## PARTICIPANT PACKET

***Comprehensive Framework for***

***School Violence Prevention***

## A Live National Satellite Broadcast

######## 

######## 

######## Produced by the

#### Hamilton Fish Institute

### George Washington University

######## And the

**Violence Prevention Project**

**Eastern Kentucky University**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

Agenda\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
3

Hamilton Fish Institute
Overview\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_4

Comprehensive
Framework\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ 6

Program
Panelists\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
19

Evaluation\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_21

**[AGENDA]{.underline}**

**Comprehensive Framework for**

**School Violence Prevention**

**October 25, 2000**

\*All times listed are EST and approximate

-   1:30-2:00 PM Pre-conference Site Activities; Test Slate

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-   2:00-2:09 PM Welcome/Introductions/Opening Discussions

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-   2:09-2:13 PM Overview Video of Hamilton Fish Institute

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-   2:13- 2:20 PM Discussion of Institute initiatives and work currently

> being done by Institute Consortium members
>
> Q&A with viewers

-   2:20-2:25 PM Introduction of the Comprehensive Framework for School
    Violence Prevention

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-   2:25-2:40 PM Pre-produced video segment highlighting methods of
    "Identifying and Measuring the Problem," and "Setting Goals and
    Objectives"

Panel Discussion and Q&A with viewers

-   2:40-2:52 PM Discussion and Video segment highlighting
    "Identification of Appropriate Strategies"

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-   2:52-3:02 PM Panel Discussion and Q&A with viewers

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-   3:02-3:12 PM Overview and Video segment highlighting "Implementation
    of Comprehensive Plan, Measuring the Success of the Effort and
    Revising Strategies Based on the Evaluation"

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-   3:12-3:22 PM Panel Discussion and Q&A with viewers

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-   3:22-3:30 PM Closing comments/Wrap Up

**The Hamilton Fish Institute**

***Making Schools and Their Communities Safer for Learning***

During the early 1990s, major organizations including the National
Academy of Sciences and the U.S. General Accounting Office noted that
most prior efforts to develop school violence prevention strategies had
been hastily prepared, implemented for only short periods, and not
rigorously evaluated. These organizations urged that investments be made
in rigorous research, development and evaluation of programs to reduce
violence in and around schools. Their recommendations inspired the
creation of the Hamilton Fish Institute at [The]{.underline} [George
Washington University](http://www.gwu.edu/) in the [Graduate School of
Education and Human Development](http://www.gwu.edu/~gsehd/)\'s
[Institute for Education Policy
Studies](http://www.gwu.edu/~edpol/ieps.html).

The Institute, with assistance from Congress, was founded in 1997 to
serve as a national resource to test the effectiveness of school
violence prevention methods and to develop more effective strategies.
The Institute\'s goal is to determine what works and what can be
replicated to reduce violence in America\'s schools and their
communities.

The Institute works with a consortium of seven universities whose key
staff have expertise in adolescent violence, criminology, law
enforcement, substance abuse, juvenile justice, gangs, public health,
education, behavior disorders, social skills development and prevention
programs. The Institute's National Office
([http://www.hamfish.org](http://www.hamfish.org/)) at The George
Washington University (<http://www.gwu.edu/>) develops and tests
violence prevention strategies in collaboration with the following
university partners:

![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [Florida State
University](http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/)
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/\
![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [Morehouse School of
Medicine](http://msm.edu/chpmdept.html) http://msm.edu/chpmdept.html\
![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [Syracuse
University](http://soeweb.syr.edu/cf.html)
http://soeweb.syr.edu/cf.html\
![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [Eastern Kentucky
University](http://www.eku.edu/) http://www.eku.edu/\
![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [University of
Oregon](http://interact.uoregon.edu/ivdb/ivdb.html)
http://www.uoregon.edu/\
![](media/image1.png){width="0.14583333333333334in"
height="0.13541666666666666in"}  [University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee](http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CJ/)
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CJ/

Drawing on previous research on school violence and on the experience
and knowledge of leading violence prevention experts, teachers, school
administrators and others to identify the most promising prevention
strategies and test them in local schools. As those strategies are
identified, tested and refined, the Institute will share this
information with the public.

**The Institute focuses its efforts in the following areas:**

**Analyzing youth violence prevention strategies.**

Through the process of meta-analysis, the Institute synthesizes and
analyzes existing models and research on school violence prevention to
examine their effectiveness.

**Testing promising prevention strategies in rural, suburban, and urban
schools grappling with violence.**

The seven universities have established local
community-school-university partnerships committed to a long-term
reduction in violence. Each partnership diagnoses specific violence
problems that occur in and around the schools. As problems are
identified and analyzed, the university teams develop, evaluate and
refine violence reduction strategies to maximize effectiveness,
efficiency and practicality. Then the teams launch controlled studies to
measure long-term impacts.

During this unprecedented five-year initiative, each partnership will
develop and test promising prevention strategies that include
community-based mentoring, alternative education, schoolwide approaches
in urban, suburban, and rural middle and high school aged students
(grades 6-12).

**Disseminating its findings throughout the country to assist policy
makers, states, schools, police departments, teachers, parents and
youths to adopt the successful strategies.**

The Institute has en extensive Web site that is regularly updated to
provide timely information to communities, policymakers, schools, and
other concerned individuals. The Institute responds to numerous requests
for information and public appearances from Federal and state officials,
organizations, and national media on violence-related issues, publishes
regularly in professional journals, and presents findings at national
conferences.

