Research References
Violence Prevention
De La Rue, L., Polanin, J. R., Espelage, D. L., & Pigott, T.
D. (2017). A meta-analysis of school based interventions aimed
to prevent or reduce violence in teen dating relationships.
Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 7–34.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1132720
From the ERIC abstract: “The incidence of violence in
dating relationships has a significant impact on young people,
including decreased mental and physical health. This review is
the first to provide a quantitative synthesis of empirical
evaluations of school- based programs implemented in middle
and high schools that sought to prevent or reduce incidents of
dating violence. After a systematic search and screening
procedure, a meta- analysis of 23 studies was used to examine
the effects of school-based programs. Results indicated
school-based programs influence dating violence knowledge
(g-bar = 0.22, 95% confidence interval [0.05, 0.39]) and
attitudes (g-bar = 0.14, 95% confidence interval [0.10,
0.19]); however, to date, the results for dating violence
perpetration and victimization indicate programs are not
affecting these behaviors to a significant extent. The results
of this review are encouraging, but they also highlight the
need for modifications to dating violence prevention programs
including the incorporation of skill- building components and
a need to address the role of bystanders.”
Espelage, D. L., Low, S., Polanin, J. R., & Brown, E. C.
(2013). The impact of a middle school program to reduce
aggression, victimization, and sexual violence.
Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(2), 180–186. Retrieved
from
https://www.academia.edu/27336416
From the abstract: “Purpose: To evaluate the impact of
the Second Step: Student Success Through Prevention (SS-SSTP)
Middle School Program on reducing youth violence including
peer aggression, peer victimization, homophobic name calling,
and sexual violence perpetration and victimization among
middle school sixth-grade students. Methods: The study design
was a nested cohort (sixth graders) longitudinal study. We
randomly assigned 18 matched pairs of 36 middle schools to the
SS-SSTP or control condition. Teachers implemented 15 weekly
lessons of the sixth-grade curriculum that focused on social
emotional learning skills, including empathy, communication,
bully prevention, and problem-solving skills. All sixth
graders (n = 3,616) in intervention and control conditions
completed self-report measures assessing verbal/relational
bullying, physical aggression, homophobic name calling, and
sexual violence victimization and perpetration before and
after the implementation of the sixth-grade curriculum.
Results: Multilevel analyses revealed significant intervention
effects with regard to physical aggression. The adjusted odds
ratio indicated that the intervention effect was substantial;
individuals in intervention schools were 42% less likely to
self-report physical aggression than students in control
schools. We found no significant intervention effects for
verbal/relational bully perpetration, peer victimization,
homophobic teasing, and sexual violence. Conclusions: Within a
1-year period, we noted significant reductions in self-
reported physical aggression in the intervention schools.
Results suggest that SS-SSTP holds promise as an efficacious
prevention program to reduce physical aggression in adolescent
youth.”
Fagan, A. A., & Catalano, R. F. (2013). What works in youth
violence prevention: A review of the literature.
Research on Social Work Practice, 23(2), 141–156.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1009397. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258184047
From the ERIC abstract: “Objectives: Given the high
rates at which adolescents engage in violence, the strong link
between adolescent and adult violence, and the financial and
social costs of violence, the prevention of violent behavior
is a national priority. Methods: The authors conducted a
comprehensive review of evaluations utilizing quasi-
experimental or experimental research designs to assess
violence reduction. Results: Seventeen interventions were
identified as producing a significant reduction in youth-
perpetrated physical or sexual violence. The interventions
were varied in terms of targeted age groups, content,
strategies, and length of programming, and included programs
focusing on individual, peer, school, family, and community
factors. Conclusions: Widespread use of effective
interventions such as these, across settings and development,
and implemented with fidelity, is likely to substantially
reduce youth violence. Continued evaluation of violence
prevention programming is also needed to increase the number
of options available for replication and establish effects on
diverse populations.”
