How Schools Create the Violence They Fear: A Case Study of an Alternative Learning Center, 1999-2001.

This research identifies how personnel at an alternative high school for at-risk students helped to create school violence through their policies and interactions with students. Data were collected by surveying the staff and students of the school. Data were also obtained from anonymous written records that the researcher kept as a requirement of her job as School Resource Officer. The researcher found consistent patterns--verified by faculty and student surveys--that the students did not feel respected by their teachers. Teachers experienced limited authority in handling student-teacher conflicts and compensated for their restricted authority through a variety of unfair strategies. Often, students resisted the teachers’ efforts. The teachers’ lack of training on how to deal with resistant teens made these problems worse. The researcher analyzes the dynamics that produced school violence in this setting and concludes with suggestions for teachers and administrators