**Institute Services Include:**

+---+---+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ! |   | Providing the most current information and analysis about the    |
| [ |   | levels and trends on school violence in the nation;              |
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+---+---+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ! |   | Designing valid and reliable instruments for assessing youth     |
| [ |   | violence and associated phenomena;                               |
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| ( |   | Providing comprehensive literature reviews, research papers, and |
| m |   | a searchable database for resources on violence prevention       |
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+---+---+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ! |   | Consulting on effective strategies and promising model programs  |
| [ |   | for violence prevention;                                         |
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+---+---+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ! |   | Examining risk and protective factors that can serve as points   |
| [ |   | for prevention and intervention;                                 |
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| ( |   | Building effective surveillance systems for school violence and  |
| m |   | associated injuries; and                                         |
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+---+---+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ! |   | Providing assistance to policymakers at the local, state and     |
| [ |   | national level.                                                  |
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The Institute is funded under Grant \# 97-MU-FX-KO12 (S-1) from the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department
of Justice. Points of view or opinion in this document are those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or
policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

**The Institute is headquartered at:**

2121 K Street NW, #200,\
Washington, DC 20037-1830\
Phone: (202) 496-2200\
Fax: (202) 496-6244\
Email: <hfi@hamfish.org>

**Comprehensive Framework for School Violence Prevention**

The "Comprehensive Framework for School Violence Prevention" is a guide
designed to assist school personnel and community members interested in
violence prevention in the difficult task of providing a safe learning
environment. The framework covers both what needs to be done and how to
proceed.

Preventing school violence requires a careful examination of the people,
relationships, resources, activities, facilities, and surrounding
neighborhoods that make up the school community. Because examining such
a wide array of factors can be overwhelming, the framework breaks what
needs to be done into six categories: administrative approaches, school
security, school-wide education in violence prevention, counseling,
alternative education, and community involvement.

Resources for school violence prevention are often scarce; knowing how
to proceed efficiently is as important as knowing what to do. The
framework discusses action steps that can lead school and community
members toward safer schools, while guarding against wasting resources,
failing to serve students, or neglecting the primary purpose of
schools--- education. These steps are organized chronologically
according to seven necessary actions: unite schools with their
communities in the effort to prevent violence, identify and measure the
problem, set goals and objectives, identify appropriate strategies,
implement a comprehensive plan, measure the success of the effort, and
revise strategies based on the evaluation.

**I. Where Do We Start With Prevention?**

Whether a school is working with elementary school-aged children or
teenagers, the same basic framework can be used to develop an effective
violence prevention plan. The key is for the plan to be
comprehensive---to include every aspect of the school as well as the
surrounding community. Even within a single individual, violent behavior
is the result of many different influences, both internal and external.
Violence prevention calls for a multifaceted, yet well-integrated, plan
that addresses a broad range of causal factors.

Although a child or teenager is not beyond help at any developmental
stage, prevention is most effective when it begins early and is
continuously reinforced. Violence is most common in middle and high
schools, but aggressive and violent behavior often begins very early in
life. As middle and high school personnel anxiously seek interventions
to meet adolescents' immediate needs, juvenile justice authorities
struggle with the large number of incarcerated violent juveniles and
seek ways to rehabilitate them. Prevention should start in the home at a
very early age and continue throughout the elementary and secondary
grades.

**II. A Comprehensive Approach to Violence Prevention**

A comprehensive approach to school safety involves meeting several
challenges at the same time. Administrative support is essential to
laying a solid foundation for violence prevention efforts. Careful
planning and vigilant monitoring are required to ensure the security of
the school facility. School-wide education and training about safety
prepare students to take careful action to avoid becoming either
perpetrators or victims of violence. Counseling and social services help
students and their families deal with the difficult situations they face
that could lead to violence and provide them with appropriate resources
to cope with the aftermath of violence. Violent students must be treated
appropriately to direct them toward more positive behavior and to ensure
the safety of other students and staff. Involvement of parents and other
concerned community members provides essential resources and support.
When appropriate measures are taken in all these areas, the risk of
violence at school is minimized.

**A. Leading the Violence Prevention Effort**

Generally, schools exert a very positive influence on students, although
it is possible for schools to exert positive, neutral, and negative
influences on students simultaneously. The negative influences are
almost always unintended, and very often school personnel are either
unaware of them or feel unable to eliminate them. Conducting a careful
study of the ways schools could be creating situations that cause stress
and lead to violence is an important first step in reducing violence.
Issues to address include the treatment of all students in a respectful,
even, and fair manner; elimination of overcrowding; reduction of
unfruitful competition among students; provision of outlets for personal
expression; and use of due process. Environmental interventions, such as
school security strategies and broader changes in the school climate,
may be implemented before educational interventions to improve the
chances for success. The school can begin enhancing safety before asking
students to participate. Students may respect this "inward" look by
school personnel, and some may respond with a greater willingness to
examine their own behaviors.

***A Framework for Administrative Approaches***

-   Principals who are effective, visible leaders and who treat
    teachers, other staff, and students with dignity and respect create
    an environment conducive to learning, school attachment, and
    nonviolent behavior. Superintendents and principals who are
    innovative, provide adequate resources, and are actively involved in
    all aspects of violence prevention increase the likelihood of
    success.

