An Exploratory Study of Violence and Aggression Against Teachers in Middle and High Schools: Prevalence,Predictors, and Negative Consequences

ABSTRACT

Limited empirical findings suggest that teacher victimization at school is highly prevalent, with detrimental negative impacts on victimized teachers. Given the scarce body of literature on teacher victimization, further research is necessary to investigate its extent, predictors, and negative consequences. The present research, using a representative sample of 1,628 teachers in the southwest region of the United States, indicates a high prevalence of violence and aggression directed against teachers. Also, the research found that teachers’ uncertain and helping/friendly behaviors toward students were significantly related to various types of teacher victimization. Experiences involving the five victimization types (theft/property damage, physical assault, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and noncontact aggression) are correlated with teachers’ self-reported job performance, student trust, safety at school, and thoughts about quitting. Directions for future research and policy implications are considered in the context of these findings.     

A Call for Help?: How Public School Principals’ Subjective Report of Institutional Weakness Relates to Disciplinary Incidents

ABSTRACT

Disciplinary incidents at U.S. public middle- and high-schools are a public policy concern. Although businesses popularly give credence to leaders’ subjective intelligence, principals’ reports of their schools’ strengths and weaknesses are questioned. To determine whether principals’ reports carry legitimacy as indicators of student offenses, the current study utilized a nationally representative survey of principals who reported on their sense of the institution and the number of disciplinary incidents in the past year (N = 1,872; replication cohort, N = 1,833). Findings showed that the more institutional shortcomings a principal endorsed, the higher total number of incidents occurred, even after controlling for institutional strength and several indicators of school crime. These findings have policy and intervention implications for improving student outcomes, and so would be of interest to funding agencies, school administrators, teachers, and parents.     

K-12 Teachers' Perceptions of School Policy and Fear of School Violence

Abstract

Since the 1990s, schools have focused their attention on policies designed to improve school safety. Most researches on school violence policies have concentrated on the needs of students and administrators. This study investigated the impact of school violence policies on K-l 2 teachers' fear. Using self-report data from 447 K-12 teachers from a large southeastern school district and multilevel path analysis, this study showed that K-12 teachers' perceptions of school policies impacted their fear of school violence. Further, ecological factors had a direct relationship with teacher fear. Policy implications from these findings are discussed.     

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.     

Violent Behaviors in Rural and Urban Schools

Abstract

Despite the fact that many incidents of extreme violence have taken place in rural areas there is still some resistance on the part of rural school administrators to admit that violence is a problem in their schools. This article provides a comparison of rural and urban student and staff self-report of school violence (perpetration, victimization and weapon carrying) and discusses the implications of these findings.     

What’s in an MSW? Graduate education for public child welfare workers,intention, engagement,and work environment

ABSTRACT

This study employs a mixed methods analysis of exit survey data gathered from public child welfare employees at their completion of a Title IV-E funded MSW program, distinct because it was initiated during a period of major reform and permitted students to continue employment during their studies. Findings suggest that opportunities for growth and manageable levels of stress were associated with intentions to stay and engagement with the work, reflected in respondents’ positive perceptions of their roles in the work environment and their retrospective assessments of the impact of their social work education.     

That I'll Be Killed

Abstract

Pre-service teachers who had completed their practicum or student teaching and in-service teachers in their first 3 years of teaching (n = 218) completed open-ended surveys about their beliefs and fears of school violence and rated their fears for such acts as use of weapons and the likelihood of those acts about their fears about schools and school violence. There were significant differences between pre-service and in-service teachers in their rankings of fearful events and the perceived likelihood of these events using t-tests to compare the groups. The informants reported being most afraid of guns or other weapons or other forms of dangerous violence (hostage taking, an outside stranger coming in and threatening their students, and so on). These fears were significantly correlated with their beliefs in the likelihood that these events would happen. Open-ended questions revealed that pre-service teachers tended to be more afraid for their personal safety and personal failure in a crisis situation and in-service classroom teachers tended to be more afraid for their students' safety. The implications for teacher education and preparing teachers to address school violence are discussed.     

School Violence Prevention

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to describe the level of violence in three high schools and to test the effects of universal and targeted strategies to reduce this violence.

