Building Capacity in Military-Connected Schools

Teaching students how to be Peacemakers

http://nrepp.samhsa.gov

Goals:To teach students constructive ways to deal with conflict and give them conflict resolution skills.

Target Outcome:Students with skills to prevent conflict and to reduce its negative effects.

Target Populations:

• Kindergarten through 9th grade
• Faculty and staff members

Problem:Violence in schools.

Personnel:

Intervention:

• Twenty 30 minute lessons
  • Four lessons on the nature of conflict and its potential constructive outcomes
  • Eight lessons on how to engage in problem solving negotiations
  • Eight lessons on how to mediate schoolmates’ conflicts
  • Each lesson has two different student mediators
• Individual:
  • Classroom curricula designed to motivate pro health decisions and skills; life skill training and values clarification and antiviolence models
• School:
  • Classroom based skill development; creating supportive school communities
• Peer:
  • Two peer mediators are chosen for each lesson, alternating students so each has a turn.

Setting:

• Rural, Urban, Suburban

Resources:

• $5000 to $10,000
• Training: $1000 a day for 5 days with one trainer
• Materials:
  • Training manual: $32
  • Student manual: $12
  • Video: $30
  • Audio Cassette Tape: $12

Results:

• 62% of program students reached ideal problem solving constructive solution
• 29% of students viewed conflicts positively
• 90% of students recalled 100% of negotiation training the next day
• 75% of students recalled 100% of training a year after the program
• Program students use conflict resolution strategies in non classroom and non school settings
• Increased academic achievement and long term retention of academic material
• Students resolve conflicts without faculty reducing classroom problems