-   Providing engaging and effective academic programs that recognize
    multiple forms of student achievement and providing opportunities
    for recreation and self-expression captivate the natural curiosity
    of students and channel their energy into constructive learning
    activities. High quality professional development opportunities
    should be available to teachers who want to learn new ways to
    actively engage students in the learning process.

-   Ensuring that there is a hierarchy of consequences for inappropriate
    behaviors may increase students' respect for authority. The system
    must match consequences to the severity of infractions, enforce the
    disciplinary code consistently and impartially, follow due process
    in dealing with suspects (by using witnesses, gathering evidence,
    involving multiple staff members in deciding how to react), and
    reinforce positive behavior with an emphasis equal to that placed on
    sanctioning negative behavior. Authority figures will be more
    respected if they reward more than they punish.

-   Effective communication of the school disciplinary code to both
    students and parents at the beginning of the school year, and again
    with each infraction, helps students learn the boundaries of
    appropriate behavior and teaches them to observe those boundaries.
    Good communication between school personnel and both parents and
    students at all levels increases the likelihood that needs will be
    recognized and met early. In addition, fear of violence among the
    general student body will be reduced and appropriate sanctions for
    violent behavior will be present.

-   Accurate monitoring and prompt reporting of serious violent
    behaviors to the police and the parents of both the perpetrators and
    victims acts as a deterrent to repeated offenses and sends a clear
    message that violent behavior is illegal behavior that will not be
    tolerated on school grounds. Tracking offenses by students, both in
    the school and in the community, provides essential information for
    planning appropriate remedies.

-   Training teachers in classroom discipline, handling disruptive and
    violent students, and treating all students with respect, thus
    avoiding embarrassment or humiliation, decreases the likelihood of
    school violence. Administrators could also consider tracking how
    many discipline referrals come from each teacher to determine if any
    need extra support in the classroom. Teachers can be trained to
    serve as models of nonviolent communication for students and to set
    the standards for appropriate classroom communication and behavior.
    Decreasing the number of students assigned to each teacher increases
    the likelihood that the training will have the desired result. For
    example, dividing large schools into smaller functional units is
    possible in many schools without additional funding.

**B. Securing the School Facility**

In the 1997--1998 school year, several high profile cases of school
shootings led schools and communities to consider alternatives for
increasing the security of students and staff while on campus. Because
youth are required to attend school, officials incur the legal
responsibility to provide a safe environment. Schools are increasingly
held liable in civil cases when they fail to provide reasonable and
prudent security to students. Having learned that no school is immune to
serious and sudden violence, administrators are choosing to adopt new
technologies and strengthen existing security strategies. Many of these
approaches are expensive in start-up costs, external expertise, and
maintenance and are more effective when updated periodically, yet for
some schools the investment appears warranted. Collectively, these
security approaches can reduce violence---without necessarily altering
the attitudes or competencies of students---merely by channeling their
behaviors into desired forms and eliminating opportunities for violent
behavior.

***A Framework for School Security***

-   Monitoring all areas of the school building and grounds increases
    the risk of detection for violent offenders and increases their fear
    of being caught. Monitoring can be improved by ensuring that entries
    and administrative offices are visible from the street; exterior
    lights are break resistant; areas where students congregate are
    limited and supervised; playground equipment is located where school
    staff, neighbors, and police patrols have good visual surveillance;
    blind spots are limited by the use of low-level landscaping; the
    facility and grounds have sufficient lighting; and other methods.
    Volunteer patrols by students and parents can greatly increase
    monitoring as well as give students extra opportunities to hold
    leadership positions and learn responsibility. Students of all
    disciplinary histories should be encouraged to participate.

-   Spaces in and near the school that are difficult to monitor can be
    redesigned to eliminate places where violence is more likely to
    occur. Beneficial features of a school facility include limiting
    roof and window access, closing off areas under stairs, and
    eliminating drop tile ceilings where weapons can be hidden.

-   Restricting access to the building prevents inappropriate
    individuals, such as expelled students, students from other schools,
    and others, from entering and makes it more difficult for students
    to bring weapons into the school. Methods to restrict access include
    enforcing a policy against loitering on campus by non-students,
    requiring identification cards of all students and staff entering
    the building, limiting handles on exterior doors with the exception
    of major entry doors and places where fire fighters must be able to
    enter, and requiring that visitors sign in and be escorted.

-   Assigning an appropriate level of responsibility to every person in
    the school for maintaining a secure environment increases the
    likelihood that evidence of violence and the presence of weapons
    will be reported and that staff and students will be prepared to
    respond appropriately to incidents of violence. For example,
    students should be urged not to conceal violent disciplinary
    infractions or threats of violence by other students and to report
    the presence of weapons at school. Staff should be urged to report
    all violent incidents.

-   Effective use of security personnel, security devices, and police
    provides an added measure of safety. Metal detectors are expensive,
    slow the entry of students, and are not entirely effective, yet they
    can be used randomly (without advance warning) to limit the presence
    of weapons at school. Alarm systems and surveillance cameras draw
    attention to unauthorized entries. Police patrols increase the risk
    of being arrested for violent behavior and for carrying concealed
    weapons.

-   A number of systems are needed to prepare adequately for a violent
    crisis. These include providing communication devices to staff so
    they can alert administrators or security personnel of problems,
    back-up power and communications systems, a bull-horn for
    communicating with large groups of people, a telephone recording
    system to record bomb or other threats, a crisis response team with
    clearly delineated duties, a rapid parent notification system, and a
    single point of contact with the media.

