Promoting peace in a place called school

To find ways to reduce, violence in schools, the subtle environmental aspects in a school that had integrated peace activities in the curriculum as a means of promoting positive changes in behavior were investigated. The results are presented here. At Peaceable Magnet School 42 kindergarten through eighth grade teachers were trained in peer mediation, and peace activities were initiated in the school. Afterwards, a task group was formed to immerse the whole school in violence prevention by integrating peace activities as a part of the ongoing curriculum. Researchers then compared what the teachers believed were vital factors in developing a peaceful school environment to the school environment in which they actually taught. Although the school had been focusing on peace for a year and teachers and students reported improved behavior, the teachers perceived a lack of support, and they believed that serious concerns still existed. Teacher were reluctant to involve parents as partners due to student behavio