Child and Parent Perspectives on Routes to and from School in High Crime Neighborhoods

Abstract

This study examined children's understanding of the danger and potential harm they face while traveling to and from school in two urban neighborhoods with high crime and violence rates. A qualitative methodology was used to explore how students negotiate danger or potential harm within the context of their routes to and from school.Structured interviews with three hundred seventy-seven second, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders (and 106 of their parents) were analyzed utilizing an inductive coding process (emergent themes). When students were asked to discuss the safety of their school routes, emergent themes included student's fear/awareness of death, fear of violence/victimization, and fear of gangs. Students also mentioned getting driven to school and better monitoring as ways that their school routes could be made safer. Parents discussed similar fears and concerns as their children. Theoretical and practical implications 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.     

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.     

Sources of Fear of Crime at School

Abstract

While policymakers have granted a substantial commitment of resources in order to reduce fear of crime among U.S. school students, the research literature on fear of crime at school is in its infancy. This study investigates whether school security techniques reduce or exacerbate fear of crime among students, net of community and school disorder and student characteristics. Ferraro's (1995) theory of incivilities suggests that students might perceive highly visible security as an incivility, which might increase their fear of crime. Using a nationally representative sample of American school children from the 1993 National Household Education Survey: School Safety and Discipline Component (NHES-SSD), we found that while school security efforts do not predict student fear as well as school disorder and individual student traits, many types of security correspond with a significantly greater likelihood that a student will be worried about crime while none reduce feelings of worry.     

Involving Students in School Violence Prevention

Abstract

Why are some students not willing to tell adults about a possibly violent situation in their school? In this study, 1,100 students in the Mid-South were surveyed on their knowledge of, and willingness to tell about, a possibly violent situation, their involvement in behaviors that are related to school violence, and their school's climate. About 1/3 of students knew of a potentially violent situation, and about 3/4 were willing to tell an adult. However, students who were involved in antecedents to violence and/or who had an unfavorable view of their school were much less likely to tell an adult about such situations. Efforts to prevent school violence should be designed with these factors in mind.     

A Systematic Evaluation of Restorative Justice Practices: School Violence Prevention and Response

ABSTRACT

Despite its increasing recognition and use in U.S. schools, a limited amount of research has evaluated the effect of restorative justice (RJ) for school violence prevention and response. To date, there is no standardized method for RJ implementation. Therefore, this systematic literature review investigates peer-reviewed studies on the application of RJ practices in K-12 school settings. Ten articles were included in the review. Results of the review indicate a high degree of variability regarding the implementation and evaluation of RJ practices in schools. However, the majority of studies reported positive outcomes, including improved social relationships and reductions in office discipline referrals. The utility of RJ as a school violence prevention and intervention approach are discussed, along with future research directions.     

Role of School Psychologists in Violence Prevention and Intervention

Abstract

Kansas school psychologists were extremely accurate in their estimates of violence in their own schools and viewed school violence prevention as an important part of their job, regardless of the rates of violence in their districts. Most had at least some involvement in their own school's violence prevention program, although many reported that they had little or no training. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents work in districts with relatively low rates of violence, over half reported that fighting, bullying, and substance abuse, early warning signs of school violence, occur a lot or a fair amount in their districts.     

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 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.     

The Awareness of Risky Peer Group Behaviors on School Grounds as Predictors of Students' Victimization on School Grounds

Abstract

This study examined the effects of the awareness of risky peer group behaviors (e.g., drug use, students carrying weapons, or vandalism on school grounds) on students' experiences of school victimization. This is one of the few studies conducted in the Middle East that examine issues of school violence. This article (Part I) focuses on elementary school students. Part II is forthcoming in a future article and will focus on junior high school students. The sample was drawn from central and northern Israel and consisted of 1346 Arab and 1478 Jewish students (4th-6th grades). Students completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, which was based on the California School Climate Survey (Furlong et al, 1997). The findings from a hierarchical regression analysis show that elementary school students' awareness of risky peer group behaviors in school contexts is one of the strongest predictors of their own personal victimization, controlling for gender, ethnicity, and grade level. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

School Violence Prevention

Abstract

School violence has many faces and many casualties. In varying degrees it touches students, parents, educators and communities of every school world wide. At the local level, communities are seen as playing a significant role in violence prevention. Generally, community-based violence prevention approaches involve the assessment of local problems, identification of target issues, selection of a range of interventions, and the encouragement of collaboration among civic groups, the juvenile justice system, local leaders, and young people themselves. These programs are generally judged as successful if they are able to address risk factors effectively for individual youths, strengthen those factors that provide protection and enhance resiliency, provide sufficient support and effective supervision, and increase pro-social attitudes by providing youth with a sense of having an increased stake in their local communities. Although too few educators are aware of its impact, the women's community has been involved in this work for decades. In this paper I discuss the results of interviews with members of the women's community in Atlantic Canada who have developed proactive violence prevention initiatives. I will concentrate on their efforts to bring those programs into the schools and their experiences of the successes and challenges they encounter.     