-   Keeping the school facility clean, in good repair and attractive to
    students increases respect for the school and school officials among
    students and can decrease vandalism and violent behavior.
    Immediately painting over graffiti (after taking photographs for
    investigators) decreases the recognition received by the vandal.

**C. Reinforcing Learning as Students Progress**

Education and skills training can be offered to improve attitudes and
competencies as a means of reducing violent behaviors or increasing
behaviors that protect students from violence. Interventions of this
type may influence the student through enhancing personal and social
competencies and by reducing aggressive actions in response to anger.
Students need age-appropriate interventions regularly throughout the
school years to ensure that they grasp the concepts, can translate
knowledge and skills to behavior change, and can resist pressures to
engage in violent behavior. Behavioral change does not occur quickly and
requires sustained intervention over time. Many of the influences of
popular culture support violent behavior, and instruction alone is not
necessarily adequate to counter these forces. As part of the educational
process, students need to practice building social skills and resisting
negative pressures from peers and community members.

***A Framework for School-wide Education in Violence Prevention***

-   Most students can benefit from basic education and training in
    social skills, anger management, nonviolent communication, danger
    avoidance, conflict resolution, and appropriate use of mediation,
    police, and legal services. Introducing this training early and
    reinforcing it throughout the school years will maximize its
    effects.

-   Age-appropriate learning materials can be either integrated into
    standard curricula, such as teaching conflict resolution during a
    history course, or presented as stand-alone violence-prevention
    classes.

-   Banners, posters, skits, special events, and other creative
    attention-grabbing and awareness-raising activities can supplement
    violence-prevention curricula.

-   The effectiveness of educational strategies for avoiding violence is
    enhanced when school administrators provide services to support
    students, including added personal security in response to specific
    risks of student victimization, anonymous "tip" programs to assist
    in gathering evidence of violence or weapons, and referral of
    victims to legal and medical services.

-   Interventions that rely on a variety of interactive learning
    opportunities, such as role playing and small group exercises,
    rather than didactic teaching, are more likely to be effective.
    Similarly, interventions that teach and give students opportunities
    to practice skills are more likely to be effective than
    interventions that merely present information.

**D. Counseling Students About Their Stressors, Fears, and Experiences**

Students bring their emotional needs to school with them. The social and
academic requirements of the school setting can place demands on them
that they may not be equipped to handle. Increasingly, schools are
responding by offering limited counseling services. Expansion of these
services is necessary to identify troubled students and assist them
before their problems become severe and to respond adequately if a
serious incident should occur. When violent events occur in the school,
learning is often so disrupted that counseling must take center stage.
Counseling is needed for perpetrators, victims, witnesses of violence,
parents, teachers, and other school personnel and volunteers.
Psychotherapeutic interventions, beyond acute counseling, are available
in the community, but the school should be involved to ensure that
learning is minimally disrupted and that reentry to school is as smooth
as possible. School counselors and psychologists who provide mental
health triage and, when needed, refer students for more precise
diagnostic services, can provide staff with information to assist in
responding appropriately to various causes of violent and disruptive
behaviors.

***A Framework for Counseling***

-   Social work and counseling with families of students at risk of
    violence helps create supports for school success that are possibly
    lacking, stimulates effective parenting and discipline, and provides
    referral to community resources that assist the family.

-   Counselors may become familiar with the early warning signs for
    violence by studying such guides as *Early Warning, Timely Response:
    A Guide to Safe Schools* (available at
    <http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html>). Counselors
    can then train teachers and other staff in recognizing these signs.

-   Direct delivery of initial counseling services to student victims of
    violence and coordination of the students' referral to and receipt
    of ongoing psychotherapeutic interventions minimizes the effects of
    violence on student victims.

-   Counselors and psychologists who coordinate with parents, teachers,
    administrators, courts, and juvenile justice officials build bridges
    of support and communication that address the comprehensive needs of
    individual students, whether perpetrators or victims.

-   Bringing professional counseling services to the school site after a
    crisis provides immediate assistance to victims and witnesses, can
    prevent fear from spreading to the general student body, and can
    limit long-term psychological damage to students and staff and their
    families.

**E. Providing Unique Services to Violent Students**

Most violence in schools is committed by a small group of chronic
offenders who are often also involved in the juvenile justice system.
These youth have a number of special needs that are not necessarily
shared by all the students in the school. If their violent behavior is
not of a very serious nature, they can be pulled out of regular classes
briefly to receive special services or receive those services after
school. If they pose a serious risk to other students, school
administrators are obligated to place them in completely separate
settings to ensure the safety of other youth and to provide the
intensive educational and social skills training that these students
need. Normally, separating youth from their class peers is to be
avoided, but the dangers that some students pose to other children
require that exceptions be made. Any student who brings a gun to school
must be expelled for 1 year, according to the Gun-Free Schools Act of
1994, with some exceptions as decided by the local chief educational
administrator. Many States have passed additional legislation, and many
schools have adopted policies that require suspension or expulsion of
students who are disruptive or violent. These measures do protect
students in school, but they do not protect the larger community or
provide troubled youth with needed assistance. Alternative schools are a
promising option for addressing these concerns. Done well, alternative
programs appear to foster positive development. But done poorly, they
can be training grounds for violence and crime.

***A Framework for Alternative Education***

-   Students who have committed serious violent acts or carried weapons
    to school may pose a grave threat to other students. Separating
    these students from the general student body sends the message that
    officials have acted appropriately to preserve school safety and
    allows the special needs of violent or weapon-carrying students to
    be addressed more effectively.

