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Annual Report on School Safety--October 1998
The Constructive Discipline Model, for grades 4-8, of Los Angeles County, CA, is a demonstrated intervention that takes a multi-faceted approach to reducing violence and vandalism. School staff are trained to reinforce appropriate behaviors, identify factors that contribute to violence and vandalism, and develop a schoolwide behavioral improvement plan. In addition, school counselors are trained in the use of behavioral consultation methods. One study of several schools found that vandalism fell by an average of 78.5 percent.
Contact: Gus Friás, Safe Schools Coordinator, Los Angeles County Office of Education, 9300 Imperial Highway, #281, Downey, CA 90242, 562-922-6391, Fax: 562-922-6781
Peer Culture Development (PCD), for junior and high schools, is a demonstrated program run by counselors as a for-credit class for at-risk students. This program assumes that peers have great influence on each other and that peer influence can be positive. The program also assumes that self-confidence may be gained by being of service to others and that adolescents who have learned to solve their own problems can help others by sharing their experiences. Each class is conducted as a group counseling session in which problems are reported and resolved, and insight is provided by the trained group PCD counselor. An evaluation found that PCD students showed a 44 percent reduction in police contacts, while the control group showed a 36 percent in-crease in police contacts for the same period. All of the PCD schools also showed a reduction (55 percent and greater) in the number of property offenses (e.g., school vandalism, locker break-in), a reduction of about 66 percent in the number of personal offenses (e.g., robbery, physical assaults, rape, fights), and a 43 percent reduction in gang activity.
Contact: Todd Hoover, School of Education, MC Campus, Loyola University, 1041 Ridge Road, Wilmette, IL 60091, 847-853-3320
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