Hahn, R., Fuqua-Whitley, D., Wethington, H., Lowy, J., Crosby,
A., Fullilove, M., et al. (2007). Effectiveness of universal
school-based programs to prevent violent and aggressive
behavior: Systematic review.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33(2S),
S114–S129. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6164413
From the abstract: “Universal, school-based programs,
intended to prevent violent behavior, have been used at all
grade levels from pre-kindergarten through high school. These
programs may be targeted to schools in a high-risk
area—defined by low socioeconomic status or high crime
rate—and to selected grades as well. All children in those
grades receive the programs in their own classrooms, not in
special pull-out sessions. According to the criteria of the
systematic review methods developed for the Guide to Community
Preventive Services (Community Guide), there is strong
evidence that universal, school-based programs decrease rates
of violence among school-aged children and youth. Program
effects were consistent at all grade levels. An independent,
recently updated meta-analysis of school-based programs
confirms and supplements the Community Guide findings.”
Joppa, M. C., Rizzo, C. J., Nieves, A. V., & Brown, L. K.
(2016). Pilot investigation of the Katie Brown Educational
Program: A school-community partnership.
Journal of School Health, 86(4), 288–297.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1092397. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4777965/
From the ERIC abstract: “Background: Schools in the
United States are increasingly being urged to address the
problem of adolescent dating violence (DV) with their
students. Given the limited time available to implement
prevention programming during the school day, brief programs
are needed. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy
of a widely disseminated, brief community-based DV prevention
program in partnership with a nonprofit community agency.
Methods: We conducted a randomized waitlist control trial of a
5-session DV prevention program (active condition) compared to
health class as usual (waitlist control condition).
Participants were 225 10th-grade students with a recent dating
history in a large public school in New England. Surveys were
administered at baseline, end of program, and 3 months
postintervention. Results: After completing the program,
students in the active condition reported significantly lower
approval of aggression, healthier dating attitudes, and more
DV knowledge. These effects were sustained at 3-month
follow-up. In addition, students in the active condition
reported significantly less emotional/verbal and total DV
perpetration and victimization at 3-month follow-up.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that a brief,
community-based DV prevention curriculum can promote change in
behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge among high school
students.”
Peterson, S. E., Williams, R. C., Myer, R. A., & Tinajero, J.
V. (2016). Experiences of middle-level students, teachers, and
parents in the Do the Write Thing violence prevention program.
Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 6(1),
66–89.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1132267
From the ERIC abstract: “We examined experiences of
participants in “Do the Write Thing” national violence
prevention program for middle-level students. Using mixed
methods, we conducted surveys and focus groups with students,
parents, and teachers who attended the program’s National
Recognition Week in Washington, DC. Results revealed important
affective, behavioral, and cognitive impacts on participants,
including improved relationships, increased understanding of
violence, and commitment to reduce violence. Participants from
cities where insufficient time and resources were devoted to
the project did not experience significant change. Teachers
reported developing greater empathy for their students and
making substantial changes in their teaching, providing
support for students and infusing activities addressing
violence into their curriculum. Recommendations are made for
increased program support and future research.”
Roberts, L., Yeomans, P., & Ferro-Almeida, S. (2007). Project
WIN evaluation shows decreased violence and improved conflict
resolution skills for middle school students.
RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, 30(8),
1–14.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ801116
From the ERIC abstract: “We believe the problems of
school violence are linked to competition and bullying in
school culture. We also believe that by fostering more
cooperation and more compassion in school culture, we can
reduce school violence. One of the ways to develop school
culture is to implement conflict resolution training. In the
current study, we introduced conflict resolution training at a
middle school. We chose to focus on middle school students
because these are the years when bullying is especially
prevalent in school culture. As a team of researchers and
educators, we piloted a conflict resolution program, entitled
Project WIN: Working out Integrated Negotiations, in a low-
income, urban middle school in southeast Pennsylvania. The
evaluation showed the program decreased reported violence and
increased students' abilities to apply conflict resolution
tools in hypothetical conflict situations. Specifically, the
students learned to transform competitive situations into
cooperative ones. Moreover, findings indicated greater
competence in conflict-with-a-friend, as contrasted to
conflict-with-a-classmate. We considered these results in the
context of other work in this area, especially the Peacemakers
model by David and Roger Johnson at the University of
Minnesota.”
Shuval, K., Pillsbury, C. A., Cavanaugh, B., McGruder, L.,
McKinney, C. M., Massey, Z., et al. (2010). Evaluating the
impact of conflict resolution on urban children’s
violence-related attitudes and behaviors in New Haven,
Connecticut, through a community-academic partnership.
