Administrative Response to Bullying in the Schools is it Working?

Abstract

Bullying has received a great deal of attention in the schools, in part due to the increased occurrence and visibility of school shootings since the 1990s. This presentation will discuss an ongoing research project to examine college students’ perceptions of how their high schools responded to bullying and school violence. Emphasis will be placed on perceived effectiveness of school prevention, intervention, and enforcement.

Are Current School
Policies Effective?

Kenneth Trump says anti-bullying legislation has created a false sense of hope and resolution of a complex problem. The laws require schools to have anti-bullying policies, but school policies already address those behaviors which would constitute bullying: Harassment, intimidation, extortion, assaults, threats, menacing, sexual assaults, etc. The anti-bullying laws are typically unfunded mandates requiring educators to spend more time doing paperwork to say they have anti-bullying practices instead of being in the hallways and cafeterias preventing bullying.

Predicting Teacher Interventions in Bullying Situations

Emerging evidence indicates that individual teacher responses to bullying may be an important area to be included in investigations of student’s bullying and victimization experiences. There is a great deal of variability among teachers in terms of their attitudes toward and perceptions of bullying

PA Bullying Law

HOUSE BILL No. 1067 Session of 2007

SECTION 1.  SECTION 111(B) AND (C.1) OF THE ACT OF MARCH 10, 1949 (P.L.30, NO.14), KNOWN AS THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949, AMENDED DECEMBER 19, 1990 (P.L.1362, NO.211) AND JULY 20, 2007…   (C)  IN ADDITION TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES SET FORTH UNDER  SUBSECTION (A), THE OFFICE IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE TARGETED  GRANTS TO SCHOOLS TO FUND PROGRAMS WHICH ADDRESS SCHOOL  VIOLENCE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE FOLLOWING  PROGRAMS:

(1)  CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR DISPUTE MANAGEMENT.

(2)  PEER HELPERS PROGRAMS.

(3)  RISK ASSESSMENT, SAFETY-RELATED OR VIOLENCE PREVENTION  CURRICULA.

(4)  CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.

(5)  STUDENT CODES OF CONDUCT.

(6)  TRAINING TO UNDERTAKE A DISTRICTWIDE ASSESSMENT OF RISK  FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS  AMONG STUDENTS.

(7)  DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH-BASED VIOLENCE  PREVENTION PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS RISK FACTORS TO REDUCE  INCIDENTS OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS AMONG STUDENTS INCLUDING,  BUT NOT LIMITED TO, BULLYING.  

(8)  COMPREHENSIVE, DISTRICTWIDE SCHOOL SAFETY AND VIOLENCE  PREVENTION PLANS.

(9)  SECURITY PLANNING, PURCHASE OF SECURITY-RELATED TECHNOLOGY 

(10)  INSTITUTION OF STUDENT, STAFF AND VISITOR IDENTIFICATION  SYSTEMS.

(11)  ESTABLISHMENT OR ENHANCEMENT OF SCHOOL SECURITY  PERSONNEL

(12)  PROVISION OF SPECIALIZED STAFF AND STUDENT TRAINING  PROGRAMS

(13)  ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE  XIX-C.

(14)  COUNSELING SERVICES FOR STUDENTS ENROLLED IN ALTERNATIVE  EDUCATION PROGRAMS.

Teacher’s Understanding of Bullying

Such factors include individual characteristics, social interactions, and cultural and ecological conditions. It follows, according to this ecological systemic framework, that bullying does not reside solely with the child who bullies or who is victimized. Rather, bullying unfolds in the social context of the peer group, the classroom, the school, the family and the larger community. A comprehensive framework therefore, becomes essential to investigate the various elements influencing bullying.

It was found that most of the teachers considered physical assaults and threats to be bullying; however, a significant proportion did not view behaviors such as exclusion or name-calling bullying.

There had been large differences between one study in which the teachers had thought they responded to bulling 85% of the time, but when children were asked this same question they answered that only 35%percent of the time they felt the teachers handled it and in a great deal of circumstance, the teachers were the bullies

My Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that the current anti-bullying and anti-violence programs in schools are not enough to effectively deal with what students are actually going through in regard to bullying and violence. There needs to be more done in regard to protecting our children.

My Study

In this study I surveyed 64 college students in order to gain information on their feelings concerning their past experiences with bullying during their time in high school and anti-bullying policies implemented by their schools.  Results are expected to enhance the understanding of the perceived effectiveness of school anti-bullying programs and procedures.

Methodology

Purpose/Problem to be investigated: Are current anti-bullying/anti-violence laws truly effective in their approaches and punishments of the offender to create safer schools.

Experimental Design: In the implementation of the surveys that will be given to the students of Gwynedd, I hope to gain an insight into how the student felt bullying/violence was dealt with in their high school and did the students think it was an appropriate measure.

Subject Recruitment: By asking professors of Gwynedd to allow me access into their classroom for a specific time period to ask for student volunteers to participate in my study.

Teachers Examples

New Jersey Teacher Caught Bullying Special Needs Student

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOqA6PtRaw

Teachers caught on tape bullying special-needs girl Parents sent her to school wearing hidden recording device: ‘We were shocked’

What I found

During my study and in compiling my surveys I truly thought I would learn more about what individuals had thought about bullying. But what I had found out primarily was that the numbers were scattered and the same statements were being repeated, mainly that bullying is a big issue and they feel as though it will never go away and they do not know how it could.

What I Think

If we look at bullying as a problem just like that of any other unwanted issue, than I think it would be much easier to deal with. Just as Kenneth Trump had said, we need to remove all of the unnecessary paperwork that keeps these teachers from doing the job that they were hired to do, that was to take care of our children, not to write in a piece of paper how they plan on doing it.