New Brown University Study: 90,000 Students per Year Suffer "Intentional" Injuries at School between 2001 and 2008

Resources to Help Schools and Districts Prevent Student Violence, Assaults, and Aggression 

Dear Colleagues,  

   I'm writing to you from Hobbs, New Mexico--where I will be training administrators and Student Assistance Teams from this region on RtI and data-based problem solving over next few days.  This follows a visit all last week where I helped an New York City elementary school to enhance its PBIS implementation, and a private school for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students outside of Newark to improve their strategic behavioral intervention capacity.

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Today's Topic:  School Assaults and Violence  

   In a January 13, 2014 Education Week article, reporting on a new study conducted at Brown University, researchers investigated school injuries, between 2001 to 2008, by analyzing data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.

  

   The reported concluded that 90,000 students suffered "intentional" injuries at school in each of the years studied that were bad enough to warrant trips to the emergency room.  In fact, of the 7.4 million student injuries during the study period, fully 736,014 were intentional.  Among the documented injuries, fractures accounted for 12%, brain injuries for 10%, and sprains and strains for another 7%.

   The vast majority of the injuries-- 96% --were the result of an assault. And a full 10% of the assaults involved multiple perpetrators.

   Beyond the physical, social, and emotional damage to these students, these data suggest that our emphasis--over the past five or more years--on teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression has not resulted in dramatic changes. While "Rachel's Challenge" and other "character-oriented" programs may increase students' awareness and commitment to solving these problems, the simple truth is that we need to implement behavioral change approaches that involve the following five elements:

  

   *  Staff, Student, and Parent Relationships that establish Positive School and Classroom Climates

   *  Explicit Classroom and Common School Area Expectations supported by Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skill/Self-Management Instruction (that are embedded in preschool through high school "Health, Mental Health, and Wellness" activities)

   *  School-wide and Classroom Behavioral Accountability systems that include Motivational Approaches reinforcing "Good Choice" behavior

   *  Consistency--in the classroom, across classrooms, and across staff, time, settings, and situations

   *  Applications of the above across all Settings in the school, and relative to the Peer Group interactions (specifically targeting teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression)
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Free Resources Available to you Now: 

A Model District Teasing/Bullying/Harassment Policy 

A School Safety Audit Protocol

The Scale of Effective School Discipline and Safety

   To help you (a) guide your district on a policy and practice level; (b) assess whether your schools have the physical and procedural safety structures and components that it needs; and (c) survey your faculty's perceptions of your school's discipline and safety characteristics, we are pleased to offer you the following FREE resources.

A Model District Teasing/Bullying/Harassment Policy

   Based on a thorough review of state laws or educational regulations across the country, and school board policies from over 20 model school districts, this document provides a template for school districts who want to create, update, or review their policies in the areas of teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression or fighting. 

   Including cyber- or electronic-bullying and cyberstalking, this document has the following sections:  Introduction, Definitions, Training and Notification of this Policy and its Procedures, Reporting and Investigation Responsibilities and Procedures (Staff and Students), Disciplinary Actions and Due Process (Students, Staff, and Visitors), False Accusations, and a Bibliography.

CLICK HERE   [This document is down on this page.]

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A School Safety Audit Protocol

   One way to ensure that common school areas (e.g., hallways, bathrooms, playgrounds) and schools in general are safe and secure is to conduct periodic "School Safety Audits."  These audits are complemented by a written Crisis Management/Emergency Operations Plan and Handbook that summarizes a school's comprehensive crisis preparation, intervention, and response system.   

   This brief Technical Assistance Paper summarizes the most up-to-date information in these two areas so that schools can analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and close any critical gaps.  Relative to the recommended development of an "Emergency Operations Handbook," three types of crises are identified that schools need to plan for:   Crises with Advanced Notice, with Minimal Notice, and with No Notice.

CLICK HERE   [This document is down on this page.]

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The Scale of Effective School Discipline and Safety

   The Scale of Effective School Discipline and Safety consists of 58 items and five factors (Teachers' Effective Classroom Management Skills, Students' Positive Behavioral Interactions and Respect, Holding Students Accountable for their Behavior:  Administration and Staff, Teachers' Contribution to a Positive School Climate, and School Safety and Security:  Staff, Students, and School Grounds) that staff rated along a five-point scale from 1- Strongly Agree to 5- Strongly Disagree.  

