Katherine Raczynski

School and Community-Based Approaches for Preventing Bullying

With an increasing focus on bullying among the public, educators, researchers, and policy makers, there is a need to delineate what we know works in bullying prevention and what areas might benefit from greater attention. The social-ecological framework provides a useful tool through which to consider what contexts and factors within these contexts might yield promising results in bullying prevention. In this article we first provide an overview of bullying prevention program evaluations to date, and then highlight two salient components of the social-ecology that have received limited attention to date. Specifically, we discuss the role of teacher implementation in influencing bullying program effectiveness, and consider how community-based bullying prevention efforts might serve to address factors relevant to bullying involvement that are outside the sphere of influence of educators.

Evaluation of the Safe School Ambassadors Program: A Student-led Approach to Reducing Mistreatment and Bullying in Schools

Abstract Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) is a student-centered bystander education program developed by Community Matters to reduce bullying/mistreatment and enhance school climate. A two-part program evaluation was designed to assess the efficacy of the programs logic model and its impact on school-level discipline indicators. For the first part, a two-year evaluation was conducted in five middle schools in Texas using a quasi-experimental pre-post-post design. After two years, rates of helpful intervention were higher for male Ambassadors than for their controls. Ambassadors’ Friends noticed more helpful interventions and reported observing less mistreatment than Friends of Key Students at the control schools. Process data indicated positive effects on discipline and overall climate. For the second part, discipline data were gathered from 19 schools that implemented the SSA program with a high degree of fidelity to internal benchmarks and from demographically matched non-SSA schools that served as controls. Analysis showed statistically significant reductions (p < 0.05) in suspensions and other discipline indicators at SSA schools over time and as compared to control schools.

Capturing Family–School Partnership Constructs Over Time: Creating Developmental Measurement Models

Longitudinal research methods have become increasingly popular with researchers interested in understanding how and why outcomes change over time. Recent developments in statistical methodology and the availability of software with which to conduct such research have made longitudinal methods more accessible. These include latent growth models, which allow researchers in the area of family–school partnerships to investigate issues such as how parental involvement in students’ schoolwork changes over time and how changes in parental involvement relate to changes in students’ achievement levels. The estimation of longitudinal models has traditionally been based on use of the same items at each time point. However, this may pose a problem because items that are developmentally appropriate for younger students may not be appropriate for older students. In this chapter we propose and illustrate developmental measurement models that are appropriate for measuring student outcomes over time, but that do not necessarily include the same items at each age or grade level. These models explicitly allow for items to be dropped from or added to the scale in order to maintain developmental appropriateness, while maintaining a common set of items. Inclusion of the common items provides a basis on which the scores for each age group to be linked or equated such that they are on the same scale. Thus, developmental measurement models make it possible to conduct longitudinal research using scales that are appropriate to each age group.

Victimized for Being Different: Young Adults With Disabilities and Peer Victimization in Middle and High School:

Children who are victims of peer aggression can suffer negative emotional, academic and physical consequences that can last into adulthood. Previous research indicates children with disabilities are victimized up to 4 times as often as children without disabilities. However, their unique needs are often not considered in the design and implementation of prevention interventions. The current study examined the perceived effects of family, peer, and school support among children with disabilities to protect them from or help them cope with peer victimization. In this retrospective study, college students registered with a university Disability Resource Center (n = 161) completed an electronic survey about their recollections of peer victimization and of factors that protected them during middle and high school. Three subscales of the Social and Emotional Health Survey measured perception of family, peer, and school support. In open-ended questions, students described instances of peer victimization and of protection. Results indicated that two thirds of participants experienced peer victimization. The most frequently reported type of aggression was relational, followed by verbal. Frequency of victimization did not differ by gender. Most participants experienced victimization related to their disabilities or related to a combination of disability with another personal characteristic. Participants who reported higher levels of family and peer support experienced significantly less peer victimization. Coping with victimization took many forms such as withdrawing from peers, listening to music, and mental health treatment. Unexpectedly, some participants reported disability-related victimization from school staff. Findings highlight the high frequency of victimization and the value of educating parents, school personnel, and other students on strategies to support students with disabilities. These strategies could be incorporated into prevention programs.

Longitudinal Examination of Aggression and Study Skills from Middle to High School: Implications for Dropout Prevention.

BACKGROUND High school completion provides health and economic benefits. The purpose of this study is to describe dropout rates based on longitudinal trajectories of aggression and study skills using teacher ratings. METHODS The sample consisted of 620 randomly selected sixth graders. Every year from Grade 6 to 12, a teacher completed a nationally normed behavioral rating scale. We used latent class mixture modeling to identify the trajectories. RESULTS Participants followed 3 trajectories of aggression (Low, Medium Desisting, and High Desisting) and 5 trajectories of study skills (Low, Average-Low, Decreasing, Increasing, and High). Over three-quarters of the sample were in stable trajectories of study skills over time. Most students in the High Desisting Aggression group were in the Low Study Skills group, and all students in the High Study Skills group were in the Low Aggression group. The overall dropout rate was 17%, but varied dramatically across combined aggression and study skills groups, ranging from 2% to 50%. CONCLUSIONS The results highlight the importance of early prevention that combines academic enhancement and behavioral management for reducing school dropout.