School Violence Intervention

Book excerpt: This work offers effective intervention strategies for managing school violence. Opening with a range of perspectives on student aggression, it provides a comprehensive view on practical interventions at the student, school, and systems levels. Practioners present empirically-grounded strategies for an array of school settings and situations, seeking to help readers make informed decisions about the approaches that would be most effective in their own environments.; The first part of the text presents information on the nature and prevalence of youth violence today, and outlines strategies geared toward making the school physically safer, establishing clear behaviour standards, providing adequate adult presence, enforcing rules fairly and sanctioning offenders, and creating partnerships with outside agencies.; The chapters that follow describe a range of interventions directed toward aggresive students themselves which have proved highly effective in outcome evaluation research. These approaches include behavioural classroom management, crises- and gang- orientated interventions, and preventative pre-school programmes. In addition, it details school-orientated strategies such as academic and curriculum interventions, vandalism control, and effective security policy. Exploring the complex relationship among school behaviour, family life, and community, chapters also consider avenues toward effecting change in the larger context of the students' lives.; A hands-on manual for dealing with some of the most intractable problems education professionals face, this book offers extensive information for school psychologists and researchers.