Health Education Research, 25(5), 757–768.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ897810. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44575400
From the ERIC abstract: “Numerous schools are
implementing youth violence prevention interventions aimed at
enhancing conflict resolution skills without evaluating their
effectiveness. Consequently, we formed a community-academic
partnership between a New Haven community-based organization
and Yale’s School of Public Health and Prevention Research
Center to examine the impact of an ongoing conflict resolution
curriculum in New Haven elementary schools, which had yet to
be evaluated. Throughout the 2007-08 school year, 191 children
in three schools participated in a universal conflict
resolution intervention. We used a quasi-experimental design
to examine the impact of the intervention on participants'
likelihood of violence, conflict self-efficacy, hopelessness
and hostility. Univariate and multivariable analyses were
utilized to evaluate the intervention. The evaluation
indicates that the intervention had little positive impact on
participants' violence-related attitudes and behavior. The
intervention reduced hostility scores significantly in School
1 (P less than 0.01; Cohen's d = 0.39) and hopelessness scores
in School 3 (P = 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.52); however, the
intervention decreased the conflict self-efficacy score in
School 2 (P = 0.04; Cohen's d = 0.23) and was unable to
significantly change many outcome measures. The intervention’s
inability to significantly change many outcome measures might
be remedied by increasing the duration of the intervention,
adding additional facets to the intervention and targeting
high-risk children.”
Silvia, S., Blitstein, J., Williams, J., Ringwalt, C.,
Dusenbury, L., & Hansen, W. (2011).
Impacts of a violence prevention program for middle schools:
Findings after 3 years of implementation
(NCEE 2011-4018). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center
for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED519881
From the ERIC abstract: “This is the second and final
report summarizing findings from an impact evaluation of a
violence prevention intervention for middle schools. This
report provides findings from the second and third years of
the 3-year intervention. The U.S. Department of Education (ED)
contracted with RTI International and its subcontractors,
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) and
Tanglewood Research, Inc., to conduct an evaluation of a
hybrid intervention model that combines a curriculum-based
program, Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RiPP [Meyer
and Northup 2002a, 2002b, 2006]), and a whole-school approach,
Best Behavior (Sprague and Golly 2005). The combined
intervention was administered over the course of 3 successive
years. Using a randomized control trial design (with entire
schools randomly assigned either to receive the intervention
or not), the evaluation assessed the intervention's effects on
both the full sample of students as well as on students at
high risk for committing violence.”
Sullivan, T. N., Sutherland, K. S., Farrell, A. D., & Taylor,
K. A. (2015). An evaluation of Second Step: What are the
benefits for youth with and without disabilities?
Remedial and Special Education, 36(5), 286–298.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1074021. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275642497
From the ERIC abstract: “High prevalence rates of
aggression during adolescence and associated adjustment
difficulties for perpetrators and victims highlight the need
for effective violence prevention programs. School-based
prevention programs are advantageous as they occur in a key
setting for youths' social and emotional development. The
current study compared the efficacy of a combined universal
violence prevention approach that included individual-level
skill-building (i.e., lessons from Second Step) and school
environment (i.e., Olweus Bullying Prevention Program; OBPP)
interventions to OBPP alone. Participants were 231 sixth,
seventh, and eighth graders (ages 11–15; M = 12.6, SD = 1.0)
in middle school (48% male, 67% African American). A total of
14 classrooms were randomly assigned to the combined
intervention (seven) or OBPP only comparison (seven)
condition, split evenly across grades. Intervention effects
were moderated by disability status and gender. Among students
without disabilities those who received the combined
intervention reported greater increases in anger regulation
coping skills than those in the comparison condition. In
contrast, among youth with disabilities greater increases in
teacher-rated social skills were found for students in the
combined intervention than students in the comparison
condition at posttest. Gender- moderated effects included
greater decreases in teacher ratings of externalizing problems
and bullying behaviors for boys in the combined intervention
versus the comparison condition at posttest. Study results
inform school-based violence prevention programs and are
discussed along with implications.”
REL Southwest NOTE: What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
Rating stated, “Meets WWC standards without reservations
because it is a randomized controlled trial with low
attrition.”
