School Violence in America

While there are numerous issues influencing the development of America\u27s children that need attention, school violence is among the most disturbing. Schools are a gathering place for nearly all children in America. When violence enters the school, all become concerned for the safety and well being of the children. To end the violence in American schools it is necessary to determine what factors contribute to the problem, and in what way professionals might take action to prevent further violence and to reduce what violence now exists. Florida in particular, is a state in need of this effort as its juvenile violent crime index is 680 for the 1998 arrest statistics; 173% higher than the national average (Snyder, 1998; see Table 1). Florida is also among the top three states, with Georgia and California, in numbers of school-related violent deaths (Stephens, 2000; see Table 2). This review is an effort to develop a greater awareness and understanding of the issues relevant to school violence through a review of scholarly literature published in the 1990\u27s regarding school violence in America. The research base from which this review is compiled allows for summary of what programs are best used to intervene in this issue of school violence. Those programs which demonstrate effect by way of changed behavior/reduced problem behavior and/or prevention of problem behavior, are those which are: 1) broad in their range of factors targeted, 2) large in scope in terms of the age and developmental levels served, 3) multi-component strategies wherein a systems approach is utilized and all possible influences in a child\u27s life are brought into the treatment plan in some form, 4) inclusive, serving both high and low risk children, 5) empirically based and with measures in place to track program effectiveness, 6) long term, 7) consistently implemented, across settings, with reliable training and ample support 8) focused on skills building and behavior change, and last, those which are 9) based in empirical research with demonstrated positive outcomes