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The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) is a universal, school-based intervention involving violence prevention and intergroup understanding. RCCP’s main goal is to change the mental processes and interpersonal behavioral strategies that lead children to engage in aggression and violence by teaching them constructive conflict resolution strategies and by promoting positive intergroup relations. Specific program objectives are to a) reduce violence and violence-related behavior, b) promote caring and cooperative behavior, c) teach students life skills in conflict resolution and intercultural understanding, and d) promote a positive climate for learning in the classroom and school.
These objectives are implanted through a curriculum taught by teachers who receive both initial training and ongoing coaching from RCCP staff. The intervention has two major components: 1) a 25-hour introductory training and coaching of teachers to support the implementation of the conflict resolution curriculum and intergroup understanding and 2) the delivery of the curriculum through classroom instruction. The RCCP curriculum aims to develop several core skills: countering bias, resolving conflicts, fostering cooperation, appreciating diversity, communicating clearly and listening carefully, and expressing feelings and dealing with anger. The lessons are organized into units based on these skills. Each lesson is designed to last from 30 minutes to 1 hour, allowing for considerable teacher flexibility. Presented in “workshop” format, the teacher’s role in the lessons is not to impart knowledge, but to facilitate student-directed discussions and learning.
Additional features of RCCP include peer mediation, principals’ training, and parent training. Through this multicomponent approach, RCCP aims to transform the cultures of classroom and schools, thereby providing children with an environment that contains real opportunities for both socioemotional learning and traditional learning.
This evaluation used a repeated-measure, quasi-experimental design with matched comparison groups. Data for this study was collected in fall and spring of the 1994–95 and 1995–96 school years. During the 1994–95 school year, RCCP was implemented in 112 of the 1,067 New York City public elementary, middle, and high schools. This evaluation concentrated on the children and teachers in 15 of these elementary schools across four New York City school districts. The elementary schools were initially divided into four groups on the basis of stage of intervention: nonintervention, the beginning stage of intervention, integration of some program components, and integration of all program components. To reduce possible confounds, the schools in each group were drawn equally from four major school districts within New York City. Groups of schools were chosen whose student race/ethnicities, poverty statuses, and school sizes were compatible both across districts and stages of RCCP evolution and that represented the public elementary school population in New York City.
All students in each of the 15 participating schools (excluding those mentally or physically challenged) were included in the study. On the basis of these criteria, 11,160 children participated in this study and had nonmissing data in at least one of the four data collection waves across the 2 evaluation years. The sample was 48 percent female, 40 percent black, 41 percent Hispanic, 14 percent white, and 5 percent “other” (including Native American and Asian-American). On key demographic factors, this sample of children resembled the larger population of children receiving RCCP. Data was also collected from 375 teachers in year 1 and 371 teachers in year 2 of the study. Overall, rates of participation within waves ranged from 75 percent to 84 percent for students and from 80 percent to 87 percent for teacher questionnaires.
Data for the most recent study was collected from four different sources. Data on exposure to the RCCP curriculum was extracted from years 1 and 2 of the management information system designed and operated by ESR Metro. Student demographic data was gathered from school information provided by the New York City Board of Education. Individual student developmental data was collected through child–teacher report assessments in both the fall and spring of the 2 consecutive school years. Child report data was collected by a multiracial field team using classroom-based group administration procedures during classroom periods, whereas teacher report data on children was collected from individual teachers at the end of each data collection.
The sociocognitive and interpersonal behavioral processes that lead to aggression (and to actual levels of aggressive behavior) generally increase during middle childhood. RCCP researchers were able to characterize average developmental trajectories of each targeted outcome across the middle school years. This strategy allowed researchers to identify the average pattern of change in each outcome that characterizes children ages 6 to 12 and then compare the averages with the RCCP treatment groups.
The evaluation results show that RCCP can significantly reduce the rate at which these problem processes and behaviors increase. In other words, higher levels of exposure to RCCP classroom instruction demonstrated positive changes among program participants in the socioemotional developmental trajectories and deflections from a path toward future aggression and violence. These findings are consistent for both child and teacher reports of children’s development. In addition, exposure to RCCP benefited all children regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or classroom and neighborhood context.
Aber, J. Lawrence, Joshua L. Brown, and Christopher C. Henrich. 1999. Teaching Conflict Resolution: An Effective School-Based Approach to Violence Prevention. New York, N.Y.: National Center for Children in Poverty.
Aber, J. Lawrence, Joshua L. Brown, Stephanie M. Jones. 2003. “Developmental Trajectories Toward Violence in Middle School Childhood: Course, Demographic Differences, and Response to School-Based Intervention.” Development and Psychology 39(2):324-48.
Aber, J. Lawrence, Stephanie M. Jones, Joshua L. Brown, Nina Chaudry, and Faith Samples. 1998. “Resolving Conflict Creatively: Evaluating the Developmental Effects of a School-Based Violence Prevention Program in Neighborhood and Classroom Context.” Development and Psychopathology 10:187–213.
Selfridge, Jennifer. 2004. “Resolving Conflict Creatively Program: How We Know It Works.” Theory Into Practice 43(1):59–66.
Larry Dieringer
Resolving Conflict Creatively Program
ESR National Center
23 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 492-1764
Fax: (617) 864-5164
E-mail: ldieringer@esrnational.org
Web site: http://www.esrnational.org
Lisa Morales, RCCP Program Director
Resolving Conflict Creatively Program
ESR National Center
23 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 492-1764
Fax: (617) 864-5164
E-mail: lmorales@esrnational.org
Web site: http://www.esrnational.org
