School violence encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting and corporal punishment; psychological violence, including verbal abuse; sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment; many forms of bullying, including cyberbullying; and carrying weapons in school.[1] It is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved. It includes violence between school students as well as physical attacks by students on school staff.

Introduction

Other than the home, schools are perhaps the single most important places for the overall development of children and youth. Schools promote social-emotional well-being and cognitive development necessary for success throughout the lifespan. Schools also provide opportunities for social mobility and encourage participation in a democratic society (Labaree, 1997). Being safe at school allows teachers, staff, and students to work together to reach academic milestones and develop social and emotional skills. Indeed, school safety is a prerequisite for staff and students to be able to engage in educational activities. A major focus of school personnel, then, is to promote safety and prevent violence in schools (Berkowitz, De Pedro, Couture, & Benbenishty, 2014; Cawood, 2013; Dupper, 2010; Gilreath, Astor, Estrada, Benbenishty, & Unger, 2014; Goodemann, Zammitt, & Hagerdorn, 2012; Johnson, Burke, & Gielen, 2012; Pitner, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2015; Pitner, Marachi, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2015).

School personnel, including teachers, administrators, counselors and social workers, can work together to shape and implement policy, interventions, and procedures that make schools safer (e.g., Astor, Capp, Moore, & Benbenishty, 2015; Astor, Guerra, & Van Acker, 2010; Benbenishty & Astor, 2005; Benbenishty & Astor, 2012a; Benbenishty & Astor, 2012b; Schiff et al., 2010; Schiff et al., 2012). School staff must therefore be aware of current empirical and theoretical issues surrounding school violence and of available effective school violence programs. This article presents an overview of a systematic approach to monitoring the needs and activities at schools that facilitate the adoption of a "whole-school" approach to school safety and the prevention of violence. Information about evidence-based programs (EBPs) or interventions is presented, along with examples of how systematic monitoring can help educators and other school personnel make school-wide decisions and changes.

Bullying

Bullying is characterised by aggressive behaviour that involves unwanted, negative actions, is repeated over time, and an imbalance of power or strength between the perpetrator or perpetrators and the victim.[2]

Different types of bullying include physical, psychological, sexual and cyberbullying.[2]

• Physical bullying includes repeated aggression such as being hit, hurt, kicked, pushed, shoved around or locked indoors, having things stolen, having personal belongings taken away or destroyed, or being forced to do things. It is different from other forms of physical violence such as physical fights and physical attacks.

• Psychological bullying includes verbal abuse, emotional abuse and social exclusion and refers to being called mean names, being teased in an unpleasant way, being left out of activities on purpose, excluded or completely ignored, and being the subject of lies or nasty rumours.

• Sexual bullying refers to being made fun of with sexual jokes, comments or gestures.

• Cyberbullying includes being bullied by messages, i.e. someone sending mean instant messages, postings, emails and text messages or creating a website that makes fun of a student or by pictures, i.e. someone taking and posting online unflattering or inappropriate pictures of a student without permission; it also refers to being treated in a hurtful or nasty way by mobile phones (texts, calls, video clips) or online (email, instant messaging, social networking, chatrooms) and online hurtful behaviour.[2]

School Safety, Bullying, and Violence

Recently, public attention in many countries has focused on lethal and tragic school shootings. These events dominate discussions about violence in schools and sometimes motivate drastic action relating to school safety. Events at places such as Sandy Hook and Columbine have become part of our cultural lexicon and both led to major changes in legislation and policies at many levels. Clearly, these are frightening and impactful events. However, bullying and victimization in schools are more common types of school violence. Defined as repeated psychological or physical oppression of a less powerful person by a more powerful person (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011), bullying has significant negative long-term and short-term effects on students, teachers, and schools. Extant literature suggests that beyond the obvious and immediate pain and suffering that accompany incidences of bullying, victims may experience psychological, behavioral, and somatic outcomes. These can include difficulty sleeping, abdominal pain, headaches, substance use, depression, loneliness, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, decreased academic performance, and school attendance (e.g., Espelage & Swearer, 2003; Schneider, O'Donnell, Stueve, & Coulter, 2012). The link with depression may be especially powerful, as some research suggests that the probability of being depressed long after leaving school (up to 36 years later) was much higher for children who were bullied at school compared to those who were not (Ttofi, Farrington, Losel, & Loeber, 2011); this effect likely occurs before students leave school as well, as students who were bullied were more likely to be depressed even after controlling for other risk factors. Cyberbulling presents equally negative results and victims of these interactions also experience multiple negative outcomes (Cassidy, Faucher, & Jackson, 2013).

