Safeguarding Our Children: 

An Action Guide

Implementing Early Warning, 

Timely Response
Organizations Supporting This Guide

April 2000

This guide was produced by the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice of the American Institutes for Research, and the National Association for School Psychologists under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs (Grant # H327T60005), under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program provided additional support under the Elementary

and Secondary Education Act and the Gun-Free Schools Act.

The text of this document is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce this document in whole or in part is granted. While permission to

reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be Dwyer, K. and Osher, D. (2000). Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide.

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, American Institutes for Research.

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Mail: ED Pubs, Editorial Publications Center, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398

Fax: 301-470-1244

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Call toll-free: 877-433-7827 (877-4-ED-PUBS). If 877 service is not yet available in your area, call 800-872-5327 (800-USA-LEARN).

Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide is available on the Department of Education’s Web site at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/

OSEP/ActionGuide.

You also may obtain additional contacts and related information from agency Web sites. For the Office of Special Education Programs, visit

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP. For Safe and Drug-Free Schools, visit http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS. And for the Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, visit http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org. 

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is available in alternative formats, such as Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette. For more information, please contact the Department’s Alternate Format Center at 202-260-9895 or 202-205-8113.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association of School Administrators

American Counseling Association

American Federation of Teachers

American Psychiatric Association

American Psychological Association

American School Counselor Association

Council of Administrators of Special Education

Council for Exceptional Children

Council of the Great City Schools

Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

National Alliance of Pupil Services Organizations

National Association of Elementary School Principals

National Association of School Nurses

National Association of School Psychologists

National Association of Secondary School Principals

National Association of Social Workers

National Education Association

National Mental Health Association

National Middle School Association

National Parent Network on Disabilities

National PTA

National School Boards Association

National School Public Relations Association

School Social Work Association of America

U.S. Department of Education

Richard W. Riley, Secretary

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Office of Special Education Programs

Research to Practice Division

Louis C. Danielson, Director

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program

William Modzeleski, Director

U.S. Department of Justice

Janet Reno, Attorney General

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

John C. Wilson, Acting Administrator

Notice: This document contains contact addresses and Web sites for information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. This information is provided for the reader’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of information or addresses or Web sites for particular items does not reflect their importance, nor is it

intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered.


iii

CONTENTS

LETTER FROM SECRETARY RILEY AND ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Overview of the Action Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

A Comprehensive Three-Level Approach to Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Schoolwide Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Early Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Intensive Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Safe Schools Combine All Three Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Safe Schools Employ Teams Efficiently and Effectively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Plan, Implement, Monitor, and Evaluate a Prevention and

Intervention Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Identify and to Respond to Individual Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

CHAPTER 2: BUILDING A SCHOOLWIDE FOUNDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Creating a Caring School Community in Which All Members Feel Connected, Safe, and Supported . . .7

Teaching Appropriate Behaviors and Social Problem-Solving Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Staff Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Staff Support and Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Monitoring the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Positive Behavior Support Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Establishing Schoolwide Systems to Manage and Support Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Creating a Safe Physical Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Providing Appropriate Academic Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

CHAPTER 3: RESPONDING TO CHILDREN EXHIBITING EARLY WARNING SIGNS: 

EARLY INTERVENTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Review of the Early Warning Signs of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Building the Capacity to Identify Early Warning Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Connecting the Early Warning Signs to Early Intervention: Developing a Referral Response Process . . .19

Referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Involving Students in the Referral Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Responding to Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

The Initial Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Developing Early Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Problem Identification and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Plan Development, Implementation, and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Early Intervention Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
iv

CHAPTER 4: PROVIDING INTENSIVE INTERVENTIONS TO TROUBLED STUDENTS . . . . . . . .31

Comprehensive School-Based Mental Health Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Special Education and Related Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Alternative Programs and Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Systems of Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Individualized Mental Health Services and Supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Multisystemic Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Treatment Foster Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Wraparound Planning and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

CHAPTER 5: CREATING AND IMPLEMENTING A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

The Role of the Schoolwide Team in Creating Safe Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Organizing the Schoolwide Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Community Members and the Schoolwide Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Building an Effective Schoolwide Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Logistics for the Schoolwide Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Obtaining Approval and Buy-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Securing a Planning Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Designing a Communication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Scheduling Meetings and Setting Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Implementation Considerations for the Schoolwide Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Other Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

ONLINE RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

School Safety–Related Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Student Support and Classroom Management Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Federal Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Organization Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Family Information Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ACTION GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Schools are almost always safe places. Even so, recent school shootings

created a widespread demand to improve school safety. In 1998, President Clinton directed the departments of Education and Justice to

develop a guide to help “adults reach out to troubled children, quickly

and effectively.” The result was Early Warning, Timely Response: A

Guide to Safe Schools* (also called the Early Warning Guide). Attorney

General Janet Reno and Secretary of Education Richard Riley said the

guide “should be seen as part of an overall effort to make sure that every

school in this nation has a comprehensive violence prevention plan in

place.”

The Early Warning Guide has been copied, downloaded, reprinted, and

distributed to agencies, organizations, and every school across the nation.

The Early Warning Guide is a good example of effective collaboration

between federal agencies, national associations, and researchers from various disciplines, as well as practitioners, family members, and youth. Hundreds of people worked together to design, develop, review, and disseminate the research-based and practice-validated Early Warning Guide. In

fact, the Early Warning Guide was so well-received that the departments

of Education and Justice decided to develop a companion piece—Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide (or the Action Guide).

The purpose of this Action Guide is to help schools develop and implement a comprehensive violence prevention plan grounded in the principles of the Early Warning Guide. This Action Guide is based on evidence-based practices. Effective action plans are strategic, coordinated,

and comprehensive. They involve schoolwide prevention, early intervention, and intensive services for students with significant emotional or

behavioral needs, including those with disruptive, destructive, or violent

behaviors.

Prevention, early intervention, and intensive services can reduce violence

and other troubling behaviors in schools. Understanding the causes of violence and knowledge of evidence-based practices can help schools identify

and address warning signs early so children can get the help they need

before it is too late. The most promising prevention and intervention

strategies extend beyond the schoolhouse door; they include administrators, teachers, families, students, support staff, and community agency

staff. Everyone’s support is important to safeguard our children.

1

Chapter 1:

Introduction

* Dwyer, K., Osher, D., and Warger, C. (1998). Early Warning, Timely Response:

A Guide to Safe Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Quotations

on this page are from page i of the Early Warning Guide. English, Spanish, and referenced versions of the Early Warning Guide are available at http://cecp.air.org/guide.
Qualities of Safe

and Responsible

Schools

▲ The school has strong leadership, caring faculty, family

and community involvement,

including law enforcement

officials and representatives

of community-based organizations and student participation in the design of programs and policies.

▲ The physical environment of

the school is safe and

schoolwide policies are in

place to promote and support responsible behaviors.

▲ Prevention and intervention

programs are sustained,

coordinated, and comprehensive.

▲ Interventions are based on

careful assessment of student

needs.

▲ Evidence-based approaches

are used.

▲ Staff are provided with training and support to help

them implement programs

and approaches.

▲ Interventions are monitored

and evaluations are conducted to ensure that the

programs are meeting measurable goals and objectives.

2

Schools that have comprehensive violence prevention and response plans

in place, plus teams to design and implement those plans, report the following positive results:

▲ Improved academics.

▲ Reduced disciplinary referrals and suspensions.

▲ Improved school climate that is more conducive to learning.

▲ Better staff morale.

▲ More efficient use of human and financial resources.

▲ Enhanced safety.

Overview of the Action Guide

School violence occurs in a unique context in every school, making a

one-size-fits-all approach ineffective. This Action Guide helps schools

develop and carry out a violence prevention and response plan that can

be customized to fit each school’s particular strengths. The plan includes

the following:

▲ Identifying and understanding the problem of school violence and its

relationship to school climate.

▲ Building a schoolwide foundation that prevents most problems from

occurring.

▲ Recognizing, reporting, and using the early warning signs effectively.

▲ Developing interventions to respond to students with troubling behaviors.

Building a comprehensive plan takes time and requires input from students, staff, agencies, families, and other community members. This

Action Guide presents strategies that schools have used successfully to

create and implement these plans. The Action Guide provides examples

of sound practices and programs and offers suggestions on what to look

for and what to do.

A Comprehensive Three-Level Approach to Prevention

Research on safe schools demonstrates that a comprehensive three-level

approach to prevention is the most efficient and cost-effective way to

reduce the risk of violence. These three levels are shown in the triangle

on page 3.

Schoolwide Foundation

An effective schoolwide foundation is designed to improve the academic

performance and behavior of all children. The schoolwide foundation

includes the following:

(continued on page 4)
Provide 

Intensive

Interventions

for a Few

Children

Intervene Early for

Some Children

Build a Schoolwide Foundation 

for All Children

3

A Three-Level Approach to Preventing Violence

Build a Schoolwide

Foundation

Support positive discipline, academic

success, and mental and emotional

wellness through a caring school

environment, teaching appropriate

behaviors and problem solving skills,

positive behavioral support and

appropriate academic instruction.

Intervene Early

Create services and supports that

address risk factors and build

protective factors for students at risk

for severe academic or behavioral

difficulties.

Provide Intensive

Interventions

Provide coordinated, comprehensive,

intensive, sustained, culturally appropriate, child-and family-focused

services and supports.
▲ Compassionate, caring, respectful staff who model appropriate behaviors, create a climate of emotional support, and are committed to

working with all students.

▲ Developmentally appropriate programs for all children that teach and

reinforce social and problem-solving skills.

▲ Teachers and staff who are trained to support positive school and

classroom behaviors.

▲ Engaging curricula and effective teaching practices.

▲ Child- and family-focused, culturally competent approaches.

▲ Collaborative relationships with families, agencies, and community

organizations.

These approaches alone are sufficient for most students’ needs, but they

will not address fully the needs of all students. However, an effective

foundation makes it easier to identify students who require additional

interventions and increases the effectiveness of all interventions—both

early and intensive. Chapter 2 describes the schoolwide foundation.

Early Intervention

Early intervention is necessary for those students who are at risk of academic failure or behavior problems. Early intervention, along with an

appropriate foundation, is sufficient for almost all students. Chapter 3

describes early intervention and how it can be used to respond to early

warning signs.

Intensive Interventions

Intensive interventions are necessary for those students whose needs

cannot be fully addressed by early intervention. Intensive interventions

should always be individualized to a student’s needs and strengths. These

interventions often involve multiple coordinated services, such as individualized special education services or interagency wraparound supports.

Chapter 4 describes intensive interventions.

Safe Schools Combine All Three Levels

For a school to be safe for all children, all three levels must be in place.

A school that builds a schoolwide foundation will still fail if it ignores

the needs of children at risk of severe academic or behavioral problems

or children who are seriously troubled. In most schools, a schoolwide

foundation will meet the needs of most students, while early intervention will address the needs of most of the other students. Individualized

intensive interventions will be needed for a relatively small number of

students.

4

No plan will make a school

immune to violence. Nevertheless, having a violence

prevention and response plan

in place reduces the likelihood

of violence and helps schools

respond quickly and effectively

to violent incidents that may

occur.
Safe Schools Employ Teams Efficiently and Effectively

Each day, school personnel make important decisions about how

to implement the best educational program for the entire school

and how to provide the best education possible for specific students

who may be experiencing difficulties.

Effective schools usually form a small number of teams composed of professionals and support personnel who are responsible for these decisions.

This Action Guide recommends that schools employ two teams: one that

addresses overall school performance and another that addresses individual student problems. These teams are integral to creating and implementing a comprehensive plan for safe and effective schools. A minimum

of three people—the principal, a teacher, and a mental health specialist—

should serve on both teams. This Action Guide will refer to the first

team as the Schoolwide Team, and the second as the Student Support

Team.

Although schools may use other titles for their teams, almost every school

has them. The Schoolwide Team is sometimes called the School Management Team or School Improvement Team. The Student Support Team

may be known as The Child Study Team or the Student Assistance Team.

While the primary functions of these two teams are different, both teams

are necessary to create safe, educationally sound learning environments.

The teams have different responsibilities, but coordination is necessary. To facilitate this coordination, the teams should have a

number of members in common,

such as the principal, a teacher,

and the school’s mental health

professional. A dynamic, collaborative relationship, in which

knowledge and information are

continuously shared, will help

ensure that the schoolwide, early,

and intensive interventions are

aligned to meet the goals of a safe

and effective school.

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Plan, Implement, Monitor,

and Evaluate a Prevention and Intervention Plan

Safe schools are strategic and smart. They identify and assess their needs

and strengths, determine their safe school goals and objectives, align their

efforts with other school reform and community initiatives, select and

implement evidence-based approaches to realize these goals and objec5

▲ Principal

▲ Teacher

▲ Mental Health

Professional

Family, classroom

teachers, agency

providers, special

educators, students,

& others

School staff, parents,

students, community 

agencies, law 

enforcement, & other 

stakeholders

 Student 

 Support Team

Linkage Between Schoolwide and Student Support Teams

Schoolwide 

Team

Employing Teams

Efficiently

Schools are often burdened by

too many teams, committees, or

workgroups that affect staff time

and result in fragmented efforts.

When possible, the Schoolwide

Team and the Student Support

Team should be an expansion

or refinement of existing teams.

Also, these two teams should

coordinate their efforts with all

teams addressing similar issues.

While this coordination may

increase the workload of some

teams at first, it will improve

their long-term effectiveness.
tives, coordinate and monitor their implementation, and evaluate the

effect of their interventions. These responsibilities require team members

who have the appropriate expertise, credibility with relevant stakeholders, access to resources, and authority to act. 

The Schoolwide Team should have expertise and credibility in the following seven areas:

▲ Prevention, early intervention, and intensive intervention.

▲ School reform.

▲ Community resources.

▲ Family concerns.

▲ Student concerns.

▲ Staff concerns.

▲ Administrative concerns.

Chapter 5 describes the role of this team.

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Identify and to 

Respond to Individual Needs

Safe schools have Student Support Teams to assess the needs of children

who exhibit early warning signs. Members of this team should have the

professional, cultural, and linguistic competence to identify the students’

needs and strengths. These teams should have expertise in the following

six areas:

▲ Diagnosing mental health problems.

▲ Evaluating academic difficulties.

▲ Conducting a functional assessment of student behavior to determine

the “why” behind a behavioral problem or incident.

▲ Consulting with and supporting school staff, students, and families.

▲ Coordinating school and community services.

▲ Collaborating with students and families.

