Title
_______________________________________________________________
Authors
The College of Idaho
February 2013
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Abstract
The American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines provide rules for
preparing manuscripts. This template provides a basic layout based upon the 6th edition
of these guidelines. The APA guidelines define an abstract as a single paragraph, without
indentation, that summarizes the key points of the manuscript. The purpose of the
abstract is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the paper. The total length
should not exceed 120 words, with each sentence written concisely.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... v
List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi
Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem .................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem and Purpose ................................................................... 1
Research Questions ................................................................................................. 1
Significance............................................................................................................. 1
Delimitations ........................................................................................................... 1
Limitations .............................................................................................................. 1
Definitions............................................................................................................... 1
Assumptions............................................................................................................ 2
Chapter Two: The History of Violence in Schools ............................................................. 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3
Chapter Three: International Violence in Schools .............................................................. 4
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4
Chapter Four: Bullying in Schools ..................................................................................... 5
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 5
Chapter Five: Cyberbullying............................................................................................... 6
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 6
Chapter Six: Mental Health Issues and School Violence ................................................... 7
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7
Chapter Seven: Traditional Preventive Programs ............................................................... 8
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Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8
Chapter Eight: Innovative Approaches to School Violence ............................................... 9
Introduction ............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter Nine: Case Study-Attitudes of Caldwell Teachers .............................................. 17
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 17
Descriptive Statistics or Demographic Data ......................................................... 17
Findings from Open-Ended Questions.................................................................. 18
Chapter Ten: Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................... 19
Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 19
Recommendations for Practice ............................................................................. 19
Recommendations for Future Study ..................................................................... 19
References ......................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 23
Appendix B ....................................................................................................................... 24
Appendix C ....................................................................................................................... 25
v
List of Tables
vi
List of Figures
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Chapter One: Introduction
Background of the Problem
.
Statement of the Problem and Purpose
Research Questions
The following questions guide this study:
1. xxxxxxxxxxx?
2. yyyyyyyyyyy?
Significance
This study will have significance
Delimitations
The following were delimiting factors for this study
Limitations
The following factors were limitations affecting the study
Definitions
1.
For the purposes of this study, school violence is defined as verbal or
physical abuse performed in the context of a school involving
perpetrator(s) and victim(s) that may be students, teachers or
administrators.
2.
xxxxxx
2
Assumptions
The following assumptions guide this study
3
Chapter Two: The History of Violence in Schools
Introduction
4
Chapter Three: International Violence in Schools
Introduction
5
Chapter Four: Bullying in Schools
Introduction
6
Chapter Five: Cyberbullying
Introduction
7
Chapter Six: Mental Health Issues and School Violence
Introduction
8
Chapter Seven: Traditional Preventive Programs
Introduction
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Chapter Eight: Innovative Approaches to School Violence
If the American public education system is consistently accused of one thing, that is most
likely lack of change. In the face of such an important issue as school violence
prevention, it is important to consider the implementation of what may be considered
“alternative” programs that have been empirically validated as effective. In a review of
research-based alternative prevention programs, authors Gagnon and Leone address the
most commonly implemented “traditional” violence prevention program, that being zerotolerance policies: “Zero-tolerance school policies…may be perceived as providing
immediate and short-term relief to teachers and administrators, [but] they fail to address
the school structures and processes necessary for effective prevention of serious
misconduct” (2011, p. 103)
In a recent survey of Treasure Valley educators, 95.5% of respondents said their
school has a “zero tolerance” policy in place. It seems possible that such widelyimplemented programs as zero-tolerance policies are not, in fact, violence-prevention
programs, but violence-aftermath programs: students who perform violent acts are
suspended/expelled, but little attention is paid to how to prevent those occurrences. It’s
important that schools focus on implementation of programming that is research-based,
as multiple studies have found that “there is a wide gap between research and practice in
school-based prevention and promotion,” an issue that ought to be addressed (Durlak,
Dymnicki, Taylor, Weissberg, & Schellinger, 2011). In accordance with this data, 85% of
local educators indicated that their schools don’t implement any unique violence
prevention/intervention programs.
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Authors Gagnon and Leone classify non-zero-tolerance approaches to school
violence prevention as fitting within three major categories: student-centered approaches,
school security measures and school wide/universal interventions (2011). While Gagnon
and Leone provide a very helpful review of research-supported strategies in the
aforementioned categories, what may be even more valuable is their conclusion of the
common features that may be causal in the success of the strategies they reviewed. The
first of these is clear policies, the second multi-tiered structures and the final established
routines, all of which acknowledge and therefore address the importance of both student
behavior and academic success (Gagnon & Leone, 2011)
Current research has been investigating the idea that intelligence (as measured by
tests such as IQ) is not necessarily the main predictor of different measures of student
success, such as academic success. Other personality factors crucial to individual success
and satisfaction may not be receiving enough attention in institutions such as public
schools. These personality factors, such as empathy and self-regulation, could be crucial
in preventing acts of school violence as well. If schools aren’t teaching these
characteristics that form well rounded, responsible, and happy students, then perhaps it’s
time to consider pushing for implementation of other programs in schools that could
simultaneously improve student success and decrease instances of violence. The
following are a sampling of empirically validated “alternative” school violence
prevention programs organized into Gagnon and Leone’s three categories: school security
measures, student-centered approaches and school wide/universal interventions.
