Anna Selbrede

IRI-3-10G/T
Revised 6/8/2016
Project Proposal
Part I: Proposal
1. What specific areas within the field will be investigated, researched, and/or studied?
The researcher will be investigating the public reaction to Howard County Public School
System Policy 9090: Wellness through Nutrition and Physical Activity. To fully address the topic,
the researcher will include a section on the reasons for the policy itself, general provisions of the
policy, then the reasons for a negative public reaction.
2. How will knowledge or ability in the field be acquired, developed, and demonstrated
throughout the year?
Knowledge on the topic will be acquired through reading and discussing ideas with
professionals in the field like Mr. Glenn Schneider and Marlene Schwartz. In addition, school
administration and officials such as Principal Kathryn McKinley and Frank Eastham will be
contacted and interviewed to learn the administrative perspective on the policy.
3. What proven need will be addressed? What real problem will be solved? What question
will be researched?
The project will determine why the public dislikes the HCPSS wellness policy and the flaws
in the policy that led to the reaction. It will also highlight specific parts of the policy that students
and staff do not know about or understand as well as parts they think are in it but actually are not.
This information can be used in the writing and implementation of other policies to prevent
negative reactions similar to this one, especially in the wellness sector.
4. What is the intended audience for the project? Who, other than the student, will learn or
benefit as a result of the work? To whom will the outcomes be communicated? For whom
is the product or result intended?
The portion of the project on reasons for the public reaction is intended for the Howard
County Public School System Board of Education and any staff or administration implementing
policy. The part of the project explaining reasons for the policy as well as clarifying the policy
will help to educate the general Howard County population on why the policy is in place and
why they should agree with its provisions. It will also questions that students or staff may have
but did not know how to ask. The final product targets the River Hill High School community, as
starting a school wellness team directly affects those people.
5. Will the audience be local, state or national? How will the product and outcomes be
communicated to or performed for the selected audience? What will be the outlet vehicle?
Through the creation of a wellness team, the researcher intends to clarify the policy and
reasons for it as well as what went wrong with it. The team will present to students, staff and

administration at different points throughout its life. This will be a local audience to begin
because the policy applies mostly to the local people. However, the background paper also could
apply to other policy or health policy in other places so further presentations may occur later.
6. What resources will be required for the project? (human, print, organizations, media)
This project will require online database access to scholarly articles and studies as well as the
ability to survey and/or interview school students, staff, and administration in Howard County.
The school wellness team will require the active participation of some staff and parents at River
Hill High School.
7. What are the special consideration of the project? (cost, materials, equipment,
transportation, special permission, printing/distribution)
Because the project investigates where a local policy went wrong, it is delicate in the nature
of criticizing local government. The researcher will need to be careful of accusing and/or
offending superiors. The product of a wellness team will be continued throughout the following
year, so the project requires extra follow up. Due to the nature of the team, the product also
requires commitment from more than just the researcher.

Anna Selbrede
2/24/2016 Pd3

Part II: Timeline

Quarter 1:
Select topic and narrow question
Establish advisor
Complete compiled annotations document
Quarter 2:
Prepare outline for research paper
Finalize combined annotations document
Further specify topic for a project proposal
Quarter 3:
Compose and revise complete research paper
Create final product (presentation)
Extended Calendar Dates for Quarter 3:
By March 4th
have designed questions for initial survey and sent them to
o Mr. Schneider
o Ms. McKinley
o Mrs. Sasser
o Mrs. Martin
have been granted permission from Ms. Geiger for surveys
By March 9th
have revised the survey questions since others have read them
By March 11th
have surveys either printed out or made the link available
March 14-18 DATA COLLECTION WEEK
By March 21th
This is the visual display fair. Must have first round of data complete
have completed data collections and tweaked as necessary
Have looked at data and discussed it with various people
Add any data stuff I can to paper
By March 23rd
Have created a new survey for a larger audience
Have spoken to different people to gain permission for next round of data collection
Have sent new survey to
o Mr. Schneider
o Mrs. Sasser
o Mrs. Martin
Longer Term:
By the end of March
Have finished data collection and be in the process of creating and sending out new
survey
Have begun to analyze first data collection and added some pieces to paper

By the end of April

Have finished second data collection
Have an idea of what to do for a presentation and what will happen from this project
Have completely revised paper since data collection
Quarter 4:
Finalize a display board to communicate research
Present final product to authentic audience
Complete a portfolio