To be most effective, the Student Support Team should involve the

student and his or her family in its deliberations. If the student is being

considered or is eligible for special education services, requirements for

individualized planning under the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act (IDEA) must be met. Also, the team is more effective when regular

and special educators collaborate. If the student receives services from

other community agencies, the team should coordinate with those agencies (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, vocational rehabilitation, and substance abuse). The role of the Student Support Team

is described further in Chapter 3.

6
7

Chapter 2: 

Building a Schoolwide Foundation

Some students will learn and behave appropriately in almost any school

environment. Other students, however, require some level of support to

help them realize high academic and behavioral standards. A schoolwide

foundation provides all students with the supports and skills they need to

become effective learners and problem solvers. In addition, the foundation provides students and staff with the supports and skills they need to

develop and foster appropriate behaviors and healthy emotional adjustment. Research at the University of Oregon’s Institute on Violent and

Destructive Behavior suggests that most schools with effective schoolwide

systems that focus on learning and behavior can prevent at least 80 percent of problematic student behaviors.

A comprehensive schoolwide foundation should help ensure that a school

is safe and responsive to all children. The Early Warning Guide identified

13 characteristics as being essential to such a safe and responsive school. 

This chapter describes the following four key components of a comprehensive, effective schoolwide plan that can be used to prevent school violence:

▲ Creating a caring school community in which all members feel connected, safe, and supported.

▲ Teaching appropriate behaviors and social problem-solving skills.

▲ Implementing positive behavior support systems.

▲ Providing appropriate academic instruction.

Creating a Caring School Community in Which 

All Members Feel Connected, Safe, and Supported

Safe schools support caring relationships between students and staff.

Establishing these relationships reduces the causes of interpersonal conflicts (e.g., prejudice) and allows students to gain a sense of belonging,

pride, and attachment to the school. These feelings are an important part

of keeping students engaged in the educational process and sensitive to

the needs of others with whom they interact in school. Establishing these

relationships between students and staff makes it more likely that students can share their safety concerns with staff and enhances the opportunities for adults to coach, mentor, and even discipline students, if necessary.

Creating caring relationships is not easy—particularly in large and

diverse schools. Schools can create and nurture caring environments by

organizing the environment to support positive relationships (e.g., by creating small learning communities within schools). In addition, schools

Characteristics of a

School That Is Safe

and Responsive to

All Children

▲ Focus on academic achievement.

▲ Involve families in meaningful ways.

▲ Develop links to the community.

▲ Emphasize positive relationships among students and

staff.

▲ Discuss safety issues openly.

▲ Treat students with equal

respect.

▲ Create ways for students to

share their concerns.

▲ Help children feel safe

expressing their feelings.

▲ Have in place a system for

referring children who are

suspected of being abused

or neglected.

▲ Offer extended day programs for children.

▲ Promote good citizenship

and character.

▲ Identify problems and assess

progress toward solutions.

▲ Support students in making

the transition to adult life

and the workplace.
can develop effective programs to prevent harassment, bullying, and conflict between groups. These programs will be most effective when they

align with social skills instruction, the schoolwide discipline system, and

the school’s curriculum.

There are a variety of evidence-based programs that schools can adopt

to improve their schoolwide foundation as well as to develop early and

intensive interventions. 

Activities to build a school community are varied, but in general, successful community building ensures that students associate positive experiences with their interpersonal interactions in the school environment. In

other words, students who are accepted, are respected, and experience

interpersonal and academic success will feel good about their school experience. Numerous schoolwide activities can be developed to build a strong

sense of community within the school. These activities range from the

schoolwide use of an anti-bias curriculum that teaches children tolerance

and to deal with prejudice to the fair and equal treatment of all students

within the school building.

Teaching Appropriate Behaviors and Social Problem-Solving

Skills

Just as students learn how to read, write, and calculate math equations,

they must also learn how to interact appropriately with peers and adults

and how to solve interpersonal conflicts nonviolently. A school will have

an increased risk of having students who solve problems with violence if

the students are not encouraged and taught to interact appropriately

and to use problem-solving skills. Thus, safe schools develop interpersonal, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills in all students.

Social skills instruction is an effective way to teach appropriate behaviors

and problem-solving skills to all students. Social skills can be taught

either directly through structured lessons or indirectly by integrating

problem-solving themes into other curricula such as social studies or

reading. In either case, social skills and problem-solving activities should

become a part of the daily school routine. Numerous social skills programs are available; the school should select a program that fits the culture of the school best. 

Many successful social skills programs teach students to develop a 

problem-solving language that will assist in guiding and monitoring their

behavior when they encounter a difficult situation. This language and the

corresponding behaviors are taught by providing students with an opportunity to see other people using good social skills successfully, practice

these skills themselves, receive feedback from the teacher and others on

the use of the skills, and then try them out in real situations.

8

Program Evaluation

Criteria

There are a variety of evidencebased programs that schools

can adopt to improve their

schoolwide foundation, as well

as to develop early and intensive interventions. A number of

factors should be considered

when selecting appropriate programs for your school. The program evaluation criteria below

will help determine which program is best for a particular setting.

▲ Outcome Evidence: Is

there evidence that this program has worked in other

school communities similar

to yours? How widely used

is this intervention?

▲ Fiscal Costs: Is training

required? Will materials need

to be purchased separately?

▲ Personnel and Staffing

Implications: Will additional staff be required or will

duties need to be expanded?

▲ Program Outcomes with

Diverse Populations: Has

the program been effective

with students similar to the

students in your school community?

▲ Flexibility: Can the intervention be altered to meet

your unique needs? What is

the likely effect of modifying

the intervention?

▲ External Support: Is it

available? How much will

it cost?

(continued on page 10)
9

Developing Social and Emotional Competence and Problem-Solving Skills

Resolving Conflict Creatively Program*

The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) is a school-based, primary prevention program that begins in kindergarten and continues through the 12th grade. It is one of the largest and longest-running conflict resolution initiatives in

the country that is designed to promote constructive conflict resolution and positive intergroup relations.

The specific objectives of the program include making children aware of the different choices they have for dealing with

conflicts; helping children develop skills for making those choices; encouraging children’s respect for their own cultural

backgrounds and those of others; teaching children how to identify and stand against prejudice; and making children

aware of their role in creating a more peaceful world.

These objectives are achieved primarily through a curriculum taught by trained teachers and designed around several

core skills, including communicating and listening effectively, expressing feelings and managing anger, resolving conflicts,

fostering cooperation, appreciating diversity, and countering bias. The 30- to 60-minute lessons are organized into units

based on these core skills and are delivered in a manner that facilitates student-directed discussions and learning. Separate curricula for lower and upper elementary school grades as well as high school enable concepts to be conveyed to

children in age-appropriate ways.

In addition to the classroom curriculum component, RCCP also incorporates the training of student-based peer mediation

groups and administrators. The program aims to create environments in classrooms and across entire schools where

opportunities for social-emotional learning are provided along with opportunities for traditional academic learning.

Formal evaluation of the impact of RCCP found significant reductions in the frequency of aggressive behaviors and in

the types of thinking and cognitive processing leading to aggression (e.g., hostile attributions, aggressive fantasies, and

aggressive problem-solving strategies). When trained teachers employed the curriculum regularly, RCCP was found to

benefit all children regardless of grade, gender, and classroom or neighborhood context.

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) is a classroom-based curriculum for kindergarten through fifth-grade

students designed to prevent violence, aggression, and other problem behaviors by developing students’ social and

emotional competence and problem-solving skills.

The objectives of PATHS are met by teaching cognitive problem-solving skills, which improve critical thinking skills, develop

effective interpersonal skills, and enhance the classroom climate. The PATHS curriculum, delivered by the classroom

teacher, is divided into three separate units: self-control, feelings and relationships, and interpersonal cognitive problemsolving. The cognitive problem-solving skills that students learn in the third unit build upon and expand the skills students

developed in the first two units. Students learn to understand, regulate, and express emotions. PATHS teaches students to

recognize the feelings of others, to relate the experiences of others to themselves, to develop empathy for others, and to

understand how the behaviors of others can affect their own emotions.

The techniques used to teach these lessons include group discussion, role-playing, art activities, stories, and educational

games. The PATHS curriculum provides students with extensive opportunities to practice their new skills and assistance with

applying the skills in their daily life.

A formal evaluation of the PATHS curriculum found significant reductions in students’ hyperactivity, peer aggression,

and noncompliance with teacher and staff directions. Specifically, first-grade students receiving PATHS were found to have

significantly lower levels of aggression and disruptive behaviors compared with their same-age peers who did not receive

the curriculum.

* A variety of evidence-based programs that schools and communities can use to implement the Action Guide are listed

in the “Additional Resources” section of this guide. Inclusion in the Action Guide does not represent endorsement of

these programs by the U.S. Department of Education or the U.S. Department of Justice. 
It is important to develop an infrastructure to support the ongoing use of

social skills programs. This infrastructure should include at least three

main components:

▲ Training all school staff in the instruction and reinforcement of social

skills.

▲ Designating school support leaders.

▲ Monitoring and supporting the teaching of social skills.

Staff Training

Programs designed to teach children new skills are most beneficial if all

staff—including non-teaching staff such as custodians, cafeteria workers,

and bus drivers—are involved. When new staff are hired, they also will

require training. Training should be conducted by someone who is skilled

in in-service training and consultation and who is familiar with social

skills programs. Staff must be comfortable with and committed to teaching problem-solving skills, encouraging and reinforcing their use, and

holding students responsible for using these skills. Most programs that

are designed to teach students problem-solving skills are adaptable to the

needs of teachers. Acquiring good teaching skills may be more difficult

for non-teaching staff and, therefore, these individuals should receive

adequate initial training and responsive follow-up support.

Staff Support and Coordination

The degree to which a new program is implemented successfully depends

largely upon the support provided to those implementing the program.

Someone in the school should have the skills, time, and authority to

assist staff in their initial and ongoing efforts to teach and help students

to use appropriate social problem-solving skills. In addition, because students may have several teachers, some coordination is necessary to

ensure that teachers are consistently teaching these skills, and that all

staff members are modeling and reinforcing the students’ use of these

skills.

Monitoring the Program

Support leaders should check frequently with teachers to ensure that

skills are being taught consistently. Over time it will be important for the

school to determine whether the program is working. Most teachers will

be able to tell quickly whether students are using the social skills in class.

It is important, however, to observe whether these skills are also being

used outside of class and school. Community agency staff and families

can often provide this information.

10

Second Step

Curriculum

Second Step is a violence prevention social skills curriculum developed by the Committee for Children. The curriculum is designed

to enable children—preschool

through junior high—to change

the attitudes and behaviors that

contribute to violence.

Students make such changes

through an in-class social skills

curriculum that teaches students

specific skills to reduce impulsive

and aggressive behaviors and to

increase their level of social competence.

Three primary skill areas are

emphasized: empathy, impulse

control, and anger management.

Each social skill lesson is integrated into the regular curriculum

in 35-minute sessions that are

conducted once or twice a week.

Teachers lead a discussion, model

skills, and have students role-play.

The curriculum also incorporates

a family-based component that

employs a video-based parent

program and a series of parent

group meetings.

Formal evaluation of the impact

of the Second Step Curriculum

indicated moderate decreases in

aggression and moderate

increases in prosocial and neutral

interactions over the period of

one school year for students

receiving the curriculum. Furthermore, the evaluation indicated

that the control group of peers

who did not receive the curriculum increased their physical and

verbal aggression over the same

school year.
Positive Behavior Support Systems

Safe schools provide a social and physical environment that fosters

appropriate behavior. The social environment includes the norms, rules

and their enforcement, and any support necessary to enable students and

adults to behave appropriately. The physical environment includes the

way in which the building and the school’s routines are managed to prevent problems (e.g., supervision during class changes).

Establishing Schoolwide Systems to Manage and Support Behavior

Effective discipline systems must be simple, schoolwide, proactive, and

positive. Simplicity is important so that all members of the school—

administrators, teachers, staff, students, and their families—understand

the rules and what happens when people violate the rules.

These rules should be schoolwide so that expectations and behavioral

supports for students are consistent throughout the school. The behavioral management systems should be proactive and positive, as research

demonstrates that proactive approaches (e.g., intervening before a verbal

dispute escalates into a physical fight) and positive support (teaching

expected behaviors) are more effective than reactive approaches that

emphasize punishment.

A critical component of a safe school environment is the establishment of

clear guidelines for student behavior. Such guidelines should enable students to understand what behaviors adhere to or violate the school’s

expectations. Early in the school year, the Schoolwide Team, with input

from the entire school community, should meet to establish behavior

guidelines. Ideally, these basic rules of behavior should be as follows:

▲ Stated simply and positively (e.g., “Walk” instead of “Do not run”).

▲ Few in number so they can be memorized.

▲ Reinforced, modeled, and enforced by the adults in the school.

▲ Consistent with the social skills that all school staff are teaching and

reinforcing.

After establishing schoolwide behavioral expectations, the team should

determine incentives for appropriate behavior and consequences for inappropriate behavior. These actions should be agreeable to all or most

members of the school and be easy to use. An effective schoolwide management system is one in which all students know and can explain the

school’s expectations for behavior, as well as the incentives and consequences associated with adhering to or violating the expectations.

Despite ongoing and structured encouragement of appropriate behavior,

some students may commit minor infractions or exhibit major disruptive

behaviors. Caring schools use positive disciplinary measures to address

11
these instances. Positive discipline has, at a minimum, the following three

important characteristics:

▲ An explanation of why the behavior is a problem.

▲ An explanation of which rule was violated.

▲ The provision of opportunities to learn appropriate behaviors and to

correct mistakes.

Students need to understand that not all inappropriate behavior is the

same and that different consequences are associated with different levels

of inappropriate behavior. Safe schools should build their capacity to

deal with multiple violations of the rules by developing multiple levels of

consequences. These levels should be systematically followed and never

short-circuited. That is, steps on the consequences ladder should not be

skipped to expedite a child’s removal from the school building. The

exception is any major violation of school rules that endangers the life of

the child or the lives of others. It is also critical that parents understand

the school conduct codes and the consequences for violations.

The consistent use of incentives and consequences is critical to successful

management of behavior at the school level. When staff fail to adopt and

implement agreed-upon procedures to encourage student use of positive

behaviors, students learn that sometimes it is okay not to solve problems

this way. As a result, their use of problem-solving strategies will be

erratic at best. Consistency does not just happen. It is usually due to

school-level strategic planning, team building, professional development,

and ongoing discussion and evaluation. Consistency is further strengthened when a school’s positive behavioral strategies and discipline system

extend to families, support agencies, and other community groups.

