How Can We Prevent Violence In Our Schools?

Despite heightened public attention following a surge in multiple homicides in schools, overall school crime rates are declining, according to the new 1999 Annual Report on School Safety (U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 1999).

This brochure offers an overview of current school-safety and violence-prevention issues and recommends organizations and resources that can provide additional information.

What School Characteristics Can Lead to Student Violence?

Although no school can claim to be violence-proof, research indicates that some schools tend to be safer than others. Several elements of the school culture and climate can help to increase or decrease a school's tendency to be safe. Violence and antisocial behavior are more likely to occur in schools that have the following risk factors:

	Overcrowding
	Poor design and use of school space
	Lack of firm, yet caring, disciplinary procedures
	Student alienation
	Multicultural insensitivity
	Teacher and peer rejection of at-risk students
	Student resentment toward school routines

Violence and antisocial behavior are less likely to occur in schools with the following characteristics:

	Positive school climate and atmosphere
	Clear and high expectations of all students
	Strong student bonding to the school
	High levels of student participation and parent involvement
	Opportunities to gain skills and develop socially

What Factors Place Students at Risk for Future Violent Behavior?

Hill Walker, codirector of the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, says "relatively accurate predictions" can be made about whether at-risk fifth-graders are likely to be arrested, based on the number of discipline contacts the student has during the school year, the amount of negative behavior the student displays with classmates on the playground, and the teacher's impression of the student's social skills. Also, the academic performance of these students often is significantly below their grade level, and they tend to be uninvolved in school (Walker, 1998). Behavioral factors related to these risks include lack of school readiness, antisocial attitudes, high levels of aggression and agitation, rejection by peers and teachers, affiliation with deviant peers, inability to control one's emotional behavior, and refusal to follow school rules and behavioral expectations.

Early identification of potentially violent students offers the best long-range hope for preventing violence at school. The American Psychological Association (1993) has identified four "accelerating factors" that increase the likelihood that an at-risk youth will cross over the "invisible line" into violence: early involvement with drugs and alcohol; easy access to weapons, especially handguns; association with antisocial, deviant peer groups; and extensive exposure to violence in the media.

Instead of hoping that children with behavioral problems will outgrow them or telling ourselves that it's just a phase, Walker stresses the need to get help for troubled kids at an early age, before their behavior gets worse and becomes more natural to them. Although everyone seems to agree that preventing violence is better than later intervention, in reality we often tend to ignore a problem until it becomes severe.

How Can We Prevent Violent Youth Behavior?

Prevention involves a variety of strategies. To prevent an outbreak of violence, schools are taking broad action that begins with adding social-skills training to the curriculum and goes as far as installing metal detectors. Experts recommend that schools teach conflict-resolution and anger-management procedures to all students, as well as clearly explain the schools' rules, expectations, and disciplinary policies. Some students will need more academic support, mentoring, skill development, and assistance than others.

Some schools are also starting to offer curricula designed to bring out qualities in students that inhibit violent behavior. One promising violence-prevention curriculum, Second Step, has age-appropriate lessons geared toward students from preschool through grade 8.

Under the Second Step program, the first level focuses on teaching conflict-resolution and anger-management skills to all students, as well as providing education about how to avoid drug and alcohol use.

The second level focuses on moral reasoning and impulse control and is used by teachers working with students, and families of students, identified as being at risk of engaging in antisocial behavior.

The third and most intensive level is designed to meet the needs of students who already show antisocial behavior patterns. At this level, various types of services and support are "wrapped around" the student and the student's family, depending on their needs. The family participates as a partner in the needs-assessment process, rather than just receiving services that professionals believe are needed (Kaufman, Walker, and Sprague).

A recent publication by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools (available from ED Pubs at 1-877-433-7827) provides "school communities with reliable and practical information about what they can do to be prepared and to reduce the likelihood of violence." It's designed to raise the awareness of school personnel and community members about youth violence and its warning signs, to suggest proper prevention and intervention strategies for both the general and at-risk student populations, and to offer ways to create and maintain a safe school atmosphere as well as to develop a workable plan to respond to a crisis.