While authors Gagnon and Leone (2011) include school security measures in their
list of possible alternative programs, this seems to be a hopeful inclusion: hopeful in the
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sense that research will be done on such programs in the future. As it stands, “innovative”
school security measures such as surveillance cameras, resource officers and metal
detectors have been poorly studied, and the research completed doesn’t seem promising.
One study reviewed by the authors found that increased security measures failed to affect
levels of school violence and gang activity in urban public schools (Gagnon & Leone,
2011). Additionally, a review of student perception surveys found that increased physical
means of violence prevention (metal detectors, etc.) were correlated to increased disorder
and victimization and therefore decreased perceptions of safety (Gagnon & Leone, 2011).
It seems that more promise lies in alternative violence prevention programs that fall
within the categories of student-centered approaches and school wide/universal
interventions.
Prior to exploring these two categories of alternative violence prevention
programs, it’s important to note that some of these avenues may not be advertised as
violence prevention at all. That is to say that many alternative programs focus on what
seems to be a larger picture than just preventing violent acts in schools. They take into
account the student as a whole person and focus on addressing the underlying causes of
violence as well as possible positive personality factors that, if increased, could lead to
decreased violence in addition to increased academic success. It may be for this very
reason that these programs are considered “alternative,” a fact that may negatively impact
their levels of implementation in the public school system. One example of an alternative
research avenue for prevention of school violence focuses specifically on stress as causal
in the development of violent behaviors in urban youth. The study’s author explains that
"...urban youth’s excessive exposure to violence, the resulting traumatic stress and its
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emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social aftermath is a crucial mediating psychological
process that is responsible for the ongoing, significant quantity of school violence in
urban areas" (Rawles, 2010, p. 2). Establishing possible causation for certain acts of
school violence allows for a more effective trauma-informed approach to both preventing
and addressing these instances of school violence in urban settings. In this way,
empirically validated stress-reduction programs (such as mindfulness meditation, which
will discussed in more detail later) could potentially prevent school violence by
addressing key developmental and personality constructs rather than the issue of violence
itself.
Rather than reiterate the review of research that Gagnon and Leone provide on
alternative school wide/universal interventions (a helpful overview of programs such as
Project ACHIEVE, Resolving Conflict Creatively Program and Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports), some other empirically validated universal programs will be
explored. The first of these is a category of programs referred to as Social and Emotional
Learning programs or SEL. Durlak et al. performed a meta-analysis of SEL programs and
found that SEL students showed significant gains in behavior, attitudes, academic
performance and emotional skills as compared to a control group (2011). SEL training
focuses on the five key competency areas of self-management, self-awareness, social
awareness, responsible decision-making and relationship skills (Durlak et al., 2011). Such
competency areas may be effective in preventing instances of school violence by
increasing students’ self control and empathy for others. Another promising universal
intervention is peer mediation, a program that is perhaps more widespread but until
recently poorly researched. Schellenberg et al. (2007) found significant reductions in out-
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of-school suspensions after implementation of a peer mediation program. While the use
of suspensions as a measure of school violence seems controversial, the perhaps more
useful finding of this research was the increase in conflict resolution skills and
understanding thereof by the students who served as mediators (Schellenberg, ParksSavage, & Rehfuss, 2007).
PeaceBuilders, another universal violence prevention program, focuses on early
prevention through implementation of increased prosocial models, rewards for prosocial
behavior and addressing of violence-triggers in public elementary schools. Flannery et al.
found significant reductions in aggressive behavior by students after immediate
Peacebuilders implementation as opposed to a group that did not received Peacebuilders
training until after a delay (2003). Another interesting universal program studied by
Twemlow et al. combines components of both traditional preventative programs (zero
tolerance policy and discipline plans) with alternative methods of peer mentoring and
self-regulation training through physical education classes (2001). Increases in academic
achievement on standardized tests and decreases in disciplinary referrals were found,
although further research is necessary to warrant which component(s) of the training were
responsible. However, as a model for transitioning from traditional to alternative violence
prevention programs in public schools, this may serve a pragmatic guide.
One universal violence prevention program that stuck out from the rest as
especially unique is that which focuses on the use of martial arts training to increase the
self-regulation of elementary students. Self-regulation and delay of gratification are
psychological constructs of particular interest to researchers, as they seem to be fairly
predictive of a number of measures of success (Lakes & Hoyt, 2004). While
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implementation of this alternative universal program may face increased opposition in
explaining how instruction in a fighting method may decrease violent acts, the promising
results of the research suggest pushing for its use in appropriate settings. After a short
intervention, significant improvements in prosocial behavior, classroom conduct,
cognitive and affective self-regulation and an academic math measure were found as
compared to a control group with greater improvements for male participants, suggesting
a possible target population (Lakes & Hoyt, 2004).
