Proposed modification of a school-wide bully prevention program to support all children

Bullying prevention programs in the United States are being implemented in schools from kindergarten through high school to reduce rates of bullying behaviors. The bully prevention in positive behavior support (PBIS) model is an evidence-based, whole school intervention program. The PBIS model trains teachers, school staff, and administrators to model and provide positive reinforcement for children to decrease bullying amongst peers. This article addresses gaps in the current bullying prevention research by exploring challenges and potential modifications to the PBIS model based on staff perspectives of specific student needs. Utilizing focus group methodology, administrators, teachers, and support staff in a northeastern urban elementary school identified challenges experienced by students who were English language learners, impulsive, shy or sensitive, and female. The findings highlight the critical nature of school–parent relationships in addressing student, family, and cultural factors that influence the successful implementation of bullying prevention programs.     

Reconstructing the “Monsters” and the “Failures”

SUMMARY

“Monsters” and “Failures” are becoming the words of choice by many teachers, parents, administrators, and other adults when describing children and their behaviors. Ascribing the label can be constricting to the child and does very little to promote solutions to situations. Adults working with children can develop ways to look past the behavior and see the child and the child's needs, and acquire expectations of children that are in line with their development. This article explores the notion that family therapists, specializing in systems theory and parent education, are professionals, who are suited to help parents and school personnel interact with children in constructive and meaningful ways that promote development and minimize negative labeling. Family therapists can help the parent/teacher/administrator view the interactions among the components of the child's support system as dynamically interacting with one another and the child, and thus, strengthen the school-parent-community triad. Therapists, working col-laboratively with early childhood developmental education professionals, can assist adults in aligning their assessment and expectations of children with developmental understandings, thereby modifying the behaviors on the part of the adults, and ultimately eliciting more appropriate responses on the part of the children. A family systems approach to the rearing and teaching of children allows adults to reinforce the constructive behaviors of the child in a supportive and positive manner, leading to the social and cognitive growth of the child. The case material offered in this article presents ways in which family therapists can collaborate with education professionals and families in fostering the strength of the family-school-community relationship, and ensuring situations that are more child-friendly and developmentally appropriate.     

The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment,Intimate Partner Violence Exposure,and Academic Performance

This article presents a longitudinal examination of the association between children's experiences of child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV), alone and in combination, with children's academic performance. Integrated, administrative data from the Minnesota Departments of Education and Human Services were used to obtain a sample of 2,914 children. Data provided an opportunity to study comparisons of single (CM or IPV) and combined experiences (CM-IPV), longitudinally observe the impact of these experiences on academic functioning, and make comparisons to the general population. Results revealed significant differences in school attendance and math and reading performance by adverse experience. Children exposed to CM and IPV, individually or in combination, underperformed at school. IPV-exposed children had the poorest outcomes. Findings highlight the need for dedicated screening for adverse childhood experiences, particularly IPV exposure, and devoting greater educational and social service resources as a means of promoting future school achievement and adult functioning.     

The Design and Implementation of Early Childhood Intervention Programs: Informing Efforts to Address Risk and Promote Resilience

With the goal of narrowing disparities in children's school success, a growing number of innovative early childhood interventions have been launched. As these interventions begin to show evidence of enhancing children's development, it is important that we understand the design of these interventions and their implementation. This themed issue of the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community includes four articles that each highlight a different early childhood intervention program, and a fifth article that provides a commentary on the main set of articles, from a community perspective. The first article focuses on children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a program that sought to integrate children with ASD into public schools. The next two articles center on children from low-income families, with a focus on preschool classrooms. The last article discusses a program that aimed to foster young children's school readiness as well as families' readiness for children's transition to school.     

Turning a Chinese Kid Red: kindergartens in the early People's Republic

To win the hearts and minds of the Chinese people, Chinese Communist leaders launched a series of educational reforms to instill new socialist ideas and nationalistic fervor in kindergarteners immediately after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Under the strong influence of Soviet advisers and through a number of methods (games, singing, storytelling, site visits), Chinese kindergarteners were taught the nobility of labor, the sacrifice of soldiers, the grandeur of Tiananmen Square, the wise leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong, and the evilness of enemies. However, contrary to the conventional view, this article argues that Chinese education officials and kindergarten teachers never blindly followed Soviet educational models. They appropriated Moscow's techniques to suit their domestic needs, which included promoting nationalist feelings among children to consolidate the Chinese Communist Party's legitimacy and power. Ultimately, Chinese kindergarteners were turned into Party loyalists, not admirers of a foreign socialist model. Although the Party encountered difficulties in recruiting reliable teachers to implement its policies, it was able to impose nearly total control from above over the political content of kindergarten education. Under the one-party system, Chinese children were only taught what the Communist leaders wanted them to learn.     

