Date: March 3, 2018

To: Kirk Kelly

Hamilton County Superintendent
Hamilton County Department of Education
From: Baylee Seifert, Student
Subject: Proposal to Research the Effects of Bullying on Elementary Students

Purpose

The purpose of this proposal is to request authorization to conduct a study to determine how

bullying affects elementary aged students and their learning environment.

Summary

Bullying has existed in communities for many years and starts from an early age. It can involve

physical or verbal assaults both in person and on the internet. The effects of bullying are

following the students to their homes via the use of social media and text messaging. There have

been many cases of bullying started as early as elementary school, it appears that there is not

only an issue with the victims and the bullies but the teachers and administration as well. There

have been multiple instances where a victim of bullying has reported the acts to the teacher or

administration and it has either gone unnoticed or the bullying has continued after doing so. It

appears that in elementary schools, there is not only a lack of truck between the students and

their teachers, but also a lack of bullying recognition and its effects on the student academically

and behaviorally. There needs to be an easy system to help recognize the signs of bullying in the

classroom, both the students and teachers would benefit from this because it would create a

positive learning environment.

 Introduction

As a child of a large family and a nanny, I have experienced how much bullying can affect a

child both behaviorally and academically. Just recently, one of my younger brother’s behavior

and grades in his second grade classroom had drastically changed. Originally, my parents

thought that this change had stemmed from longer school days with less breaks than his previous

elementary school grades. When my parents approached him to try and get to the bottom of the

situation, he expressed that there was a group of children in his class that were bullying him on a

day to day basis. He also expressed that he did not want to approach the teacher because he had

seen a friend that was bullied tell the teacher and nothing was done about it. Which is why he

believed that he should just let the children continue to bully him instead of reaching out to the

administration and teachers in his school. As a nanny, I have overheard the children I am with

discuss how the other children are mean to their friends and the victim feels sick at school and

gets sent home frequently because of the bullying. Bullying in elementary schools has become a

common topic amongst parents and administrators across the country. The act of bullying is

more common than most people would like to think. It is vital that a solution is created to help

recognition of bullying by the school teachers and administrators in the classroom and by parents

at home. Physical, Verbal and Cyberbullying is increasing day by day and it is important that

these children’s childhoods are not ripped from them and that they are able to feel safe at school

and have a positive learning environments.

Annotated Bibliography
Chen, Li Ming, Cheng, Wen, and Ho, Hsiao-Chi. “Perceived Severity of School Bullying in
Elementary Schools Based on Participants’ Roles.” Educational Psychology (2013): 1–13.

This journal covers a study that was conducted to examine school bullying among the
participants from each role, such as the bully, victims and non-involved individuals. The
 results showed that students between fifth and sixth grade perceived physical and verbal
abuse as more severe than cyberbullying and relational bullying. It showed that both the
victim and the bully agree that it is much more severe to conduct or experience physical
bullying.

Conn, Kathleen. “Bullying in Elementary School: An American Perspective.” Forum on Public

Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table (2013): n. pag. Print.

This journal discusses how bullying is known to rob children of their childhood in
elementary schools across America. It consists of four sections that each cover bullying.
The first section discusses the nature of bullying in the United States. The second part
analyzes the effectiveness of bullying prevention in schools. The third part explains the
legislative and judicial responses to this issue. The final section gives information on how to
take action when bullying is effecting children in elementary schools.

Kevorkian, Meline et al. “Bullying in Elementary Schools.” Journal of Child & Adolescent
Trauma 9.4 (2016): 267–276.

This article covers a study that was conducted with elementary aged students from third to
fifth grade. The study showed that 40% of the students reported that they had experienced
being bullied or seen bullying happen in their environment. It also shows that once the
bullying was brought to the schools attention, a very small amount of the bullying stopped
completely.

Sanchez, Ellen et al. “Preventing Bullying and Sexual Harassment in Elementary Schools: The
Expect Respect Model.” Journal of Emotional Abuse 2.2-3 (2001): 157–180.

This article discusses the effects that bullying has if it goes unnoticed in elementary schools.
It provides the three-year project that was conducted in six public elementary schools to
provide students with the information they need to identify bullying early and put an end to it
as soon as they are able to.

Veenstra, René et al. “Bullying and Victimization in Elementary Schools: A Comparison of

Bullies, Victims, Bully/Victims, and Uninvolved Preadolescents.” Developmental
Psychology 41.4 (2005): 672–682.

This article dives in to the fact that most of the data collected from bullying victims are
solely dependent on a single source. The research shows that bullying is strongly related to
gender, isolation, a person’s likeability and aggressiveness. It also showed that the victim
and bully’s behavior was unrelated to parenting once all other factors were controlled.

Proposed Program

Task 1: In-Depth Research

This step will consist of researching bullying, the effects of bullying, previous research studies

and their resolution plans, and how bullying affects the elementary student and the environment

they are learning in.

Task 2: Create Surveys

After researching all of the parts of bullying and its effects. I will put a survey together for

students in elementary schools and their parents. The survey will consist of questions relating to

if the student and parent have either noticed bullying in their child or if the child has experienced

it. I will also include questions about how the bullying has affected the child’s learning

environment and grades.

Task 3: Distribute Surveys

This task will involve giving out the surveys to both the students in elementary schools and their

parents. I plan to utilize my nanny job to reach out to local mothers with elementary students. I

would like to survey a large number of students and parents in order to reach a consensus with a

large population variable. The survey would consist of both choice options and a space where

each individual can put their input on what could be done to help change. It would also be a

survey that both the parent and student could complete in their own home and online, so that the

student feels that they can answer the questions as honestly as possible.

Task 4: Analyze Data

After all of surveys have been filled out and submitted, I will organize the data received and

analyze the overall consensus that the group surveyed came to. In order to do this, I will create

charts and graphs to be able to easily see the results from the surveys. I will then look through

all of the person entries of suggestions from the parents and students and group them together.

Task 5: Create Report

The final step, will be to use the information gathered to create a report of what the elementary

age students and parents believe is needed to recognize bullying and help the students cope and

ultimately bring an end to bullying in elementary schools.

Qualifications/ Personnel

I, Baylee Seifert, will be leading this research project. I have not yet conducted research in my

educational career, but I look forward to doing so. As a nanny and coming from a large family, I

have seen how bullying effects children on a day to day basis. Growing up, I also was effected

by bullying from my peers for many years and experienced changes to my learning environment.

Schedule
Tasks Task Schedule (By Week)
Research
Bullying
Create
Surveys
Distribute
Surveys
Analyze
Data
Create
Report
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Budget
As I am a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a nanny, I will not be

receiving compensation for my research. I foresee no costs to conduct my research, therefore,

my budget will be $0.