of the PIPS process that for groups to improve in solving problems, they need to focus on both the content of the problem and the process of group problem-solving. The PIPS instrument includes guidelines for monitoring the process, and various members of the team take turns checking the procedures in order to keep the g

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as they are presented. It is recognized that the goal is to present as many solutions as possible and that the germ of the final solution selected may be present in the most ridiculous idea. No effort is made at this point to formulate a final solution. Some of the possible creative solutions put forth include the following: 1. All of the teachers agree to appear at school at 7:30 in return for a raise. 2. All of the workers of the school purchase a lottery ticket each week and agree to pool the winnings and divide among all the school workers. 3. A buddy system is devised to pair up individuals to give professional and personal recognition and support on a regular basis. 4. A weekly staff party is held to recognize the achievements of everyone including a reward system for those who are on time each day. 5. An employee of the month program is instituted which includes a news release to the staff newsletter and local newspaper. 6. All the teachers give up their classroom aides for the first one-half hour of the day, and these individuals monitor the playground. 7. Parent volunteers are solicited to monitor the playground. 8. The substitute-calling system is revamped to include the requirement that a teacher cal
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Approximate Word count = 3937
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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