Rima Boujaoude

Describe what brought you to this research:

​​I started off this process by using appreciative inquiry approaches starting at the beginning of the school year. I was interviewing the campus supervisor about her experience with personal/social development and she mentioned that she is very involved with advocating for the use of restorative justice practices in schools. I spent a lot of time finding out more and we collaborated together on ways to bring this to ABC High. I took advantage of the campus supervisor’s expertise by inquiring further on how she saw restorative justice being woven into ABC High and she brought up a couple of ideas including adjusting the suspension process and implementing circles into the counselor-enriched classroom. As I brought my site supervisor into the conversation, she seemed very supportive and agreed that this would be a good direction to take. I also was invited to attend a meeting of the Tri-Valley Restorative Justice Initiative which aims to develop restorative practices in the school setting in the Tri-Valley area. In this meeting, I got to witness several committed members of the community who see the potential of positive outcomes of restorative justice, and to learn more about how it might look like in a school. Another exciting part of this meeting was that Fania Davis was the guest speaker. Fania, a mini-celebrity in the world of restorative justice, shared with us the work she has done, particularly in schools in Oakland, and inspired me to strive to make some sort of positive impact, in whatever way I could.

More recently, I got the chance to hear about the evaluations from the Freshman Mentor Program when discussing my project and its use of community building circles. Since this is the first year the school has had this program and it has been based on another school’s practices, one of the assistant principals and the FMP coordinators have been monitoring its progress closely and the low levels of satisfaction reported from the evaluations were a main concern. When I shared my original idea of implementing restorative practices into a counselor-enriched classroom, it was immediately suggested that these Community Building Circles could be just what the FMP needs. I was directed to meet with the FMP coordinator and was supported by my site supervisor, the campus supervisor, and the assistant principal.

What was your specific research question?

This research aims to measure feelings of Classroom Community from the Freshman students, hence the use of Community Building Circles. In order to measure this, all students in the two identified advisories were given a Classroom Community Questionnaire that had ten questions that prompted a Likert scale response (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). This questionnaire was adapted from an Online Classroom Community and Student Engagement Survey from Young and Bruce (2011). These questions include feelings of connection with other students and with the mentors, as well as their enjoyment of their participation in their advisory. This questionnaire was distributed again towards the end of the school year, and results were be compared to the first time it was filled out.

What are you currently doing as a credentialed practitioner?

​​I am currently in the process of completing my Master’s in Counseling and receiving a Pupil Personnel Services credential at Cal State University, East Bay. My action research has helped me better understand the complexities of systems change, but also its importance. I will continue to use it as a tool to advocate for the needs of students.