A Training Program for Teachers, Parents and
Students: Dealing with Bullying in Schools
Student Name
HRD 5750
Summer, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proposal Summary
2
Problem Statement and Literature Review
3-5
Proposal Objectives
6
Proposal Methodology
7-9
Time Line
10-11
Evaluation Format
12
Implications for Future Research
13
Budget
14
References
15
P.1
PROPOSAL SUMMARY
Research Questions – Can a Training Program for Parents, School Administrators,
Teachers and Students have a positive impact on the way children handle conflict
(specifically bullying)?
Research Goal – To teach skills that will decrease bullying behavior within schools
Research Focus – Enhancing classroom management skills, parenting skills and
student interpersonal and social conflict skills.
Research Subjects (Units of Analysis)– Teachers, School Administrators, Parents
and Students in 5 elementary schools in Albuquerque, NM
Expected Outcomes – a decrease in bullying behavior in the schools receiving the
training.
Methodology – Administer a questionnaire to the school community and compile
and graph the resulting information. Conduct Focus Groups comprised of members
of the school community to discuss perceptions and findings. From discussion,
develop and implement a discipline policy for bullying behavior. Train adult
members of school community to improve skills in handling bullying perpetrators
and victims. Conduct weekly lessons in classrooms to teach students socialemotional skills and effective conflict resolution skills. Focus groups and an
additional questionnaire will be administered to determine needs and effectiveness.
Cost and Duration
will be $90,000.
- 1 year program with follow-up ongoing afterward. The cost
P.2
PROBLEM STATEMENT AND LITERATURE REVIEW
Bullying behavior within our schools has increased dramatically within the last
two decades. In fact, it has even led to some devastating consequences such as the
deadly incident in Colorado at Columbine High School. This type of shocking
occurrence has not been limited to a high school setting. Children as young as six
have been reported with guns in schools. School violence and bullying behavior can
happen anywhere, not just in schools considered to be in ‘bad neighborhoods’.
“Schools such as Columbine High School, Heritage High School and Pearl High
School are all very nice schools in nice neighborhoods……They are also schools
where there was perhaps little perceived risk and there were not adequate measures
in place to safeguard the children in them” (Dorn, 2003,p.26).
Our schools need to take a proactive approach on teaching children about
respect and nonviolence and it needs to start at the elementary school level. Today’s
teachers are so worried about teaching the required competencies that they neglect
education about social skills, conflict resolution, anger management, and character
education ( Veenstra, 2005). These are life skills that should be part of school
curricula as well. People who work with children need to be made aware of the
correlation between the environment and resulting behaviors. “Although teachers
perceive themselves as intervening often against bullying, research shows that
teachers intercede in only 15% to 18% of classroom bullying episodes.” (Frey, 2005,
p.2). Often teachers, school administrators and parents minimize the effects of
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bullying and as a result victims may take discipline of the abusers into their own
hands. Dorn says that if “we allow bullying and low-level violence in our schools,
we should not be surprised when a shooting, stabbing or other weapons assault
takes place” (Dorn, 2003,p.29).
The school should not be the only responsible party for insuring safety for our
children. It is important that parents are aware of these issues and play a role in
creating a safe environment (Bonds, 2000). The school environment is not the only
environment that parents need to take into consideration. “Teachers emphasize that
cyberspace is an extension of our community 24/7. The school community doesn’t
begin and end at the door” (Lisante, 2005, p.5). A sixth grader in Fairfax County,
Virginia set up a web site where students voted for their least favorite classmates.
When the school brought it to the cyber bully’s parents, they were shocked
(Lumsden, 2002).They had no idea what their child had been doing. Teaching
effective life skills and conflict resolution should be a joint effort between parents
and school personnel. “Research shows that the success of any school program is
60% grounded in whether the same kinds of approaches are used at home” (ERIC
Digest, 2002, p.5). A child who has the necessary ‘life tools’ is less likely to be
bullied or to bully others.
Statistics show that one in four children who bully will have a criminal record
before the age of 30. “Bullying is often dismissed as part of growing up, but it’s
actually an early form of aggressive, violent behavior” (National Crime Prevention
Council Brochure, 2005). Programs are desperately needed to educate teachers,
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administrators, parents and students in effective ways of detecting and handling
bullying behavior. This proposal will introduce a plan to identify the problems,
establish anti-bullying policies, and to integrate these skills to decrease bullying
behavior in elementary age children.
