Critical Issues in Implementing a Comprehensive Violence Prevention Program for Middle Schools: Translating Theory Into Practice

• NCJ Number: 170979
• Journal: Education and Urban Society Volume: 28 Issue: 4 Dated: (August 1996) Pages: 456-472
• Author(s): P Orpinas; S Kelder; N Murray; A Fourney; J Conroy; L McReynolds; R Peters Jr
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): U81/CCU609953-01; U48CCU6
• Sponsoring Agency: Ctr's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Schools for Peace (SFP), a school-based program for reducing and preventing violence among middle-school students, is discussed with respect to its content and processes and the factors that hinder or promote its implementation.

Abstract

SFP is a cooperative effort of the School of Public Health of the University of Texas at Houston and a large urban school district in Texas. Four intervention schools and 4 control schools with a total of 11,000 students took part in this 3-year project. The program includes a school health promotion council, a peer mediation program, a 15-lesson violence prevention curriculum, and a monthly newsletter for students to take home and share with their parents. Both organizational and personal factors combined to promote or impede program implementation throughout all its areas. Support from the administration and teachers were crucial factors. Other central factors were the training of a wide variety of students, including troublemakers and gang leaders; solving logistical problems early in the process; and having students develop a strong publicity campaign for the program. Teacher training proved to be one of the most difficult challenges. Table and 23 references