Design:A repeated measures design with two baseline scores and two intervention scores was used during a two year period. Two rural high schools served as control schools with a single intervention high school.

Participants: All freshmen at the three high schools completed a self-report measure of school violence; 420 completed the study at the end of their sophomore year.

Method: Multiple universal and targeted interventions to prevent school violence were used for slightly more than one year. Scores on student Victimization and Perpetration, gathered one year apart, were compared using a pre-test post-test model.

Findings: Student reports of perpetration at the intervention school were significantly lower than the combined scores at the control school. Students, teachers, and administrators reported improved awareness, knowledge, and skills to implement violence prevention programs.

Conclusions: A comprehensive program that includes university and high school partnerships has the capability to reduce school violence during a short period. Despite limitations to the study, continued use of research partnerships to decrease school violence is war-ranted.     

Factors affecting turnover rates of public child welfare front line workers: comparing cohorts of title IV-E program graduates with regularly hired and trained staff

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of a statewide intervention (BSW level Title IV-E Program) on both the workers’ intent to leave the job and their actual exit from a state administered public child welfare agency. Employees completed an extensive survey including scales assessing individual, team, and organizational variables that might impact turnover. Results show that more Title IV-E graduates stay with the agency than do regular hires and leave at a slower rate. Different variables impact intent to leave compared to actual exit and vary across type of employee. Implications for the workforce are discussed.     

School Violence

Abstract

While politicians and the media have devoted a great deal of attention to the “problem” of school violence, classrooms teachers remain an underutilized source of information and inspiration about the frequency of school violence, its causes, its consequences, and appropriate interventions. In essence, teachers have been given little, if any, voice. This article is a reflective piece that integrates the author's own experiences as a teacher, focus group data with high school teachers, and the extant literature regarding the importance of teacher voice. Research and theory regarding the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized serve as background. Also explored are the ways that teachers' voices are stifled, as well as suggestions for empowering teachers.     

Creating a Culture of Tolerance in Schools

Abstract

The purposes of this article are to establish the relationships be tween prejudice or intolerance and hate-motivated school violence; to describe the aspects of school climate or culture that foster prejudice, stereotyping, and scapegoating; and, to provide examples of interventions educators might use, both individually and systemically, to create a school culture of tolerance and re spect for individual and group differences as a means for preventing bias motivated violent incidents.     

Characteristics of School Violence and the Value of Family-School Therapeutic Alliances

Abstract

This article discusses the problem of school violence and the fear about school safety that have been reinforced by extensive news media coverage of the recent series of school shooting incidents. Various factors associated with school violence are addressed, including sociocultural influences on adolescents that pose a challenge to counselors and therapists working with this clientele. In order to reduce violence and aggression in schools and to ease concerns about safety, steps must be taken not only by schools but also by parents and communities. Families can play an important protective role in minimizing at-risk behavior by young people. In fact, many of the most effective youth violence interventions include family components. Several of these programs are described as well as a number of collaborative approaches that demonstrate the potential synergy of school counselors and family therapists working together. With the addition of more courses in family dynamics in counselor education programs, school counselors will be in a better position to collaborate with family therapists in helping reduce violence in the nation's schools.     

The Effect of Peer Victimization on Learning

Abstract

Incidents of school violence have prompted calls for school communities to create environments that encourage student by-standers to act responsibly and proactively when they confront a range of violent incidents, from bullying and fights to weapon carrying and other serious threats to school safety. It is not always clear, however, what bystanders would—or should—do when faced with violent or potentially violent situations. This article describes findings from focus groups conducted with 54 middle school students and 97 staff in an urban, predominantly African American school district with relatively high levels of community violence. Discussions addressed bystander norms, attitudes, and behaviors, and identified barriers that prevent youth as well as adult bystanders from taking positive action. Findings inform violence prevention strategies for building consensus and supporting positive bystander responses.     

Stalking and Related Harassment of Secondary School Counselors

Abstract

In a study of stalking in secondary schools, 140 respondents reported they had been stalked, with perpetrators being evenly distributed between students and non-students. The largest non-student group of perpetrators was parents of students. Harassing phone calls and threatening correspondence constituted most of the stalking behaviors, but respondents also reported being followed, being watched, encountring a student with a weapon, and being victims of assault and property crimes. Although a number of negative consequences were reported to have resulted from the stalking incidents, most surprising considering the amount of violence and threatening experiences reported was that the majority of victims (57.9%) reported no concern for their safety. Prevention strategies for individuals and schools are suggested.     