Finally, a potential violence prevention program that has been gaining an
increasing amount of both popular and academic press is mindfulness meditation. While
mindfulness hasn’t to date been advertised as a violence prevention program, it has been
shown to serve as an effective stress-reduction technique as well as promoter of positive
personality factors that could potentially be correlated with decreased violent acts (such
as self-compassion, empathy, etc.) Overall, meditation has been linked with better
academic performance, self-control, self-esteem, and a number of other positive
outcomes (Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008). While the efficacy of
mindfulness meditation has been fairly well-established in adult populations, research on
its use with children and adolescents is limited. Research by Flook et al. (2010) suggests
improvements in behavioral regulation by elementary students after mindfulness
awareness training. While mindfulness has not been well-researched in student
populations, its effectiveness as a stress-reducer and positive personality factor-promoter
in other populations warrants research in this area with included dependent variables
relating to school violence.
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After reviewing some universal/school wide alternative violence prevention
programs, it’s important to take note of the research on student-centered programs as
well. One fascinating program that has been recently researched implements chess
lessons (an interesting twist on traditional “play therapy”) with at-risk adolescent males.
While this study is somewhat outdated and the research findings fairly inconclusive, it
seems to hold promise for putting a new twist on traditional therapy methods that may
not be suited to at-risk students, especially those with communication difficulties (Fried,
1992). One student-centered program with more empirical data available is that of
targeted anger-management programs as a means of positively affecting externalizing
behaviors by at-risk students, such as those with previous disciplinary referrals or mental
health needs (Candelaria, Fedewa, & Ahn, 2012). A recent meta-analysis found small to
moderate effects of anger management programs on emotional and social outcomes with
the most benefits seen in self-reports of anger and raters’ reports of aggressive behaviors
(2012).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a review of what could be considered “alternative”
violence prevention methods did not yield one obvious solution to the problem of school
violence. However, the results of the literature review were promising in that they
suggested many efficacious programs that have been empirically validated in student
populations, something that many more traditional violence prevention programs seem to
lack. More research in this area is always needed, but it seems wise to also call for speedy
implementation of those research-supported programs (such as PBIS) that could begin to
both reduce school violence and promote student success.
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Chapter Nine: Case Study-Attitudes of Caldwell Teachers
Introduction
Descriptive Statistics or Demographic Data
Note: Below is the format for tables in APA 6th edition
For example:
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Findings from Open-Ended Questions
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Chapter Ten: Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
The results of this study support the contention that
Recommendations for Practice
Recommendations for Future Study
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References
Candelaria, A. M., Fedewa, A. L., & Ahn, S. (2012). The effects of anger management on
children’s social and emotional outcomes: A meta-analysis. School Psychology
International, 33(6), 596–614.
Durlak, J. A., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., Weissberg, R. P., & Schellinger, K. B.
(2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A
Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development,
82(1), 405–432. doi:10.2307/29782838
Flannery, D. J., Vazsonyi, A. T., Liau, A. K., Guo, S., Powell, K. E., Atha, H., … Embry,
D. (2003). Initial behavior outcomes for the PeaceBuilders universal school-based
violence prevention program. Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 292.
Flook, L., Smalley, S. L., Kitil, M. J., Galla, B. M., Kaiser-Greenland, S., Locke, J., …
Kasari, C. (2010). Effects of Mindful Awareness Practices on Executive
Functions in Elementary School Children. Journal of Applied School Psychology,
26(1), 70–95. doi:10.1080/15377900903379125
Fried, S. (1992). Chess: A psychoanalytic tool in the treatment of children. International
Journal of Play Therapy, 1(1), 43.
Gagnon, J. C., & Leone, P. E. (2011). Alternative strategies for school violence
prevention. New Directions for Mental Health Services, 2001(92), 101–125.
Lakes, K. D., & Hoyt, W. T. (2004). Promoting self-regulation through school-based
martial arts training. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 25(3), 283–
302. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2004.04.002
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Rawles, P. D. (2010). The Link between Poverty, the Proliferation of Violence and the
Development of Traumatic Stress among Urban Youth in the United States to
School Violence: A Trauma Informed, Social Justice Approach to School
Violence. Forum on Public Policy Online, 2010(4). Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ913024&sit
e=ehost-live
Schellenberg, R. C., Parks-Savage, A., & Rehfuss, M. (2007). Reducing Levels of
Elementary School Violence with Peer Mediation. Professional School
Counseling, 10(5), 475–481.
Shapiro, S. L., Oman, D., Thoresen, C. E., Plante, T. G., & Flinders, T. (2008).
Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being. Journal of clinical psychology,
64(7), 840–862.
Twemlow, S. W., Fonagy, P., Sacco, F. C., Gies, M. L., Evans, R., & Ewbank, R. (2001).
Creating a Peaceful School Learning Environment: A Controlled Study of an
Elementary School Intervention to Reduce Violence. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 158(5), 808–810. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.5.808
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Appendix A
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Appendix B
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Appendix C