Preventing Youth Violence in Urban Schools: An Essay Collection. Urban Diversity Series No. 107.
The three essays of this collection explore the prevention of violence in urban schools. The first, "Preventing Violence in Schools," by Mary Hatwood Futrell and Lee Etta Powell, focuses on how to prevent violence in schools and offers recommendations on what schools and communities can do. The factors contributing to school violence are numerous, complex, and mostly community-related. A number of strategies are available for addressing the problem from a classroom or schoolwide perspective, but others can be suggested for individual students, helping them focus on discipline as positive behavior. Investment programs such as tutoring, counseling, jobs, and recreation and youth facilities would be more cost-effective in the long-run than such measures as hiring more security. The second essay, "Gang Activity at School-, Prevention Strategies," by Shirley Lal, reviews what is known about gangs and their impact and consequences in schools. It also suggests a variety of strategies for preventing gang activity and altering negative gang behavior. The final essay, "School Violence and the Legal Rights of Students: Selected Issues," by Dorianne Beyer, considers the effects of the pulic perception of widespread and growing school violence, which leads to a .ituation in which the rights of school administrators come to take precedence over the rights of students when school safety is at stake. The current judicial trend highlights society's fears and disrespect for children. Contains a total of 90 references. (SLD) ***************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the originil document. *********************************************************************** 1
VIOLENCE IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS: THE IMPACT OF THE NEWTOWN SCHOOL SHOOTING ON SCHOOL PRACTICES AND PROGRAMS, SCHOOL SECURITY STAFF, STAFF TRAINING, AND SECURITY BUDGETS
The purpose of this study was to examine changes implemented by public school district personnel in response to the Newtown school shooting that occurred on December 14, 2012. The researcher used the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) to gather quantitative data from district and school leaders at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in rural, urban, and suburban school districts in Connecticut. The survey was used to research school practices and programs, school security staff, and staff training implemented prior to and after December 14, 2012. In addition, the researcher examined the impact on school and district budgets before and after December 14, 2012. This study represented the first time that the SSOCS was specifically used to gather data from school leaders as they assessed their practices before and after a major elementary school shooting. The research study sample included 36 districts and 117 schools. The researcher conducted paired samples t-tests, McNemar tests, and multiple linear regression analyses to measure the impact of the incident. The predictor variables included school grade level, school type (rural, urban, suburban), student enrollment, diversity percentage, and free or reduced lunch percentage.
Science fairs as learning tool for teaching excellence
Science fairs are usually considered to be a pedagogical and cultural activity that involves the students actively. Gifted students need challenges to further develop their skills while maintaining the motivation level. Science fairs may provide the informal environment that will request and allow these students of excellence to challenge themselves by developing a scientific research project. Despite being well known in different countries, in Portugal first steps are being made on the use and implementation of science fairs as effective pedagogical tool. In this work, we will present a 4 years study that was developed on a Portuguese school with the main goal of evaluating the advantages of this informal way of teaching. The study includes an analysis of the evolution of the students’ knowledge that have participated, or visited, the different science fairs. Some advices for the implementation of these projects will be given. The motivation of the students was monitored as well as the knowledge and skills effectively improved by this activity.