   The scale was designed to evaluate school staff attitudes and beliefs regarding the degree to which positive and effective positive school discipline and safety processes exist in their school.  A link to the scale is below, as well as another link to a spreadsheet that will facilitate the scoring process.

CLICK HERE   [This document is down on this page.]

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   Please feel free to share these and other materials that you find on the Project ACHIEVE website with your colleagues, education and community leaders, and parents across your district or state.

   When students do not feel or are not safe in school, it is difficult for them to fully focus on your educational programs and their academic success.  We cannot sweep our school violence or discipline problems "under the rug."  We need to expose them, analyze them, and fix them--at the community, system, school, staff, and student levels.  I hope some of these resources will help you to continue this important journey.
 

Best, 

  

Howie  

US Department of Education Report: "Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline"

Resources to Help Schools and Districts Put "Principles into Practice"   

Dear Colleagues,  

   Happy New Year ! ! !

   This week, the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, respectively, jointly launched a new publication, "Guiding Principles:  A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline" (CLICK HERE for the report).   In its Foreword, the following were noted:

   *  Youths of color and with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by suspensions and expulsions.     

   *  Data from Texas in 2001 revealed that nearly 60% of the public school students studied were suspended or expelled at least once over a six-year period during their 7th to 12th-grade years, and 15% of those students were disciplined 11 or more separate times.    

  

   *  Another 2011 study found that 95% of out-of-school suspensions were for nonviolent, minor disruptions such as tardiness or disrespect.  

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   Based on a review of the research, studies of successful schools, and expert discussions, the Report recommended three Guiding Principles--each with a series of Action Step.  The Guiding Principles were:

   1.  Create positive climates and focus on prevention; 

   2.  Develop clear, appropriate, and consistent expectations and consequences to address disruptive student behaviors; and

    3.  Ensure fairness, equity, and continuous improvement.

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   As the Director of the Arkansas Department of Education's State Improvement Grant (SIG)since its inception in 2003, we have been funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education.  As such, our work and successes have helped to contribute to the recommendations in this new Report.   

Moreover, as Project ACHIEVE is the foundation of our SIG practices, we have tested and built a research and implementation foundation, over the last 25+ years, that has established the practices that will help schools and districts nationwide to accomplish the action steps outlined in the Report. 

   Below is a recent YouTube video (10 minutes) that outlines the components of our school-wide Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS/PBIS) system--as told by principals and teachers who have implemented over the past ten years.  

    Briefly, the five components of our multi-tiered PBSS/PBIS (which differs from all other PBIS models currently being used) are:

   *  Staff, Student, and Parent Relationships that establish Positive School and Classroom Climates

   *  Explicit Classroom and Common School Area Expectations supported by Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skill/Self-Management Instruction (that are embedded in preschool through high school "Health, Mental Health, and Wellness" activities)

   *  School-wide and Classroom Behavioral Accountability systems that include Motivational Approaches reinforcing "Good Choice" behavior

   *  Consistency--in the classroom, across classrooms, and across staff, time, settings, and situations

   *  Applications of the above across all Settings in the school, and relative to the Peer Group interactions (specifically targeting teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression)

 
   Clearly, the components above directly correspond to the Guiding Principles from the federal Report and many of its Action Steps.
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Resources Available to you Now:  Moving from Principles to Practices

   Relative to the practices to help address the principles, the Project ACHIEVE website (www.projectachieve.net) has numerous FREE resources--especially in the "Products and Resources" sections to assist you in this important area.

   While most of our resources are free, we also have some "pay" products that help organize the entire process (sorry-- we would love to give them away, but...).  Three of them can be found elsewhere on this page.  They include:

   *  Our School Discipline/PBS Implementation Guidebook that describes the entire multi-tiered PBSS/PBIS implementation process implemented in 1000's of schools nationwide since 1990.

   *  The Stop & Think Social Skills Program--an evidence-based program (for school and home) that teachers and support staff use to teach students (from preschool through high school) important social, emotional, and behavioral skills.

   *  The Behavioral Matrix Guidebook that helps School Discipline Teams develop explicit grade-level classroom behavior management, accountability, and motivational systems so that staff can respond to inappropriate behavior in objective, fair, and consistent ways (thus, eliminating the disproportionality cited in the federal Report).
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    Please feel free to share this video and other materials with your colleaguess, education and community leaders, and parents across your district or state.

   As you know, for our students, we only have one chance to "get it right."  Let's embrace the principles in the federal Report, but let's implement field-tested practices that make it successful for all students.

  

Best, 

  

Howie