-   Special programs for violent and weapon-carrying students are more
    likely to succeed if they contain the following elements:
    administrators with vision and commitment, extensive contact with
    motivated and specially trained school staff, needs-based
    individualized instruction, focused classes with low
    student-to-staff ratios, innovative presentations of materials
    related to real life, a caring and supportive environment, intensive
    counseling for students and their families, and frequent student
    progress reports.

-   Ensuring that the basic needs of these students are being met
    (housing, family supports, nutrition, health, financial, and others)
    eliminates barriers to their successful participation in the
    intervention program.

-   Intensive education, training, and practice in anger management,
    nonviolent communication, danger avoidance, conflict resolution, and
    appropriate use of mediation and legal services provide information
    and skills that reduce violent behavior among those at highest risk
    for the perpetration of violence.

-   Preparing students placed in separate educational programs to
    effectively reenter regular schools, as well as supporting them
    after they have made the transition, helps them avoid relapse toward
    violence, academic and social failure, and dropping out of school
    and increases their likelihood of long-term academic and
    interpersonal success.

**F. Involving Members of the Community**

Schools are not just the sum of their facilities and people; they are
greatly influenced by their surrounding communities. Many communities
are successfully reducing school crime. Schools, parents, business
leaders, law enforcement agencies, community organizations, and the
students themselves can each play an important role. Successful
interventions require that all these groups come together to prepare a
comprehensive plan that takes into account the needs of the community
and the best programs and strategies to meet those needs. Some ways that
parents, police and juvenile justice authorities, business people, and
community organizations can participate in prevention are suggested
below.

***A Framework for Community Involvement***

1\. Parents

-   Communication is an essential component of child rearing and a
    constant challenge. When parents talk with their children, it shows
    that they care about them; gives the children an opportunity to
    share their concerns, interests, fears, and activities; and can give
    parents some ideas about aspects of their school and personal lives
    that can be improved. Everyday conversations also create natural
    opportunities for parents to teach their children social skills,
    anger management, problem-solving skills, and how to avoid being
    victims.

-   When establishing rules for children, parents must be clear in
    communicating them to children. Children also need to know that
    parents support the school discipline policies and any reasonable
    punishments that are administered by the school. Parents can help
    their children understand the rationale for household, school, and
    other rules and behavioral expectations.

-   Discipline involves more than punishment. Involving a child in
    activities that teach constructive skills such as responsibility,
    appropriate play behavior, self-control, and goal setting is as
    important as sanctioning them for inappropriate behavior. Parents
    can also devise rewards and incentives for desired behaviors as a
    means of preventing future rule violations and encouraging
    constructive behaviors.

-   Perhaps the best way to teach a child is by demonstration. Through
    their everyday actions parents teach their children how to interact
    socially, handle competition and defeat, discuss differences,
    resolve conflicts, deal with frustration in solving problems, cope
    with stress and anger, and many other skills.

-   Parents' involvement in their children's school and community life
    brings many benefits. Situations will arise that present
    opportunities for reinforcing what parents are teaching in the home.
    Parental presence can give some continuity in moving from one
    setting to the other. Being involved also gives parents an
    opportunity to get to know teachers, child-care providers, coaches,
    and others and to work with them to ensure that their children's
    needs are met when they are not present.

-   If guns or other weapons are kept in or around the house, it is
    critical that they be locked and completely inaccessible to
    unsupervised children and adolescents. Guns should be stored
    unloaded whenever feasible, with ammunition locked in a separate
    place. Firearms are not playthings, but children may view them as
    such unless they are taught to handle and use them responsibly or to
    avoid them entirely.

-   Raising children is difficult, and parents try to make the most of
    available resources. Participating in training programs in family
    management is a good way to get extra help. Parents can learn
    specific skills to reduce the stress and challenges of raising
    children, including problem solving, communication, coping with
    anger and stress, and conflict mediation. Training is may be
    available through the school, faith communities, or in the broader
    community.

2\. Police and Juvenile Justice Authorities

-   Educators, police, and juvenile justice authorities can each play an
    integral part in preventing school violence. Educators are equipped
    to teach students. Police can intervene in a crisis situation
    involving a violent or potentially violent student and can help
    decrease truancy. Juvenile justice authorities can assign probation
    officers and social service workers to schools where they can better
    monitor and serve adjudicated students, design specific regimens for
    youthful offenders to influence their behavior, and provide stronger
    and broader sanctions for violent behavior.

-   The presence of police in or near the school and in neighborhoods
    can deter violence and prevent situations from escalating. Police
    can remove trouble spots that interfere with students traveling to
    and from school, prevent strangers from entering schools, reduce the
    ability of students to smuggle weapons into schools, deter gang
    activities, identify students who are selling drugs or under the
    influence of drugs, and conduct random searches for weapons and
    controlled substances. In these and other circumstances they add
    their broader authority to the supervision of students.

-   When police routinely patrol the school grounds, they are in a
    better position to respond quickly to a request for help from school
    authorities. The role of police could be to separate a violent
    student from a potential victim, talk a student into giving up a
    threatening stance, subdue and transport a student from the scene,
    contact emergency services, assist in traffic control as emergency
    services arrive or as parents pick up their children during or after
    a crisis, collect evidence, or participate in other activities.
    Rapid response is critical in a situation where many children are in
    harm\'s way.

