Conflict Resolution Education
in Teacher Education
A Collaboration between Cleveland State University, Temple
University, Kent State University, and the Ohio Commission for
Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management.
Funded by the George Gund Foundation
CRETE Mission
 The mission of the CRETE project is to
provide pre-service teachers with critical skills
and knowledge of conflict education and
classroom management necessary for
cultivating constructive learning environments
for children, enhancing student learning and
bolstering teacher retention.
What is CRE
 Conflict Resolution Education teaches social
and emotional competencies to children and
adults to help them handle conflict more
constructively, build healthy relationships, and
create constructive communities.
 Conflict Resolution Education, as a field,
overlaps with violence prevention, positive
youth development, social and emotional
learning, and law-related education.
Core Competencies in CRE
 Emotional Awareness
 Empathy and Perspective-Taking
 Emotional Management
 Problem-Solving
 Communication (listening, negotiation, and
mediation)
 Effective Decision Making
Basic Goals of CRE
 Enhance Children’s Social and
Emotional Development
 Create a Safe Learning Environment
 Create a Constructive Learning
Environment
 Create a Constructive Conflict
Community
The Benefits of CRE
 Enhance Students’ Social and Emotional
Development
 CRE INCREASES
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Perspective taking (Jones et al, 1998; LaneGaron, 1998 )
Constructive conflict behavior (Johnson,
Johnson, 1996)
constructive CR at home and school (Johnson
& Johnson 2001; Sandy & Cochran, 2000)
The Benefits of CRE
 Enhance Students’ Social and Emotional Development
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Decreased Aggressiveness
(Jones et al, 1998)
 3 x 3 (program model – peer mediation v. peaceable
classroom v. control; educational level – elementary,
middle, high) in three cities (27 schools, 8500
students, 700 teachers/staff)
 Verbal aggressiveness and aggressive orientation
(Aber, Brown & Jones, 2003)
 Hostile Attribution and aggressive orientation
The Benefits of CRE
 Create a Safe Learning Environment
 CRE decreases
 Discipline referrals/suspensions for violent incidents
 (Shapiro, Burgoon, Welker, & Clough (2002)
 Grades 4-8, n = 2,000, urban, pre-post and control
 41% decrease in aggression-related disciplinary incidents
 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior
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(Farrell, Meyer, & White, 2001)
 Grade 6, pre-post and control, urban
 Impact on violent behavior was more evident for those with
high pretest levels of problem behavior
 Impact maintain at 12 month follow-up
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Discipline Referral in Special Needs Population (Jones
& Bodtker, 2000)
The Benefits of CRE
 Create a Constructive Learning Environment
 Increases Academic Achievement

(Stevahn, Johnson, Johnson, & Shultz, 2002)
th grade, pre-post, randomized assignment, control
 9
groups
 Integrating CRE into academic course promoted
higher academic achievement, greater long-term
retention of academic learning, and greater transfer of
academic learning in social studies to language arts
 Increases academic performance and work readiness
(Aber, Brown & Jones, 2003; Overall –Zins et al,
2004)
The Benefits of CRE
 Create a Constructive Learning
Environment
 Improves Classroom Climate
 Jones & Sanford (2003) National Curriculum
Integration Project
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4 middle schools, academic year period, pre-post,
control groups
NCIP had a very strong, positive impact on
classroom climate.
NCIP had a profound influence on students’
perceptions of their learning environment
The Benefits of CRE
 Create a Constructive Learning
Environment
 Improves School Climate
 Jones et al., (1998)
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Using Organizational Health Inventory
Improvement in school climate different for
education levels; elementary schools had
greatest increase in climate; but at all levels CRE
schools had significantly better, sustained school
climate than control schools
Lane-Garon & Richardson (2003)
The Need for CRETE
 CRE Addresses Two Crises in
Contemporary Urban Education
 Unsafe
Learning Environments
 Teacher Attrition
Unsafe Learning Environments
 Nationally:
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NCES survey indicates 40.5% of teachers feel student disruptive
behavior prevents learning
CDC survey indicate 9-10% of students regularly miss school
because of fear from unsafe learning environments
10% of students drop out of school because of persistent bullying
90% of 4-8 graders report experiencing serious bullying
 In Cleveland Municipal School District
 Cleveland’s three-year average rates for suspensions
for non-criminal behavior and for juvenile crime is 8%
for middle schools, 6% percent for high schools, 3% for
elementary schools.
