Violence is one of the most complex and difficult student problems in public education. It interferes with students' academic performance, career options, and personal and social growth, and threatens the safety of students and faculty. Most professionals who work in schools are not trained to deal with violence. At the same time, incidents of violence are growing dramatically in urban, suburban, and rural schools. This book outlines national trends and describes what places students at risk for violent and aggressive behavior. It provides school counselors and other staff with practical principles and guidelines for understanding and providing effective interventions. In addition, it presents new prevention and intervention strategies for dealing with violence and developing prevention models to work with aggressive students. Chapter one provides an overview of the literature on school violence and discusses general themes related to counselors, teachers, administrators, and students in relationship to aggression. Chapter two examines the roots of youth aggression, focusing on such factors as peer influence and family relationships. Chapter three describes individually focused interventions with violent youth; and chapter four presents specific intervention principles and techniques. Chapter five discusses how to use collaborative efforts to design and implement violence prevention programs. In conclusion, chapter six stresses the importance of self-awareness as a means of becoming nonjudgmental in dealing with aggressive students and effective in reducing school violence. (Contains 12 references and an index.) (JDM)