Henry, G. T., Purtell, K. M., Bastian, K. C., Fortner, C. K.,
Thompson, C. L., Campbell, S. L., et. al. (2014). The effects
of teacher entry portals on student achievement.
Journal of Teacher Education, 65(1), 7–23.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1019823. Full text retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274021347
From the ERIC abstract: “The current teacher workforce
is younger, less experienced, more likely to turnover, and
more diverse in preparation experiences than the workforce of
two decades ago. Research shows that inexperienced teachers
are less effective, but we know little about the effectiveness
of teachers with different types of preparation. In this
study, we classify North Carolina public school teachers into
‘portals’—fixed and mutually exclusive categories that capture
teachers’ formal preparation and qualifications upon first
entering the profession—and estimate the adjusted average test
score gains of students taught by teachers from each portal.
Compared with undergraduate-prepared teachers from in-state
public universities, (a) out-of-state undergraduate-prepared
teachers are less effective in elementary grades and high
school, (b) alternative entry teachers are less effective in
high school, and (c) Teach For America corps members are more
effective in STEM subjects and secondary grades.”
Threat Assessment
Cornell, D., Maeng, J. L., Burnette, A. G., Jia, Y., Huang,
F., Konold, T., et al. (2018). Student threat assessment as a
standard school safety practice: Results from a statewide
implementation study.
School Psychology Quarterly, 33(2), 213–222.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1181719. Retrieved from
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/spq-spq0000220.pdf
From the ERIC abstract: “Threat assessment has been
widely endorsed as a school safety practice, but there is
little research on its implementation. In 2013, Virginia
became the first state to mandate student threat assessment in
its public schools. The purpose of this study was to examine
the statewide implementation of threat assessment and to
identify how threat assessment teams distinguish serious from
nonserious threats. The sample consisted of 1,865 threat
assessment cases reported by 785 elementary, middle, and high
schools. Students ranged from pre-K to Grade 12, including
74.4% male, 34.6% receiving special education services, 51.2%
White, 30.2% Black, 6.8% Hispanic, and 2.7% Asian. Survey data
were collected from school-based teams to measure student
demographics, threat characteristics, and assessment results.
Logistic regression indicated that threat assessment teams
were more likely to identify a threat as serious if it was
made by a student above the elementary grades (odds ratio
0.57; 95% lower and upper bound 0.42-0.78), a student
receiving special education services (1.27; 1.00-1.60),
involved battery (1.61; 1.20-2.15), homicide (1.40;
1.07-1.82), or weapon possession (4.41; 2.80- 6.96), or
targeted an administrator (3.55; 1.73-7.30). Student race and
gender were not significantly associated with a serious threat
determination. The odds ratio that a student would attempt to
carry out a threat classified as serious was 12.48
(5.15-30.22). These results provide new information on the
nature and prevalence of threats in schools using threat
assessment that can guide further work to develop this
emerging school safety practice. Impact and Implications:
Virginia public schools are using threat assessment teams to
prevent student violence. Based on a sample of 1,865 threat
cases, this study found that teams were more likely to
identify a threat as serious if the student was above the
elementary grades and receiving special education services, if
the threat involved battery, homicide, or weapon possession,
or targeted an administrator. Although few threats were
attempted, a threat judged to be serious was about 12 times
more likely to be attempted than a threat not judged to be
serious.”
Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2009). A
retrospective study of school safety conditions in high
schools using the Virginia threat assessment guidelines versus
alternative approaches.
School Psychology Quarterly, 24(2), 119–129.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ846998. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1625/398cbca6cc40a84cda98ade025787677d623.pdf
From the ERIC abstract: “Threat assessment has been
widely recommended as a violence prevention approach for
schools, but there are few empirical studies of its use. This
nonexperimental study of 280 Virginia public high schools
compared 95 high schools using the Virginia threat assessment
guidelines (Cornell & Sheras, 2006), 131 following other
(i.e., locally developed) threat assessment procedures, and 54
not using a threat assessment approach. A survey of 9th grade
students in each school obtained measures of student
victimization, willingness to seek help for bullying and
threats of violence, and perceptions of the school climate as
caring and supportive. Students in schools using the Virginia
threat assessment guidelines reported less bullying, greater
willingness to seek help, and more positive perceptions of the
school climate than students in either of the other 2 groups
of schools. In addition, schools using the Virginia guidelines
had fewer long-term suspensions than schools using other
threat assessment approaches. These group differences could
not be attributed to school size, minority composition or
socioeconomic status of the student body, neighborhood violent
crime, or the extent of security measures in the schools.
