Several elements of the school culture and climate can help to increase or decrease a school's tendency to be safe. Behavioral factors related to these risks include lack of school readiness, antisocial attitudes, high levels of aggression and agitation, rejection by peers and teachers, affiliation with deviant peers, inability to control one's emotional behavior, and refusal to follow school rules and behavioral expectations. Early identification of potentially violent students offers the best long-range hope for preventing violence at school. Instead of hoping that children with behavioral problems will outgrow them or telling ourselves that it's just a phase, Walker stresses the need to get help for troubled kids at an early age, before their behavior gets worse and becomes more natural to them. Although everyone seems to agree that preventing violence is better than later intervention, in reality we often tend to ignore a problem until it becomes severe.
Prevention involves a variety of strategies.
To prevent an outbreak of violence, schools are taking broad action that begins with adding social-skills training to the curriculum and goes as far as installing metal detectors. Some students will need more academic support, mentoring, skill development, and assistance than others. Some schools are also starting to offer curricula designed to bring out qualities in students that inhibit violent behavior. The second level focuses on moral reasoning and impulse control and is used by teachers working with students, and families of students, identified as being at risk of engaging in antisocial behavior. The third and most intensive level is designed to meet the needs of students who already show antisocial behavior patterns.