1. The effort to reduce violence cannot be limited to an
isolated curriculum or program. The violence prevention effort
must involve intensive relationship development. It must
emphasize the importance of modeling by adults in the school and
the community. It must be integrated with discipline education
and include a systemic look at the influences on violence.
2. The effort to reduce violence will depend on the training
of key adults. Teacher, administrator, parent, and community
leader training should parallel student training and prepare the
adults to serve as models, mentors, and reinforcers of the
school curriculum. The adult training should include
intervention strategies, resource awareness, resource
availability, ideas for modeling through application of
authority, and legal responsibilities.
3. The curriculum needed will begin in preschool. The
curriculum should include: character education with locally
determined traits, conflict resolution, problem-solving,
prejudice reduction, cultural diversity, sexual harassment
reduction, gang awareness, negative consequences of gang
involvement, activities to foster a sense of belonging at
school, interpreting body language and early indicators of
anger, practical options for dealing with anger, the law and
legal consequences of violent behavior, dealing with abuse, the
relationship of alcohol and drug abuse to violence, and media
literacy.
4. Instruction strategies should be: integrated, hands-on,
research-based, and skills-based.
5. Instruction strategies should use: multi-age grouping,
peer mentoring/tutoring, role play, individual/group problem
solving, and current events.
6. The program will address three levels of prevention.
Primary prevention will be provided to the general population.
Secondary prevention is designed for youths at risk of
involvement in violent behavior and focuses on resiliency
factors. Tertiary prevention is for youths who are already
behaving violently and is aimed at preventing further
deterioration. Tertiary prevention is aided by early detection.