P. 5
PROPOSAL OBJECTIVES
1. To provide teacher and school administrator education to assist them in
dealing with bullying and low-violence behavior with students in schools.
2. To provide parent education to assist them in dealing with bullying and lowviolence behavior with their children in school and in life.
3. To provide education for students to assist them in handling conflict,
bullying and low-level violence in school and in life.
4. To provide a program in which teachers, administrators, parents and
students work cooperatively to increase positive conflict resolution skills and
to better handle incidences of bullying behavior.
P.6
PROPOSAL METHODOLOGY
Initially, all members of the school community will be sent letters explaining the
program the schools will be undertaking and will be invited to attend orientation
meetings about the training involved. We would like, of course, to have 100%
participation in the program from parents, but realistically expect that 60% to 70%
will actively participate. The training will be required for teachers, school
administrators and students.
The first step in this program is to understand the perceptions of teachers, school
administrators, parents and students in regard to low-level violence, bullying
behavior, conflict resolution, existing discipline policies, and parent, teacher and
administrator discipline skills and styles. This information will be gathered through
the use of questionnaires. The findings will be compared across the 4 groups which
will establish our baseline data. The research will take place simultaneously in 5
Albuquerque, N.M. Elementary Schools with 4th grade students, parents and
teachers and school administrators. Albuquerque elementary schools include
grades K through 5. The fourth grade was chosen because the students will have
another year after the program training has been completed for evaluation in
respect to lasting effects of behavior and perception modification.
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The second step will be to conduct focus groups to discuss results of the
questionnaires, and discipline and bullying in general. Ideas for an effective
discipline policy should emerge from the focus groups. The first phase of focus
groups will be conducted separately with at least 5 groups of 15 for each of the 4
groups. In the second phase of focus groups at least 5 focus groups of 15
particpants, with all four groups of subjects represented in each, will be conducted.
In step 3 of the program Teachers will be given in-service training related to
behavior management skills and bullying behavior. This staff training will include a
workshop by Mike Ashcraft who is the Co-founder and CEO of Children’s Choice.
Children’s Choice is a local organization established to help educators and
administrators learn the necessary tools to have a better behavior management
system in place to prevent undesirable behavior and encourage positive discipline.
The training program will also offer a bully prevention program titled “Bully
Proofing Your School” which includes strategies for climate change, skills and
strategies for avoiding victimization and development of a caring majority. To
ensure teacher accountability, the teachers and administrators will meet once
monthly to discuss what works, doesn’t work and implementation of their antibullying program.
In the Step 4, all parents of the schools will be invited to attend a seminar
conducted by John Rosemond on effective parenting skills. The parents will receive
John Rosemond’s book, Family Building: The Five Foundations of Effective
P.8
Parenting. Parents participating in the program will be required to read one
chapter of this book a month and then attend meetings to discuss the chapter and
share ideas and experiences. Parents will be given incentives for continued
participation in the program such as Restaurant and Health Food Store coupons,
Book and Media coupons, Movie tickets, Spa days etc.
In Step 5, classroom teachers will provide weekly lessons on peaceful conflict
resolution using the resource Bully Proofing Your School by Marla Bonds. By
having an effective behavior management plan and training in these skills in place
as well as the weekly lesson, we expect to continually reduce bullying behavior
during the year.
At the end of one year, follow-up questionnaires will be administered to all
participants. Additional follow-up focus groups will also be conducted.
P.9
TIME LINE
July – Data collection instruments (questionnaires) will be designed, reviewed and
printed.
Mid-July -Teachers and administrators will be required to attend training
presented by Mike Ashcraft of Children’s Choice. This training will be “Getting
along: Facilitating the Development of Social Competencies”. This training focuses
on the intentional teaching of interpersonal and intra-personal social skills such as
confidence, control, coping, curiosity, communication, conflict resolution, and
community building.
Early August – Teachers and administrators will be required to attend a second
training presented by Children’s Choice. The title of the training is “Behavior
Management Power Tools”. This training will teach the educator how to design an
environment and implement a curriculum that promotes desirable behavior.
Early August – An anti –bullying resource guide titled Bully Proofing Your School
by Marla Bonds will be distributed to all teachers.
August – May – One lesson will be taught weekly using the resource guide.
August – May – Focus groups of teachers, administrators, parents and students will
be conducted to assess perceptions. Weekly Administrator/Teacher meetings will be
ongoing.
