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…

Mediation is an essential component of custody evaluation and reconciliation services in domestic courts. Data from 306 couples with and without a reported history of domestic violence (DV) who were ordered to attend an assessment for mediation were analyzed to determine differences in the mediation process. More than one third reported a history…

Students helping students have become an increasingly important educational concept over the last 20 years. While the popularity and prevalence of these types of programs have grown considerably, there has been little effort to evaluate their effectiveness. The authors advocate for counselors to use a scientist practitioner approach to…

Breaking from traditional adult-centered models of interpersonal conflict by privileging children's experiences, a study examined children's experiences of and reactions to conflict. As part of an assessment for establishing a school-based peer mediation program, focus group interviews were conducted with second graders through high school…

This videotape demonstrates environments and several teaching strategies in the area of child-focused practices recommended by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood. The strategies were selected based on a literature review and input from focus groups of parents and teachers on what promotes learning for young…

Profiles Ann Blakeney Clark, dynamic North Carolina middle school principal who knows her 750 students by name, insists on individualized education plans, carefully matches students with appropriate teachers. Clark's walk-around management style allows her to catch students and teachers in act of doing things right. Having instituted team teaching…

Conflict-management programs help students of all ages find peaceable ways to handle disputes. Students most likely to become effective mediators are confident individuals who write clearly, care about others, listen well, and ask appropriate questions. Principles of conflict should be taught along with strategies for settling disputes. A sidebar…

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…

Focuses on children's perceptions of the causes, signs, and aftermath of conflict, as well as of fairness and gender differences. Reports the outcome of focus group interviews with second graders through high school students. Describes students responses and uses them to support the idea of peer mediation programs. (DSK)

Identifies principles of violence prevention derived from the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP), which operates in schools throughout North America. Focuses on societal changes, appropriate responses to these changes, and examples of ineffectual punishment. Describes RCCP, offers an evaluation of the program, and charts a course for the…

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…

Qualitative methods were used to identify problem situations encountered by adolescents in urban middle schools serving a predominantly African American student population. Interviews focusing on identifying problem situations and the context in which they occur were conducted with 60 adolescents including students and peer mediators at middle…

Research examining direct peer mediation is presented and evaluated. The experimental studies reviewed are divided into three major areas: (1) peers as tutors; (2) peers as reinforcing agents; and (3) peers as facilitators of generalization. Conclusions, clinical applications, and future directions follow. (Author/CMG)

Disagreements often lead to confrontations that contribute more to an escalation of a conflict rather than to its resolution. This bulletin shows how to start and carry out a community mediation program that helps prevent violence. Mediation can reduce violence in neighborhoods and schools. Peer mediation is a way of handling conflicts and…

Describes a two-year quasi-experiment evaluating the effect of peer-led workshop groups on the performance of minority and majority undergraduate biology students. Suggests that elevated anxiety related to class performance may increase willingness to participate in activities such as workshop interventions. (Contains 53 references.) (Author/YDS)