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:
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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* 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)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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
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
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
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
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