In response to growing public concern over declining educational quality and discipline problems in today's schools, this paper reviews research on the causes of school disruption and student misbehavior, identifies promising ameliorative strategies, and examines specific research-practitioner collaborations that have successfully reduced school…

Results from the evaluation of a large-scale educational intervention designed to prevent school disruption suggest that altering the school organization is a more effective approach to delinquency prevention than treating individuals. Data for this comparison came from the evaluation of a school-based delinquency prevention program, Project…

Theory is a useful guide for program design and implementation. This paper uses a large-scale school-based delinquency prevention project to illustrate the use of theory in program design and the need for line staff to have a clear understanding of the program's theoretical underpinnings. Evaluation results for the program show that the program…

An organizational development program was evaluated, which was implemented to reduce disorder in a Baltimore, Maryland, school. The Program Development Evaluation method was used. Increasing consistency of response to student discipline infractions, increasing rewards for appropriate behavior, and imposing peer and teacher support improved school…

This book links theory and empirical evidence to derive implications for designing school-based delinquency prevention programs. It examines how school environment and behavior interact, discusses the multiple levels of influence in and around schools that combine with student characteristics to lead to delinquency, and addresses the malleability…

Implemented a comprehensive, school-based instructional and social-competency-promotion program to prevent problem behavior in a middle school. Evaluation of the five-year program showed that it was ineffective, with no dependable results on youth behavior. Discusses implications of these findings. (SLD)

This article discusses the challenges faced when a popular model program, the Strengthening Families Program, which in the past has been implemented on a smaller scale in single organizations, moves to a larger, multiorganization endeavor. On the basis of 42 interviews conducted with program staff, the results highlight two main themes that…

This Research in Brief describes the scientific methodologies used to perform a review of crime prevention programs and then discusses what research has shown to work, what it has shown not to work, and what approaches seem promising for crime prevention. The first step was to identify and review reports evaluating the effectiveness of crime…