The important components of schoolwide management strategies also

apply at the classroom level. Expectations for behavior, the use of incentives and consequences, and the consistency with which they are implemented are just as important in the classroom as anywhere else in the

school building. Students should understand classroom rules, have the

skills to demonstrate behaviors that will allow them to meet the rules,

and understand the incentives and consequences for appropriate and

inappropriate behavior. In general, classrooms that are well managed are

characterized by the following conditions:

▲ Classroom routines are well-established and understood by all.

▲ Teachers spend a great majority of time on academic instruction and

only a minimal amount of time is required to redirect disruptive

behavior.

▲ Teacher feedback to students regarding their behavior is overwhelmingly positive.

▲ Mechanisms are in place for students to cool off and generate solutions to problems.

12

(continued on page 14)
Comprehensive Schoolwide Prevention and Intervention Programs 

that Provide Positive Support

Project ACHIEVE

Project ACHIEVE is a schoolwide, comprehensive prevention and early intervention program for students in elementary

and middle schools. It emphasizes increasing student performance in social skills and conflict resolution, improving student

achievement and academic progress, facilitating positive school climates, and increasing parental involvement and

support.

Project ACHIEVE is an integrated process that involves organizational and resource development, comprehensive in-service

training, and follow-up. Project ACHIEVE begins with strategic planning which requires teachers, staff, school-based

mental health professionals, students, and families to work together to adopt schoolwide systems of effective behavior

management and positive skills-oriented student discipline, as well as to improve instructional practices and academic

support for students. 

These schoolwide systems focus on teaching students prosocial skills, problem-solving methods, and anger management

techniques while simultaneously training teachers, staff, and families to intervene positively when problems occur. Typically,

students are taught one new skill each week that faculty and staff help them practice by prompting them at every reasonable opportunity with key phrases, such as Stop and think, Make a good choice, What are my choices, and How did I do?

Project ACHIEVE is designed to reduce acts of aggression, violence, and disruptive behavior that often lead to suspensions, academic failure, and special education referral.

Project ACHIEVE has a strong evaluation component that considers student outcomes, teacher outcomes, school outcomes, and direct and indirect outcomes. A formal evaluation of the impact of Project ACHIEVE found the following: a

decrease in disciplinary referrals to the principal’s office; a decrease in out-of-school suspensions; a significant decrease in

the retention of students; and a significant increase in the number of students who scored above the 50th percentile on

end-of-year achievement tests.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a comprehensive schoolwide prevention and intervention program

that provides behavioral support to students, including those with chronic behavioral problems, and consultation support

to teachers.

PBIS has four major components that provide prevention and intervention for problematic behavior, including schoolwide

behavior support systems, specific setting support systems, classroom behavior support systems, and individual behavior

support systems. The schoolwide support involves procedures and processes that are intended for all students, all staff,

and all settings. Schoolwide efforts clarify expectations, simplify rules for student behavior, and build in a continuum of

procedures to encourage students to display expected behaviors and discourage students from violating rules. The most

important element of support at the schoolwide level is a building-based team that oversees all development, implementation, modification, and evaluation of prevention efforts.

The setting-specific support component uses a team-based mechanism to monitor specific settings and to develop intervention strategies for settings within the building where problem behaviors occur regularly. The classroom support component

involves procedures and processes for individual classrooms that parallel the strategies and procedures used schoolwide.

The individual support component provides intensive, immediate, and effective intervention to students whose behavior

presents the most significant or chronic challenge to staff. For these students, PBIS provides teachers and staff with a set of

functional suggestions as well as additional resources to help them manage the student’s behavior more effectively and

deter placement of the student out of the neighborhood school. 

A formal evaluation of PBIS found a significant reduction in discipline referrals to the principal’s office, especially in the time

period prior to school vacations. In addition, evaluation findings indicated that teachers favor the PBIS program because they

feel more effective in their teaching and management of student problem behavior.

13
▲ Students have opportunities to practice and use the solutions that they

generate.

▲ Academic tasks match students’ instructional levels.

▲ Academic tasks are presented at an engaging and appropriate pace.

▲ Rules and consequences are followed and applied consistently.

▲ High expectations exist for student behavior.

▲ Transition periods are highly structured with increased adult monitoring.

In addition to developing expectations for appropriate behavior and reinforcing that behavior throughout the school, an effective schoolwide violence prevention plan includes environmental interventions designed to

prevent unsafe behavior. These interventions are discussed next.

Creating a Safe Physical Environment

Inevitably, there will be special situations and special places in schools

where problems are more likely to occur. To prevent such problems,

changing the school environment may be necessary. These interventions

alter the use of school space and supervision routines so that opportunities for violent or disruptive behavior are minimized or eliminated.

An analysis of the school environment can determine if hot spots exist in

the school. For example, the back hallway leading from the locker commons to the band room may be an area where many fights or disruptions

occur due to minimal supervision and poor lighting. Perhaps an analysis

also will show that these problems are most likely to occur in the mornings at a time when student traffic increases through the back hallway.

A thorough understanding of when and where problems occur should

prove invaluable to the Schoolwide Team. Some of the environmental

characteristics that a school may examine include the following:

▲ Number and types of exits.

▲ Location and design of bathrooms.

▲ Design of the cafeteria, common areas, and the playground.

▲ Patterns of supervision.

▲ Density of traffic patterns throughout parts of the school during various times of the day.

▲ Lighting.

▲ Isolated areas.

▲ Bell and class schedules and the mixing of students from different

grades.

▲ Length of time students stand in line to wait for a bus or to wait for

lunch. 

Equipped with the above information, the Schoolwide Team will be in a

position to change the environment to minimize opportunities for inap14

Expectations for student behavior

should be posted throughout the

school and should be frequently

reinforced by all staff. Also, the

use of pictures or symbols to

illustrate each expectation can

be helpful for younger children

and for some students with cognitive disabilities. 
15

propriate behavior. By continuing to monitor and supervise all areas of

the school regularly, the team can maximize environmental safety.

Providing Appropriate Academic Instruction

Disruptive, antisocial, or violent behavior can result from ongoing academic frustration and failure. Schools and teachers face tremendous pressures to cover all of the required curricula while ensuring that every child

performs at least at grade level. In their zeal to accomplish both goals,

teachers sometimes provide instruction that is not tailored to meet the

learning needs of every child. The experience of success—whether

through academic or vocational instruction, or a combination of both—

is important to minimize students’ feelings of frustration. Of course,

without extra support, success is virtually impossible.

Numerous interventions exist to address the individual needs of struggling students, but far fewer schoolwide interventions have been fully

developed. However, at least three schoolwide interventions are both

effective and feasible for teachers to implement. They are Class-Wide

Peer Tutoring, cooperative learning, and direct instruction. These strategies are particularly powerful because they enable children to experience

a high rate of success on meaningful academic tasks and to practice their

new skills. To use these techniques successfully, teachers and other staff

must receive ongoing training to master instructional techniques.

Class-Wide Peer Tutoring—An Example of an Academic Intervention

Class-Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) is a method of same-age, intra-class, reciprocal peer tutoring that many schools

around the country have found useful in adapting general education classroom instruction to meet the individual

needs of diverse students with diverse skills.

In addition to peer tutors, teachers divide the text into short passages that can be introduced on Monday each

week, tutored during daily sessions throughout the week, and tested for progress on Friday. Because the basic

academic skills units (e.g., reading comprehension, math, spelling) are short by design, each student can practice

them several times each day—leading to mastery, fluency, or automaticity. The units also may be organized by

difficulty level to accommodate skill level differences represented in the classroom. For upper-grade, content-level

instruction (e.g., social studies, science), the peer tutoring materials are organized around study guides that are

coordinated with text book units within chapters.

CWPT incorporates a game structure. Students earn points for themselves and for their team. They learn that

winning the game is a matter of how well they and their partner respond to the task. Because of this arrangement,

tutors learn to help, prompt, and really care about how their partner performs. Since teams and partners change

each week, CWPT students learn from the very beginning that they are expected to work with every student in the

classroom, so they learn to accept a variety of individual learning styles and different personalities.

More than 35 studies have shown CWPT’s superiority compared with other instructional strategies. Studies have

shown increased engagement, mastery, and fluency with the subject matter. Further, students’ weekly test scores

and grades have improved.

With an effective foundation in place, most schools can look forward to

a significant reduction in student behavioral problems. Preventing and

greatly reducing such problems schoolwide makes it easier for staff to

focus attention on specific students whose behaviors signal a need for

early intervention. Students who continue to experience behavioral problems, despite schoolwide prevention activities, may be exhibiting early

warning signs of violence.

This chapter focuses on the 10 to 15 percent of students whose problem

behaviors indicate a need for early intervention. The chapter reviews the

early warning signs of violence, lists effective practices used by a number

of schools to teach individuals to recognize the early warning signs, outlines a process for receiving and responding to concerns about individual

children, and discusses how to develop early individualized interventions.

Review of the Early Warning Signs of Violence

The list on the right presents the early warning signs, which were introduced in the Early Warning Guide. Safe and effective schools ensure that

teachers, administrators, school support staff, parents, students, and the

larger school community become familiar with the early warning signs

and the principles for taking appropriate actions. Understanding is the

first step in the process of early intervention because it gives people the

knowledge to recognize when a student may need help.

An important balance must be found between responding to the signs of

a child who may need help and being harmful by labeling or overreacting

to a situation. The ability to recognize the warning signs and to interpret

them as indicators that a child may need assistance reduces the risk that

parents, educators, and community members will misinterpret student

behavior and react inappropriately.

This balance between responding and overreacting is more likely achieved

when the efforts to identify and respond to students are guided by the five

principles for using the early warning signs of violence, which are listed

on page 18. Further elaboration on these five principles can be found in

the Early Warning Guide.

Furthermore, the importance of building relationships with children and

youth—part of the schoolwide foundation—cannot be overemphasized.

When teachers, administrators, support staff, pupil services staff, and

parents build close, caring, and supportive relationships with children

and youth, they increase the likelihood that a child or youth who is in

17

Chapter 3: 

Responding to Children Exhibiting

Early Warning Signs: Early Intervention

Early Warning Signs

▲ Social withdrawal.

▲ Excessive feelings of isolation

or being alone.

▲ Excessive feelings of 

rejection.

▲ Being a victim of violence.

▲ Feelings of being picked

on and persecuted.

▲ Low school interest and

poor academic performance.

▲ Expression of violence in

writing and drawings.

▲ Uncontrolled anger.

▲ Patterns of impulsive and

chronic hitting, intimidating,

and bullying behaviors.

▲ History of discipline 

problems.

▲ History of violent and

aggressive behavior.

▲ Intolerance for differences

and prejudicial attitudes.

▲ Drug use and alcohol use.

▲ Affiliation with gangs.

▲ Inappropriate access to,

possession of, and use of

firearms.

▲ Serious threats of violence

(also an imminent warning

sign).
trouble will reach out to them. Teachers, due to their vast experiences

with many same-age children, are uniquely positioned to identify students who may be exhibiting early warning signs. Teachers have frequent

interactions and conversations with students, and are responsible for

monitoring student academic performance and behavior. The depth and

frequency of this contact often places teachers in a position in which students may disclose something personal or critically important to them,

such as their feelings of isolation, reports of bullying behavior, situations

of abuse or neglect, suicidal ideation, or threats that peers are making

toward others or the school. Similarly, close and caring relationships

between teachers and students can increase the chances that a student

holding critical knowledge about another child or a potentially violent

situation will disclose that information sooner rather than later. By getting to know children and youth, teachers, support staff, and parents are

more likely to recognize a pattern or a change in behavior that may be

an early warning sign and then seek assistance for the child.

Building the Capacity to Identify Early Warning Signs

Teachers, administrators, and support staff are bombarded each school

year by in-service training and new initiatives. Information overload and

time demands can be overwhelming. Yet, the responsibility to protect the

safety of children and to meet the needs of children at risk for violence

cannot be left to one person or group of people. Rather, all school staff

must be familiar with the early warning signs and possess a sense of

urgency to respond appropriately on the behalf of children. The following policies, procedures, and practices build the capacity of a school and

community to identify the early warning signs exhibited by children:

▲ Policies that sanction and promote the identification of early warning

signs and are backed by adequate resources. District and school policies should ensure that all members of the school community understand the importance of early warning signs and employ them appropriately. School boards and school-based policy-makers should be provided with evaluation data so that they can modify policies when necessary and allocate resources.

18

It’s okay to be concerned about

a child, but it’s not okay to

overreact and jump to conclusions. There are early warning

signs in most cases of violence

to self and others—certain

behavioral and emotional signs

that, when viewed in context,

can signal a troubled child. But

early warning signs are just

that—indicators that a student

may need help. 

Early Warning, Timely Response,

p. 5.

Principles for Using

the Early Warning

Signs of Violence

▲ Do no harm.

▲ Understand violence and

aggression within a context.

▲ Avoid stereotypes.

▲ View warning signs within

a developmental context.

▲ Understand that children

typically exhibit multiple

warning signs.

Caution

Simplistic or mechanical use of lists of warning signs can harm children

and waste resources. Using the Early Warning Guide, educators, staff,

and families can increase their ability to recognize early warning signs

and discuss their concerns with the Student Support Team. Schools using

the early warning signs should, at a minimum, use the descriptions of the

early warning signs in the Early Warning Guide.
▲ Procedures that encourage and expect individuals to report concerns

about a student exhibiting early warning signs. Each school should

develop a procedure that students and staff can follow when reporting

their concerns about a child who exhibits early warning signs. For

example, in many schools the principal is the first point of contact. In

cases that do not pose imminent danger, the principal contacts a qualified mental health professional (e.g., school psychologist) who takes

responsibility for addressing the concern immediately. If the concern is

determined to be significant, the child’s family should be contacted.

Parents are consulted before any formal assessments are implemented

and are included in the development of interventions for their child. In

cases where school-based contextual factors are determined to be causing or exacerbating the child’s troubling behavior, the school acts

quickly to modify them.

▲ Practices that encourage individuals to raise concerns about observed

early warning signs and to report all observations of imminent danger

immediately. When staff seek help for a troubled child, when friends

report worries about a peer or friend, when parents raise concerns

about their children’s thoughts or behavior, children can get the help

they need. School leaders can encourage members of the school community to raise concerns.

▲ Policies that support ongoing training and consultation. District and

school policies should ensure that school staff receive training and

consultation on the effective use of the warning signs.

▲ Policies and procedures that ensure that staff and students use the

early warning signs only for preliminary identification and referral

purposes. Only trained professionals should diagnose a student in consultation with the child’s parents or guardians.

▲ School practices that encourage and provide opportunities for staff

and families to establish close, caring, and supportive relationships

with children and youth. Safe schools ensure that adults get to know

children well enough to be aware of their needs, feelings, attitudes,

and behavior patterns.

