A Non Punitive, Student Directed Approach To Bullying Prevention and Intervention

Transcription

1 A Non Punitive, Student Directed Approach To Bullying Prevention and Intervention Common Language Program

2 1 BULLYING ACROSS THE USA The United States has some of the highest levels of student bullying and conflict of any industrialized nation worldwide. Approximately one third of students are involved in peer bullying, with the highest rates in elementary and middle school and continuing into High School 1. Bullying habituates its perpetrators to aggression, and contributes to higher rates of school violence and criminality in adulthood. It is experienced by many of its targets as traumatic, causing chronic anxiety, depression, school absenteeism, and in extreme cases leads to suicide and school shootings. Bullying prevents significant numbers of students from developing a positive sense of self a core developmental task of childhood and from reaching their full potential in adulthood. In 2010, with a spate of student suicides caused by bullying, the United States began to wake up to the very real harm caused by bullying. Students and parents are becoming increasingly vocal that schools need to take action to become bully free. Schools have a legal responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for their students. Failure to intervene exposes schools and school districts to lawsuits based on negligence, racial or sexual harassment. 2 According to Lawyers Weekly USA, claims against school districts for failing to address student bullying and harassment are on the rise. 2 BULLYING RESPONSE SYSTEM Despite the widespread harm caused by bullying, most schools have no effective system in place for how to address it. When they do intervene, schools traditionally rely on punishment. The implicit belief is that students who bully lack capacity for empathy. However, research conducted in 2007 by the American Psychological Association showed that punishment was largely ineffectual to change student behavior, and that schools which subscribe to a zero tolerance policy tend to experience higher levels of student aggression and lower levels of academic performance. Anecdotal evidence suggests that punishment leads to retaliation against the target and makes their situation worse. 1 A survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in 2010 asked 43,000 high school students whether they had been physically abused, teased or taunted in a way that seriously upset them. 43% percent said yes, and 50 percent admitted to being the bully. 2 In Flores v Morgan High School District 324 F.3d 1130 (9 th Cir. 2003) a claim was brought against the school district for failing to give students equal protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The district settled the case for over $1.1 million in addition to mandatory training for all school staff and all 7 th and 9 th grade students. Page 2

3 Schools that are serious about addressing student bullying are implementing a three tier bullying response system designed to match the intensity or seriousness of any incident of bullying. First level. All staff interrupt physical aggression and verbal disrespect. Second level. If there appears to be a pattern of bullying, staff member checks in seprately with suspected serial target or suspected serial bully, and if bullying or victimizartion are evident, refers to a Solution Coach. Third level. o Solution Coach meets with referred target and if consent given, convenes a Solution Team for the target. The Solution Coach where appropriate also initiates process of Solution Coaching for target that incudes parent meeting, identification of any missing core social and emotional skills, referral to outside resources and follow up. o Solution Coach meets with referred bully and where appropriate initiates process of Solution Coaching for target that incudes parent meeting, identification of any missing core social and emotional skills, referral to outside resources and follow up. 3 WHAT ARE SOLUTION TEAM AND SOLUTION COACH? I have facilitated four solution teams since attending the one day training. The solution teams ranged from 2nd grade to 8th grade. I had to write to let you know they have had a 100% success rate. We showed the video clip from the No Bully website at the Parent's Club and the parents at our school are very appreciative of the "no bully" atmosphere we have created. Linda Ogle, Seventh Grade Teacher, Madera CA. Solution Team & Coach are emerging best practices for how to respond to student bullying. They are based on the evolving research in neuroscience and evolutionary biology, which has uncovered the primacy that compassion and cooperative virtues hold for all humans from the first years of life onwards. They apply change processes derived from the problem solving approach of solution focused therapy and from the team building that is at the heart of collaborative learning. The heart of the intervention is bringing together a team of students to solve the bullying of one of their peers. We called it Solution Team Solution Team involves a series of structured steps. The educator first asks the target of bullying if they want adult help. The educator then brings together a group of students (the solution team) that comprises the bully, bully follower and some positive leaders in the We've run about fourteen solution teams this year. Not only has it stopped the bullying in every case, but we are seeing mutual respect now between the students. It taps into the fundamental human value that everyone is good at heart. classroom, but not the target. Team members are told that they are not being punished, but that one of their peers is suffering and that they have been specially chosen to address this situation. The Solution Team approach offers an opportunity for all the team members, including the perpetrators and supporters of bullying, and to take concrete steps to end the bullying out of their basic compassion and kindness. The educator listens to the student Greg Barnes Assistant Principal Bowditch Middle School Page 3