-   Police and juvenile justice authorities can build relationships with
    youth outside the police station, courtroom, or other correctional
    settings. They can develop good relationships with students as a
    means of preventing a confrontation in the future. As the
    relationships build, students will perhaps see them as positive role
    models, assist them in their work, and gain a greater understanding
    about the difficulties they face in their work. Instilling a broader
    respect for authority is essential in preventing crime.
    Opportunities for building constructive relationships between
    authorities and youth include bicycle registration drives, school
    carnivals, fund-raisers, community policing partnerships, and
    sponsored recreational activities.

3\. Business People

-   Although often overlooked in school-based efforts to prevent
    violence, businesses can be a valuable resource. They can offer
    financial support for programs and services, facilities for events,
    safe havens for students traveling to and from school, training
    programs for job skills, leadership and organizational skills, and
    jobs and internships for students. They can have a presence in the
    schools by donating computers or services, directly offering
    programs, or participating in meetings.

-   Business leaders can get involved in reducing school crime by
    providing flexible scheduling and encouraging their staff to
    volunteer in the schools. Schools often need responsible adults to
    serve as mentors, tutors, coaches, field trip supervisors, and in
    other capacities.

-   Employees with children often find themselves in difficult positions
    when they are required to be at work yet need to be with their
    children. Business leaders can resolve these problems by providing
    parenting services, such as family management classes or counseling,
    to employees and by offering flexible scheduling for employees to
    attend school events, parent-teacher conferences, and school-related
    crises.

-   In order for school crime and violence to be prevented, violence in
    communities must also be prevented. Business leaders can do their
    part by offering courses in anger management, stress management,
    conflict resolution, and other social skills to their employees. In
    addition, business leaders can create a workplace culture that
    supports positive interactions by treating employees with dignity
    and respect.

4\. Community Organizations

-   As the primary community organization, the local government can
    provide leadership in school violence prevention through town
    meetings, community events, and support for research. All schools
    should be encouraged to monitor and report school crime, and school
    administrators, law enforcement agencies, social service personnel,
    and juvenile justice authorities should be encouraged to collaborate
    and share data.

-   Health, social service, and faith-based organizations have a great
    deal to contribute to preventing youth violence. They can partner
    with schools to ensure that students' basic needs for food, shelter,
    clothing, and health care are met. Youth who are hungry, without
    adequate housing, or sick yet unable to see a doctor are not likely
    to be engaged in the learning process. A good partnership enables
    schools and agencies to meet most students' needs in the school
    without the difficulties of referrals and the risk of inadequate
    follow-up. In addition, agencies can distribute information on their
    full range of services to families through the schools.

-   Health, social service, and faith organization staffs are often in
    the position of recognizing the signs and investigating accusations
    of child abuse. A great deal of child abuse could be identified and
    prevented if these groups shared their expertise with school staff.
    Similarly, staff of community organizations can become experts in
    recognizing the warning signs for youth violence and could offer
    training to school staff. School staff could enhance the
    organization staff's understanding of the warning signs by sharing
    their knowledge of how these warning signs are manifested in the
    schools. School and organization officials could explore options for
    staff to meet their professional development needs and requirements
    through this type of information-sharing conference.

-   Most schools are unable to hire enough counselors to serve their
    students adequately. Many have as few counselors as one per 500 to
    700 students. Counselors in health, social service, and faith
    organizations could assist school counselors by accepting and
    pursuing a broad range of referrals. If necessary, organization and
    school counselors can establish partnerships in which organization
    counselors spend time in the schools each month to ensure that all
    students have access to the help and support they need.

-   Crises in schools are quite rare. However, schools still must
    maintain crisis response teams to ensure that if anything from a
    natural disaster to a school shooting should occur, the negative
    impact on students will be minimized. Designing such a team and
    training participants is difficult and time consuming for school
    officials. Input from health, social service, and faith
    organizations can prevent important details from being overlooked
    and provide the most needed resource---knowledgeable people who are
    willing to respond quickly.

-   When youth are suspended or expelled from school without being
    placed in an alternative educational setting they are often left
    unsupervised because their parents or guardians must work, and they
    are likely to get into trouble. Health, social service, and faith
    organizations can establish community service programs for these
    youth in collaboration with the schools. Well-run programs could
    change suspensions and expulsions from "vacations from school" into
    meaningful learning experiences as youth perform such tasks as
    clerical work or assisting with feeding the homeless.

**III. Selecting Effective Models for Intervention**

Evidence for the effectiveness of violence prevention strategies in
schools is preliminary but growing steadily. Strategies have already
been tested or are currently being tested in each of the areas mentioned
above. As progress is made, schools and communities are increasingly
able to move away from strategies that are based on intuition toward
those based on science. Strategies can be adapted to meet the needs of
any local area through a process that includes needs assessment,
planning, implementation, evaluation, and revision. This process, which
is described in greater detail below, maximizes the success of the
intervention and ensures that it fits well within the school\'s
comprehensive violence prevention efforts.

**A. Unite Schools With Their Communities in the Effort To Prevent
Violence**

Schools function within the broader community and need participation
from families, faith communities, businesses, social service agencies,
police, juvenile justice authorities, civic organizations, and others
throughout the prevention and intervention processes. Members of the
community may share with the school specific information about youth
crime, systems for measuring levels of violence, interpersonal skills
for working with youth, and others. They perhaps also have access to
funding, volunteers, learning opportunities, programs, learning
materials, and a wealth of other resources.