▲ Policies, practices, and procedures that foster collaboration between

the school and the students’ families. Working together, educators and

parents are encouraged to review school records for patterns of behavior or sudden changes in behavior.

Connecting the Early Warning Signs to Early Intervention:

Developing a Referral Response Process

Once school staff, parents, and community members become familiar

with the warning signs and understand the urgency of being responsive

to a child exhibiting signs, they need to know how to respond. They

need to know with whom to share their concerns and how to get help.

Teachers and staff should feel confident that when they share their concerns about a child, support will be readily available. They rely upon

19

Imminent Warning

Signs

▲ Serious physical fighting with

peers or family members.

▲ Severe destruction of 

property.

▲ Severe rage for seemingly

minor reasons.

▲ Detailed threats of lethal 

violence.

▲ Possession and/or use of

firearms and other weapons.

▲ Other self-injurious behaviors or threats of suicide.

Early Warning, Timely Response,

p. 11.

Gun-Free Schools

The Gun-Free Schools Act

requires that each state receiving federal funds under the

Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESEA) must

have put in effect, by October

1995, a state law requiring

local educational agencies to

expel from school for a period

of not less than one year a student who is determined to have

brought a firearm to school.

Each state’s law also must allow

the chief administering officer of

the local educational agency to

modify the expulsion requirement on a case-by-case basis.

All local educational agencies

receiving ESEA funds must have

a policy that requires the referral

of any student who brings a

firearm to school to the criminal

justice or juvenile justice system.
having quick access to trained professionals who will determine how to

help these students. 

In the majority of schools, a team of trained professionals already exists

that provides consultation, evaluation, and intervention for students who

are struggling academically, behaviorally, and socially. Safe schools will

typically expand the focus of this team to include responding to individual students who exhibit early warning signs or, if necessary, create such

a team. When a child or youth exhibits early warning signs, the school

can no longer rely on schoolwide interventions alone. Rather, a Student

Support Team, working with the teacher, child, and parents, must

develop interventions that specifically address the child’s behaviors of

concern. Early intervention requires a referral process that can respond

in a timely, coordinated, and effective manner.

Referral

It is important for all staff and families to understand the role and function of the Student Support Team and to be informed that the team is the

authority to whom they bring their concerns regarding a child who may

be exhibiting early warning signs. Staff training, parent question-andanswer sessions, classroom visits to inform students, and a public relations campaign within the community are needed to explain the team’s

membership, purpose, and approach and to disseminate information

about how to request the team’s assistance. Some schools create a

brochure on ways to access the Student Support Team formally and

include names and telephone numbers of team members to encourage

informal consultations.

All those involved with the student—including administrators, teachers,

support staff, families, and students—may find it difficult to admit that a

child close to them needs help. To encourage people to share their concerns about individual children, the referral process must be easy, and it

must result in immediate attention by the Student Support Team. Schoolwide referral systems should enable teachers, staff, and parents to access

the Student Support Team in a timely, respectful, supportive, and confidential manner. A school should consider several principles when developing a referral process. These principles are listed on page 21.

Involving Students in the Referral Process

Students must be partners in identifying early warning signs and providing

information about potentially dangerous situations. Just as schools should

make the referral process comfortable for adults, safe schools should tailor the referral process to the needs of students. Students who have information about a peer or a potentially dangerous situation may be fearful

and hesitant to share their concerns. Both the Schoolwide Team and the

20

Immediate

Interventions

for Dangerous

Situations

Immediate intervention by

school authorities and possibly

law enforcement officers is

needed in the following circumstances:

▲ A student has presented a

detailed plan (time, place,

and method) to harm himself or herself or others—

particularly if the student

has a history of aggression

or has attempted to carry

out threats in the past.

▲ A student has a weapon,

particularly a firearm, and

has threatened to use it.

In cases such as these, the

school staff should immediately

inform parents and other caregivers of these concerns.

Schools are also responsible for

seeking assistance from appropriate agencies, such as the

police, child and family services,

and community mental health

services. These responses should

reflect school board policies;

federal, state, and local laws;

and the school’s violence prevention and response plan.

(continued on page 22)
Principles for Developing a Referral Process

The process of making a referral to the Student Support Team should enable students and staff to access help

quickly. In developing the team’s referral process, keep in mind the following seven principles:

▲ Simplify requests for urgent assistance. Many school systems and community agencies have complex

legalistic referral systems with timelines and waiting lists. Children who may be exhibiting early warning signs

and are potentially at risk of endangering themselves or others cannot be placed on a waiting list. Referral

forms must communicate the urgency of the referral to the team. Teams should consider adding a box on the

standard referral form to indicate when the referral is about a child who is exhibiting early warning signs for violence. Alternatively, a separate referral form might be developed that is copied onto brightly colored paper and

used only for referrals regarding a child who is exhibiting early warning signs. Consideration should also be

given to listing the imminent warning signs on the referral form, with instructions that direct the person to go to

the principal immediately if the concerns match imminent warning signs rather than early warning signs.

▲ Give scheduling preference to urgent referrals. The Student Support Team must respond by convening

as soon as possible following the receipt of a referral regarding a child exhibiting early warning signs. These

referrals cannot be pushed to an agenda in the future. In some cases, the Student Support Team will need to

“bump” a nonurgent referral from its agenda to review the referral as soon as possible. In other situations, the

team will need to convene at a day or time other than its regular schedule.

▲ Encourage informal consultations. Sometimes teachers, staff, students, and parents hesitate to refer a

child they think may be exhibiting early warning signs. Their hesitation may stem from the formal nature of this

action, the insecurities they feel about identifying early warning signs, and how they might feel if their referral

is deemed unfounded. That’s why safe schools encourage informal consultations, because they offer another

option to share concerns about individual children.

▲ Inform and listen to parents when early warning signs are observed. Parents should be involved as

soon as possible. Parents need to be encouraged to meet with the Student Support Team when a referral has

been made about their child possibly exhibiting early warning signs.

▲ Make interventions available as soon as possible following referrals. Too frequently, interventions

are not available quickly. Safe and effective schools build mechanisms into their referral process that ensure

that the Student Support Team convenes promptly, involves parents immediately, and, within the first meeting,

decides what actions or steps each person will take initially to support the child.

▲ Maintain confidentiality and parents’ rights to privacy. In responding to a referral, Student Support

Teams may determine with the family that agencies outside of the school need to become involved. The Family

Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that addresses the privacy of education records,

must be observed in all referrals to or sharing of information with other community agencies. In particular,

parent-approved interagency communication should be kept confidential. FERPA generally requires parental

consent before personally identifiable information about a student is shared with other agencies. FERPA does

allow disclosure (without parental consent) to appropriate parties such as medical or emergency personnel in

the case of an acute emergency (imminent danger).

▲ Circumvent the referral process in cases of imminent warning signs. When a student is believed to

pose imminent danger, safety must always be the foremost consideration. In these situations, the referral process

is circumvented. Action must be taken immediately by school authorities and law enforcement personnel. Principals may find it helpful to seek consultation from the Student Support Team while taking immediate action and

notifying the student’s parents of the school’s concerns.

21
Student Support Team should work with students to develop ideas and

approaches for students to share their concerns about peers and situations

without the fear of reprisal. Some schools have created a telephone hotline

or a safe school box for written concerns; others have designated a set of

students at each grade level who are “safe school liaisons,” because they

are available to hear concerns from their peers. Techniques like these

enable students to share their concerns or information more comfortably,

trusting that their information will remain confidential. Acknowledging to

students that they are partners with the staff in keeping their school safe

will create a sense of shared responsibility and ally students with the staff

and community. Ensuring students of confidentiality will increase their use

of the reporting system.

Responding to Referrals

The Student Support Team must have the capacity to respond to referrals in a timely, coordinated, and effective manner. Adopting a procedure to guide how the team provides individualized interventions and

supports will improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the

team’s response to children and youth who need early intervention.

Effective procedures incorporate problem-solving, consultation, preliminary planning, and developing and implementing interventions. Teams

repeatedly cycle through these activities as they develop, implement,

monitor, and modify individualized interventions and supports for particular students.

Safe schools understand that families are central to children’s educational

success and their social and emotional adjustment. To involve the family

at each step—from referral through the implementation of individualized

interventions—requires that families feel valued and supported and that

they experience parity with other members of the team.

Families should be viewed as members of the team who can provide a

comprehensive picture of their children from birth to the present. Families can help the team identify children’s strengths and interests, as well

as validate observed needs. The information provided by families informs

decisions the Student Support Team will make with families regarding

children’s needs for individualized early intervention and assessment.

Maintaining a collaborative relationship between the school and family

will lay the groundwork for the successful implementation of early intervention plans.

The Initial Meeting

Once the Student Support Team receives a referral for a child who may

be exhibiting early warning signs, the response process begins with a

meeting. The agenda for the initial meeting will likely include problemsolving, consultation, and preliminary planning.

22

Handling Referral

Questions

One effective model that combines problem-solving, consultation, and preliminary planning

processes is Referral Question

Consultation. This component of

Project ACHIEVE was developed

to specifically investigate referral

concerns of teachers, parents,

or others working with a student.

This model focuses on developing specific referral questions

that, when answered, have obvious implications for intervention.

These referral questions are

based on the development of

hypotheses regarding a particular referral concern. Referral

questions and individualized

assessment plans are collaboratively developed through ongoing, data-based consultation

with the student’s teachers and

parents. Once the assessment is

completed, specific answers to

the referral questions are generated. These answers lead

directly to developing interventions that alleviate the conditions

causing the troubling behavior.
▲ Problem-Solving. The team should convene promptly to discuss the

referral and to decide what actions to take following the meeting.

The team’s discussion in this meeting should focus on understanding

the problem behaviors and events that led to the concerns and subsequent referral. Effective collaboration at this initial team meeting is

imperative. Team members must encourage the referring person to

discuss concerns openly and should acknowledge the person’s “good

work” in noticing the child’s difficulties and making the referral for

assistance. A team member should let the referring person know that

questions will be posed to clarify the concerns and observations leading to the referral and to determine any immediate risks to the child

or school community that should be addressed immediately.

▲ Consultation. Once the team discusses the questions, the team will

determine how to respond to the concerns. At this stage, consultation

with the referring teacher or parent may be appropriate. For example,

the mental health professional or the school nurse may provide valuable support if the problem is social, emotional, or medical in nature.

Similarly, the team may determine that the classroom teacher needs

assistance from a master teacher to modify instructional approaches

or classroom management strategies. If the team decides that a consultation will not be sufficient to deal effectively with the problem, it

23

Questions to Frame the Discussion at the Initial Meeting After the Referral

For the initial meeting, the team’s assessment goals are to gather preliminary information about the factors contributing to the behaviors of concern. The team should pose questions that begin to identify possible reasons for the problem behaviors. This preliminary information is important because it directs follow-up activities as the team moves into

developing the child’s individualized intervention plan. The following five types of questions can help the team

engage in problem-solving:

▲ Questions that lead to discussion about the child’s strengths and weaknesses in such areas as academic skills

and progress, friendships, emotional adjustment, coping strategies, physical health, interests, loss or other

traumatic experiences, and personal and family strengths and stressors. 

▲ Questions that lead to discussion and information about the interaction of the child’s skills and ability to cope

with life and school demands, including self-management of frustration, conflict, and attention; adaptability to

changes; and willingness to seek assistance.

▲ Questions that lead to discussion about the interaction of the child’s skills and means for coping with instructional demands, including the match between the child’s academic skills and academic demands.

▲ Questions that lead to discussion about how directions are typically presented; whether they are multi-step,

ambiguous, complicated; whether instruction is paced too slow or too fast; presented in either a highly oral

or a highly visual mode; the amount of independent work versus group work; and pencil-and-paper work versus hands-on projects.

▲ Questions that lead to discussion of what strategies the school has tried and what the results have been.
should decide how to proceed; sometimes, a more in-depth approach

is needed.

▲ Preliminary Planning. At this point, the team develops a preliminary

action plan to detail specific follow-up activities, outlining the child

and teacher supports that will be implemented immediately and continue until the team meets again to develop the child’s individualized

intervention plan. The nature and complexity of the problem will

determine how the team moves through the process.

To ensure effective follow-through, the team may designate a case

manager, who tracks every step of the process. In addition, the team

should list the responsibilities of each team member on the action

plan, list dates each activity will be completed, and agree on a date

and time when members will reconvene. Typically, families and team

members find that a case manager can facilitate progress and help

families feel connected and in the “communication loop.”

Developing Early Interventions

After the team’s initial meeting, follow-up activities should focus on collecting data and information that identify the specific factors underlying

and contributing to the problem behaviors. Several data collection procedures can help identify the causes of a child’s problem behavior, but one

approach—functional assessment—is becoming more familiar to school

professionals. This familiarity is due to changes in special education law

which require the use of functional assessment in particular situations

involving students with disabilities.

The following describes how to employ functional assessment to develop

individualized interventions and supports. The Student Support Team can

use this process to develop individualized early interventions following

the initial meeting to review and discuss the referral. There are three

phases: problem identification and analysis, plan development and implementation, and plan evaluation.

Problem Identification and Analysis

▲ Understanding the Problem Behaviors. A well-developed assessment

plan and a properly executed functional assessment should identify the

contextual factors that contribute to behavior. This is accomplished by

collecting information on the various conditions under which a student

is most and least likely to be a successful learner. The information collected through discussion, record review and direct observation will

allow the team to predict the circumstances under which the problem

behavior is most and least likely to occur.

▲ Direct Measurement of the Problem Behavior. During this stage, the

Student Support Team collects and analyzes important information

about the problem behavior. Observing the student in the classroom

or other settings provides information regarding frequency, intensity,

24

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; Public

Law 105-17 and Final Regulations

published in the Federal Register,

March 12, 1999), an Individualized Educational Program (IEP)

team must meet to conduct a

“functional behavioral assessment”

and implement an associated

“behavioral intervention plan” for

any child with a disability who has

been removed from the current

education placement for more than

10 school days in the same school

year. If the child already has a

behavioral intervention plan, the IEP

team shall meet to review the plan

and its implementation and modify

the plan and its implementation, as

necessary, to address the behavior.
and severity of the problem; when and where the behavior does and

does not occur, and the consequences of this behavior.

