Teen dating violence (TDV) is a significant public health problem that can have lifelong consequences. Using a longitudinal, cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), this study examines whether the "Dating Matters" comprehensive prevention model, implemented in middle school, prevented TDV and negative relationship behaviors and…

This case describes the dilemma of recently hired assistant principal, Fred Bates, who finds himself in a school with a negative and unsupportive school climate. There are significant trust issues between the teachers and principal. Bates struggles to navigate various obstacles and works to establish positive relationships with both his principal…

Background: Youth violence is a significant problem affecting community health. Community-academic partnerships can advance youth nonviolence education by synergizing the strengths of collaborators while working toward a common goal. We describe a collaboration between an urban public middle school, community nonprofit, and university-based…

Responsive circles, a restorative practices (RP) strategy, have the potential to help improve school climate through supporting conflict resolution and community building; yet, little research exists on this practice. This mixed-methods study examined how educators in four urban schools (two elementary, one middle, and one high school) used…

Across the United States, schools are implementing Restorative Practices (RP) to improve school climate and address disparities in discipline. The scope of such RP initiatives can remain ambiguous to school leaders. Given the need for greater clarity about RP initiatives, the current study sought to identify the varying components of RP…

Restorative practices in schools lack rigorous evaluation studies. As an example of rigorous school-based research, this article describes the first randomized control trial of restorative practices to date, the Study of Restorative Practices. It is a 5-year, cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Restorative Practices Intervention (RPI)…

Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) is a technique that interrupts the conflict cycle and empowers students by helping them recognize their own patterns of difficult behaviors and develop more productive responses to emotional turmoil (Long, Wood, & Fecser, 2001). Focusing on the here and now, an adult using LSCI can help transform a crisis into…

Over the past decade, many schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies as a means to curtail negative student behavior. Such policies persist although "there is as yet little evidence that the strategies typically associated with zero tolerance contribute to improved student behavior or overall school safety." School suspension and…

The number of school police officers, School Resource Officers (SROs), is increasing on school campuses to assist in preventing school violence, and in particular bullying. This mixed-methods study was conducted to compare the knowledge and perceptions of SROs (N = 184) hired by independent school districts (ISD SROs) and those contracted from law…

School systems often implement character education initiatives in reaction to a violent event. Following the school shootings that occurred in the 1990s, many school systems started to implement character education and violence prevention programs. Unfortunately, because the efforts were reactive, little thought was given to sustainability…

Sees conflict between students and between students and staff as imposing problem facing urban education. Considers causes of conflicts and describes conflict resolution pilot program implemented in inner-city middle school. Describes relapse among program participants and concludes that interventions must be long term and consistently available.…

The chance to open a new school offers an exciting, if stressful, challenge to any school executive. In a case study involving a new middle school opening, a dearth of communication before the school opened continued throughout the year. Problems centered around faculty development and morale, governance and management, and curriculum.…

Used course-of-action theory to identify typical organization of teachers' actions when in conflict with students. Middle school physical educators were interviewed and filmed during lessons. Overall, teacher-student conflicts were infrequent. When conflict occurred, teacher attempts at resolution were under strong time pressure, leading to risk…

Describes a lesson plan that explains the role of compromise as a method of resolving conflicts for use in a sixth-grade world cultures class. Includes activities, assessment, reteaching activities, and an extension project involving student skits. (DK)

Describes development and implementation stages of a peer mediation program at an Illinois middle school. A key principle in the project was student ownership. It was important to let the mediators take disputants through a clearly defined process to arrive at a settlement. Despite time management problems, the program has been a success. (10…