It is important to acknowledge that students are not the only ones in schools who may experience bullying and victimization. Teachers and staff also experience victimization (Astor, Behre, Wallace, & Fravil, 1998; Espelage et al., 2013; Reddy et al., 2013; Ziera, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2004). In a recent national study of teachers, 80% reported being victimized in the last two years, and 94% of these reports indicated staff were bullied by students (McMahon et al., 2014). This same study indicated that teachers reported being victimized by two primary groups of perpetrators-students and parents.

School shootings and suicides are two rare, extreme, and highly publicized potential outcomes of school victimization. Teachers, administrators, social workers, school counselors, and other staff are also aware of other kinds of violence and victimization that occur in schools but do not necessarily follow the above definition of bullying, or do not result in fatalities. Many other behaviors also fall into the category of school violence or victimization and have a powerful and negative impact on students, staff, and schools, including bringing weapons to school, sexual harassment and assault, threatening students and staff, and social exclusion, either in person or through online platforms (Benbenishty & Astor, 2005; Benbenishty, Astor, & Estrada, 2008). Thus, the promotion of school safety and violence prevention needs to address a range of challenges for a variety of school stakeholders.

Definitions of school violence have varied in recent years. In this chapter, our definition reflects a consensus among researchers that school violence includes a range of intentional behaviors that aim to harm others on or around school grounds (Astor, Benbenishty, & Estrada, 2009; Pitner, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2015). We are also guided by a recent American Educational Research Association (AERA) position that bullying is "part of the larger phenomenon of violence in schools" (AERA, 2013). While bullying and other forms of school violence are generally results of individual behaviors, the effects of violence reach outward into schools and surrounding communities.

Socio-ecological Approach to School Violence

Programs that aim to prevent violence are largely predicated on understanding causes, risks, and protective factors that are connected to violence in schools. Bullying and violence in schools have frequently been explained by theories focused on interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics (Hudley Britsch, Wakefield, Demorat, & Cho, 1998; Rocque, 2012). These theories depend on understanding how and why individuals engage in particular behaviors or respond in certain ways. However, other theories have emerged that utilize a socio-ecological approach to understand school violence (Benbenishty & Astor, 2005; Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Easton, & Luppescu, 2010; Espelage, 2014). These socio-ecological theories are important for understanding influences within the school and outside of the school. School organization and decision making are increasingly recognized as key factors that help schools cope with violence (e.g., Astor, Meyer, Behre, 1999). In some schools, readiness for change and a willingness to learn are low (Berkowitz, Bowen, Benbenishty, & Powers, 2013, Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, & Higgins-D'Alessandro, 2013). In other schools, strong leadership helps to deal with external influences, including neighborhood poverty, crime, and oppression (Astor, Benbenishty, & Estrada, 2009).

Socio-ecological models of school violence integrate both external factors and internal characteristics and dynamics of schools. These models acknowledge that schools are nested within a community and a district, and each district is nested within a larger region, county, state, and country. Each of these ecological layers exerts some influence on the school, whether it be cultural, religious, or political influence. All of this creates a complex picture that must be understood to appropriately and effectively address school violence and victimization. This ecological understanding of a "school in context" allows school staff to consider what might be shared by schools in a particular context and what might be unique to individual schools (Benbenishty & Astor, 2012a, Benbenishty & Astor, 2012b). This model of a school in context also assumes that the individual behaviors of students, parents, teachers and other staff members contribute to the overall safety of a school (Benbenishty & Astor, 2005). In addition, the surrounding community is connected to schools in this model; violence that occurs in a school, for instance, may impact the surrounding community and may also occur in the surrounding community.