▲ Functional Assessment. During the problem-solving phase, the team

identifies the causes of behavior and selects interventions to directly

address those causes. In using functional assessment, the team looks

beyond the behavior itself and focuses on the factors associated with

the behavior in the setting in which it occurs. What is the child seeking

to obtain, avoid, or escape? What does the child gain through this

behavior? Conversely, what is the child protesting? The major objective is to substitute a positive behavior or response that serves the

same function for the student, but is acceptable in the school. Since the

child’s desires are often intricately woven into the instructional setting

and demands, functional assessment can provide information on ways

to modify and address the instructional strategies and other environmental conditions contributing to the problem behavior.

Plan Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

▲ Developing a Step-by-Step Intervention Plan. A plan should be developed to enable the child to substitute a replacement behavior and to

make the environment and adult-child interactions conducive to the

child’s needs for support and learning. The new behavior should be

meaningful to the child and allow the child to meet an appropriate

need that the child was previously meeting by engaging in the undesirable behavior. Once the replacement behavior is defined, a plan should

be developed to teach the child the new behavior and to change any

environmental conditions that are either causing or maintaining the

undesirable behavior.

▲ Implementing the Intervention. Each step of the plan must be implemented as planned. If the plan is part of a child’s IEP, it must be implemented as written. After two to four weeks, the team should gauge

the preliminary success of the plan and identify ways the plan may

be modified or supports added. If a school has tried other plans that

lacked consistency or adequacy, the Student Support Team should

allow more time to pass before determining the effectiveness of the

new plan. Students can “wait out” an intervention if they expect it

to discontinue quickly.

▲ Monitoring the Intervention. If the plan is successful in meeting its

intended goals, then the team must decide whether the intervention

should be continued, scaled back, or applied to other behaviors or in

other settings. Ultimately, the intervention should include a self-management and monitoring component so that the student can begin to

take responsibility for his or her own behavior. If the plan does not

meet its desired goals, then revisions to the intervention may be necessary. Revisions may also require the team to cycle back through direct

measurement of behavior and functional assessment. If the student is a

child with a disability, the requirements of the IDEA must be fulfilled.

25

Functional

Assessment—

An Example

Seventh-grade twin brothers, who

were receiving special education

and related services, were being

disruptive out of school and in

some of their classes. The IEP team

met and decided to do a functional assessment. This assessment

included teacher interviews and

classroom observations in the settings where the students were and

were not disruptive. After speaking

with the students, the team determined that they were disruptive

only in science and social studies

because they had difficulty reading

the teacher’s cursive handwriting.

As a result of the assessment, the

teachers printed the material and

worked to address the underlying

learning issues. 

The students’ academic performance and behavior markedly

improved after the assessment.

(continued on page 27)
Early Interventions

First Step to Success

First Step to Success is an early intervention program designed to address the needs of kindergarten children identified as

having antisocial or aggressive behavioral problems. The model includes three components: a kindergarten screening

process, a classroom-based skills training curriculum called CLASS, and a family intervention program called HomeBase. 

First Step to Success uses trained consultants who work directly with students, teachers, and parents to help coordinate

the intervention efforts between the home and the school. Consultants provide teachers and parents strategies to teach

students alternative replacement behaviors and to effectively reward students when those behaviors are used appropriately and consistently. Students learn specific skills and behaviors to use that are more effective and adaptive than the

behaviors they have used in the past.

To provide practice and reinforcement for the new skills the child has learned, the consultant, teacher, or classroom aide

provides the student with visual cues (i.e., a green or red card) during the school day that indicate whether he or she is

on-task and using appropriate behaviors. Over the course of a school day, the student accrues points toward his or her

behavioral goal. If the student makes the daily goal, he or she gets to select a fun activity for the entire class to participate in and appreciate.

Every evening, teachers provide parents with feedback about how the student’s day went. Parents are trained and encouraged to reward the child’s positive behavior by spending extra time with their child in a fun child-directed activity. Once the

classroom teacher feels comfortable taking full responsibility for implementing the CLASS curriculum, the consultant begins

working more directly with the student’s parents to assist the family with implementing the HomeBase intervention program.

A formal evaluation of First Step to Success found effective and lasting improvements in the students’ behavior and social

adjustment, even three years after the initial intervention. Significant reductions were observed in the students’ aggressive

and maladaptive behaviors, while significant increases were observed in the student’s adaptive behaviors and academic

engaged time. In addition, teachers implementing the CLASS curriculum expressed high levels of satisfaction with the program, noting that it is easy to learn and implement and leads to favorable results with their students.

Positive Adolescent Choices Training

Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT) is a violence prevention curriculum designed to be implemented in an

intensive, small group setting with African American middle and high school students who are at risk for becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. The PACT curriculum is a culturally sensitive training program developed specifically

for African American adolescents.

PACT uses a cognitive-behavioral group training method that equips adolescents with specific knowledge, as well as

social and anger management skills to use in situations of interpersonal conflict. The curriculum involves teaching in

three primary areas: violence-risk education, anger management, and prosocial skills. Individual lessons concentrate

on dispelling myths, educating students about violence, building alternative social and self-management skills, and

changing cognitive beliefs that lead to physical contact, aggression, and violent acts.

The violence-risk education component dispels myths about what constitutes a threat and counters belief systems that

perpetuate hostility and the capacity for violence (e.g., thinking that violence is acceptable, victims don’t suffer, victims

deserve what they get, and quick assumptions that others intend harm). Emphasis is placed on developing the student’s

capacity to generate alternative solutions to conflict, including skills such as giving positive and negative feedback,

accepting feedback from others, negotiating and problem-solving, and resisting peer pressure.

PACT uses videotaped vignettes with African American role models as well as student-directed role-playing skits to

teach skills and provide multiple opportunities to practice alternative anger management skills. A formal evaluation of

PACT found a significant reduction in the physical aggression displayed at school by students participating in the intensive curriculum, as well as fewer violence-related juvenile court charges than a comparable group of students who had

not participated in the PACT curriculum.

26
Early Intervention Strategies 

The table on the next two pages lists strategies that may be used for early

interventions. These strategies differ in their complexity. Although each

strategy listed may work for some students, no one strategy works for all

students. In addition, some strategies have been evaluated extensively

through research studies, while others have less research to document

their effectiveness. These strategies are provided to assist Student Support

Teams who are developing intervention plans for students whose behavioral problems have been resistant to universal or schoolwide interventions. It is important to note that these strategies could also be integrated

with the schoolwide foundation as well as incorporated in intensive interventions.

There are three keys to designing early interventions for particular students. The first is to assess (as completely as possible) the reasons for the

child’s behavior so that selection of strategies is highly informed and targeted. The second key is to match the intensity of the intervention to the

severity of the need. The third key is to look at the student’s strengths

and interests, including his or her cultural background. Effective interventions should be culturally appropriate.

27

Developing an Early Intervention Plan—An Example

Darren, an eighth-grade student with a learning disability, made a threat under his breath that he was going to beat up his

teacher. The teacher recognized the threat as an early warning sign. The teacher then made a referral to the Student Support

Team.

The team included the child’s mother, a special education case manager, the general education referring teacher, the principal, a speech-language clinician, a school psychologist, and a school social worker. The team discussed the referral and the

academic, behavioral, and language goals currently included on Darren’s IEP. The referring teacher explained that Darren

made the threat after she prompted him for a third time to begin his work. The teacher also commented that Darren’s reading

skills were very poor. 

The team developed a preliminary hypothesis regarding the problem behavior and developed an action plan for a follow-up

assessment. After observing Darren in large group instructional settings, the hypothesis was confirmed: Darren was having difficulty comprehending material presented orally, comprehending eighth-grade reading material, and communicating these

problems to his teacher. 

As a result of the assessment, the speech and language clinician worked with Darren to script ways that he could communicate his confusion and need for assistance. At the same time, the special education and general education teachers collaborated on ways to adapt his textbooks and use cooperative learning groups to reduce the frequency of large-group oral presentation of content. 
28

Early Intervention Strategies

INTERVENTION STRATEGY BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS

Accommodations and modifications

Changing instructional practices, the ways students demonstrate mastery, and the way students input information to help

students with disabilities or learning differences achieve and demonstrate academic mastery (e.g., oral responses versus

written essays, tape recordings of text and information). 

Alternative educational 

strategies Alternative strategies provided for students who for some reason are not succeeding in the traditional setting.

Alternative times—day and 

night school Flexible schedules for students who, for various reasons, may not be able to attend school during traditional school hours.

Anger management 

training Methods for teaching socially appropriate ways to deal with anger.

Behavioral intervention A group of strategies designed to increase positive behaviors and decrease maladaptive behaviors by manipulating

environmental conditions that either precede or follow the student’s behavior.

Behavioral support plan A plan designed to teach alternative replacement behaviors in environments and through adult interactions that are adapted

and made more responsive to the student’s individual needs.

Contingency contracting A behavioral contract between a student and all involved adults. The contract specifies the expected behaviors and the

consequences for performing or not performing them. 

Cognitive behavioral 

interventions and training

An approach to behavior change that includes changing the way a person thinks or feels about a situation. For example,

teaching children that they have the problem-solving skills necessary to resolve social problems in a nonaggressive way will

usually prevent them from dealing inappropriately with others in social situations (i.e., using aggression).

Differential reinforcement A method for decreasing inappropriate behaviors by rewarding alternative behaviors (e.g., decreasing out-of-seat behavior

by rewarding the student for remaining in his or her seat). 

Drop-out prevention Interventions designed to identify students at risk for dropping out of school and to provide them with the services and

supports necessary to help them successfully complete school.

Drop-out reentry program Interventions and transition planning to ensure a student’s success when returning to school after dropping out.

Environmental modifications Modifying the class and school environment to respond to unique learning, behavioral, or emotional needs of students.

Extended day programs Structured after-school programs designed to offer student supervision. These programs can focus on athletics, academics,

hobbies, or other interests.

Extinction procedures

Ignoring a behavior that is reinforced by attention. For example, if a student talks out to get the teacher’s attention, an

extinction procedure would call for ignoring inappropriate talk-outs and reinforcing appropriate contributions to the group

discussion (i.e., raising a hand and waiting for a turn to speak).

Functional communication 

training

Teaching students alternative, adaptive ways to communicate their needs to others, such as through a brief verbalization,

hand gesture, or signal (e.g., flipping a card over, which signals to the teacher the student’s need for assistance).

Goal-oriented therapeutic counseling Services provided by trained school counselors, social workers, or psychologists to help a student or group of students

address behaviors and personal or social problems.

Group and family counseling Counseling provided by a trained individual to help a person or persons work through a problem.

Mentoring An individualized approach to providing a caring connection and a positive role model for a child. Mentors spend time

with children, usually doing nonacademic-type tasks.
29

INTERVENTION STRATEGY BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS

Positive behavioral interventions Interventions designed to build on a student’s strengths and increase the frequency of his or her adaptive responses while

modifying the environment and adult responses to support the student’s learning and use of adaptive responses.

Response cost Taking away something positive for inappropriate behavior. Staying in during recess to complete a missed homework

assignment is an example of response cost. 

Reward system

Rewarding students for appropriate behavior. Rewards can be social (a smile), an activity (time to read a novel), or tangible

(candy or points on a token system). Students can earn rewards for themselves or for a group, and the rewards can be

delivered by an adult, peer, or others. 

Self-management Teaching students to be aware of their behavior in such a way that they are able to identify its occurrence or nonoccurrence,

measure its occurrence, and evaluate whether the behavior is improving, remaining the same, or getting worse. 

Shadowing older students A plan where a student “shadows” a more senior student. Learning through modeling is often effective for transitions from

one school to another.

Social problem-solving instruction Teaching students to use an effective process to solve social problems fairly and without aggression.

Time-away Giving the student permission to briefly leave a learning activity or take a break. This is a coping strategy reinforced and

encouraged by the teacher. 

Time-out

Removing the student from a situation that is rewarding inappropriate behavior. For example, if a student’s anger 

seems to be fueled by the cheers of his or her peers, the adult may ask the student to go to a place where peer attention 

is not available.

Token economies A system by which students earn points (tokens) for appropriate behavior. Points can later be exchanged for reinforcement

(social rewards, activities, or something more tangible).

Transition programs Interventions specifically designed to identify transition needs, teach skills, and provide the support necessary for a child’s

success in a new environment. 

Tutoring Intensive academic instruction provided by a teacher or other skilled person.

Chapter 2 described schoolwide interventions that are intended to reduce

and prevent most behavior problems in schools. Chapter 3 discussed the

use of early intervention strategies for the approximately 10 to 15 percent of students who continue to experience behavioral problems even

when schoolwide interventions are in place. These students also may be

exhibiting early warning signs and, if so, will require the Student Support

Team to develop individualized early interventions to meet their needs. 

In this chapter, the focus turns to the remaining 3 to 10 percent of children who experience significant emotional and behavioral problems. Specific interventions and their intensity will depend on the nature, severity,

and frequency of each child’s emotional and behavioral problems.

Frequently, students who require intensive interventions, services, and

supports are experiencing moderate to severe emotional and behavioral

disorders that significantly impair their functioning and quality of life

across the domains of family, school, peers, and community. In many

situations, these students are often eligible for special education services

or have a mental health diagnosis. 

Safe schools implement intensive interventions that include a full array

of services and supports and that coordinate the resources of the school

and other community agencies. This array of services and supports

should be individualized to meet the unique needs of each child and

family. Rather than plugging children and families into interventions

based on categories or levels of symptoms, the Student Support Teams

should work with other community agencies to tailor services and

supports to the needs of each child and family. The following are examples of intervention approaches and practices that are being used successfully to provide intensive interventions to children and their families.

Comprehensive School-Based Mental Health Programs

Many schools have access to mental health professionals, such as school

psychologists, counselors, and school social workers. Many of these staff

can provide support for prevention, early intervention, and intensive

intervention services. Effective school-based mental health programs are

located in school buildings using these and other mental health professionals. Together, they provide a comprehensive range of mental health

services to children and their families, and often have strong collaborative ties with multiple community agencies.

31

Chapter 4: 

Providing Intensive Interventions

to Troubled Students

The Lafourche

Parish School-Based

Mental Health

Program

Located in Thibodaux, Louisiana,

the Lafourche Parish program

provides intervention, consultation, and assessment for students

with a particularly strong emphasis on coordinated intensive

intervention for its most involved

students with behavioral and

emotional difficulties. There are

three interconnected programs:

discreet planned intervention,

which provides targeted individualized early intervention; day

treatment, which offers a therapeutic classroom environment

for students requiring intensive

intervention; and a school-based

psychiatric clinic, which provides

a highly intensive intervention for

students and families in conjunction with community mental

health centers. 
The success of comprehensive school-based mental health programs

depends on the ability of administrators, teachers, school-based mental

health professionals, and other school staff to integrate mental health

priorities and educational priorities into one vision that affects the

everyday practices and decision-making of school professionals. Successful school-based mental health programs are woven into the fabric of

the school including its classroom and instructional priorities. To

accomplish this integration successfully, schools must combine the development of their comprehensive school-based mental health program

with systematic schoolwide reform efforts. By joining schoolwide reform

efforts, school-based mental health professionals can emphasize the

benefits of building collaborative efforts within and between schools

and community mental health providers, social services, juvenile justice

agencies, and families.

