Across the country, many schools have adopted restorative practices in an effort to improve school climate and student outcomes while reducing exclusionary discipline. Restorative practices are designed to proactively build community, improve relationships, and help students amend harm when conflict occurs. Using 6 years of student survey data and…

Conflicts between peers are inevitable in schools, and schools must be equipped with strategies to assist students in avoiding conflicts and engaging in problem-solving when conflicts occur. Restorative practices and other conflict resolution interventions such as peer mediation are gaining popularity, particularly as an alternate framework to the…

Minor disagreements can quickly escalate when a child feels threatened with losing face or fears retaliation. Peer-mediation programs can help students refocus their energies while learning communication skills they can use in other situations. The benefits of an Oregon elementary school's peer-mediation program are discussed. (MLH)

This article describes a conflict resolution and peer mediation program implemented in three middle schools. The program used a school-wide conflict resolution curriculum and enlisted a core group of trained peer mediators in each school. A resolution acceptable to disputing parties was reached more than 95 percent of the time. (Contains 11…

This article describes a nonviolence model program used in 26 schools. The program identifies positive and negative student leaders who then spend an entire day together working on developing relationships, responsibility, respect, and conflict resolution skills. Specific activities of the "lock-in" day and ongoing activities such as development…

Preventative strategies are critical for the 5-15% of students at risk at the secondary level of intervention within the three-tier model of positive behavior support, and on the verge of developing more severe problem behavior. Two case studies illustrate how the use of social skills instruction and a self-management system can effectively…