Fostering an ecological perspective is especially important for school staff who are planning interventions; this allows planning an intervention to include multiple constituents (e.g., students, teachers, administrators, etc.) and to address environmental or structural changes to make schools safer. For example, knowing the times and places at a particular school that are vulnerable to violence allows school leaders and personnel to develop an intervention focusing directly on the specific challenges faced by this school. Benbenishty and Astor (2012b) illustrate that interventions as simple as opening one more gate at the end of the school day, or placing a staff member at a bus station at a particular time of day, can prevent violence. In this example, the community is an important part of the school context, and interventions that address violence should not necessarily be restricted to school grounds.

Empirically Supported Prevention and Intervention Programs

This section presents examples of prevention and intervention programs that are available for schools. This is not a comprehensive list of all programs available, but we provide examples of commonly used and effective programs that help illustrate what an effective program can do for a school.

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Program

PATHS was designed to reduce aggression and problem behaviors and to promote social and emotional competence in grades K-5. Research and field testing has been in mainstream and special needs classes for students who are hearing-impaired, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, mildly intellectually delayed and gifted (see Riggs, Greenberg, Kusché, & Pentz, 2006). PATHS focuses on five domains of student functioning: (1) friendship skills and pro-social behavior; (2) self-control; (3) emotional understanding; (4) conflict resolution and communication; and (5) problem solving skills (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2011). Teachers and counselors receive training, lesson modules, and ongoing consultation. PATHS also provides information and activities for parents to review and complete with their children.

Five conceptual models provide the foundation for PATHS (Greenberg, Kusché, & Mihalic, 1998). The first conceptual model, affective-behavioral-cognitive-dynamic (ABCD), informs developmentally appropriate skill building. The second model, an eco-behavioral system perspective, focuses on allowing the teacher to use these skills in building a healthy classroom atmosphere. The third model emphasizes the importance of neurobiology and brain organization for understanding development. The fourth model is influenced by developmental psychodynamic theory. Finally, the fifth model is based on psychological concepts of emotional awareness or emotional intelligence. These conceptual models are used in concert in the PATHS curriculum to create a comprehensive and developmentally appropriate program that addresses students' cognition, emotion, and behavior.

Research from at least six groups across the nation has demonstrated that PATHS is a model or effective program for violence prevention. Results showed decreases in aggressive behavior, conduct problems, violent responses to social problems, and increases in emotionally expressive vocabulary, self-control, frustration tolerance, conflict-resolution strategies, and cognitive skills (SAMHSA Model Programs, 2003). These findings are based on teacher reports, student self-reports, and child assessments and interviews. PATHS is one of the highest-rated social-emotional learning programs, and is recognized internationally because of the strong evidence base, theoretical foundation and ease of implementation. Both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention have also recognized PATHS for its effectiveness.

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)

OBPP is another school-wide, comprehensive program designed to reduce and prevent bullying in grades 1 through 9. This EBP has been translated into more than 12 languages, implemented in more than 15 countries, and is based on a systematic restructuring of a school environment. This restructuring redirects bullying behavior and rewards pro-social behaviors. The conceptual framework for this intervention is based on research on the development and modification of aggressive behavior, as well as positive child-rearing dimensions (Olweus & Limber, 2010a). The goal of OBPP is to structure a school environment where adults are engaged, caring, set limits regarding unacceptable behavior and provide negative consequences for violence, and where adults act as authorities and positive role models (Limber, 2012).

The success of OBPP is largely due to the integration of these principles into the school environment. Students and adults participate in nearly all the program's components, which means that the success of this program does not rest on a few individuals in the school. Through their involvement, and through assessments of the school, staff and parents should become aware of the extent that bullying is present in their school and understand the significance of bullying and resulting harm, as well as being active in enforcing rules and discouraging bullying behavior (Olweus & Limber, 2010a). In many cultures, schools implementing this program have observed significant reductions in bullying, including fighting, vandalism, truancy, and theft. Beyond these reductions, student reports indicate improvements in order and discipline, attitudes toward school and school work, and social relationships (Limber, 2012; Olweus & Limber, 2010a).