The Effects of Community Circle Meetings on the Perceptions of Students' Feelings of Respect

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to survey the students’ perceptions of feeling respected in the school environment as a result of participation in classroom community circle meetings. The participants in this study were approximately 370 third, fourth, and fifth grade students in a public elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland. This study utilized a descriptive research design method where students were presented with a nine question survey in which they utilized a Likert scale to select a response of strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, or not sure to express their perception. Students were surveyed at the end of each marking period. Homeroom teachers conducted community circle meetings throughout each marking period. The findings of this study suggest that there was a minimally positive effect on students’ perceptions of respect as a result of community circle meetings.