Harnessing these resources and making the partnership successful in
reducing school violence requires strong leadership from school
officials. School and community partnerships invite multiple
perspectives and allow the sharing of responsibility and
accomplishments. Partners' goals are perhaps more readily achieved when
specific, manageable tasks are assigned to small groups of dedicated
individuals.

**B. Identify and Measure the Problem**

School administrators, school staff, students, parents, and community
organizations possibly all have different perceptions of school crime.
Wide variation in viewpoints can hinder agreement on how to proceed.
Perceptions tend to converge once objective data are available and
shared widely. Collecting data on victimization, perpetration, substance
abuse, and other problems can help develop consensus on local school
violence problems, identify points of intervention, and assist in
gaining resources to deal with the problems.

School officials may seek readily available data from several sources.
As the effort gains momentum, a more systematic means can be established
to track multiple infractions by individual students, identify problem
areas, and examine trends over time. Anonymous surveys can be
administered to students to assess incidents that are less often
reported or detected and to measure attitudes and beliefs about crime.
Perceptions of school violence and safety can also be assessed through
focus groups and interviews with students and staff.

**C. Set Goals and Objectives**

Goals describe broad purposes and common directions, while objectives
are the sequential, measurable steps necessary to achieve each goal.
Research data identify the most important and changeable problems,
providing a basis for goals and objectives. Intervention goals that are
realistic and attainable lead to greater commitment and long-term
success. Initial goals and objectives should be modest until the level
of experience and training is sufficient to press further. Setting
unrealistic expectations, such as eliminating school crime, and not
reaching them discourages participants and invites criticism. Generally,
goals are more useful when they are reasonably specific and can be
supported by a fairly short list of objectives.

Objectives describe "who will do how much of what by when." Often the
objectives are written in sequential order, but multiple objectives are
generally addressed in overlapping periods of time. Measurable
objectives convey the advantage of knowing when, or whether, they have
been achieved. When objectives are not measurable, they invite
uncertainty and allow partial accomplishment. They do not need to be so
specific that every minor action is included. Stating the primary
objectives is sufficient to allow accountability and to monitor
progress. Goals and objectives can be altered in the course of an
intervention as experience and wisdom are gained. They should be
communicated to all participants throughout the intervention, and
restated whenever changes are made.

**D. Identify Appropriate Strategies**

Although some strategies are more effective than others, no single
program or strategy will be effective in meeting the needs of all
students. The best approach is often a mix of strategies selected based
on local goals, objectives, needs, and resources. A comprehensive plan
could offer some strategies to the entire student body, while directing
others toward the more violent students. Tracking students from year to
year, offering "booster" sessions at appropriate intervals, and using
relapse prevention techniques might enhance success.

When selecting strategies, several features are important, including
evidence that the strategy has been effective in the past, the match
between the strategy and the objectives, the reading level of
educational materials, and the appropriateness of cultural images and
examples. Several of these models can be implemented either
simultaneously or sequentially. In some settings, a particular
combination of parts of several models could be more effective than
using all aspects of several models with high fidelity. Those who choose
to do this should realize that the combination they are implementing is
a new and untested approach and should carefully assess the plan's
effectiveness. Environmental and administrative strategies can be
effectively balanced with educational and skills-training strategies.

**E. Implement a Comprehensive Plan**

Successful implementation occurs in several stages that vary somewhat
from one community to another. In the early stages, program
administrators will obtain district approvals, seek community support
through a public campaign, train staff, select students for
participation, request approval from parents, and establish procedures
for monitoring the implementation. District officials perhaps have to
approve the program as well as evaluation instruments. A broad campaign
in the community could be appropriate for some interventions, raising
awareness of the school violence problem, introducing the intervention,
explaining the process, and inviting expertise, volunteers, and
donations. The purpose of staff development is to enhance the
consistency and quality of program delivery and to build enthusiasm for
the program. In some interventions, student selection can be based on
such criteria as risk factors or needs. Parents may need to give consent
for their children to participate. These elements are usually in place
before students become involved in the intervention.

The later stages include appraisals of fidelity to the plan; the match
between budgeted and actual costs; the initial response of students,
staff, and parents; unforeseen barriers; unintended negative
consequences of selected strategies; changes in the nature of the
problem over time; and the need for adjustments. Fidelity involves
consistency between the plan and the actual events. Careful replication
of selected strategies improves success and should be monitored. Cost
overruns are common and should be anticipated in new interventions.
Responses from participants may be varied (such as changes in behaviors,
attitudes, fears, and stressors), and not all positive (particularly at
first), even in the best of interventions. Implementers should expect
problems (barriers, consequences, changes, need for adjustments, and the
like), view them as opportunities for collaborative resolution, and
address them fully. The time and attention given to each phase of
implementation, the amount of training provided to staff, the
consistency of support and delivery, and the attention to individual
needs and progress are just a few of the quality issues to be
considered.

**F. Measure the Success of the Effort**

Evaluation is necessary to determine if the effort is effective and to
identify ways to make it better. Ideally, an evaluation should use
professionally prepared and tested instruments. When new evaluation
tools or methods are devised, they should be tested on a small group
prior to the implementation to see if they will produce useful
information. Evaluators commonly collect data from surveys, interviews,
incident records, disciplinary referrals, and other sources immediately
before and after an intervention to assess whether or not the strategy
is having the desired effects on student attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors. If improvements are greater in the intervention group than in
a comparison group (one that did not receive the intervention, received
it to a lesser extent, or received something different), the
intervention is considered a success. In some cases research specialists
can be recruited from universities, colleges, or the community to help
with the evaluation.

