A school‐based violence prevention model for at‐risk eighth grade youth

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of a school and community-based violence prevention program for at-risk eighth-grade students in three public schools in Florida. School officials matched intervention students with community-based mentors in an employment setting to allow targeted youth to explore careers and receive one-on-one intervention from an adult mentor. Intervention students were compared to a control group of students not receiving mentorship services. This study used MANOVA and t-test analyses to examine six outcomes measured: (1) unexcused absences; (2) number of in-school suspensions; (3) number of days of in-school suspensions; (4) number of out-of-school suspensions; (5) number of days of out-of-school suspensions; and (6) total number of infractions committed on school property. The findings suggested that mentored students, as compared to control group students, had significant reductions in total number and days of suspensions, days of sanction, and infractions committed on school property.

The Evaluation of School‐Based Violence Prevention Programs: A Meta‐Analysis*

“…All 36 studies had randomized the students into either an intervention or a control group. The importance of using randomized studies is to reduce the possibility of confounding variables accounting for each study’s results 20,48‐52 and, thereby, increasing the confidence of identifying the program characteristics responsible for decreasing aggression and violence in school‐based programs.…”

Anchoring Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support in Structural School Reform

“…Many schools have begun to implement alternative discipline programs that incorporate skill-building techniques such as self-management, problem solving, and conflict resolution (Norris, 2003;Skiba & Peterson, 2003) and the use of positive adult role models (Rollins, Kaiser-Urley, Potts, & Creason, 2003) to improve student behavior and school climate. Skiba and Peterson (2003) provided data from several pilot schools implementing the Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP)-funded Safe and Responsible Schools project.…”

Addressing the shortage of school psychologists: A summative overview

“…Between 1990 and 2000, the percentage of school psychologists working with the ratio of students to school psychologists at 1:1,000 increased significantly, from 17.9 to 35.7% while 25.2% of school psychologists are currently working with a 1:2,000 school psychologist to student ratio (Curtis et al, 2002). Although the trend of increasing the number of school psychologists per student is encouraging news, these numbers still indicate that almost 65% of school psychologists may be too busy to effectively provide the range of preventive services that have been shown to be effective in reducing psychopathology and improving children's outcomes (e.g., Albee & Gullotta, 1997;Rollin, Kaiser-Ulrey, Potts, & Creason, 2003). Indeed, the same survey indicated that in regard to time spent in special-education services, school psychologists spend 41% of their time in assessment activities, 26% in report writing, 25% in meetings, and 8% in "other" related activities (Curtis et al, 2002).…”