Evaluation of Circle Time & Its Impact on Building and Maintaining Positive Student

Relationships and Communication Skills

Brittany Lambdin

Department of Educational Technology and Literacy, Towson University

ISTC 685 Research in Instructional Technology

Dr. Scot McNary

July 20, 2023

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 Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to the education system as a whole

with interpersonal impacts for the majority of students. These impacts have been displayed

among learners within the classroom as negative student behaviors that educators must now

manage and combat. The purpose of this proposed research study is to determine the impact on

building and maintaining positive relationships and improving communication skills amongst

students using Restorative Practices in post-pandemic elementary classrooms. Convenience

sampling will be used to select the sample for this research study. Students included in this study

range from ages 9-10 years old and attend a public elementary school in an urban area of Charles

County, MD. This research study will be conducted as a Quasi-experiment with a single-variable

design. There will be a control group and three treatment groups. The three treatment groups will

only have one independent variable (the amount of days RP of circle time) to determine the

effectiveness of implementing RP in the classroom. Statistical analysis will be completed using a

repeated measures ANOVA comparing the baseline means to the end of year means to determine

effectiveness. It is anticipated that Class D (5 days a week) will have the most impacted increase

in the H.E.A.R.T. framework survey to further demonstrate the impact of RP on the overall class

climate.

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 Introduction

Background

After conducting research in EDUC 605, my co-author and I found that the COVID-19

pandemic had considerable negative impacts on the social and emotional wellbeing of students in

elementary (k-5) school. After the pandemic, we as teachers have seen in increased number of

students struggling with positively and effectively communicating with their peers and building

peer relationships. Prior to the pandemic, I participated in a training about the implementation of

Circle Time using Restorative Practices and began implementing them weekly in my classroom

and saw positive results in the communication skills of my students and an improvement in peer

relationships.

This study will aim to see the effectiveness of implementing Circle Time to negate these

negative impacts following the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, we as teachers have

seen in increased number of students struggling with positively and effectively communicating

with their peers and building peer relationships. We as humans need to feel socially integrated,

socially supported, and co-regulated through empathy (Herrmann et al., 2021). The COVID-19

pandemic directly deterred the human population’s ability to meet these needs and this trauma

continues to manifest as negative behaviors for students in the post-pandemic classroom.

Students in elementary schools, missed out on learning how to effectively communicate with

their peers in a positive manner when completing school in an online setting and they struggled

with creating and maintaining positive relationships with their peers when they reentered the

classroom setting. This is where Restorative Practices comes into play, specifically the

implementation of Circle Time. Circle time is a group discussion that can be guided to facilitate

conversational skills to promote harmony or open dialog to problem solve a particular issue

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promoting awareness and accountability (Granger & Lambdin, 2023). The implementation of

Circle Time plays a role in helping young children with social and emotional difficulties. It has

even been argued by Glazzard (2016) that circle time is a useful intervention strategy because it

can help to develop students’ social skills, specifically, that it can help students to cooperate with

one another and leads to improvements in students speaking and listening skills. Circle time can

also provide a setting in which students can openly share their own feelings with others, thus

allowing the teacher to make more accurate assessments about individual students.

Circle time, also referred to as restorative conversations, is a group discussion that can be

guided to facilitate conversational skills to promote harmony or open dialog to problem solve a

particular issue promoting awareness and accountability. Circle time is generally a universal

implementation of RP and can be used to explicitly teach SEL skills in context. Restorative

conversations should be done in smaller settings and are used to address and resolve conflicts.

Restorative conversations aim to have participants identify the different emotions they feel due

to a conflict and ways they can deal with those emotions, thus lending to practice in empathy for

others and reflective thinking. Restorative conversations can lead to both targeted and intensive

implementation given the situation. Educators model appropriate language and behaviors for

students as a means of developing respectful relationships prompting students to engage in a

similar manner. Behavior modeling can be used effectively across the continuum for RP

implementation. With proper training, educators could respond appropriately to a student’s

actions, allowing them to heal from trauma rather than cause them more harm (Coady, 2021).

The power of circles rests in giving a voice to even the shyest or most difficult of

students. Mirsky (2011) stated, “Circles change the classroom dynamic. Students who might

normally behave obstructively are integrated into the classroom when given a forum to be heard,

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and assertive students who might dominate discussion can no longer do so”. Teachers are also

able to participate in these classroom circles, sharing their own feelings and views, becoming

more personified to students. In general, social skills instruction for students has been found to

be effective in reducing inappropriate or challenging student behavior. When these conflicts

arise, circle time focuses on identifying the needs of those harmed, as well as the needs of those

causing the harm (Huang, 2023). Social skills instruction is also used to teach behaviors that

students need to be successful academically, such as following directions, taking turns, and

working with peers. For example, social skills have been used to enhance interpersonal

relationships and to teach specific behaviors such as initiating conversations (Evanovich,

Martinez, Kern, & Haynes, 2020).