Special Education and Related Services

Special education eligibility under IDEA includes the designation of emotional disturbance. In general, under the federal definition, this designation includes children and youth demonstrating unsatisfactory personal

relationships with peers and teachers and who have inappropriate types

of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances.

For children who are eligible under IDEA, and whose behavior interferes with their learning or the learning of others, the IEP Team must

consider, if appropriate, “positive behavioral interventions, strategies,

and supports to address that behavior.” These interventions, strategies,

and supports must be incorporated into the student’s IEP. It is also

important to point out that the positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports available under IDEA are not limited to students with

emotional disturbance. Such interventions can help any student whose

behavior interferes with his or her social and emotional development

and learning.

The 1997 reauthorization of IDEA emphasized in both spirit and letter

that special education is an array of services and supports rather than

a place. Under its Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirements,

IDEA specifies that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal

of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment

should occur only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that

education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. It is important to note that positive behavioral interventions and supports, like other services provided

to students with disabilities, can be implemented in the regular education classroom.

32

The Kids in

Community Schools

The Kids in Community Schools

(KICS) program is a schoolbased mental health program at

the Martin Luther King School in

Yonkers, New York. It is funded

through the New York State

Office of Mental Health and

administered through Westchester Jewish Community Services. The goals of the program

are to maintain students with

emotional disabilities or children

at risk in the least restrictive

environment; to develop preventative mental health services

through collaboration with families, school, and the community;

and to enhance community

mental health services for children. The program provides

on-site, direct mental health

services, including child and

family treatment, crisis intervention, individual and family

respite, and psychological,

psychiatric, and psychoeducational services.
33

Alternative Programs and Schools

Schools have sometimes been unsuccessful in addressing the complex

needs of significantly troubled children and youths who have intensely

challenging behaviors. Some districts have established alternative programs to continue educating students who previously would have

dropped out or been suspended or expelled. These programs have

increased dramatically, with three out of four school districts reporting

some form of alternative program. Some school districts locate alternative programs in neighborhood schools, while others operate their programs in separate facilities. Some alternative programs are behavioral in

focus. Others emphasize a day treatment model, which provides students

and families with intensive mental health and special education services.

Effective alternative programs are not custodial; rather, they collaborate

with regular schools to facilitate reintegration. Characteristics of effective

alternative programs include the following:

▲ Intensive individualized instruction in credit-earning coursework.

▲ Continuation of special education services for students with IEPs.

▲ Positive behavioral supports—including social skills and anger

management/abatement—within a structured school environment.

▲ Psychological and mental health consultation and counseling.

▲ Active family involvement.

▲ Transition services that support the return to regular school.

▲ Community agency involvement (e.g., mental health programs,

social services, law enforcement, juvenile justice).

▲ Caring staff committed to building relationships with students.

▲ Effective, engaging instructional techniques with curriculum

demands that match each student’s academic skills.

Systems of Care

A system of care has been defined by the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U. S.

Department of Health and Human Services as a coordinated continuum

of mental health and related services and supports designed to work with

families to help children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances get the services they need, in or near their home and community.

In systems of care, local public and private organizations work in teams

with families to plan and implement a tailored set of services for each

child’s physical, emotional, social, educational, and family needs. Teams

include family advocates and representatives from mental health, health,

education, child welfare, juvenile justice, vocational rehabilitation, recreation, substance abuse, and other services. In effective systems of care,

teams include the child and family and build upon the child’s and family’s strengths rather than focusing solely on problems.

(continued on page 35)
34

Alternative Schools

The Positive Education Program’s Day Treatment Programs

Cleveland, Ohio’s, Positive Education Program (PEP) operates six day treatment centers that provide a supportive

environment marked by high expectations for appropriate behavior and an emphasis on competence. These centers

enable students to stay at home or in their community and to successfully return to less restrictive educational settings. The centers are neither dumping grounds nor places that focus on the external control of behavior. Instead,

they develop IEPs for each student and provide a variety of services, such as individual counseling and behavioral

intervention, social skills, therapeutic arts, speech and language, and crisis intervention. The centers’ many components include the following:

▲ Positive behavioral supports.

▲ Outdoor education, therapeutic camping, and community experiences.

▲ Parent support and education.

▲ Liaison to juvenile court.

▲ Academic programming.

PEP provides young people with a socially and academically rich environment, readies them for reintegration into

mainstream settings, and works with staff in those settings to support them once they return.

Lane School

Lane School, a public school alternative setting for students with the most serious behavioral problems, is supported

by the Lane Education Service District, Lane County, Oregon. With just four classrooms, the Lane School typically

has fewer than 30 students in its program at one time. The program is small so that students can receive the structure, attention, and skills they need to improve their behavior and their academic performance and prepare to return

to their neighborhood schools.

Interventions are highly individualized, and the emphasis is on effective problem-solving through communication

with others and on improving each student’s academic performance. The supervisor of Lane School emphasizes the

need for efficient and effective structures in place that lead to the creation of “civil classroom and school climates.”

This includes having clear rules, teaching students alternative responses to anger, reinforcing newly learned skills,

intervening in aggression early, deterring violent behaviors with clear consequences, and emphasizing academics

consistently.

Lane School is committed to successful transitions of the students back into their home schools, a process that

begins the day students enroll in Lane School. These transitions work best when Lane School staff—in the words

of Robin, a Lane School teacher and transition specialist—”succeed in export[ing] the program and...its strategies

into the county’s schools....These schools are truly committed to advocating for each child.”

Quinn, M.M., Osher, D., Hoffman, C.C., & Hanley, T.V. (1998). Safe, Drug-free, and Effective Schools for ALL Students: What Works!

Washington, DC: Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, American Institutes for Research, pp. 21-22.
The range of services that may be included in a system of care are as

follows:

▲ Career counseling.

▲ Case management (service coordination).

▲ Community-based inpatient psychiatric care.

▲ Counseling (individual and group).

▲ Crisis outreach teams.

▲ Crisis residential care.

▲ Day treatment.

▲ Education/special education services.

▲ Family support.

▲ Health services.

▲ Independent living supports.

▲ Intensive family-based counseling.

▲ Legal services.

▲ Protection and advocacy.

▲ Psychiatric consultation.

▲ Recreational therapy.

▲ Residential treatment.

▲ Respite care.

▲ Self-help or support groups.

▲ Small therapeutic group care.

▲ Therapeutic foster care.

▲ Transportation.

▲ Tutoring.

For greatest effectiveness, the Student Support Team and the local system

of care should develop established interagency agreements that facilitate

the integration and coordination of services. When these services seem

necessary for a child and family in need, agency staff competent in such

intensive services can become part of the Student Support Team. The

expanded team works together with the family and student to develop a

plan. Together, they determine roles and responsibilities (e.g., case management); develop methods for coordination and communication; and

provide for ongoing evaluation.

Individualized Mental Health Services and Supports

Effective systems of care tailor interventions to address the strengths and

needs of individual youth who may require different interventions at different developmental stages. Over the past decade, powerful and intensive

interventions have been developed to address the multiple factors contributing to serious emotional and behavioral problems. To be effective,

35
an intervention should address all of these factors and support the

entire social ecology of the youth in trouble. These programs provide

intensive therapy and support that is available 24 hours a day, seven

days a week. There is daily contact, either face-to-face or by phone,

with families. These services usually last for a minimum of three to

five months, depending on the seriousness of the problem and the

success of the intervention. Three models that have demonstrated

impressive results are highlighted below.

Multisystemic Therapy

One intervention that has proven its effectiveness is multisystemic

therapy (MST). It has been effective with youth with issues ranging

from substance abuse and crime to suicidal and homicidal impulses.

Multisystemic therapy is built upon the following nine essential

principles:

36

Cross-Site Findings Regarding Schools as Part of Systems of Care

The following six practices are integral to the success of schools as part of systems of care:

▲ The use of clinicians or other student support providers in the schools to work with students, their

families, and all members of the school community, including teachers and administrators.

▲ The use of school-based and school-focused Wraparound services to support learning and transition. 

▲ The use of school-based case management. Case managers help determine needs; identify goals,

resources, and activities; link children and families to other services; monitor services to ensure that they

are being delivered appropriately; and advocate for change when necessary.

▲ The provision of schoolwide prevention and early intervention programs. Prevention helps those students

with or at risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems to learn the skills and behaviors that help

in following school rules and enjoying positive academic and social outcomes. Early intervention allows

schools to provide students with the support and training they need to be more successful in managing

their behavior.

▲ The creation of centers within the school to support children and youths with emotional and behavioral

needs as well as their families. Students in the centers interact with caring staff members who can help

students and their families connect with the entire system of care to help meet their needs.

▲ The use of family liaisons or advocates to strengthen the role of and empower family members in their

children’s education and care. All three sites studied have harnessed the power that involving family

members as equal partners brings to their comprehensive programs.

Woodruff, D.W., Osher, D., Hoffman, C.C., Gruner, A., King, M.A., Snow, S.T., and McIntire, J.C. (1999). The Role of Education in a

System of Care: Effectively Serving Children with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders. Systems of Care: Promising Practices in Children’s

Mental Health, 1998 Series, Volume III. Washington, DC: Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, American Institutes for

Research, p. xiii.
▲ The primary purpose of assessment is to understand the fit between

the identified problems and their broader systemic context.

▲ Therapeutic contacts emphasize the positive and use systemic strengths

as levers for change.

▲ Interventions are designed to promote responsible behavior and

decrease irresponsible behavior among family members.

▲ Interventions are present-focused and action-oriented, targeting

specific and well-defined problems.

▲ Interventions target sequences of behavior within and between multiple systems that maintain the identified problems.

▲ Interventions are developmentally appropriate and fit the developmental needs of the youth.

▲ Interventions are designed to require daily or weekly effort by family

members.

▲ Intervention effectiveness is evaluated continuously from multiple

perspectives, with providers assuming accountability for overcoming

barriers to successful outcomes.

▲ Interventions are designed to promote treatment generalization and

long-term maintenance of therapeutic change by empowering caregivers to address family members’ needs across multiple systemic

contexts.

Treatment Foster Care

Multisystemic therapy is an example of an effective strategy for addressing the needs of youths whose behaviors or needs have not worsened to

the point where out-of-home placement is mandated. Treatment foster

care extends the model of intensive, family-focused intervention to youth

whose delinquency has been so serious and so chronic that they are no

longer permitted to live at home. Like multisystemic therapy, it works

because it includes every major aspect of a youth’s life in the intervention: the individual, family, peers, and school. Indeed, treatment foster

care has been rigorously evaluated, and, compared with ordinary group

care, has been shown to reduce repeat offenses and to increase the number of successful youths who return to living with relatives.

The model on which treatment foster care is based recognizes the

challenges of living with a youth exhibiting serious antisocial behavior.

Parents can be worn down by escalating conflict to a point where their

normal parenting resources are seriously diminished. It is precisely these

normal resources—the ability to provide meaningful adult supervision,

to implement discipline consistently, to minimize association with delinquent peers, and to support academic achievement—that keep delinquency at bay. What treatment foster care does is provide these powerful

socialization forces of family life for youngsters at a point when the

youths’ behaviors have become so dangerous to society that they are

removed from their homes.

37
Treatment foster care families are recruited for their ability to share the

basis of their experience with adolescents, their willingness to act as

treatment agents, and their ability to provide a nurturing family environment. Foster families apply formally and participate in 20 hours of preservice training, which emphasizes the use of behavior management

methods. These methods, which provide youths with a structured daily

living environment, include close supervision, clear rules, and enforcement of limits. Treatment foster care parents are taught how to implement individualized plans that take into account youths’ needs and the

treatment foster care family’s schedule and values. A three-level system

is used in which the youth’s privileges and level of supervision are based

on their compliance with program rules, adjustment in school, and general progress. Treatment Foster Care parents participate in weekly foster

parent group meetings. Here they review youths’ progress, identify problems, and discuss potential solutions.

Each youth in treatment foster care participates in individual behavior

therapy focused on skill-building in problem-solving, social perspective

taking, and non-aggressive methods of self-expression. Birth families

and other concerned individuals involved with the youth’s care participate in weekly family therapy focused on parent management training

with an emphasis on supervision, encouragement, discipline, and

problem-solving. Schools are an important part of the intervention;

each youth carries a card to class and teachers sign off on attendance,

homework completion, and attitude. Youths who are suspended are

required to do schoolwork or chores during school hours.

Wraparound Planning and Services

Another approach to providing intensive interventions that has spread

throughout the country is the Wraparound process. Wraparound is not a

therapy or a program, but rather it is an approach to providing services

and supports to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems

and their families. The Wraparound approach involves 10 essential elements and values that guide the process of providing intensive services to

children and their families.

The Wraparound approach includes a definable planning process involving the child and family, community agencies, and school staff that

results in a unique set of school and community services and supports

tailored to meet the needs of the child and family. This Wraparound

team includes the child and family, professional service providers (e.g.,

mental health workers, educators, child welfare workers, law enforcement and juvenile justice personnel), and natural supports from the

community, including extended family members, friends, clergy—anyone

the family may call upon to help their child. The team develops goals

and identifies the individualized set of services and supports necessary to

achieve those goals. The plan employs a strengths-based assessment,

is coordinated by a Wraparound facilitator or case manager, specifies

38

Elements of

Wraparound

▲ Community-based.

▲ Individualized and strengthsbased.

▲ Culturally competent.

▲ Families involved as full and

active partners in every level

of the Wraparound process.

▲ Team-driven process, involving the family, child, natural

supports, agencies, and

community services.

▲ Flexible funding and creative

approaches.

▲ A balance of formal services

and informal community and

family resources.

▲ Unconditional commitment.

▲ A service/support plan

developed and implemented

based on an interagency,

community-neighborhood

collaborative process.

▲ Determined and measured

outcomes.
a crisis/safety plan, and identifies measurable outcomes that can be

monitored regularly.

Since a critical element of the Wraparound approach is that services

and supports are provided in the child’s and family’s community, the

involvement of school professionals from the child’s neighborhood

school can be extensive. School-based Wraparound planning builds upon

the individualized nature of special education planning and includes the

teacher and other relevant school personnel as part of the planning team.