 CDC Survey rates comparable to national average
Teacher Attrition
 Nationally:
 1/3 of new teachers leave in five years
 1/2 of new teachers in urban environments
leave within 5 years
 One of main reasons cited is inability to
manage chaotic and conflict-ridden
classrooms
 In Cleveland Municipal School District:
 Almost 50% of new teachers leave in first
three years; 75% indicate wanting to leave the
district and the profession
CRETE Goals
 To develop a curriculum infusion process for higher
education faculty involved in pre-service education to
infuse CRE into their courses.
 To develop a curriculum and training process for
educating education majors in CRE outside the
higher education course delivery system.
 To evaluate the impact of both curriculum infusion
and training processes on classroom management,
classroom climate, teacher satisfaction and teacher
retention.
Guiding Principles of Implementation
 We will design and implement CRETE to accommodate the
unique needs of the Partner Universities.
 We will emphasize a concerted, layered learning approach for
faculty and students in order to optimize their conceptual and
skill development in CRE.
 Following best practices in teacher development we will
emphasize mentoring as much as possible.
 The evaluation includes formative and summative assessment.
We believe it is critical to involve stakeholders in the planning of
the project evaluation.
CSU Faculty Activities
 Conflict Education Institute: October 25th and 26th
 Individual Coaching and Integration: Five
meetings with one of the CRETE teams to plan how
you might integrate this information.
 Focused Training Topics: Five 2-3 hour focused
training session on topics such as culture and
conflict, approaches to classroom management using
conflict education, emotion and conflict.
 Basic Evaluation Participation: Kent State
University will be asking for your participation in
simple surveys or phone/e-mail interviews.
Expectations
 The expectation is that faculty, instructors,
supervisors, and mentors who agree to
participate in the CRETE project will
participate in all the basic activities of the
project.
 Resources: Each participant will receive a
stipend of $500 and an additional $250 for
conflict education related material (Manuals
Distributed, overview books).
CRETE Time Line
 Phase 1 – Planning and Development (Fall
2003 – Summer 2004)
 Phase 2 – Curricula Implementation
(Summer 2004 – Summer 2005)
 Phase 3 Training Implementation (2005 –
2006)
 Phase 4 Evaluation Completion (2006 –
2007)
Phase 2
 Stage 7 – Training for Higher Education Faculty at
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CSU (Summer 2004)
Stage 8 – Continuing Training and Infusion Coaching
(2004 -5 Academic Year)
Stage 9 – Implement evaluation plan (2004-5
Academic Year)
Stage 10 – Select students for student training (Fall
2004)
Stage 11 – Select control students for evaluation (Fall
2004)
Stage 12 – Conduct student training (Spring 2005)
Stage 13 – Project review and Refinement (Summer
2005)
Current Infusion Possibilities
 Introduction to Professions/ Foundations
 EDB 200 EDL 505 EDE 678
 Multicultural/Diversity
 EDC 300 305 EDL 312 EDB 303/04 EDL 313 EDL 301
ESE 504 EDB 505 EDE 616
 Methods – Content Specific
 EDL 312 ECE 416 ECE 402 EST 370 EDM 315 EDM
316 EDM 313 EDM 317 EST 371 EDS 315 EDS 316
EDS 313 EDS 317 EST 371 ESE 411 EST 377 EST
378 EDS 515 EDS 516 EDS 513 EDS 517 EST 572
EDE 670
 Field Experience/ Student teaching
 EST 480 EST 481 EST 482 EST 487 EST 488 EST
582 EDE 685