Synopses & Reviews
Ensuring Safe School Environments: Exploring Issues--Seeking Solutions presents research findings and information about school violence, with a focus on strategies for increasing school safety. Based on a special topical issue of
Rural Special Education Quarterly, the original journal articles have been rewritten to address safe schools from the perspective of suburban and urban, as well as rural environments. Topics include the frequency of violence in these different settings; violence as it directly impacts school administrators; strategies for preventing and addressing violence at both the school and individual levels; and ways to work with the community both in and out of schools. Part I focuses on issues. In Part II, solutions that have been used to deal with youth violence are offered for readers to consider, including chapters on effective conflict management practices, behavioral support plans, school-community relations, the development of a caring school community as a way to decrease tendencies toward violence, and a model which demonstrates an in-practice, state-wide program designed to assist in the development of a community-focused school. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions and a case study to enhance understanding of and reflection on the issues surrounding school violence.
The text is intended as supplementary material for any course preparing school administrators. Presenting both research and practice, the text can be a guide for practicing school administrators in their search for ways to insure the safety and well being of the students whom they serve, as well as a resource for individuals in other community-based human service agencies who deal with school violence.
Synopsis
Ensuring Safe School Environments: Exploring Issues-Seeking Solutions grew out of a policy statement issued by the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES). During the 1998 ACRES Conference in Charleston, school violence erupted in Arkansas. The ACRES membership responded immediately with a policy statement followed by a special topical issue of the Rural Special Education Quarterly. (RSEQ). This text includes many of the articles published in the journal and has added discussion questions and activities to enhance understanding of and reflection on the issues surrounding school violence.
Presenting the "big picture" in regard to school violence, this book discusses:
x different solutions others have used to deal with youth violence;
xthe different types of programs that have been successful with youth violence;
xschool violence from the perspectives of Various parts of the country;
xthe frequency of violence in urban, suburban, and rural schools, as well as violence as it directly impacts the school administrator;
xstrategies for preventing and addressing violence at both school and individual levels; and
xways to work with the community, both in and out of the school.
The text is intended as supplementary material for any course preparing school administrators. Containing both research and practice, the text can be a guide for practicing school administrators, as well in their search for ways to insure the safety and well being of the students whom they serve.