Trauma has the potential to undermine both the educational and personal achievement of students. This article will provide a review and an integration of theoretical and empirical literature on the prevention and treatment of stress disorders, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and teens. An initial review of the…

In Salinas, California, a Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS)-funded program is helping children and their families grapple with issues pertaining to violence, substance abuse, mental health, and academic success. In just two years, the program has helped educators and service providers deter school crime, provide on-campus therapy to troubled…

Describes the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative in Morton High School District 201, Cicero, IL, which used a social ecological systems perspective to implement its goals. Social-emotional learning and violence-prevention strategies were provided at the levels of the community, school, and individual. Creation of a safe school environment…

Examines the effectiveness of a school and community-based violence prevention program for at-risk eighth-grade students. School officials matched intervention students with community-based mentors in an employment setting. Findings suggest that mentored students had significant reductions in total number and days of suspensions, days of sanction,…

School psychology professionals should provide a primary leadership role in school safety initiatives based on their professional training and expertise. Furthermore, the tensions created by social expectation to implement violence prevention and intervention will provide the incentive and momentum for school psychology to redefine itself in the…

Describes five school crises. In each case example, errors in crisis management by school staff exacerbated the crisis and resulted in deleterious consequences for the school, its students, and the surrounding community. Identifies common themes of leadership, teamwork, and responsibility that are critical to successful crisis management.…

Proposes that school psychologists could play an important role in identifying at-risk youth, and planning appropriate individual, school, and community interventions related to school violence. Reviews (a) characteristics of students at risk for violence, (b) informal checklists and matching student characteristics to profiles of typical violent…

Proposes that a more effective means of student violence prevention involves helping children become more responsible members of families, schools, and neighborhoods. School counselors and school psychologists have an important leadership role in helping reduce violence by promoting the moral dimensions of education, including the development of…

Investigates how aggressive behavior is differentially perceived by two types of perceivers, teachers and peers (N=765), as a function of student neighborhood, gender, and grade level. Teachers in the more violent community perceived students to be relatively less aggressive and more similar across genders. Peers in the less violent community…

Youthful antisocial behavior is often viewed as a precursor to later violent behavior. Examines the assertion that aggressive reaction patterns in males over time approach the stability of intelligence by studying evidence from 82 reports of prospective studies. Analysis finds considerably more modest relationships between earlier antisocial…

School psychologists are often asked to respond to student violence based on incomplete information about the nature and scope of these problems. Compares the methods and findings of three national surveys of students to understand what methodological characteristics have the most salient impact on their findings. Results suggest that student…

Examines how data from student self-report surveys and other sources can be used to assess the weaknesses in current school iincidentreporting systems and improve the validity of surveillance data on school violence. Assesses the validity of data from Gun-Free Schools Act reports on the number of guns in school in light of nationally…

Discusses how predicting violent activity with a youth violence profile in school raises legal concerns focusing on the validity and use of profiles as social science evidence: the impact of potential discrimination, search and seizure, and the implications for privacy. Argues that these issues rest on fundamental concerns about the general…

Fear over violence in schools has prompted increased requests for psychologists, educators, and law enforcement professionals to assist in preventing future school violence incidents. Attempts to lay a foundation for developing effective assessment and prevention approaches by first distinguishing planned school-based attacks from other forms of…

Considers the issue of predicting violence committed by students in school campuses through the use of school discipline indices such as office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Reviews the existing research in incidents of school discipline markers as well as sources of variation due to student characteristics and classroom or school-wide…