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Annual Report on School Safety--October 1998
Aggression/Fighting
Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders: Thinking and Acting to Prevent Violence, for middle schools, is a demonstrated curriculum for high-risk students. The curriculum is composed of 12 classroom sessions that deal with violence among peers and the separate but interrelated roles of aggressors, victims, and bystanders that youth play in potentially violent situations. The backbone of this curriculum is the four-step Think-First Model of Conflict Resolution. The model helps students to pause and keep cool, understand what is going on before jumping to conclusions, define their problems and goals in ways that will not lead to fights, and generate positive solutions. The curriculum has been tested in urban, suburban, and small-city school districts and has made students more supportive of resolving conflicts without aggression.
Contact: Christine Blaber Education Development Center, Inc., 55 Chapel Street, Suite 25, Newton, MA 02458, 800-225-4276 ext. 2364, E-mail: Cblaber@edc.org
To order the curriculum: Education Development Center, Inc., P.O. Box 1020, Sewickley, PA 15143-1020, 800-793- 5076, Fax: 412-741-0609
The Anger Coping Program, for middle schools, is a demonstrated model for selected male students. The program consists of 18 weekly small group sessions led by a school counselor and a mental health counselor during the school day. The lessons emphasize self-management and self-monitoring, perspective taking, and social problem solving skills. Aggressive boys who have been through the Anger Coping Program have been found to have lower rates of drug and alcohol involvement and higher levels of self-esteem and problem-solving skills than those who have not.
Contact: John E. Lochman, Professor and Saxon Chair of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Box 870348, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, 205-348-5083, Fax: 205-348-8648, E-mail: jlochman@GP.AS.UA.EDU
BASIS, for middle schools, is a demonstrated model that focuses on procedures for discipline. Clarifying and consistently enforcing the school rules, improving classroom management and organization, tracking student behaviors (good and bad), reinforcing positive behaviors, and increasing the frequency of communication with parents about student behavior are emphasized. A multi-year, multi-site study found that classroom disruption decreased and attention to academic work increased significantly in the schools in which the program was well implemented.
Contact: Denise Gottfredson, University of Maryland, Department of Criminology, Lefrak Hall, Room 2220, College Park, MD20742, 301-405-4717, Fax: 301-405-4733, E-mail: dgottfredson@bss2.umd.edu
Conflict Resolution: A Curriculum for Youth Providers, for secondary schools, is a demonstrated model. Key elements include helping students define conflict, teaching three types of conflict resolution, and reviewing basic communications behavior. Each session contains at least one skills-building exercise and lasts from 15 to 50 minutes. This program has reduced violence and the frequency of fights resulting in injuries that require medical treatment.
Contact: National Resource Center for Youth Services, College of Continuing Education, University of Oklahoma, 202 West 8th Street, Tulsa, OK 74119, 918-585-2986, Fax: 918-592-1841, Web site: www.nrcys.ou.edu/
Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT), for middle and high schools, is a demonstrated model for high-risk African American youth and other high-risk youth selected by teachers for conduct problems or histories of victimization. Using videotaped vignettes and role playing, students learn social skills such as giving positive and negative feedback, accepting feedback, negotiation, problem-solving, and resisting peer pressure in small groups of 10-12. Students who have been through PACT have exhibited 50 percent less physical aggression at school and more than 50 percent fewer violence-related juvenile court charges than a comparable group who did not receive PACT.
Contact: Betty R. Yung, Ph.D., Director, Center for Child and Adolescent Violence Prevention, Wright State University, School of Professional Psychology, Ellis Human Development Institute, 9 North Edwin C. Moses Boulevard, Dayton, OH 45407, 937-775-4300, Fax: 937-775-4323,
E-mail: byung@desire.wright.edu
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS),for grades K-5, is a demonstrated model designed to promote emotional competence through expression, understanding, and regulation of emotions. Cognitive problem-solving skills are also taught. The main objectives are for students to learn new skills and be able to apply those skills in daily life. Improvements have been found in students' hyperactivity, peer aggression, and conduct problems.
