NCJ Number
232416
Journal
Journal of School Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: October-December, 2010 Pages: 339-356
Date Published
October 2010
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined a neighborhood elementary school in the United States to investigate the school factors that could impact bullying.
Abstract
Bullying, a prevalent form of school violence, threatens development and learning. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study conducted in an elementary school, designed to gain an ecological understanding of bullying perceptions of this school community. The three research questions were: (a) How do individuals and groups within this community define school safety and violence? (b) How do concepts of school safety and violence affect behaviors? and (c) How might this community increase the safety of its children? Emergent from the data were the adults' preoccupation with improving results on the state-mandated high-stakes achievement test in contrast to the children's identification of largely unchecked bullying and its negative impact on their school experience and learning. Suggestions for future inquiries into bullying in an era of high-stakes testing are given. Table and references (Published Abstract)