Given that Wraparound services and supports are usually paid for

through flexible, noncategorical funding, the Wraparound team can often

provide additional supports for the child that are implemented during the

school day to aid teachers and other school staff.

39

School-Based

Wraparound in

LaGrange, Illinois

Since the LaGrange Area

Department of Special Education began applying the Wraparound process, the number of

self-contained K-8 classes for

children with emotional and

behavioral disorders has

dropped from eight to zero as

students with emotional and

behavioral disorders, their families, and their teachers now

receive comprehensive supports

and services in a variety of settings. Although an option for

self-contained classrooms is

available, these programs have

evolved into classrooms that

serve multi-needs children such

as those with autism, pervasive

developmental delay, and multiple disabilities. Children who

traditionally had been placed in

self-contained emotional and

behavioral disorders classrooms

are now served through the

Wraparound approach in their

home schools with Wraparound

teams, family service facilitators,

and team teachers.

This chapter describes how to implement the comprehensive three-level

model of prevention using a team approach. This chapter begins by outlining the role of teams and how to build an effective team to address

important school issues. The chapter later provides information on the

logistics of planning and implementation.

The Role of the Schoolwide Team in Creating Safe Schools

The Schoolwide Team, described in Chapter 1, assesses the school,

including the academic and behavioral programs and school climate,

to set short-term and long-term goals that will improve the quality of

the educational experience for all students and the safety of the school.

The team establishes general policies and procedures and selects programs to be implemented throughout the school. In addition, the Schoolwide Team coordinates these strategies. Because the Schoolwide Team

shares some members with the Student Support Team, they exchange

information that will help the Schoolwide Team make more informed

decisions about the school and the safety needs of the students.

The Schoolwide Team undertakes activities to plan, implement, monitor,

and maintain the school’s violence prevention program. At the same

time, the Schoolwide Team proposes policies and procedures that do the

following:

▲ Link to all school improvement efforts.

▲ Align school efforts with community efforts and services.

▲ Gain understanding and support from all members of the school

community: students, teachers, staff, administrators, school board

members, families, and other community members.

▲ Include all three levels of prevention: a schoolwide foundation,

early intervention, and intensive interventions.

▲ Reflect an understanding of how to use early warning signs 

appropriately.

▲ Include an efficient process for referral, problem-solving,

consultation, and intervention (Student Support Team).

▲ Employ effective evidence-based interventions that align with the

school’s structure, culture, needs, and resources.

▲ Align with special education requirements and all other schoolwide

efforts, such as extra-curricular activities and services for English

language learners.

41

Chapter 5: 

Creating and Implementing a

Comprehensive Plan
Organizing the Schoolwide Team

Because the Schoolwide Team has the responsibility of planning, implementing, and evaluating an integrated schoolwide violence prevention

effort, members of the team should have diverse and complementary

skills. The selection of team members is critical to the team’s effectiveness. Members should be chosen because of their leadership capabilities

and expertise in learning and behavior. Team members should be willing

and able to commit time and effort to the team, particularly during the

initial implementation phase.

Community Members and the Schoolwide Team

Comprehensive planning recognizes the influence of the larger community

on the functioning of schools. School leaders should identify these influences and understand how they affect the school. Schools can enhance

their violence prevention efforts by working with their community to

address issues that directly influence both their community and school.

Safe and effective schools develop procedures for assessing and working

with the external community so that programs and interventions are

sensitive to community needs. In this way, schools become true partners

with community agencies and organizations.

To ensure that the school considers community factors and to ensure

ongoing coordination of prevention and intervention services, the following are some of the community leaders who should be involved in planning and implementation:

▲ Attorneys, judges, and probation officers.

▲ Business leaders.

▲ Clergy and other representatives of the faith community.

▲ College or university faculty.

▲ Family agency and family resource center staff.

▲ Interest group representatives and grassroots community organization

members.

▲ Law enforcement personnel.

▲ Local advisory board members.

▲ Local officials, including school board members and representatives

from special commissions.

▲ Mental health and child welfare personnel.

▲ Parent group leaders, such as Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

officers, advocacy group leaders, and parents knowledgeable about

troubling behavior.

▲ Physicians and nurses.

▲ Recreational, cultural, and arts organizations staff.

▲ School public relations officers.

42

Reaching Out to the

Community

School safety depends on the

ability of the school to partner

with the greater community.

Once the Schoolwide Team has

formulated a vision, developed

team cohesion, and delineated

roles and responsibilities, it

should reach out to the greater

community. The vehicle for this

outreach can be a communitywide collaboration, coalition, or

work group. Community outreach ensures the following:

▲ Community support for

school efforts.

▲ Coordination of school and

community services.

▲ Shared resources, reducing

fragmentation.

▲ Support for family-school

collaboration.
▲ Violence prevention group representatives.

▲ Youth workers and volunteers.

▲ Other influential community members.

Building an Effective Schoolwide Team

Whether the team is well-established or newly established, there is no

assurance that its members will function effectively as a team. Indeed, one

of the strengths of the Schoolwide Team should be its diversity in expertise, skills, and experiences. The common goal of developing safe schools

should galvanize all parties to pool their resources and work collaboratively. Cohesiveness and a sense of shared purpose, primary characteristics of effective teams, can be enhanced through the following practices:

▲ The team takes time at the onset to agree on a vision.

▲ Individual members should commit to participate in all relevant team

activities and training, leaving their personal agendas at the door.

▲ The team selects a dedicated leader or facilitator. The leader or facilitator keeps the team focused on the task and productive, while ensuring

that needs are addressed and interpersonal conflicts (if any) are resolved.

▲ Each member of the team receives the necessary information and support so that he or she can participate on the team as an equal.

▲ Team members should take turns taking notes, or the team should

have a secretary. These notes should be circulated to the team members in a timely fashion.

▲ One team member is responsible for liaison functions, which involves

keeping the greater school and community informed and linking to

other school and community teams.

▲ The team develops a process for solving problems and making decisions.

For example, the team should determine how it will make decisions—by

consensus, majority, or some other clear and agreed-upon process.

▲ Teams may strengthen their interpersonal relations through trustbuilding activities. There is a substantial knowledge base of ways that

teams can build trust and work more effectively together.

Building a productive team takes time, and prior to reaching this goal the

Schoolwide Team will move through several phases of team development.

At times, team members may feel uncomfortable as the team experiences

conflict and strives for resolution. Also, they may feel uneasy as they

learn their roles and establish norms for communication and other routines. Over time, as members support each other and accomplish objectives, trust and mutual respect will emerge. As additional individuals are

included at various points, team dynamics and functioning may be

affected. This is a normal part of team development and functioning

and should not be a cause for alarm. However, too much turnover and

turmoil can render the team inoperable; therefore, it is important that

team membership remain fairly consistent and provide stability to the

planning and implementation tasks.

43

The Schoolwide

Team at Kennedy

Middle School

Kennedy Middle School in

Eugene, Oregon, has members

skilled in positive behavior support representing all grade levels

and subject matters, plus an

active administrator on the

Schoolwide Team. The team

meets once a month to guide

and monitor the schoolwide

safety planning.
Logistics for the Schoolwide Team

Once the team has been established or expanded and has reviewed its

charge, it should then consider logistics. Critical logistical tasks include

obtaining administrative support, securing a planning budget, designing a

communication process, and scheduling meetings and setting timelines.

Obtaining Approval and Buy-Ins

The first order of business is to obtain district or school approval and

buy-in for the Schoolwide Team vision. Approval enables the team to

obtain resources to support its efforts and to secure modifications in

policies and procedures. Buy-in secures the ongoing, active, and usually

visible support of key administrators.

Schools differ in the ways they develop and implement plans. Every

member of the team should know in advance the administration’s expectations for the team’s work and any relevant restrictions or policy guidelines, such as reporting procedures and decision-making authority. If possible, the team should include someone who has the authority to approve

procedures and allocate funds. If the team encounters resistance to one of

its suggestions, it should document the need and demonstrate the connections between its concerns—such as improved academics or community

support—and school safety.

Communities also differ in their understanding of the need for the

team’s work. Providing communities with information early will help

them understand and support the need for a comprehensive prevention,

intervention, and crisis response program. The team should determine

the information needs of the community and tailor its communication

strategy to address these needs.

Securing a Planning Budget

Resources and funding may be necessary for the work of the Schoolwide

Team. School officials will need to know the anticipated costs. For example, will teaching staff require substitutes while they conduct team duties?

The team may need to prepare a budget for the administration to

approve. Examples of budgetary considerations include release time or

compensation for team meetings, secretarial assistance, meeting space,

support for family participation, and reimbursement for incidentals.

Designing a Communication Process

One of the team’s responsibilities throughout the planning and

implementation process is to communicate its findings to the larger

school community. The team may elect to prepare a formal report or

44

Getting Buy-In

“Before we went any further with

training and planning, we had a

unanimous agreement that this

was what the school wanted to

do. We had to make sure we

had a strong buy-in; there was

no other way.” 

Glen Carolton, school psychologist in South West School District, Ohio.
simply reorganize its findings with a cover memorandum. In either case,

a few suggestions follow:

▲ Prepare an executive summary. The executive summary should identify

team members, state the purpose of the team’s work, provide a brief

overview of the team’s work to date, and list recommendations for next

steps. A brief version of the team’s executive summary can be distributed

via newspapers or mailings, or on the school’s Web site or bulletin board.

▲ Consider face-to-face meetings. The team may decide to schedule

face-to-face meetings with the school as a whole or with different stakeholder groups. The team should work with community representatives

or a representative of the stakeholder group to identify potential questions and to prepare an agenda that maximizes the impact of each

meeting. It is important to include the entire school and community in

this knowledge-sharing. The team can invite community members and

families to school meetings and consider having team members attend a

variety of meetings with different groups, such as the PTA.

▲ Solicit feedback. Throughout this dissemination process, the team

should solicit feedback from individuals regarding the accuracy of

the team’s findings and the effectiveness of its communication efforts.

The school and community at large must be informed of the team’s

goals and progress. Also, the team can solicit feedback from the

individuals who will be involved in the next stages—developing

and implementing the violence prevention and response plan.

Scheduling Meetings and Setting Timelines

The team should schedule meetings according to tasks. Most teams will

begin by meeting weekly. After start-up, there are four major milestones.

They are as follows:

▲ Conducting the school assessment.

▲ Developing the schoolwide violence prevention plan.

45

Executive Summary Template

Use the following template to develop an executive summary regarding the work of the team.

This report will be used to communicate the team’s findings to the larger school community.

Date: ___________________________________________________________________________

Team members: __________________________________________________________________

Objective/Purpose of work: _________________________________________________________

Activities to date: _________________________________________________________________

Recommendations/Next steps:_______________________________________________________
▲ Designing the implementation approach for the plan.

▲ Implementing and evaluating the plan.

Achieving each of these milestones may require a different amount of

time. It is important to note that it may take a full year to develop a plan

and implementation strategy. It will take even longer to implement the

plan completely and measure its effects. It is important to set realistic

timelines and due dates throughout the process.

Implementation Considerations for the Schoolwide Team

Schools differ in the way they implement their comprehensive plans,

but the following activities are important for all schools to make the

most of their plan:

▲ Make a long-term commitment. Most likely, it will take several years

to have all components of the plan in full operation. The team should

set a reasonable timeline for reaching its goals and objectives.

▲ Obtain district approval. The team’s goal is to obtain more than

plan approval; it is to institutionalize change. This requires formal

approval, which may require a vote by the school board. In addition,

someone in a leadership role needs to champion the plan. This individual should ensure that there is sustained buy-in and support

from the school community.

▲ Provide sufficient training. All team members—including staff, students, families, and community members—should receive training.

After the initial training, all team members should be provided with

ongoing relevant training and support. Training assists the school in

developing the capacity of staff, students, and families to intervene.

Examples of training methods include the following:

— In-service training for all faculty and staff.

— Written manuals, pamphlets, or flip charts.

— Practice responding to imminent warning signs of violence.

▲ Seek parental approval and involvement. Families must be involved in

implementing the plan. There should be open lines of communication

throughout the process.

▲ Seek support and involvement. The team should ensure that every

member of the school accepts and adopts the violence prevention and

response plan. This buy-in is essential if all members of the school are

expected to feel comfortable sharing concerns about children who

appear troubled. Too often, caring individuals remain silent because

they have no way to express their concerns.

▲ Secure resources. Teams will require human, information, and fiscal

resources to implement their plans. The teams should consider the

anticipated costs of activities.

46

More Resources

If at any time team members

wish to study a topic in more

depth, they should refer to the

“Resources” section, which lists

references, resources, and contacts related to the topics featured in this Action Guide. In

addition, team members may

wish to visit the Web site of the

Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice (http://cecp.

air.org). The online resource

includes this guide, and links

to other sources of information,

which may be useful in planning

and implementation.
▲ Specify evaluation procedures. Evaluation is a critical component of

the comprehensive school safety plan. It increases the effectiveness of

management and administration of the plan. Evaluation data should

be used when renewing the plan. When planning the evaluation component, the team should consider the following principles:

— There should be measurable goals, objectives, and benchmarks.

— The assessment should be based on objective data.

— Realistic timelines should be set, observed, and communicated to

the larger community.

— The team should be held responsible for regular (preferably quarterly) evaluation of the prevention and intervention plan.

▲ Present the plan. The team may present the plan in various ways:

events, town meetings, discussion groups, written products, and press

releases.

The team may need to use multiple strategies to reach a large number

of people. Each school will have a preferred strategy for presenting the

plan. The team should keep the following general guidelines in mind:

— Ensure that presentations are made available in the native languages of family members and the community.

— Schedule events at a convenient time for family members and

community members.

— Provide logistical support (e.g., child care, transportation) to enable

more people to participate.

— Make the communication process ongoing, structured, and detailed

to ensure long-term community support.

Other Considerations

Despite prevention efforts, even the most effective schools will experience

some form of crisis, whether it takes the form of violence, tornadoes,

fires, or death of a student or a staff member. The immediate response

to and long-term handling of the crises will affect the adjustment of

students, school staff, and families. Schools that are best prepared will

develop a multicomponent plan that addresses the physical and psychological well-being of students and school staff. With support from community agencies and the school system, the Schoolwide Team should

design a crisis response plan. The plan should be shared with all members of the school. The components of the crisis response plan include:

▲ Specific procedures for internal and external communication.

▲ Evacuation protocols to protect students and staff from harm.

▲ A process for securing immediate external support from law

enforcement officials and other relevant community agencies.

▲ A process for dealing with long-term effects of the crisis.

47

Comprehensive

Schoolwide Plan: 

An Example

1. Establish effective

behavioral support

team.