Will Increasing Building Security Help?

While some school administrators install metal detectors and video cameras, erect fences, and hire security guards, others say they don't want their schools to become fortresses. Between the extremes of installing metal detectors and waiting for long-term prevention plans to take effect, there are several moderate, less intrusive measures being taken by schools around the country. In 1996-97, public schools had a variety of security methods in place. Newsweek magazine (Gegax, Adler, and Pedersen, 1998) reported on the percentages of schools taking various precautions:

Conclusion

The problem of youth violence doesn't lend itself to simple solutions. There are many roots to the problem, so the response must be multidimensional and comprehensive. Youth violence is one issue that requires the ongoing involvement and commitment of all major sectors of society, including schools, social service agencies, religious institutions, law enforcement agencies, parents, and young people themselves. Schools and communities can become safer if all of us accept some responsibility, work together, and commit ourselves to putting well-coordinated, effective prevention and intervention strategies into action.

Where Can I Get More Information?

The following organizations offer information about school safety and violence prevention:

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado at Boulder
Phone: 303-492-8465
E-mail: cspv@colorado.edu
Web: http://www.colorado.edu/UCB/Research/cspv

ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education
Teachers College, Columbia University
Toll Free: 800-601-4868
Phone: 212-678-3433
E-mail: eric-cue@columbia.edu
Web: http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu

National Resource Center for Safe Schools
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Toll Free: 800-268-2275
Phone: 503-275-0131
E-mail: safeschools@nwrel.org
Web: http://www.safetyzone.org

National School Safety Center
Phone: 805-373-9977
E-mail: info@nssc1.org
Web: http://www.nssc1.org

U.S. Department of Education
Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program
Toll Free: 800-USA-LEARN (872-5327)
Phone: 202-260-3954
E-mail: safeschl@ed.gov
Web: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS

Sources

References identified with EJ or ED are abstracted in the ERIC database. EJ references are journal articles available at most research libraries. ED references are documents available in microfiche collections at more than 900 locations or in paper copy and, in some cases, electronically from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service at 1-800-443-ERIC (3742). Call 1-800-LET-ERIC (538-3742) for more details.

American Psychological Association. 1993. Violence and Youth: Psychology's Response. Volume I: Summary Report of the American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth. Washington, DC: Author. ED 379 056.

Dwyer, K., D. Osher, and C. Warger. 1998. Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. ED 418 372. [http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html]

Gegax, T. T., J. Adler, and D. Pedersen. 1998. "The Boys Behind the Ambush." Newsweek 21-24. [http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/issue/14_98a/nw_980406_020_1.htm]

Kaufman, M., H. Walker, and J. Sprague. 1997. Translating Research on Safe and Violence-Free Schools into Effective Practices. Eugene, OR: Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, University of Oregon.

Sickmund, M., H. N. Snyder, and E. Poe-Yamagata. 1997. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence. Statistics Summary. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. ED 416 287. [http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/juvoff]

Snyder, T. D. 1998. "Trends in Education." Principal 78 (1): 40-48. EJ 570 142.

U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice. 1999. 1999 Annual Report on School Safety. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. [http://www.ed.gov/PDFDocs/InterimAR.pdf]

Walker, H. 1998. "Youth Violence: Society's Problem." The Register-Guard: May 31: 1B, 4B.

Other Parent Brochures are available online on the ERIC systemwide Web site (http://www.eric.ed.gov/resources/parent/parent.html). You can call ACCESS ERIC at 1-800-LET-ERIC (538-3742) for additional free printed copies of this brochure while supplies last.

This brochure is based on Trends and Issues: School Safety and Violence Prevention, written by Linda Lumsden, associate editorfor the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. This publication was prepared by ACCESS ERIC with funding from the Educational Resources Information Center, National Library of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under Contract No. RK95188001. The opinions expressed in this brochure do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. This brochure is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted.

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