Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Madelaine Ramey
Committee Member
Keith Cameron
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
aggression, anger management, antiviolence campaign, at-risk students, behavioral offenses, emotional release, implementation, intervention, mentor program, middle schools, out-of-school suspensions, positive relationships, Prairie Peace Project, qualitative data, quantitative data, school programs, school violence, student aggression, student behavior, student violence, surveys, urban/suburban schools, violence prevention, violent behavior, violent students
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to address the problem of violent and aggressive behavior among students in a large, urban/suburban middle school. Despite reductions in all other types of behavioral offenses at the school over a 2-year span, behaviors characterized as violent and aggressive increased, resulting in increased out-of-school suspensions.
The intervention, called the Prairie Peace Project, was a multifaceted approach to reduce student aggression and violence. The first component of the intervention was the implementation of a school-wide antiviolence campaign. Through the use of posters, video announcements, and awareness activities, students were presented with resources to enable them to avoid violent and aggressive behavior. The second component was a mentor program that targeted students who were deemed at risk for violent or aggressive behavior. The program paired students with adults in the school in order to develop a positive relationship to provide the students with alternative resources for emotional release rather than violence or aggression. The third component was an anger management class taught as a part of the academic day for one quarter.
Qualitative and quantitative data collected at the end of the study indicated that the objectives of the study were not attained. Survey results showed that the school-wide antiviolence campaign did not succeed in educating students regarding options for aggression and violence, and suspension data indicated that the mentor and anger management programs failed to meet their goals as well. Targeted students were suspended during and after the intervention, and the number of out-of-school suspensions for violent and aggressive behavior increased during the implementation period.