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STAFF DEVELOPMENT HAS A ROLE IN PREVENTING STUDENT VIOLENCE By Dennis Sparks Results, September 1999 Schools must be places in which all students and staff members feel connected and successful in their work. The responsibility for creating such caring, inclusive schools falls on staff development leaders — principals, teachers, and district administrators. While a strong sense of community does not inoculate against school violence, it is one of the most effective preventive strategies within the direct influence of educators. Staff development leaders can join others in addressing the social issues that are painfully evident in such situations: easy access to guns, violence in the media, and a breakdown in traditional institutions. But a root cause of such tragedies cannot be ignored by teachers and administrators: schools that allow, if not contribute to, the estrangement among students that too easily spills over into violence. Strategies are available to educators Preventive strategies for school violence are available to concerned educators. A 1998 U.S. Department of Education report, Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools, lists common sense approaches such as focusing schools on the academic achievement of all students, involving families in meaningful ways, developing links to the community, emphasizing positive relationships between students and staff, treating students with equal respect, creating ways for students to share their concerns, and identifying problems and assessing progress toward solutions. "Helping Students Deal with Conflict and Anger," part of the Educational Research Service’s Informed Educator Series, recommends familiar strategies such as team teaching, cooperative learning, and teacher advisory programs as ways to combat school violence. Reducing the size of large secondary high schools is another commonly suggested strategy. Staff development leaders bring important knowledge and skill to the process of preventing school violence. Better than anyone, they understand the influence of school culture and structures on human behavior. They also understand that the underlying causes of such events must be discerned and deep change initiated. Staff development leaders have long advocated for professional learning communities. In the wake of the tragedy at Columbine High School and other such events, we must remind ourselves that a true learning community embraces everyone in the school, students and staff alike. Success must be measured by how well people treat each other as much as by a school’s test scores. The choice is ours to make I’m reminded of a provocative question that I have sometimes posed to educators: What type of school would you create if you didn’t know what single, never-ending role you would play in that school? My answer is simple: Whether I was a student, teacher, or principal, I would want to learn each day through challenging work on important issues that pushed me to the limits of my ability. I would sometimes want to be a leader, and at other times a follower. I would want to work with others on projects whose goals are larger than those I could accomplish alone. I would want to feel connected, be treated with respect and caring, and to feel that I was a valued part of the school community. Our job is to create such schools for all students. For the most part, developing these schools is a matter of will because we already know what we must do. Let us rededicate ourselves to creating schools in which all students and staff members are successful learners, in which diversity is respected and viewed as a strength, and in which strong bonds are created between all students and teachers. Let us vow that we will not rest until those conditions are available for everyone who spends their days in schools.
For a copy of the U.S. Department of Education report, Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools, you will find the full text at www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html. For a copy of "Helping Students Deal with Conflict and Anger," part of the Educational Research Service’s Informed Educator Series, visit www.ers.org or call (703) 243-2100. |
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