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this research study will be to determine the effectiveness of the

implementation of the Restorative Practices of circle time on class climate data over time in four

4th grade classrooms from a public elementary school in an urban area of Charles County. This

proposed study will aim to see the effects of implementing various levels of RP circle time in

classrooms. It is important to determine the added effectiveness to address and combat the

negative impacts stemming from trauma inflicted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Literature Review

A study conducted in 2021, (Lodi, Perrella, Lepri, Scarpa, & Patrizi) looked at several

schools that implemented community-building circles in classrooms. They found that these

circles allow for teachers to create a safe space in which students can tell their own stories of life

and experiences, thus encouraging learning and mutual knowledge. Furthermore, in some

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schools, it is sometimes the students themselves who lead allowing for students to become more

responsible and learn how to communicate effectively with one another during the proposed

student led circles.

In a study conducted by Dyson et al. (2021) a diverse collection of 14 elementary

educators (including teachers and administrators) working with at-risk students at Clonkeen

Elementary, in North Carolina participated in qualitative interviews regarding their

understanding of effective SEL implantation and implementation of restorative practices. All the

educators interviewed recognized the significance of implementing effective social emotional

learning. Educators identified the restorative practices of circle time, restorative conversations

and behavior modeling as successful methods supporting SEL. Educators noted these

implementations lead to improvements in student SEL practice and overall behavior (2021).

A study conducted by Kervick (2020) participants noted that the first year of

implementation of circle time was exploratory and that more conversations around how to

consistently integrate use of RP across all settings and incorporate it into schoolwide systems for

tracking and responding to behavior was needed. RP addresses situations of wrongdoing by

engaging both parties in conversations to restore the wrongdoing. Ultimately, effective RP places

an emphasis on maintaining and strengthening student relationships (Kehoe et al., 2017).

After elementary learners have an established foundation of SEL skills, current research

supports the idea that restorative practices (RP) should be implemented to further develop and

practice these skills. A qualitative study by Kehoe et al. (2017) conducted interviews and focus

groups at six schools where RP had been implemented for at least four years to explore the

impact on student behavior from the perspective of students and teachers. After collecting the

responses from the 14 teachers and 40 students who participated in the study, an Nvivo

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qualitative data analysis software package with an inductive approach was used to allow for

themes and findings to emerge from the data. From this analysis, five main themes were

identified and used to establish a framework detailing the SEL skills that effective RP

implementation was noted to support. The H.E.A.R.T framework stands for: Harmony, Empathy

for others, Awareness and accountability, Respectful relationships and Thinking in a reflective

way. This framework details the core values of effective restorative practices which enhance and

practice synonymous social emotional skills.

Both teachers and students that were interviewed in the study identified the school wide

benefits of restorative practices which included: an increase in social and emotional skills,

personal relationship benefits and the overall school climate (what the school environment

“feels” like). These five themes detailed in the H.E.A.R.T. framework are the key elements of

effective RP implementation (Kehoe et al., 2017) and they are essential for students and staff to

feel a sense of connectedness and community. Additionally, Kehoe et al. noted that there are

many benefits from staff participation as well in RP as it was shown to aid staff in facilitation

consequently promoting more caring and positive attitudes among staff towards students. When

students see important adults in their life act in a positive and pro-social way, it demonstrates

what appropriate social behavior looks like (2017).

Statement of the Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that students in the experimental group who receive the intervention

RP (circle time implemented from Restorative Circles in Schools by Costello, B et al., 2010) on a

daily basis will have an increase in their self-rating scale mean as compared to students in the

experimental groups that only participate in the RP of circle time 1 day a week, only having

circle time 2-3 days each week, and the control group (receiving no circle time).

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 Methods

Participants

Acknowledging the limitations, convenience sampling will be used to select the sample

for this research study. Students and teachers participating in this study will be from a public

elementary school (called MBN Elementary for the purposes of this proposal) in an urban area of

Charles County, MD. Students included in this study range from ages 9-10 years old and all

attended MBN Elementary. Of the 102 students in the fourth-grade cluster to be included, 3% are

Asian/Pacific Islander, 11% are Hispanic/Latino, 60% are Black or African American, 13% are

White, and 13% are two or more races. 54% of the student sample population identify as male

and 46% identify as female. Of the four teachers included in the sample, all four are white. Three

of the teachers included identify as female and one male and range from 30-55 years old. This

sample is comparative to other fourth grade clusters at neighboring (withing the same zoning

limits) elementary schools within Charles County where the research will be conducted.

Measures

The H.E.A.R.T Framework created by Kehoe et al. in 2017 will be used to create a rating

scale survey to determine positive changes in the classroom climate (classroom culture and feel).