2. Design curriculum for

teaching students to be

caring self-managers.

3. Train staff.

4. Monitor behavior using

a referral form.

5. Evaluate the program

using a survey.

6. Adjust the program

(e.g., create a method

for addressing individual

student needs).

This is an abbreviated example

of a comprehensive implementation plan developed by the

Patterson Elementary and Family

School in Oregon from 1996

to 1999.
Conclusion

Although most schools are safe, they all can be safer. Improving school

safety requires the strategic investment of time and dollars—scarce

resources for which there are competing demands. Fortunately, schools

that strategically coordinate schoolwide efforts are more likely to

improve academic performance as well as reduce behavior problems.

This Action Guide builds upon the Early Warning Guide. It provides a

comprehensive model that can lead to safer schools. The model incorporates prevention, early intervention, and intensive interventions in a manner that will help schools improve long-term academic, behavioral,

social, and emotional outcomes for all students and their families. The

Action Guide identifies mechanisms for implementing the plan (the

Schoolwide Team and the Student Support Team) and also describes the

processes that these teams can employ to improve school safety. 

Finally, the guide provides information about technical assistance centers

and evidence-based resources that schools can draw upon to develop a

comprehensive plan that addresses the particular needs and builds upon

the strengths of their school and their community.

48
Online Resources

The resources in this Action Guide were designed to provide schools

and communities with links to useful information. These are just some

examples of programs, organizations, and centers that have been 

identified by the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, an

organization operating under a cooperative agreement with the U.S.

Department of Education.

While the Internet gives schools and communities an amazing opportunity to access information, at the same time the content of the Internet

is difficult to control. It is therefore important to note that the U.S.

Departments of Education and Justice do not endorse these Web sites,

nor the programs listed here.

School Safety–Related Sites

Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice

http://cecp.air.org

Hamilton Fish Institute for School and Community Violence

http://hamfish.org

National Association of School Psychologists

http://www.naspweb.org

National Mental Health Association

http://www.nmha.org

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

http://www.nwrel.org

National Resource Center for Safe Schools

http://www.safetyzone.org

School Safety and Violence Prevention

http://cecp.air.org/guide

Student Support and Classroom Management Sites

The Behavior Home Page

http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/behave/homepage.html

49

Resources
Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support

http://www.pbis.org

Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders

http://www.ccbd.net

Prevention and Early Intervention: Collaboration and Practice

http://cecp.air.org/prev-ei

Prevention Strategies That Work

http://cecp.air.org/preventionstrategies/Default.htm

Wraparound Planning

http://cecp.air.org/wraparound/default.htm

Federal Sites

U.S. Department of Education

http://www.ed.gov

Office for Civil Rights

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR

Office of Special Education Programs

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP

Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.hhs.gov

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

Division of Violence Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/dvp.htm

Center for Mental Health Services

http://www.mentalhealth.org/cmhs

National Institute of Mental Health

http://www.nimh.nih.gov

U.S. Department of Justice

http://www.usdoj.gov

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org

Justice for Kids and Youth Homepage

http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage

50
Organization Sites

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

http://www.aacap.org

American Academy of Pediatrics

http://www.aap.org

American Association of School Administrators

http://www.aasa.org

American Counseling Association

http://www.counseling.org

American Federation of Teachers

http://www.aft.org

American Psychiatric Association

http://www.psych.org

American Psychological Association

http://www.apa.org

American School Counselor Association

http://www.schoolcounselor.org

Council of Administrators of Special Education

http://members.aol.com/casecec

Council of the Great City Schools

http://www.cgcs.org

Council for Exceptional Children

http://www.cec.sped.org

National Association of Elementary School Principals

http://www.naesp.org

National Association of School Nurses

http://www.nasn.org

National Association of Secondary School Principals

http://www.nassp.org

National Association of State Boards of Education

http://www.nasbe.org

National Education Association

http://www.nea.org

National Middle School Association

http://www.nmsa.org

51
National School Boards Association

http://www.nsba.org

National School Public Relations Association

http://www.nspra.org/entry.htm

Police Executive Research Forum

http://www.policeforum.org

School Social Work Association of America

http://www.sswaa.org

Family Information Sites

The Beach Center on Families and Disability

http://www.lsi.ukans.edu/beach/center

Boys Town USA

http://www.boystown.org

Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

http://www.ffcmh.org/enghome.htm

National Parent Network on Disabilities

http://www.npnd.org

National PTA

http://www.pta.org/index.stm

Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center

http://www.pacer.org

Project for Parents of Children with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

http://www.pacer.org/parent/ebd.htm

52
Additional Resources

The programs in this Action Guide are examples of many results-based

programs that have been favorably reviewed by agencies or federally

sponsored technical assistance centers.

The programs cited here in the Action Guide were identified under a

U.S. Department of Justice grant to the Hamilton Fish National Institute

on School and Community Violence with assistance from the Vanderbilt

Institute for Public Policy. The programs were also identified under a

U.S. Department of Education cooperative agreement with the Center

for Effective Collaboration and Practice.

Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

5262 University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403-5262

Phone: (541) 346-3560

Fax: (541) 346-5689

E-mail: PBIS@oregon.uoregon.edu

Web site: http://www.pbis.org/english/index.html

First Step to Success

Published by Sopris West, Inc. 

4093 Specialty Place

Longmont, CO 80504

Phone: (800) 547-6747

Fax: (303) 651-2829

Created by the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior

1265 University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

Kennedy Middle School

2200 Bailey Hill Road

Eugene, OR 97405

Phone: (541) 687-3241

Fax: (541) 686-2379

E-mail: mehas@4j.lane.edu

Web site: http://www.4j.lane.edu/schools/middle/kennedy.html

Kids in Community Schools

Martin Luther King Elementary School

Westchester Jewish Community Services

Kids in Community Schools Program

135 Locust Hill

Yonkers, NY 10701

Phone: (914) 376-0723

53
Lafourche Parish School-Based Mental Health Program

110 Bowie Road

Thibodaux, LA 70301

Phone: (504) 447-8181

Fax: (504) 446-1577

E-mail: cwilmoth.pac@lafourche.k12.la.us

Lane School

1200 Highway 99 North

P.O. Box 2680

Eugene, OR 97402

Phone: (541) 334-4796

Web site: http://www.lane.k12.or.us

Positive Adolescent Choices Training

Center for Child and Adolescent Violence Prevention

Wright State University, School of Professional Psychology

9 North Edwin C. Moses Blvd.

Dayton, OH 45407

Phone: (937) 775-4300

Fax: (937) 775-4323

E-mail: betty.yung@wright.edu

The Positive Education Program’s Day Treatment Programs

Positive Education Program

3100 Euclid Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44115

Phone: (216) 361-4400

Fax: (216) 361-8600

E-mail: infopep@pepcleve.org

Web site: http://www.pepcleve.org

Project ACHIEVE

Institute for School Reform, Integrated Services, and Child Mental

Health and Education Policy

School Psychology Program

The University of South Florida

4202 E Fowler Ave.

Tampa, FL 33620-7750

Phone: (813) 974-3246

Fax: (813) 974-5814

54
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies

Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802

Phone: (814) 865-2618

E-mail: mxg47@psu.edu

http://www.psu.edu/dept/prevention

Publisher: Developmental Research and Programs

Phone: (800) 736-2630

E-mail: drpmain@drp.org

Web site: http://www.drp.org/paths.html

Resolving Conflict Creatively Program

RCCP National Center

40 Exchange Place, Suite 1111

New York, NY 10005

Phone: (212) 509-0022

Fax: (212) 509-1095

E-mail: rccp@rccp.org

Web site: http://esrnational.org

School-Based Wraparound in LaGrange, Illinois

LaGrange Area Department of Special Education

1301 West Cossitt Avenue

LaGrange, IL 60525

Phone: (708) 354-5730

Fax: (708) 482-2665

Second Step Curriculum: A Violence Prevention Curriculum

Committee for Children

2203 Airport Way South

Suite 500

Seattle, WA 98134

Phone: (800) 634-4449 or (206) 343-1223

Fax: (206) 343-1445

Web site: http://www.cfchildren.org

55

Academic Instruction, 3, 7, 12,

15, 29

Alternative Programs, 33

Case management, 35–36

Center for Mental Health

Services, 50

Center on Positive Behavioral

Interventions and Supports, 13,

50, 53

Consultation, 10, 13, 19–23, 33,

35, 41

Crisis Response Planning, 47

Early Intervention, 1, 4, 6, 13, 17,

19–20, 22, 24, 26–28, 31, 36,

41, 48, 50

Early Warning Guide, 1, 7, 17–18,

48

Early Warning Signs, 2, 4, 6,

17–22, 31, 41

Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESEA), 19

Families, 1, 4, 6, 7, 10–13, 18–20,

22, 24, 31–33, 36, 38, 41,

46–48

Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act (FERPA), 21

First Step to Success, 26, 53

Gun-Free Schools Act, 19

Identification, 18–19, 24

Immediate Interventions, 13, 20

57

Imminent Warning Signs, 19–20

Individualized Mental Health

Services, 35–36

Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act (IDEA), 6,

24–25, 32

Intensive Supports, 3, 31 

Interventions 

Early intervention strategies,

27–28, 31

Immediate interventions, 13,

20

Intensive interventions, 3–5,

8, 31, 35, 38, 41, 48

Kennedy Middle School, 43, 53

Kids in Community Schools, 32,

53

Lafourche Parish School-Based

Mental Health Program, 31, 54

Lane School, 34, 54

Laws

Elementary and Secondary

Education Act, 19

Family Educational Rights

and Privacy Act, 21

Gun-Free Schools Act, 19 

Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act, 6

Mental Health, 6, 31–33, 35,

49–50

Comprehensive School-Based

Mental Health Programs,

31–32

Individualized Mental Health

Services, 35

Index
Multisystemic Therapy, 36–37

Parents (see families)

Physical Environment, 2, 11, 14

Positive Adolescent Choices

Training, 26, 54

Positive Behavioral Interventions

and Supports (PBIS), 13, 50, 53

Positive Behavior Support, 3, 7,

11

Positive Education Program (PEP),

34, 54

Prevention, 1–2, 4–5, 9, 13–14,

17, 26, 28, 31, 36, 41–42,

44–47, 50

Principals, 5

Problem Identification, 24

Problem-Solving, 3, 8, 22–23, 26,

34, 38, 41

Program Evaluation Criteria, 8

Project ACHIEVE, 13, 22, 54

Promoting Alternative Thinking

Strategies, 9, 55

PTA, 42, 45, 52

Referral Process, 20–21 

Resolving Conflict Creatively

Program, 9, 55

Safe Schools Characteristics, 2, 7,

12–14

Schoolwide Foundation, 3, 7–15

creating a safe physical

environment, 14

schoolwide behavior systems,

11

staff support, 10

staff training, 10, 20

Schoolwide Team, 5–6, 11, 14, 20,

41–44, 46–48

Second Step Curriculum, 10, 55

Special Education and Related

Services, 32

Staff Support, 10

Staff Training, 10, 20

Student Support Team, 5–6,

20–22, 24–25, 27

Systems of Care, 33, 35–36

Teachers, 1, 4–5, 9–13, 15, 17–20,

22, 25–27, 32, 36, 38–39, 41,

51

Teams

Logistics, 41, 44

Organization, 33, 42

Roles, 35, 42–43

Schoolwide Team, 5–6, 11, 14, 

20, 41–44, 46–48

Student Support Team, 5–6, 

20–22, 24–25, 27

Three-Level Approach, 2–3

Timelines, 45–47

Treatment Foster Care, 37–38

Wraparound, 4, 36, 38–39, 50, 55

58
Many individuals contributed to the development of the Action Guide.

Some provided materials, others reviewed drafts, still others provided

input through participation in focus groups or at workshops. The following list represents only a portion of those who contributed to the

Action Guide.

Howard Adelman

University of Southern California

Leigh Armistead 

Charlotte-Mecklandsburg Schools, North Carolina

Sharon Adams-Taylor

American Association of School Administrators

Lisa Barrios

Center for Disease Control and Prevention

George Bear

University of Delaware

Renee Brimfield 

Montgomery County Schools, Maryland

Fred Brown

Elementary and Secondary School Principals Association

Stephanie Bryn

Maternal and Child Health Bureau

Health Resources and Services Administration

Douglas Cheney

University of Washington

Gwendolyn Cooke

National Association of Secondary School Principals

Betty Fitzpatrick

Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado

Jacquelyn Gentry

American Psychological Association

Brenda Greene

National School Boards Association

59

Contributors to the

Action Guide
Charles Greenwood

Juniper Gardens Children’s Project

Renelle Grubbs

Kentucky Community Crisis Response Board

Pat Gutherie

Council of Administrators of Special Education 

Cheryl Haas

American Counseling Association

Gabriella Hayes

National PTA

Rob Horner

University of Oregon

Marjorie Hudson

Connecticut Department of Public Health

Karen Jacobs

American Occupational Therapy Association

Michael Kane

American Institutes for Research

Karen Kleinz

National Public Relations Association

Howard Knoff 

University of South Florida

Judy K. Montgomery

Council of Administrators for Special Education

Ron Nelson

University of Nebraska

Trina Osher

Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

Cathy Paine

Springfield Schools, Oregon

Michael Rosenberg 

Johns Hopkins University

Jeff Sprague 

University of Oregon

Pam Stein

Polk County Schools, Florida

60
Peter Sheras

University of Virginia

Betty Stockton

Jonesboro Public Schools, Arkansas

Carlos Sundermann

National Resources Center for Safe Schools

George Sugai

University of Oregon

Betsy Thompson 

Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado

Teri Toothman

Mountain State Parents Children & Adolescent Nework

Richard Verdugo

National Education Association

Hill Walker 

University of Oregon

Eileen Weiner-Dwyer

Montgomery County Federation of Families for Children’s Mental

Health

Diana Wright

California Department of Education

Jon M. Yeakey

National Resource Center for Safe Schools

Project Staff and Administration

The Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice

Project Director: David Osher

Principal Investigator: Kevin Dwyer

Action Guide Task Leader: Stephanie Jackson

Action Guide Writing Team: Kevin Dwyer, Matthew Green, 

Stephanie Jackson, Kimberly Kendziora,

Fred Krieg, Brenda Mejia, Eric Mesmer,

David Osher, Debra Pacchiano,

Mary Quinn, Cynthia Warger

U.S. Department of Education

Project Officer: Tom V. Hanley

Task Officer: Sara Strizzi

61
U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202-0498

http://www.ed.gov/

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

http://www.usdoj.gov/

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20202

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

PERMIT NO. G-17

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