School Violence Essay

What Methods Can Schools in the United States Implement to Prevent Violence in Schools?

The recent upswing in high-profile violent incidents in the United States has focused increasing attention on the causes of this public health threat and what types of response are most appropriate. The debate over the most appropriate responses to increased violence in American society has also extended to the nation’s schools. Although it has always been present to some extent, violence has become a major problem in the nation’s schools in recent years (Kelly, 2010; Killam & Roland, 2014). While the potential for enhanced awareness of the problem and improved reporting mechanisms may account for some of the reported increase in school violence in recent years (Blosnich & Bossarte, 2011), the research that follows will clearly show that any level of violence in the schools can be enormously harmful to students and staff alike (Robers & Kemp, 2012), making investigations of this problem timely, relevant and important for policymakers and educators today. This need directly relates to the purpose of the proposed study as discussed further below.

The purpose of the proposed study will be to explore the secondary literature and collect primary data concerning the causes of violence in the nation’s schools and what steps can be implemented to prevent it. This purpose is highly congruent with the guidance provided by Johnson, Burke and Gielen (2012) who note that the vast majority of schools in the United States (90%-plus) have already implemented school-based initiatives that are designed to prevent school violence. In addition, school-based violence prevention programs can also help reduce the incidence of violent behaviors such as bullying through coursework in empathy and character building (Gibbone & Manson, 2010).

The following definitions of key terms will be used for the purposes of the study proposed herein.

Methods: This term will include both school- and community-based initiatives that are specifically designed to prevent school violence.

School violence: This term will generally include all forms of physical and emotional abuse, including teasing, bullying, stabbings, shootings, assaults, and fights involving students (King, 2014).

Violence: More specifically, the proposed study will use the definition of this term provided by the World Health Organization which states this is “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting In injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation” (cited in Kelly, 2014, p. 42).

The following research questions will be used to develop the information needed to confirm or refute the proposed study’s hypotheses which immediately follow.

What are the main causes of violence in the schools?

What methods have proven effective in preventing school violence?

The following hypotheses will be used to guide the proposed study’s research into the causes of school violence and what steps can be implemented to prevent it:

H1: There is a statistically significant correlation between gang activity and the prevalence of violence in a school.

N1: There is no statistically significant correlation between gang activity and the prevalence of violence in a school.

H2: There is a statistically significant correlation between school violence and the racial makeup of a school’s student body.

N2: There is no statistically significant correlation between school violence and the racial makeup of a school’s student body.

H3: School-based interventions are more effective in preventing violence in the schools compared to community-based initiatives.

N3: School-based interventions are not more effective in preventing violence in the schools compared to community-based initiatives.

The proposed study anticipates three main limitations as follows:

The number of educators who will be willing to participate in a survey concerning the causes of violence in the schools will likely be relatively small compared to the educators who are actively teaching in the United States and the findings that emerge from the synthesis of the secondary and primary data may not be reflective of the nation as a whole.

The Midwestern school district from which the respondent educators will be drawn may not be representative of other school districts across the country.

The potential for researcher bias concerning which studies will be included for analysis is always present during the conduct of a literature review (Karimov, Brengman & Van Hove, 2011).

The proposed study is significant for a number of reasons, especially with respect to the need to identify optimal responses to a multifaceted and complex problem (Fox & Burstein, 2010). For example, students who are victims of violence as well as those who witness violent acts in their schools can experience a wide range of adverse health care outcomes that can extend into adulthood (Grantham, 2013). Although there remains a lack of longitudinal studies that have managed to track the young victims of violence into adulthood, the research to date indicates that young people who experience or witness violent acts can suffer from (a) externalizing behaviors (e.g., conduct problems, aggression); (b) internalizing problems (e.g., fears, phobias, depression, somatic complaints); (c) a diminished sense of self-worth; (d) social and emotional adjustment difficulties; (e) difficulties maintaining positive relations with peers and adults; (f) decreased social competence; (g) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); (h) anxiety; (i) depression; (j) elevated anger levels; (k) increased delinquent behaviors; (l) increased violent behaviors; and (m) elevated potential for involvement in abuse relationships in the future (Smith & Eklund, 2015, p. 21).

Likewise, the short-term adverse effects of violence in the schools on teachers and educational staff include acute stress disorder (e.g., anxiety, dissociation, numbing, depersonalization, and dissociative amnesia) as well as long-term effects (e.g., PTSD, illness, divorce, burnout, and career change) (Brock, 2009, p. 16). In sum, the effects of school violence can be life-altering and despite being made a national priority, this problem not only remains unresolved, it appears to be worsening.

The data for the preliminary literature review will be collected from university and public libraries, as well a reliable online academic research resources such as EBSCOHost and Questia. The data search was limited to peer-reviewed and scholarly texts that were published in the English language with a preference for those published within the last 5 years. The search terms used for the preliminary literature review included “school violence,” “bullying,” “school assaults,” “student on student assaults,” “assaults against teachers,” and so forth. The results of the preliminary literature review are presented below.