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: Components Implemented by Elementary Classroom and Specialist Teachers

We investigated implementation fidelity of programmatic activities of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) among 2,022 teachers, 88.5% female, from 88 elementary schools located in Pennsylvania. Results indicated that the majority of respondents had attended the school kick-off event, posted the rules in the classroom, and explained the rules to students. Receiving booster sessions and activities involving parental involvement were the least likely elements to have been performed. Logistic regression analyses revealed that teachers with confidence in their ability to implement the OBPP had completed all of the OBPP programmatic activities. Similarly, multiple regression analysis results revealed that teachers with self-efficacy to implement the OBPP implemented more components than respondents without self-efficacy. In addition, teachers with more OBPP experience were more likely to have completed individual-level activities. Our findings reveal that certain OBPP components are easier to perform than others and that implementer characteristics matter.     

Family Problems and Children's Competencies Over the Early Elementary School Years

SUMMARY

Problems experienced by families from a sample of at-risk, urban children were observed and recorded by social workers over a two year period. Four groups of families were distinguished through social worker case notes based on family problems and needs; families were grouped into stable high needs, stable low needs, change for better and change for worse categories. Children were then followed for three years, from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of second grade, and assessed on classroom competence and academic achievement outcomes. Classroom competence included the teacher's rating of both the child's social skills in the classroom, and the academic competence of the child. Academic achievement included a standardized assessment of both math and reading skills. Results indicated that children from families with stable low needs consistently perform with more competence in the classroom than children from families with stable high needs or those whose need status increased. Children from families with stable high needs score comparably to children from families with stable low needs on math, and no difference between groups were found in reading. Implications of these findings for strengthening family competence is discussed.     

Comparing Middle School Teachers' and Students' Views on Bullying and Anti-Bullying Interventions

Abstract

This study compares middle school students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of intervention and prevention strategies commonly used by children, teachers, and nonteaching staff to address bullying among students as identified in the research literature. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The results indicate that teachers are more likely to perceive bullying intervention and prevention strategies as effective than are students, and to perceive teachers as offering assistance to student victims. Both teachers and students appear to believe that teachers need to teach students assertiveness techniques to confront perpetrators. However, both students and teachers generally did not see as helpful some of the common educational techniques utilized by most bullying prevention programs, including role-playing and literature.     

人文教育：突破高校德育困境的新契机

传统高校德育目标的政治性和工具性制约了其育人功能的发挥，德育内容的理想化和空洞化影响了其育人作用的体现，空洞说教或灌输式教育方式致使德育效果不佳。高校德育与人文教育的教育目标一致、教育内容相容、教育功能贯通，因此，可以从教师、学生、校园文化建设、德育评估制度等多方面强化人文教育，突破高校德育困境。     

Building a Foundation Against Violence

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of the Too Good for Violence Prevention Program (TGFV), a multifaceted interactive intervention. Grounded in Bandura's Social Learning Theory, the TGFV curricula focus on developing personal and interpersonal skills to solve conflict non-violently and resist social influences that lead to violence. Participants were 999 third grade students and 46 teachers in ten elementary schools. The schools were matched on student characteristics and academic performance and assigned to treatment or control conditions. Teachers and students completed checklists assessing students' behaviors prior to, following, and 20 weeks after program delivery. Results show that treatment students, as compared to control students, were perceived by teachers as evidencing more frequent use of personal and social skills and of prosocial behaviors after program delivery. Student survey data show that treatment students, as compared to control students, evidenced more positive scores in the areas of emotional competency skills, social and resistance skills, and communication skills after program delivery. The benefits of the TGFV program continued to be observed at the 20-week follow-up.     

树立科学的人才观促进公安大学的师资队伍建设

公安高等院校的师资队伍是公安人才队伍的重要组成部分,因此,全面加强公安大学的师资队伍建设具有特别重要的现实意义.总体来看,公安大学师资队伍的政治素质较高,职务结构、学历结构、年龄结构、知识结构基本合理,能够适应当前学校教学工作的基本要求,但也还存在着一些不容忽视的问题.要全面加强公安大学的师资队伍建设,必须围绕能力建设这个核心,以科学的发展观、人才观为指导,突出重点,统筹安排,采取积极有效的措施.     

The Cycle of Violence and Disconnection Among Rural Middle School Students

Abstract

A hypothesized relationship between early violent behavior and subsequent connectedness in middle school was examined. Using self-report survey data and a hybrid structural model, the impact of violent behavior on connectedness to teachers and to school among 136 predominantly Caucasian, rural middle school students was examined. After accounting for parenting practices, which explained most of the variance in violence and connectedness, the data revealed a direct effect of violent behavior on connectedness. The data suggest that middle school students who have engaged in violent behavior are likely to experience disconnection from their teachers, and that this disconnection may provide a target for educators' efforts to prevent violence in schools.     

School Problems and Solutions for Students With Disabilities: A Qualitative Examination

The inclusion of students with disabilities is a process that requires collaboration among multiple individuals, with teachers, aides, parents, students, and school systems playing important roles in resolving student problems. In the current study, we examined data from 75 teachers concerning 126 students about problems that students with disabilities had following a transition from a school primarily serving students with disabilities to more inclusive schools. Reported problems were reviewed and five major themes emerged: academic, behavioral, mobility/accessibility, social, and transportation issues. Teachers typically resolved academic problems by working directly with the student or collaborating with school staff. Social problems were resolved through student and teacher initiatives. Behavioral, transportation, and mobility/accessibility problems were resolved through collaboration among many key school figures and family members. Implications for theory, research, and inclusive school practices related to academic curricula, resources, services, and architectural accommodations for students with disabilities are discussed.     