4 solutions, encourages them to support each other in taking action and follows up in two structured subsequent meetings over the following two weeks. As educators ran Solution Teams, it became apparent that the old paradigm of the target of bullying as innocent victim was flawed. Approximately one third of targets are provocative targets and Solution Teams were often vocal about the targets of bullying needing to change their ways. It was clear also that bullying students often need adult help in order to change their relational patterns. We developed Solution Coach as a simple protocol that any educator can follow in parallel with Solution Team to help a bully or target develop missing social and emotional skills. Solution Coaching is not intended to replace counseling, but rather to expand teacher capacity to respond to the social and emotional challenges of their students and to collaborate with parents in connecting their children to resources that can support positive social and emotional development. 4 HOW EFFECTIVE ARE SOLUTION TEAM AND SOLUTION COACH? During , Dr Alyssa Steiger tracked the success of participants in Solution Team trainings. She published her findings in her doctoral research study in Solution Team resolved student bullying in 80% of cases, and as her chart shows (see right) this held true three months later, making it one of the most effective antibullying interventions available. A 2012 evaluation gives No Bully high points for the quality of its trainings and reveals Solution Teams succeed in 88% of cases. In 2011, all the major school districts in Marin County, California, were trained in the No Bully System thanks to a grant from the Lynx Foundation. This included 32 schools and 108 educators. An independent evaluator, Dr. Moira DeNike, found that participants consistently rated the relevance, clarity, trainer responsiveness and likelihood of recommending the Advanced Solutions Training at 9 out of 10 (on a scale where 0 meant not at all and 10 meant very much). At the end of the school year, trainees reported that their Solution Teams had achieved improvement or complete success in ending bullying in 88% of cases. Page 4

5 5 TRAINING IN IMPLEMENTING THE BULLYING RESPONSE SYSTEM A) All Staff Training. Foundational to making a school bully free is training all adults that work on campus (e.g. administrators, teachers, teacher assistants, school counselor, school secretary, school nurse, janitors, bus drivers, sports coaches and any other staff and adults who regularly work on campus) in primary response interventions to student physical aggression and verbal disrespect. The Common Language Program has brought our two hour workshop to thousands of school staff and teachers across California. The goal of the workshop is to help schools establish a unified approach to bullying and train all the adults who work on campus in how to respond. Participants become consistent in their understanding of bullying (physical, verbal, relational and cyber) and the developmental issues that cause bullying to intensify in early and middle adolescence. We raise awareness of the diversity issues of race, class and non compliance with gender expectations that so often underpin these student behaviors. Educators frequently report to us that they freeze when confronted with bullying. In order to counter this, we use small group discussion and role plays to practice immediate verbal interventions to bullying. Cost. The fee for this two hour workshop is $350. B) Solution Team and Solution Coach. This one day workshop trains key members of school staff in how to bring together a Solution Team of student to solve the bullying of one of their peers. Participants at this workshop also learn how to Solution Coach students who need additional help in relinquishing the role of bully or target. Solution Coaching is a process of facilitating behavioral change in students to resolve the social and emotional challenges in their lives. These two interventions stop student bullying in 80% of situations, making these some of the most successful anti bullying interventions ever. Cost: The total fee for this one day training is $1900 for a single school site (up to 30 staff) or $750 per site if shared with other site(s). For open enrollment trainings, the fee is different and includes and early registration discount. Limited funding available through the SC COE to support schools that want training in Solution Team. C) School wide Bullying Prevention Assemblies (grades 1 8) These assemblies establish school norms for bulling prevention and teach students how to respond to bullying behavior such as teasing, pushing and physical violence. Bilingual available. Cost: based on size of school. Contact for information D) Baseline Survey of School Bullying: All students in grades take survey to establish where, when and what kind of bullying are currently taking place. Based on this data, schools focus prevention efforts and see improvement over time. Cost Online survey, plus grade level summary reports, $150 elementary school level $220 middle school, per year Page 5

6 Parents Building a Common Language for the Prevention of Bullying and Cyber Bullying: First Session: Common Language and skills workshop for parents coaching steps for bullying prevention for families. Second Session: Focus on cyber bullying, and how to promote internet safety for students. (Evening sessions, taught in Spanish or English) Cost: Based on size of school, number of sessions and number of schools attending. Contact for information 6 NEXT STEPS Please contact us with questions or to schedule training for your staff in Solution Team & Coach. Jeff Caplan, Director Common Language Program, Jeff_Caplan@sbcglobal.net Call: Web: CommonLanguageProgram.org Page 6