Longer Term Impact of Bystander Training to Reduce Violence Acceptance and Sexism

ABSTRACT

Many bystander programs to prevent violence have been developed and evaluated in college populations. An exception is the randomized controlled trial of Green Dot, found effective in reducing violence rates and violence acceptance in 26 high-schools (2010–2014). In ‘Life’s Snapshot’, 10,727 seniors were recruited from these same schools with the goal of determining the longer-term efficacy of bystander training. Students in intervention schools could have up to three years of Green Dot exposure. Seniors from intervention versus control schools had significantly lower scores (p <.01) indicating less violence acceptance or sexism for two of five measures. Seniors’ self-reports of bystander training received confirmed these findings. These cross-sectional analyses suggest that some reductions in violence acceptance associated with bystander programming may be maintained into early adulthood.     

Adging Up” to “Beef on Sight

Abstract

This qualitative study examined perceptions of the causes and nature of conflicts and violence among African-American girls in an urban high school. In-depth, iterative interviewing was used to explore the perceptions of these girls, male students, teachers, and other school personnel. Ethnographic observation was also used. Conflicts and violence among girls were produced by an insult or accusation made by one girl against another which by group norms required a commensurately aggressive response. Peers actively pressured girls to fight and those that did not were scapegoated by others. However, a mediation service was used by girls to end conflicts successfully.     

Promoting Methodological Pluralism,Theoretical Diversity and Interdisciplinarity Through a Multi-Leveled Violence Prevention Initiative in South Africa

SUMMARY

Violence prevention within low-income, under-resourced communities presents significant challenges to community development researcher-practitioners seeking to maximize partnerships, resource utilization and overall program effectiveness. This article highlights a South African research and service delivery organization's efforts to develop a violence prevention matrix, premised upon an adaptation of the public health approach and the infusion of a critical, community development praxis. It presents preliminary outcomes of a multi-level pilot application of this matrix in a low-income neighborhood in South Africa, specifically focusing on evaluating its capacity to foster methodological pluralism, theoretical diversity and interdisciplinarity, together with promoting community empowerment and coalition-building strategies.     

Methodological and Measurement Issues in School Violence Research

SUMMARY

School violence became a topic of broad national concern in the United States in reaction to a series of tragic school shootings during the 1990s. Efforts to understand and prevent school shootings have stimulated the rapid development of a broader interest in school safety with an emerging multidisciplinary research agenda. The maturation and fulfillment of this research agenda require that researchers critically examine their research methods and measurement strategies. This article introduces a volume that examines fundamental methodological and measurement issues in the rapidly expanding body of research on school safety and violence. The authors hope to stimulate greater attention to methodological pitfalls and critical measurement issues that hinder research progress in several related areas, including the uncertain reliability and validity of self-report surveys used to measure high-risk behavior and bullying, the limitations of discipline referral databases as a source of information on school climate, and the overly narrow focus on relatively infrequent critical incidents of violence, often at the expense of a more comprehensive and multifactorial examination of the school environment.     

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.     

An Elementary School Violence Prevention Program

Abstract

This article details the implementation and empirical evaluation of an elementary school violence program. The problem of school violence and the significance and focus of the study are discussed. The general research question in this study was to examine the potential for a computer-mediated anger management program to enhance or improve the conflict resolution skills of youth with aggressive behavior problems in an elementary school setting. This study employed an 8-week computer-mediated anger management program, called SMART Talk (Students Managing Anger Resolution Together), for teaching conflict resolutions skills. This program was derived from a meta-analysis (Scheckner et al., 2002) due to its large effect size, statistical significance, and computer-mediated execution in order to verify past results with a more specifically defined population of at-risk (i.e., aggressive) students. Overall, the results suggest that participants in the intervention group significantly reported more intentions to use nonviolent strategies in a future conflict than students in the control group. Further research is recommended in order to assess the replicability of this study to other populations. Recommendations include longer intervention duration, larger sample size, multiple school settings, and multi-systemic implementation (i.e., teacher and parent workshops) as well as longitudinal studies.