Including All Staff in an Alternative School's Effort to Reduce Violence

ABSTRACT

Interview data from non-teaching staff at Garfield alternative school revealed how the entire staff-including custodians, secretaries, and hall monitors-contributed to the success of the school's violence prevention efforts. The school functioned democratically: non-teaching staff attended violence prevention workshops offered to all staff; the non-teaching staff's opinions about students' behavior were constantly solicited by teachers and administrators. By employing the skills and cultural competence of all staff members, the school's administrators encouraged democratic, non-hierarchical behavior among the staff in order to reduce violence in the students' lives. The authors recommend studies be conducted at other schools to expand our knowledge of the ways non-teaching staff may enhance a whole school approach to violence prevention.     

Children's After School Arrangements

SUMMARY

Developmental correlates of children's after school arrangements were examined with suburban seventh graders and their mothers. Self-care children identified as unsupervised and “hanging out” had more difficulties than supervised children or unsupervised self-care children “at home” in terms of school achievement, susceptibility to peer pressure, self-reported behavior problems, and experimentation with alcohol. The study failed to identify any benefits of leaving children unsupervised after school in terms of adaptive behavior or competence. The findings have implications for providing more supportive services to working families as a means of increasing family competence.     

Design and Implementation of Parent Programs for a Community-Wide Adolescent Alcohol Use Prevention Program

SUMMARY

Project Northland is a comprehensive community trial designed to evaluate programs for the primary prevention of alcohol-related problems during adolescence. It uses a community-wide model, that includes both demand and supply reduction techniques. The first phase of Project Northland (grades 6-8) was completed with the effective implementation of multiple, complementary programs including a multi-year social behavioral curriculum, intensive parental involvement components, peer leadership opportunities, and community-level changes through the formation of local task forces. This article describes the process used for developing and implementing the comprehensive parent interventions used during the first phase of the research, highlighting the elements that led to the successful implementation of the programs with very high participation rates by parents, their young adolescents, teachers, and community members.     

论侦查学的逻辑起点--兼论学科逻辑起点及其价值

逻辑起点是学科建设的基础理论问题。在探讨侦查学逻辑起点时,从马克思政治经济学以商品为其逻辑起点构建学科的特征为依据,将侦查学的逻辑起点置于法学大系统中研究,将法学逻辑起点定为行为,将侦查学与刑事法学作为同一系统分析,从而得出侦查学的“基因”内核即其逻辑起点为犯罪行为。并从理论的层面上研究逻辑起点的特定的理论存在及其功能,力图推动侦查学的理论研究, 进而发展侦查学的学科建设。     

Academic procrastination and feelings toward procrastination in LD and non-LD students: Preliminary insights for future intervention

ABSTRACT

Academic procrastination is a prevalent behavior that negatively influences students’ performance and well-being. The growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) in higher education communities leads to the need to study and address academic procrastination in this unique population of students and to develop ways to prevent and intervene. The present study examined the difference in academic procrastination between LD, non-LD, and supported LD college students in Israel. Findings indicated a significant difference between the three groups, both in academic procrastination and in the desire to change this behavior. Interestingly, supported LD students were similar to non-LD students in all parameters of academic procrastination; however, they expressed less desire to change this behavior than unsupported LD students. These findings highlight the effect of general academic support on academic procrastination in LD students. Future studies will need to further explore the specific elements of support that most contribute to the reduction of academic procrastination in LD students. Specific support programs for academic procrastination in LD students who take into account the findings of these future studies can then be developed and studied.     

E-Sites For Safe Schools

ABSTRACT

A substantial body of research indicates that positive school culture benchmarks are integrally tied to the success of school reform and change in general. Additionally, an emerging body of research suggests a similar role for school culture in effective implementation of school violence prevention and intervention efforts. However, little research is available that specifically focuses on the elements of school culture that promote the successful implementation of bullying intervention programs aimed at reducing the most prevalent form of school violence. Therefore, this case study attempted to identify the school culture characteristics that supported or interfered with implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program from the viewpoint of school staff key informants in a junior high school in its second year of program implementation. Data were collected primarily from open-ended, semi-structured interviews along with informal observations and analysis of school documents. Themes emerging from the interviews were examined in relation to the findings from the observations and documents. School culture characteristics that supported implementation included a sense of family, warmth, collaboration, and connections among staff and between staff and students, combined with a central focus on learning as the primary mission of the school. Identified barriers to implementation included the local community served by the district that was slow to change and accept differences. Outcomes suggest that, beyond ensuring fidelity of implementing the core components of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, examining the characteristics of a school's culture that promote or impede implementation efforts might further ensure its success and integration.     

从非社会性行为视角看留守儿童的社会化问题

留守儿童群体的研究是学术界的一个重要研究方向。本文从非社会性行为这一理论视角来分析留守儿童群体中的非社会性行为,借助这一新的理论视角来拓展、深化留守儿童的理论研究。