Contact: (Publisher) Developmental Research and Programs, 800-736-2630, Web site: www.drp.org/paths.html, E-mail: DrpMman@aol.com. (Developer) Mark Greenberg, Ph.D., Prevention Research Center, Henderson Building South, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, 814-235-3053, E-mail: mxg47@psu.edu
Peace Builders®, for grades K-5, is a demonstrated model for students of mixed ethnicity that has been tested in urban and suburban elementary schools. Peace Builders should be viewed as a way of life rather than a program because it attempts to change the characteristics of the school setting that trigger aggressive, hostile behavior. This program seeks to increase the availability of pro-social models to enhance social competence and decrease the frequency and intensity of aggressive behaviors. Researchers found that this program improved students' social competence (especially if students had two years of exposure to the program) and buffered expected increases in their aggressive behavior.
Contact: Jane Gulibon, Heartsprings,, Inc., P.O. Box 12158, Tucson, AZ 85732, 800-368-9356, Web site: www.peacebuilders.com, E-mail: custrel@heartsprings.org
Second Step, for pre-K through middle schools, is a demonstrated curriculum designed to insert skills-based training into existing school curriculums and encourage the transfer of skills to behavior at school and at home. The pre-K through grade 5 versions of Second Step also have a 6-week parent education component. The elementary program teaches empathy, impulse control, and anger management. The middle school program covers understanding the violence problem, empathy, anger management, problem solving, and applying skills to everyday situations. A study showed that physical aggression decreased from autumn to spring among students who were in the program but increased among students who were in a comparison group.
Contact: Committee for Children, 2203 Airport Way South, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98134, or 172 20th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122, 800-634-4449, Fax: 206-343-1445, Web site: www.cfchildren.org
The School Safety Program, for high schools, is a demonstrated model for identifying violence problems and devising effective responses. The program's main component is a curriculum integrated into a required 11th grade social studies course that trains students to be problem solvers, engages students in solving their school's problems, identifies problem students through reviews by teachers and police, and sponsors regular meetings among school teachers, school administrators, and the police. An evaluation found a 50 percent reduction in incidents requiring calls to the police (mainly assault-related behaviors) at an intervention school but only a small reduction at a comparison school. In addition, threats to teachers decreased 17 percent in an intervention school but increased by five percent in a comparison school.
Contact: Dennis Kenney, Director of Research, Police Executive Research Forum, 1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 930, Washington, DC 20036, 202-466-7820, Fax: 202-466-7826, Web site: www.policeforum.org, E-mail: dkenney@intr.net
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King William C. Lunalilo Elementary School
Demographic Information:
Contact Information: Kathleen A. Mau, Principal In response to increases in drug- and gang-related activity in the neighborhood surrounding Lunalilo Elementary, school officials have devised a comprehensive School Improvement Plan (SIP) to immerse all of the students in a positive environment through integrated multi-year programs. At the core of SIP is a schoolwide program that teaches self-awareness, social skills, decision making skills, as well as the harmful effects of substance use, and requires parental involvement. The school also offers conflict resolution and peer mediation training; peer and adult tutoring; and involvement in community projects, school service groups, and the Big Buddy/Little Buddy program. For students in need of extra services, Lunalilo has a Primary School Adjustment Program. The program relies on early identification, the support of a caring adult, and the involvement of a team of key personnel and parents in enhancing students' behavioral development. In conjunction with school officials, the Honolulu Police Department and the McCully Neighborhood Watch notify school officials of any suspicious activities around the school area. Data collected during the past 4 years reveal decreases in violent behavior and in the number of student referrals to the principal's office (no suspensions in 1998, compared with four in 1994). In a 1997-98 survey of the Primary School Adjustment Program, 78 percent of parents reported that their children behaved better at home, and 72 percent reported that their children had developed higher self-esteem. |
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