Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools
The Department of Education and Department of Justice, with many experts
in the fields of education, law enforcement and mental health, have developed
a guide to help school personnel, parents, community members and others
to prevent and respond to potentially dangerous student behavior. The
full text of this public domain publication is available at The
Department of Education.
The guide presents a brief summary of the research on violence prevention
and intervention and crisis response in schools. It tells school communities:
What to look for - the early warning signs that relate to violence and
other troubling behaviors.
What to do - the action steps that school communities can take to prevent
violence and other troubling behaviors, to intervene and get help for
troubled children, and to respond to school violence when it occurs.
Sections in this guide include:
Introduction. All staff, students, parents,
and members of the community must be part of creating a safe school
environment. Schools must have in place approaches for addressing the
needs of all children who have troubling behaviors. This section describes
the rationale for the guide and suggests how it can be used by school
communities to develop a plan of action.
Characteristics of a School That Is Safe and
Responsive to All Children. Well functioning schools foster learning,
safety, and socially appropriate behaviors. They have a strong academic
focus and support students in achieving high standards, foster positive
relationships between school staff and students, and promote meaningful
parental and community involvement. This section describes characteristics
of schools that support prevention, appropriate intervention, and effective
crisis response.
Early Warning Signs. There are early warning
signs that, when viewed in context, can signal a troubled child. Educators
and parents and in some cases, students can use several significant
principles to ensure that the early warning signs are not misinterpreted.
This section presents early warning signs, imminent warning signs, and
the principles that ensure these signs will not be misinterpreted. It
concludes with a brief description of using the early warning signs
to shape intervention practices.
Getting Help for Troubled Children. Effective
interventions for improving the behavior of troubled children are well
documented in the research literature. This section presents research-
and expert-based principles that should provide the foundation for all
intervention development. It describes what to do when intervening early
with students who are at risk for behavioral problems, when responding
with intensive interventions for individual children, and when providing
a foundation to prevent and reduce violent behavior.
Developing a Prevention and Response Plan.
Effective schools create a violence prevention and response plan and
form a team that can ensure it is implemented. They use approaches and
strategies based on research about what works. This section offers suggestions
for developing such plans.
Responding to Crisis. Effective and safe
schools are well prepared for any potential crisis or violent act. This
section describes what to do when intervening during a crisis to ensure
safety and when responding in the aftermath of crisis. The principles
that underlie effective crisis response are included.
Conclusion. This section summarizes the
guide.
Methodology, Contributors, and Research Support.
This guide synthesizes an extensive knowledge base on violence and violence
prevention. This section describes the rigorous development and review
process that was used. It also provides information about the project's
Web site.