Although all young people differ in their specific needs, they all share a common need for a school environment that is conducive to learning (Brown & Meredith, 2014; Janson & King, 2006). Indeed, many young people already struggle with the rigors of the educational requirements and high-stake standardized testing regimens mandated by federal and state authorities, and this struggle is further exacerbated by the prevalence of violence in the schools (Lawrence & Jefferson, 2015). For instance, King (2014) emphasizes that, “Violence in schools has become a significant public health risk. School violence, such as shootings, weapons in schools, assaults, fights [and] bullying can all impact the ability of children to function in school” (p. 58).

Moreover, school violence can also adversely affect others in the school system, including the adults who are responsible for preventing it in the first place (Brock, 2009). In this regard, Killam and Roland (2014) report that, “While the focus is often on violence against students, it is important to note that violence in schools can also include violence against teachers, principals, counselors and other school-based personnel” (p. 5). In fact, violence perpetrated by students against teachers has resulted in several deaths and numerous injuries in recent years, and many educators have even left the profession out of fear for their personal safety (Brock, 2009; Wheeler & Stomfay-Stitz, 2008). While precise figures remain elusive (Devoe & Bauer, 2011), current estimates indicate that school teachers in the United States are three times as likely as students to become the victims of violence, including incidents of “theft, rape, robbery, sexual assault, and aggravated and simple assault” (Brock, 2009, p. 16). Indeed, there have even been calls to allow teachers to carry guns into their classroom for their own self-protection as well as a last-resort means of responding to outbreaks of student shootings in a growing number of American school districts (Blackler, 2013).

Against this backdrop, it is reasonable to suggest that the complex problem of violence in the schools demands complex solutions, but there has been a great deal of divisiveness in this area. The research into violence in the schools to date indicates that policymakers and educators remain divided concerning what types of responses are required. On the one hand, some authorities maintain that only so-called “zero-tolerance” policies, lengthy or even permanent school expulsions, additional juvenile correlations facilities and expanded gun control measures can be truly effective in preventing violence in the schools (Crews, 2014). On the other hand, some analysts argue that expanded in-school counseling services and character-building courses are needed to prevent school violence (Crews, 2014).

In addition, because young people are at high risk of gang membership which can lead to violent behaviors, some educators recommend that school-based prevention programs should be implemented in school districts where gang activity is especially rife (Kelly, 2014). These types of school-based initiatives proceed in a systematic fashion, first measuring the extent of the problem in order to establish benchmarks and then proceeding to identify salient protective and risk factors that can ameliorate and exacerbate the problem, respectively (Kelly, 2014).

Based on this information, the next steps involved in developing a school-based prevention program targeted at gang membership will be to develop appropriate prevention initiatives, implement them and then measure their effectiveness compared to the benchmarks to identify additional opportunities to prevent this cause of violence in the schools (Kelly, 2014). In addition, these types of prevention programs are targeted at the entire student body. In this regard, Kelly (2014) notes that, “Prevention programs are geared toward universal education about gangs; educating those at risk for gang involvement; and youth already involved in gang activity” (p. 43).

Taken together, it is reasonable to suggest that although the problem of school violence is on the rise, there are some evidence-based interventions that can be implemented that can help reduce and even prevent violence in the schools to the maximum extent possible. Since the causes of violence in the nation’s schools are complex and multifaceted, however, identifying optimal methods for responding to this problem remains a challenging enterprise. Nevertheless, the severity of the problem of violence in the nation’s schools demands responsive solutions to these complex problems and the study proposed herein can help provide some valuable benchmarks and findings upon which to base future research in this area.

The setting for the proposed study is a typical school district located in the Midwestern United States.

A study’s research design describes the systematic process by which the data that are needed to confirm or refute guiding hypotheses or to develop informed answers to research questions is collected (Mauch & Park, 2013). For instance, according to Mauch and Park (2013), “A completed research design shows the step-by-step sequence of actions in carrying out an investigation essential to obtaining objective, reliable, and valid information” (p. 123). The proposed study will use a mixed research design that draws on both qualitative data from the secondary literature together with quantitative data derived from a custom survey of a representative population of educators in this school district.

The use of both qualitative and quantitative data is consistent with the guidance provided by Grinnell and Unrau (2005) who report, “Quantitative and qualitative methods each have their special uses. Both methods make meaningful contributions to our understanding of the social world and, when used together, can obviously augment it” (p. 83). Moreover, the use of a mixed methods approach can help improve the trustworthiness of the findings that emerge from social research studies. For example, Gersten, Fuchs and Lynn (2005) point out that, “If a research conjecture or hypothesis can withstand scrutiny by multiple methods, its credibility is enhanced greatly. Overzealous adherence to the use of any given research design flies in the face of this fundamental principle” (p. 150).