Early August – Parents will be invited to attend a program orientation and a
seminar by John Rosemond on effective parenting skills. His current publication
Family Building will be distributed to each family.
Mid August – (First week of school) Administer questionnaires on perceptions of
teachers, administrators, parents and students on discipline and bullying behavior
in schools and elsewhere.
Late August – Send completed questionnaires to data analyst and receive reports
within two weeks.
September – Results of the questionnaires will be distributed to the School
Community.
P.10
Mid September – Focus groups conducted to discuss the results of questionnaires
and to finalize a discipline and anti-bullying policy.
Early October – Policy will be distributed to school community and implemented.
October – May – On going focus groups to discuss the effectiveness of the program.
May – End of year questionnaire will be administered to all participants to assist
with evaluation of the program
P.11
EVALUATION FORMAT
This program will be evaluated in several ways. Baseline data will be gathered in
the form of a questionnaire which will be distributed to all of the participants and
compared with an end of the program questionnaire completed by the same people.
On going observation, focus groups and personal interviews will provide additional
information for evaluating the training program. Statistics will be gathered on
incidents of bullying behavior and low-level violence throughout the year in which
the training is provided and compared with similar statistics for previous years.
Additional statistics will be gathered throughout the 5th grade year and comparisons
made.
P.12
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
A case study could be done with children chosen at random who participated in
the initial training program. We would hope to find children with more emotional
and social intelligence than before the program began.
If the program is successful, as we expect it will be, then the program would
continue with 4th graders in these elementary schools indefinitely. In addition, this
program could be expanded to all elementary schools in Albuquerque and
eventually to all elementary schools in the State of N.M.
It would also be interesting to see long lasting effects of the training on teachers.
Observation and interviews could be conducted yearly with teachers no longer being
trained to assess the lasting effects of their training. After the pilot year, teachers
and administrators, no longer actively participating in the actual training program,
should be given additional in-service training with Children’s Choice once a year.
P.13
PROGRAM BUDGET
$ 5,000 -
Supplies, printing, mailing, phone
$25,000 -
Salary for 1 part-time Director of Training Program
$30,000 -
Salary for two part-time research Coordinators
$ 3,500 -
Professional 90 minute seminar with John Rosemond.
$ 6,000 -
Professional Teacher Training conducted by Mike Ashcraft with
Children’s choice
$ 2,000 -
Professional resources for teachers
$ 1,500 -
Refreshments to be served during focus groups
$ 3,000 -
Statistical and research assistance
$ 5,000 -
Dell Lap top computer, software and internet connection.
$
Office space donated by the schools.
$ 1,000
Transportation for parents without it for meetings, focus groups etc.
$ 8,000
For incentives for parents to participate
$90,000 Total Expenses
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REFERENCES
_______________ A Serious Problem for Kids. National Crime Prevention Counsel
Brochure, 2005.
Ashcraft, Mike. ‘Behavior Management Toolbox’. Children’s Choice,
http://www.childrens-choice.org. 2006.
Bonds, Marla & Stocker, Sally. Bully Proofing Your School. Sopris West,
Longmont, Colorado, 2000.
Dorn, Michael. ‘Weakfish: Bullying through the Eyes of a Child’. Safe
Havens International, Canada, 2003.
Frey,K., Hirschstein M., Snell, J. ‘Reducing Playground Bullying and
Supporting Beliefs: An Experimental Trail of the Steps to Respect
Program’. Developmental Pyschology, Vol.41(3),
http://www.web26.epnet.com.library. May, 2005.
________________ ‘Group Rules and Expectations’, Science Net Links.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com
Lisante, Joan E. ‘Cyber Bullying: No Muscles Needed’. Connect for Kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/3116, 2006.
Lumsden, Linda. “Preventing Bullying’. ERIC Clearinghouse on
Educational Management. ED463563,
http:www.web27.epnet.com.library, 2002.
Miller, Amy ‘Bullying Victim Denied Transfer’. Albuquerque Journal,
pp.A 9, A10, February 3, 2006.
Rosemond, John. ‘Affirmative Parenting’. http://www.rosemond.com. 2006.
Veenstra, R. ‘Bullying and victimization in Elementary Schools: A Comparison of
Bullies and Victims, Bully/Victim and Uninvolved Preadolescents. Developmental
Psychology. Vol.41(4), http://www.web8.epnet.com.library. July, 2005.
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