Peer Predictability

Abstract

This action research and general system theory based qualitative inquiry examined adolescents' dependence on predicting the behavior of their peers as a strategy for enhancing their sense of safety at school and avoiding violence. A total of 95 adolescents in 9th through 12th grades from two small rural schools and one large suburban school in New York State participated in the study. Results indicated that students depend on Peer Predictability to feel safe during the school day when adults fail to predictably supervise or intervene in areas or interactions which adolescents perceive as potentially threatening. Familiarity leading to predictability allowed students to evaluate peers for the possibility of emotional or physical violence. This article presents quotes from the students that capture their unique experience.     

An Examination of School Violence and Safety in South Florida Elementary Schools

Abstract

This study examined conditions of safety and violence in South Florida elementary schools. Although conditions were generally considered safe in these schools, approximately one-half of the elementary school students in the study did express some concerns about their safety, especially in school bathrooms and the area outside of their school building. Students who do not have positive relationships with other students at school and do not feel safe in their community generally feel less safe at school. In addition, students who are experiencing academic difficulty in school and do not expect to attain an education beyond high school feel less safe at school. In this study, those students who felt less safe also tended to be male and from lower SES back grounds.     

Fear of School Violence and the Ameliorative Effects of Student Social Capital

Abstract

Data from the Canadian National Survey of Children and Youth are employed in order to investigate hypotheses regarding the relationships between students' social connections and their feelings of vulnerability to criminal danger. The analysis is preceded by a review of the research relating to school fear and social capital. Findings point to the importance of the social capital inhered in the students' relationship with parents, friends, and teachers as well as their own personality characteristics. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the broader theoretical and policy implications which emerge from this analysis.     

A Discussion of the Incongruence Between Optimism and Academic Performance and Its Influence on School Violence

Abstract

This research suggests that incongruence between how a child views self and the aspirations pursued can lead to maladaptive externalizing behaviors in the form of activities related to school violence. As such, the purpose of this research is to examine the degree to which negative behaviors exhibited in adolescents are influenced by various degrees of optimism. This research approaches the issue of school violence with great care and because of the broad definitional issues concerning school violence and the nature of that data used in the study the researchers have chosen to reference the concept of school violence as “activities related to school violence.”     

Weapons in an Affluent Suburban School

Abstract

This is an exploratory study designed to describe the self-reported violence and weapon carrying behaviors of suburban teenagers from a largely affluent community in the San Francisco Bay area. The paucity of research on the weapon carrying behaviors of suburban adolescents suggests this is a population for which issues related to violence have been ignored. However, the school shootings that have occurred across the United States in recent years have forced a shift in attention to this population. The results of this investigation indicate the weapon carrying behaviors of suburban and urban adolescents are similar with distinct profiles emerging for males and females.     

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.     

Carrying a Weapon to School

ABSTRACT

Eighth and tenth grade students (n= 1,619) reported on exposure to risk and protective assets in their day-to-day lives. The relationship between carrying a weapon to school and risk and protective factors in the home and school ecological domains was explored through logistic regression conducted separately by gender. Environmental control in the home, one factor previously unexplored in the context of resiliency to interpersonal violence-related risk behavior, was incorporated into the analysis. Results support previous research that suggests school violence prevention efforts should address both risk and protective factors in multiple ecological domains. Further, results suggest violence prevention efforts should be sensitive to gender differences, and that additional research is necessary to clarify the role of environmental control as a factor influencing youth resiliency to violence.     

Principal Perceptions of School Safety

Abstract

In a climate of continued national concern over school safety, school personnel are faced with a flood of statistics and advice about the prevalence of youth violence, and recommended responses. In the spring of 2000, a school safety survey (Sprague, Colvin, & Irvin, 1995) was sent to all public school principals in Oregon to assess their perceptions of risk and protective factors affecting school safety. We also asked questions about school safety concerns and intervention programs. We compared the results of the present survey with those found from administering the same survey in 1995. Results indicate that protective factors were rated higher than risk factors in 1995 and 2000. Bullying and harassment, poverty, and transiency were top rated risk factors in 2000 and these were different from results found in 1995. Principals rated response to conflict, suicide prevention, and staff training as top protective factors in 2000 and these also differed from the 1995 ratings. Regarding priorities for change, principals rated improvement of the academic program as their highest priority, followed by school safety and discipline improvement. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for local and state-level policy planning in education and government. We also address limitations of the current study and directions for future research.     

A Cross-National Examination of School Violence and Nonattendance Due to School Violence in Taiwan,Hong Kong,and Mainland China: A Rasch Model Approach

ABSTRACT

This study examined the similarities and differences between three distinct Chinese societies (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China) regarding the contribution of gender and grade level to school violence, the ranking orders of perpetration and victimization behavior, and the correlates of school nonattendance due to violence. A cross-national random sample of 2,582 junior high school students was obtained. The results of Rasch analyzes revealed that verbal violence is most frequent. Male students are most likely to be aggressive and victimized. Grade-level differences in school violence were shown to be weak or insignificant. School nonattendance is generally associated with being kicked, punched, socially excluded, blackmailed, threatened, or sexually kissed without consent. The results were similar across societies. The findings imply that the contextual differences between Chinese societies may not account for different effects of gender and grade level on school violence, behavioral patterns of school violence, and correlates of school nonattendance.