^®

The safety of our children and increasing
student achievement scores,
is there anything more important?  

Issue:
Reaction versus Prevention
In light of the school violence in our country, one thing is becoming painfully clear: so far, we have only reacted to aggression in our schools. . . and that hasn't worked.  This fact continues to be reinforced by the discovery of other "Columbine look-alike" scares which perpetrate violence against students and teachers around our nation.

If our responsibility is the safety of those in our schools, is it not essential that we prevent hazard rather than react to it? If all we intend to do is to react to aggression, we will eventually be confronted with physical violence.  

Liability in Schools
As we enter into the 21^st Century we need a paradigm shift; a shift from reacting to aggression and violence to a Paradigm of Prevention. Davis vs. Monroe County Board of Education, has profoundly changed the way schools must look at their liability.  The US Supreme Court found in favor of a private damages action against a school board in the case of student-on-student harassment. The US Supreme Court, of course, preempts any protection under state's sovereign immunity.

Higher Student Achievement Scores
ETS - Educational Testing Service has confirmed that there is a direct link between the amount of aggression in schools and student achievement scores in all four subject areas: math, reading, science and social science. We are working with Clemson University’s National Dropout Prevent Center and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Mississippi Safe School Center on a grant titled: Investigating the impacts of Aggression Management® Skills on Student Academic Achievement.

Development:
There really is a way to prevent aggression in our schools. School Districts around the Nation are utilizing Aggression Management^® Training to diminish aggression in their schools. Diminished aggression in the schools not only saves lives but also yields higher student achievement scores.

As we look at conventional means of managing aggression, we see topics like Conflict Resolution and Anger Management. Conflict Resolution presupposes conflict; you are already reacting, you are already past any opportunity to prevent aggression. If we only train our staff and teachers to respond when two individuals are in conflict (nose-to-nose) eventually we will get someone who does not communicate verbally but instead communicates physically and "out of nowhere" strikes out.  God forbid the aggressor has a weapon and he pulls the trigger.  Anger Management does not adhere to the predicate of prevention: if you can measure it, you can manage it.  The problem with Anger Management is that we all measure anger differently and therefore experience and express it differently.  There is no common denominator for us to measure anger.

There really is a way to prevent aggression and violence in our schools. You must first identify the emergence of aggression, an then measure and manage it before it becomes conflict.  The Center for Aggression Management^® has developed the Aggression Continuum™ which provides a means to measure the emergence and escalation of aggression in others and in ourselves.  Aggression Management^® Skills in schools can not only save lives but also yield higher student achievement scores.

More insight:
Since 1993, I have conducted a continuous study into the nature of aggression in humans and have concluded that one cannot get to prevention through the word “Violence.” Typically, violence conjures up fatality and physical assault; which causes two problems.   First, those who have not experienced or witnessed violence for themselves may consider it a non-issue, at least until violence actually occurs.  Second, when looking for a solution to Violence, we tend to come up with Crisis Management – “I have a crisis and I need to manage it!”   This is reactionary only!  We, therefore, cannot get to prevention if we focus on the word violence. 

The Center for Aggression Management^® has been helping school systems ––- as well as businesses and government entities (including the United States Postal Service) –– learn these vital skills –– skills that can save lives. We have conducted two workshops for the National School Boards Association at their annual conferences in San Francisco and Orlando, where responses were overwhelming positive. We have worked with organizations like Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund, New Jersey School Board Association Insurance Group, Mississippi Safe Schools Center, The National Dropout Prevention Center, The Southeast Equity Center and many others which support and recommend Aggression Management^® Skills.

Can we solve this problem with Metal Detectors?

According to the National School Safety Center's Report on School Associated Violent Death: 69% of school related deaths occurred outside of the actual school building.  Metal detectors would have been useless in these deaths!

Can we identify a School Shooter through profiling?

U.S. Secret Service and US Department of Education's Report Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools ~ October 25, 2000:  1) There is no accurate or useful profile of the school shooter.  2)  Knowing characteristics of such assailants does not advance the appraisal of risk.  3)  Instead, an inquiry should focus on students behaviors and communications to determine if the student appears to be planning or preparing for an attack. (Student behavior, body language and communication are the foundation of our Aggression Management^® Skills.)

Was Columbine an Anomaly?

Prevention  

Prevention is available to us but it requires a Paradigm Shift. Below is a brief summary of the skills that encompass Aggression Management^® Training.

The Paradigm of Prevention:

2000 REPORT CARD: REPORT #1
The Ethics of American Youth
Violence and Substance Abuse: Press Release