Implications for threat assessment practice and research are
discussed.”
Louvar Reeves, M. A., & Brock, S. E. (2017). School behavioral
threat assessment and management.
Contemporary School Psychology, 22(2), 148–162.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1179868. Retrieved from
https://www.wsasp.org/resources/Documents/Spring%20Lecture%20Series/2018/Presentations/SchoolBehavioralThreatAssessmentReevesBrock2017.pdf
From the ERIC abstract: “While schools are safer today
than in years past, one act of school violence is one too
many. Recent reports have conveyed the importance of schools
developing and implementing protocols and procedures to
prevent or mitigate school violence. To assist with this task,
this article addresses behavioral threat assessment and
management (BTAM) in the K-12 school setting and the school
psychologist’s role in risk and threat assessment. Best
practices in establishing a K-12 behavioral threat assessment
and management process, including the assessment of risk
factors and warning signs, identification of concerns, and
follow-up interventions and monitoring are discussed. Ethical
and legal considerations are also reviewed.”
Bullying Prevention
Evans, C. B. R., Fraser, M. W., & Cotter, K. L. (2014). The
effectiveness of school-based bullying prevention programs: A
systematic review.
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(5), 532–544.
Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/35070377
From the abstract: “Bullying is a social phenomenon.
About 30% of school children are involved in bullying as
victims, bullies, or bully/victims. The victims of bullying
suffer multiple negative consequences, including poor social
and academic adjustment, depression, and anxiety. This paper
extends Farrington and Ttofi’s (2009) meta-analysis of
controlled trials of 44 bullying interventions, which suggests
that bullying programs are effective in decreasing bullying
and victimization. We review controlled trials of bullying
interventions published from June, 2009 through April, 2013,
focusing on substantive results across 32 studies that
examined 24 bullying interventions. Of the 32 articles, 17
assess both bullying and victimization, 10 assess
victimization only, and 5 assess bullying only. Of the 22
studies examining bullying perpetration, 11 (50%) observed
significant effects; of the 27 studies examining bullying
victimization, 18 (67%) reported significant effects. Although
the overall findings are mixed, the data suggest that
interventions implemented outside of the United States with
homogeneous samples are more successful than programs
implemented in the United States, where samples tend to be
more heterogeneous. Few studies have measured bullying with
sufficient precision to have construct validity. Finding
strong measures to assess the complex construct of bullying
remains a major challenge for the field.”
Ttofi, M., & Farrington, D. (2011). Effectiveness of
school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and
meta-analytic review.
Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7(1), 27–56.
Retrieved from
http://sinohacesnadasosparte.org/Download/english/02_METAANALISIS_2011.pdf
From the abstract: “This article presents a systematic
review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of anti-bullying
programs in schools. Studies were included if they evaluated
the effects of an anti-bullying program by comparing an
intervention group who received the program with a control
group who did not. Four types of research design were
included: a) randomized experiments, b) intervention-control
comparisons with before-and-after measures of bullying, c)
other intervention-control comparisons, and d) age-cohort
designs. Both published and unpublished reports were included.
All volumes of 35 journals from 1983 up to the end of May 2009
were hand-searched, as were 18 electronic databases. Reports
in languages other than English were also included. A total of
622 reports concerned with bullying prevention were found, and
89 of these reports (describing 53 different program
evaluations) were included in our review. Of the 53 different
program evaluations, 44 provided data that permitted the
calculation of an effect size for bullying or victimization.
The meta-analysis of these 44 evaluations showed that,
overall, school-based anti-bullying programs are effective: on
average, bullying decreased by 20-23% and victimization
decreased by 17-20%. Program elements and intervention
components that were associated with a decrease in bullying
and victimization were identified, based on feedback from
researchers about the coding of 40 out of 44 programs. More
intensive programs were more effective, as were programs
including parent meetings, firm disciplinary methods, and
improved playground supervision. Work with peers was
associated with an increase in victimization. It is concluded
that the time is ripe to mount a new program of research on
the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs based on these
findings.”