I will also be collecting data through observations of my own class (Class D) and through

interviews with the other teachers participating in the study weekly as to track gauge their

opinions on the observed progress that the implementation of circle time is having on their class

climate.

The H.E.A.R.T Framework rating scale survey will be created using a 1-5 rating scale

(with 1 being low/never and 5 being high/always) and used for student and staff to evaluate each

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element of the framework (Harmony, Empathy for others, Awareness and accountability,

Respectful relationships and Thinking in a reflective way) as they reflect on their own capacities

as it relates to the overall classroom climate. Staff implementing the RP of circle time will need

to trainings and resources to support facilitation of the intervention using the text called

Restorative Circles in Schools by Costello, B et al., 2010.

Procedures

Prior to the start of this study, consent must be obtained for all participants and will be

done so through partnership with the principal at MBN Elementary and the Charles County

Board of Education. Once consent is obtained, the four teachers participating in the study must

be trained in implementation of the RP of circle time using the text Restorative Circles in

Schools. Initial (pre-test) data will be collected during quarter one of the school year to determine

a baseline for each of the experiment groups (classes). During this time, the first round of the

H.E.A.R.T Framework survey will be administered and scored based on the rating scale for each

element. Starting in quarter two, Class A will be the control group receiving no intervention,

Class B will begin participating in the RP of circle time 1 day each week, Class C will begin

participating in the RP of circle time 2-3 days each week, and Class D will begin engaging in the

RP of circle time daily (5 days each week). There will be two data collection points. The first

collection will be after quarter one to establish a baseline for each sample class and the second

will be at end of quarter four. At the end of quarter four, the second round of the H.E.A.R.T

Framework survey will be administered. The data collected will then be analyzed following the

data analysis plan as detailed.

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 Design

This research study will be conducted as a Quasi-experiment due to the predetermined

and specific experiment groups (not randomly selected participants) with a single-variable design

(due to one independent variable). There will be a control group and three treatment groups, the

treatment groups receiving varying amounts (# of days) of the intervention each week.

Data Analysis

Data will be evaluated by the H.E.A.R.T Framework survey that will be administered at

the end of quarter one and then again at the end of quarter four to both students and teachers in

the four sample classrooms. The 1-5 rating scale for each aspect of the framework (Harmony,

Empathy for others, Awareness and accountability, Respectful relationships and Thinking in a

reflective way) will be averaged and compared to the baseline survey means. Statistics will be

displayed in a table showing the mean for each sample classroom, the standard deviation, and the

sample size. Below is a sample table:

Table 1

H.E.A.R.T Framework Survey Ratings by Classroom

Baseline - H.E.A.R.T Ratings (Quarter 1) End of Year - H.E.A.R.T Ratings (Quarters 2, 3, & 4)

H E A R T H E A R T

Class A Class A

Mean Mean

SD SD

N N

Class B Class B

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Mean Mean

SD SD

N N

Class C Class C

Mean Mean

SD SD

N N

Class D Class D

Mean Mean

SD SD

N N

Statistical analysis will be completed using a repeated measures ANOVA comparing the

baseline means to the end of year means to determine effectiveness. The hypothesis will either be

supported or not supported depending on the increase or decrease in data by class means

compared to the quarter one baseline from the H.E.A.R.T Framework survey rating scale means.

Timeline

This research study will span the entire academic school year as data collection after the

first quarter is concluded and again at the end of the fourth quarter (end of the school year). This

length of time will give enough exposure to the interventions of RP circle time) to collect

accurate impacts shown through the H.E.A.R.T Framework survey results.

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 Anticipated Outcomes

It is anticipated that Class D (daily RP circle time) will have the most impacted data

results as compared to the other three classes. While it is expected that Class B (1 day a week)

and Class C (2-3 days a week) will have some increased ratings from the H.E.A.R.T survey,

Class D will have the largest increase proving the effectiveness of implementing RP circle time

on students’ ability to build and maintain positive relationships and improve communication

skills. It is anticipated that the data from the control group (Class A) will stay the same due to the

lack of an intervention. The ratings from the H.E.A.R.T Framework survey are expected to

increase from the quarter one baseline to further demonstrate the impact of RP circle time on the

overall class climate. On a larger scale, the anticipated outcomes would demonstrate best

practices in behavioral support interventions for students struggling with negative behaviors.

If the anticipated outcome is as predicted, future research could be conducted the

following school year expanding on the implementation of circle time and add another variable

into the study. Social emotional learning and Restorative Practices are intertwined in promoting a

well-balanced class climate and enable students to positively communicate with their peers. Our

county implemented an SEL program countywide a couple of years ago called Move This

World, the program has lessons geared towards SEL skills that could also overlap with RP circle

time. A future study could be to observe the impact on the classroom climate when both

interventions are being administered, or when a class only has one or the other, or the level of

intensity could vary between the classes of what they receive.

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