After observing students learning to work out differences in conflict-resolution classes, a supervising administrator at a Connecticut high school began using his office wall as a backdrop for large posters representing model conflict-resolution practices. Posters define conflict; address ways to handle anger; discuss win-win strategies,…

Summarizes violence prevention programs and activities in five urban school systems. Chicago schools have hired their own security staffs, use cameras in hallways, and provide character education, peer mediation, and mentoring sessions. Buffalo and Memphis schools stress tight security measures and weapons confiscation. Baltimore schools and…

Although traditional discipline procedures (expulsion, time-out rooms, suspensions, and scolding) teach students to depend on authority figures to resolve conflicts, the Peacemaker Program teaches children how to mediate disputes and negotiate solutions themselves. To regulate their own behavior, students must have opportunities to make decisions…

Originating in New York City schools, the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (Peaceable Schools Model) helps to transform the culture of participating schools and to make them nonviolent learning communities. The model features a K-12 curriculum focusing on key social skills, professional development for teachers, student-led mediation,…

Describes how a Seattle principal confronted familiar urban school challenges and brought parents, teachers, and students together to focus on children' needs. The school's strategic plan included goals for behavior improvement, a quest for equity, an emphasis on parent involvement, and an ever-evolving child-centeredness. (MLH)

At a private high school in Providence, Rhode Island, students benefit from Big Brother and Sister programs, peer mediation, and lessons in emotional intelligence across the curriculum. These activities are part of a comprehensive social and emotional education program called "Success for Life." For nearly 20 years, seniors have been…