School uniforms and their impact on student outcomes

School uniform policies have been enforced in many schools over the past few decades. These policies are enforced based on school administrators beliefs that students are ready to learn when they arrive dressed for success (Adams, 2007). However, school uniform policies have become controversial in relation to their potential benefits and impact on student achievement. On one hand, school uniforms are said to impact school safety and academic success through establishing a positive, beneficial learning environment. On the other hand, student achievement is viewed as a construct influenced by various factors including behavioral issues and class attendance/participation rather than how a student dresses. While school uniform policies have become relatively controversial in the recent past, many schools have established dress codes that guide acceptable and unacceptable dress attires in the learning environment. This study examines the benefits of school uniforms on student learning and whether establishing such policies would lessen discrimination and enhance learning among the student body.
Educational Problem
School uniforms have become mandatory in many school districts across the nation as administrators consider them to be critical in the learning process. The US Department of Education reports that wearing school uniforms is linked to decreased risks of violence and theft, instills discipline, and help school administrators identify any intruders who come to the school (DeMitchell, 2015; Ordway, 2018). Many school administrators opine that school uniforms help improve discipline among students and in turn contribute to better student outcomes and academic achievements. Moreover, many administrators believe that establishing dress codes help to ensure students are ready to learn when they arrive at the school and are dressed for success. Given these believes many schools have already established policies to guide approved and disapproved dress codes.
However, the idea that school uniforms have positive impacts on the learning process and student outcomes/achievements has generated numerous concerns among policymakers, parents and the public. It is believed that student outcomes and achievements is a by-product of many factors that go beyond how the student is dressed. Some of these factors include individual discipline, behavioral issues, the nature of the learning environment, and the student’s learning style and abilities (Adams, 2007). Therefore, the role school uniforms play in influencing student outcomes and achievement is very minimal. School uniform policies have also generated legal issues since they are considered unconstitutional as they infringe on First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.
In light of these controversies and arguments, it is increasingly critical to establish whether school uniforms policies benefit student learning and lessen discrimination. The purpose of this study is to examine the benefits of school uniforms to learning and whether such policies lessen discrimination and improve the overall learning process. This study seeks to address the existing gap in literature on this issue and address the controversy surrounding school uniforms and their associated policies.
Research Methodology and Design
To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher will utilize a mixed-methods research design. Mixed-methods research design will be utilized in this study since it allows the researcher to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The nature of the issue under investigation requires collection of rich data for in depth understanding of this problem. Combining quantitative and qualitative data helps the research obtain wider and in depth understanding on the phenomenon under investigation. During this process, the research offsets the inherent weaknesses of each of the two approaches, which results in more reliable findings. According to Creswell (2014), mixed methods research design is an approach that focuses on collecting, analyzing and integrating qualitative and quantitative data in a single research. The combination of these approaches yield better understanding of the research problem in comparison to using either qualitative or quantitative approach alone.
For this study, quantitative data will include close-ended information on student performance and behaviors in relation to enforcement of school uniform policies. In essence, students’ performance and behavioral data in relation to enforcement of school uniform policies will be collected and statistically analyzed. On the other hand, qualitative data for this research will include open-ended information that demonstrate the link between enforcement of school uniform policies and improved learning processes and student outcomes. Qualitative data on this issue will be aggregated into different categories of information to provide diversity of ideas relating to the phenomenon under investigation. The researcher will then utilize a data analysis techniques that allows integrating qualitative and quantitative data to help answer the research question and achieve the purpose of the study.
Research Variables
Independent Variable
The independent variable for this mixed methods research on the benefits of school uniform policies in enhancing the learning process is school uniform. School uniform policies are the independent variables since they are the premise for examining the learning process and student achievement. The impact of enforcement of school uniform policies will be examined in relation to the dependent variable to help answer the research question and achieve the purpose of the study.
Dependent Variables
The dependent variables in this study include students’ discipline records, classroom behavior, and academic scores. These dependent variables help indicate the impact of school uniforms on the overall learning process and its benefits with respect to improved student discipline, classroom behavior, and learning outcomes.
Testing the Relationship Between Research Variables
When testing the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in this study, the researcher expects that enforcement of the school uniform policy would generate significant improvements in students’ grades. Additionally, the researcher expects that enforcement of the policy would result in better classroom behaviors by students, significantly and lower disciplinary referrals.
Appropriate Measurement/Instrument for Data Collection
For data collection on these research variables, the researcher will conduct a study on a school that recently implemented a school uniform policy. Using such a school, the researcher will examine the research variables before and after the implementation of the policy. This would in turn yield reliable results and findings on the benefits/impact of school uniforms on the overall learning process (Sanchez, 2019).
Qualitative data will be collected by obtaining the school’s disciplinary and academic records prior to and after implementation of the school uniform policy. The researcher will examine disciplinary and academic records one year prior to the implementation of the school uniform policy and one year after its implementation. The analysis will entail calculating the average number of students’ disciplinary referrals at the school and their average academic performance per class before and after the implementation of the school uniform policy.
Additional qualitative and quantitative data will be collected through administering a questionnaire to a group of students in the school. The questionnaire will include different open-ended and close-ended questions on the different research variables. The questionnaire, which will be administered as part of a survey, will comprise fill in the blank, short answer questions, Likert-type questions, and multiple choice questions. Students’ responses to Likert-type questions will be rated on a scale of 1 to 5. The two data collection instruments are suitable for the study since they will help generate qualitative and quantitative data that can be analyzed to draw relevant conclusions on the issue.
Proposed Data Analysis Method
The proposed data analysis techniques for this study are triangulation and statistical analyses. Triangulation will be carried out on qualitative data to generate qualitative codes based on emerging themes and patterns. The codes will then be entered into a statistical analysis software alongside quantitative data to generate a single comprehensive dataset. The integrated data will be analyzed using statistical software SPSS version 2.0 to generate findings and relevant conclusions on the phenomenon being studied.
In conclusion, the benefits and impact of school uniform policies on the learning process has remained a controversial issue that has attracted diverse opinions within and outside the education sector. This study seeks to examine this issue to determine the effectiveness of these policies in the learning environment in relation to student achievement. Mixed methods research design will be utilized for this study since it will help collect rich data and generate credible research findings. A survey of existing students’ disciplinary and academic records and a questionnaire will be used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data in a school that recently implemented school uniform policy.
References
Adams, B.J. (2007, May 2). The Effectiveness of School Uniforms on Students’ Academic Achievement and Overall Classroom Behavior. Retrieved from Rowan University website: https://rdw.rowan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1769&context=etd
Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.
DeMitchell, T.A. (2015, December 15). Does Wearing a School Uniform Improve Student Behavior? Retrieved October 19, 2019, from http://theconversation.com/does-wearing-a-school-uniform-improve-student-behavior-51553
Ordway, D. (2018, April 20). School Uniforms: Do They Really Improve Student Achievement, Behavior? Retrieved October 19, 2019, from https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-uniforms-research-achievement/
Sanchez, J. (2013, April 23). College of Education Researchers Conduct Study on Impacts of School Uniform. Retrieved from University of Nevada, Reno website: https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2013/school-uniform-study