**G. Revise Strategies Based on the Evaluation**

After the evaluation has been completed, prevention program
administrators make revisions to improve the comprehensive plan,
implementation, student and staff selection and training, materials,
methods of communication and collaboration, and other program aspects.
If a school has been administering a plan for several years with little
impact on violence, the intervention or prevention plan can be replaced
with an entirely new strategy or group of strategies. Recommendations
for improvement can be garnered through interviews, surveys, or focus
groups. These assessments can reveal which activities were most
effective, which materials work best, what barriers were encountered and
how can they be overcome, and what type of students received the most or
least benefit and why.

**IV. Conclusion**

Achieving school safety requires meeting several challenges
simultaneously. Uniting concerned adults and youth through a community
partnership is an effective means of raising children and teenagers to
be happy, responsible citizens. The selection of appropriate programs
and strategies to improve school safety can be facilitated by beginning
with a thorough assessment of previous violent incidents, ongoing
violence prevention initiatives, and the perceptions of students,
parents, and staff. The assessment could also be useful in tailoring
selected interventions as the comprehensive plan is developed and
refined by a team of administrators, teachers, counselors, parents,
security and police officers, students, and others in an ongoing process
of discussion and evaluation. Although this process is sometimes
difficult, carefully designed, comprehensive intervention plans are our
best hope for enhancing school safety.

**Comprehensive Framework for School Violence Prevention**

[Program Panelists]{.underline}

**Paul Kingery, Ph.D.,** **Director, Hamilton Fish Institute.** Dr.
Kingery completed his undergraduate studies at the University of
Florida, and received a Masters Degree in Health Education and a Masters
Certificate in African Studies there. After spending two years working
with Zulus in South Africa in an agricultural mission, he received his
Master of Public Health degree from the University of Texas in 1986 and
his Ph.D. in Community Health from the University of Oregon in 1988. He
has been researching school violence since he noticed a surge in that
phenomenon in 1987, continuing that research throughout his service as a
professor at Texas A&M University and the University of Kentucky, and as
Director of Evaluation at the National Center for the Advancement of
Prevention (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Recently tapped by the President to speak from the White House on the
subject before a national audience, Dr. Kingery laid the groundwork for
a framework on violence prevention. In connection with this event, he
assisted the Departments of Education and Justice in writing two
important documents on the subject: (1) The Annual Report on School
Safety, and (2) Early Warning/Timely Response, A Guide to Safe Schools.
These documents were sent to every school in the nation, outlining
effective strategies. He serves on advisory panels on School Violence
for the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Kingery provides clear research-based information on school
violence, its causes and its solutions. He presents it in practical,
simple language without using statistics or jargon. The information
comes from an ongoing review of every research study on the topic of
school violence from direct analysis of national databases on school
violence trends, and from experience implementing violence prevention
strategies in schools and communities.

**Jim Derzon, Ph.D., Associate Director, Hamilton Fish Institute.** Dr.
Derzon received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University. Former
positions include research coordinator at Casa Colina Rehabilitation
Hospital and research associate at Vanderbilt Institute for Public
Policy Studies. Widely published for his work in developing and using
meta-analytic techniques to improve the prediction and prevention of
anti-social behavior, he directs several research projects within the
Institute. He serves on numerous panels and committees for the
Departments of Education, Justice, and the Centers for Substance Abuse
Prevention. In addition, he is chair of the American Evaluation
Association\'s Quantitative Theory and Methods Group and co-chair of the
Society for Prevention Research\'s Dissemination, Adaptation, and
Implementation of Evidence Based Preventive Interventions Subcommittee.

**Nancy Budd, Senior Program Manager, Hamilton Fish Institute.** With
graduate education in public health and eight years professional
experience in grants administration, program evaluation, and project
management, she provides management and oversight of Institute projects,
oversees fiscal operations, coordinates Institute communications, and
acts as a liaison and spokesperson for the Institute at professional
meetings and other national forums.

**Jennifer Price, Programs Manager, Hamilton Fish Institute.** MPP in
Public Policy, Georgetown University. She oversees projects involving
school-based violence prevention programs. These projects include
Chapter 3 of the 1999 President's Second Annual Report on School Safety,
updating the library of school-based violence prevention programs and
their evaluations, updating program information contained on the
Institute Web site, and assisting in the creation of a Web-based program
registry.

**Mindy Shannon Phelps, Moderator.** Ms. Phelps has moderated numerous
national satellite videoconferences produced by OJJDP and other
agencies. Her professional experience includes serving as a co-anchor of
WLEX-TV\'s evening newscast. WLEX is an NBC affiliate located in
Lexington, Kentucky. Ms. Phelps has served as Press Secretary for the
Governor's Office in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and currently acts as
the statewide coordinator of Habitat for Humanity.

**[For Further Information]{.underline}**

For a videotape of this broadcast, please contact the Juvenile Justice
Clearinghouse, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000; call
800-638-8736; fax 301-251-5212; or email askncjrs@ncjrs.org.

For information on future videoconferences, contact Becky Ritchey,
Violence Prevention Project, Eastern Kentucky University, 301 Perkins
Building, 521 Lancaster Ave., Richmond, KY 40475-3102; call
859-622-6671; fax 859-622-4397; or email <ekutrc@aol.com>