Bulletin Boards |Calendar |About Us

Front page

Behavior Management

Conflict Resolution

Early Intervention

For Educators

For Families

Internet & Assistive Technology

Recreation & Sports

Specific Disabilities

State By State

Transition

Washington Watch

Site Map

"COLLABORATION" AND "PREVENTION" THEMES DOMINATE CECP MEETING

September 15, 1999

WASHINGTON -- As school violence and student alienation sometimes seem to dominate the nightly news and the front page of the local paper, several hundred representatives of state and local education organizations are meeting this week to discuss ways to work together toward change. The "Safe and Effective Schools for All Students: What Works" conference takes a "pay now rather than pay later" perspective, placing heavy emphasis on shifting the approach of student services from reaction and adjudication to early intervention and prevention.

Sponsored by the American Institutes of Research's Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice and the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Justice, the meeting is equal parts sharing success stories and pinpointing problems. At the end of the three-day meeting, attendees involved in a variety of student services, from special education to anti-violence campaigns to drug and alcohol awareness programs, will return home to apply in their communities the collaborative methods and positive ideas they have heard. In addition, the CECP plans to publish a list of attendees on its web site to help those at the conference remain in touch and give those who missed the conference new contacts.

The CECP and the three federal agencies designed the sessions to encourage collaboration among various agencies as the best way to use each group's funds and expertise. "This meeting is sponsored by all these federal agencies, but we don't have the solutions," said Tom Hanley, of the Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Teamwork among similar agencies at the state and local level, as well as among all three levels of government, is especially important, some attendees said, as funding for student services remains tight.

Research supports the need for collaborative approaches across health and human services, education, juvenile justice and other agencies in each community, according to J. David Hawkins, of the University of Washington's Social Development Research Group. Based on his studies of risk factors and preventive mechanisms impacting health and behavior problems in students, Hawkins said communities must attack both areas - reduce risk factors and increase positive supports for their children - to make any significant impact in those students' development. "If we want to be effective in preventing problems like violence in our schools, substance abuse among young people, school failure and dropouts," Hawkins said, "we need to attend to the risk factors and consider those as targets for prevention and intervention."

Such efforts must address behavior and attitudes toward children in the home, in the community, in school and among a student's peers. Hawkins identified 19 risk factors, including availability of drugs and firearms in the community, family history of the problem behavior and family conflict, academic failure in late elementary school and friends who engage in or approve of problem behavior, as key elements in determining a child's behavioral outcome. Positive supports, such as helping the student feel bonded to the school and the community, reinforcing pro-social activities and developing skills, can counteract some risk factors, he said. But the best solution is to try to reduce exposure to risk factors while improving supports to build a child's self-esteem and attitudes toward responsible behavior.

Tackling such a broad array at once must necessarily be a group effort, Hawkins said. "Strategies that are going to be effective in prevention are going to have to involve multiple components, focused on several of the predictors of problem behaviors," he said. Rarely does any behavior a child exhibits stem from just one negative influence. For example, a child who uses drugs or alcohol may have seen such abuse first demonstrated in the home, but the child's behavior may also be reinforced by an approving peer group or a school or community that does not foster a sense of belonging.8