School Violence and Adolescent Suicide: strategies for effective intervention

The public school system in the United States has always presented itself as representing the hallmarks of vital socialization, equality in education, hope for the future and sense of community. This picture has changed drastically in the past 20 years. Chaos seems to be replacing community. This fact is only too apparent when we read recent accounts of the tragedies that have unfolded in the past 3 years in Pearl, Mississippi, West Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Springfield, Oregon or Littleton, Colorado. As a result of the deteriorating social environment and a significant growing fiscal crisis faced by our nation’s schools,children are encountering substantial hurdles on their journey toward responsible adulthood. Two current trends, which are negatively affecting students’ educational experience and quality of life are violence and suicide. Juvenile violence and suicide are becoming increasingly commonplace across the United States. In 1994, an average of one young person aged 24 and younger killed themselves every 1 hour and 39.6 minutes. The number of incidents of violence and the severity of these acts have also dramatically increased over the past 5 to7 years. This article addresses the causes and strategies for prevention of school violence and adolescent suicide and delineates a holistic integrated prevention model

The Enemy Within: A National Study on School Violence and Prevention

This study investigated teacher, district, and site administrators\u27 perceptions of school violence and violence prevention programs in 15 school districts of various sizes in 12 states located across the United States. The study focused on: (a) school personnel fears about violence, (b) frequency of school personnel as victims of violent actions over the past 2 years, (c) areas in the school environment that pose the greatest risk of violence for students or school personnel (d) profiles of typical victims and perpetrators of violence, (e) strategies implemented by schools to deal with violence, (f) perceptions regarding which strategies were considered to be the most and least effective in dealing with violence, and (g) the cost to school districts for violence prevention. The study concluded by providing a suggested plan of action to remediate and reduce violence in schools

Bottom Half of the Pool: Who is Admitted to Teacher Education?

This study investigated the criteria for admission to teacher education at 50 NCATE accredited undergraduate universities. These universities varied in geographical location, public and private affiliation and size of student enrollment. The study analyzed and evaluated admission criteria in light of recent educational reforms that call for higher standards and more qualified candidates in order to ascertain whether the universities had actually implemented more demanding performance based criteria for teacher candidate selection. Based on the findings, the study identified the absence of standardized admission criteria and consistent policies of ongoing assessment. It proposed a balanced integration of both performance based admission criteria as well as continual evaluation of program goals in the admission and education of preservice teachers