School mediation is a peacekeeping, conflict-resolution procedure. Evaluating mediation processes allows us to assess their effects through their participants. This systematic review of studies of school mediation aims to study what evidence exist on its educational benefits for teacher mediators, student mediators, and mediated students. The…

This study evaluated the efficacy of School-Based Teen Courts (SBTCs) using a rigorous experimental trial with 24 middle- and high-schools randomly selected to receive SBTCs (n= 12) or to business-as-usual without any SBTC program (n = 12). Analyses examined school-level longitudinal growth models and individual-level pretest-posttest comparisons…

In today's culture where bullying and violence are on the rise, we know that children who are afraid or anxious are in no state of mind to learn. If you are serious about creating a safe school climate conducive to learning, this book will show you how. Written by counseling experts, "Safe and Peaceful Schools" provides a variety of research-based…

Seven schools in an economically challenged area of an urban school district in central California implemented mentored peer mediation programs under the guidance of a university-K-12 partnership project, Mediator Mentors. Individual student outcomes for social-cognitive dispositions, perceptions of school climate, conflict strategy choices, and…

There is no question that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students are routinely verbally, emotionally, and physically bullied by their classmates in school contexts. Human Rights Watch (2001) concluded that as many as two million U.S. students have been harassed by peers at school due to their sexual orientation, while the Gay…

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…

Outlines 40 promising, low-cost strategies administrators can implement to make their campus safer. Success depends on establishing clear behavior standards, providing adequate adult supervision, enforcing rules fairly and consistently, cultivating parental and community support, and controlling campus access. A sidebar describes how to conduct a…

Expulsion is commonly schools' last resort to maintain discipline and keep schools safe. But increasingly, educators are turning to "restorative justice"--an alternative method from the field of criminology--with promising results. According to Randall Comfort, assistant upper-school director, Mounds Park Academy, St. Paul, Minnesota, using this…

In peer mediation, students can resolve conflicts and orchestrate their own solutions. According to the National Association for Mediation in Education, school-based mediation teaches students how to deal with anger constructively, communicate feelings without using violence and abusive language, think creatively about alternative solutions, and…

The Columbine High School shootings were still fresh in the minds of educators across the nation in May 1999, when school district officials in the small, quiet town of Port Huron, Michigan, unearthed a similarly violent student plot targeted for one of their middle schools. Four students from Holland Woods Middle School had allegedly written out…

A study examining student incident-referral data trends at four Palm Beach County high schools shows that the school participating in Peace Education Foundation's Win Win! Program experienced downward referral rates, compared to control schools. Discussing conflict resolution within the school culture fostered better anger management or diplomatic…

The need for solutions to youth violence has engendered inappropriate uses of conflict-resolution and peer-mediation programs. A research review indicates that reducing aggression and violence requires schoolwide change in conflict attitudes and behavior and concurrent, intensive programs targeting specific problems of particularly aggressive…

To disrupt the escalating "arms race" between violent students and their schools, at least 5,000 U.S. elementary and secondary schools now use 1 of several conflict resolution models, including peer mediation, comprehensive whole-school programs, and curricular approaches (violence prevention and law-related education) designed for at-risk…

The Torrance (California) Unified School District is proving that learning flourishes when the community collaborates to create a conflict-resolution program. This article profiles North High School's efforts to develop and select peer mediators, integrate conflict-resolution principles into the curriculum, address roots of conflict in the…

In August 1990, the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management initiated a three-year School Conflict Management Demonstration Project. This publication is the final report on the Project. Twenty schools, which reflected the state's diversity, were selected to help assess the impact of the conflict management programs. The…