Research to action: 5 must read bullying research briefs

A recent post by danah boyd, social media researcher announced some new resources in the effort to combat bullying, created for the new Born This Way Foundation, created by Lady Gaga and her mother.

“The Foundation wants to create a kinder, braver world so that youth can be the change-agents that we all need them to be. For youth to be empowered, the Foundation recognizes that 1) youth need to be safe; 2) youth need to have skills; and 3) youth need to have opportunities.”

danah, along with many other notable folks, are working with the new foundation. In her post, she announced a working paper series, starting with five new resources that synthesize research for the Foundation – and help schools and communities easily get the best, accessible advice to inform their local efforts. Best of all, the foundation and these working papers emphasize that youth empowerment needs to be a main focus for these efforts. This kind of insight and commitment is admirable – this is NOT a feel-good celebrity cause for the cameras.

This working paper series offer practical, ground-level resources based on the best available research. The first five documents are:

They are looking for comments and feedback on these documents –  send them to kbw-feedback@cyber.law.harvard.edu

Sylvia

The importance of addressing bullying as part of the learning mission of school

Everyone agrees that school bullying is a problem that should be dealt with, but there is little agreement on how exactly to do it. (Or even if it’s actually happening, see yesterday’s post Survey reveals disconnect in online safety education.) With the advent of new forms of digital agression, schools are having to figure out ways to add those to their prevention programs, even when it’s not always clear what the law is or what societal norms are.

Most people who work in or with schools agree that schools do not change quickly, and adding a few “lessons” on cyberbullying will often have no impact. Many schools won’t even get around to doing anything until a crisis occurs. No matter how much everyone agrees that addressing behavior and citizenship is a whole-school, full-time concern, it gets short shrift on the long to-do list of what school is supposed to provide.

In fact, cyberbullying should not be addressed as a separate issue, it should be integrated with a whole-school, perhaps whole-community approach to bullying and citizenship.

In that light, I found this policy and practice brief, Embedding Bullying Interventions into a Comprehensive System of Student and Learning Supports (PDF) to be very enlightening. It speaks to all these points, and more.

In it, the researchers argue for a move from the traditional view of bullying prevention as an add-on to the school mission, but to address it as a fully integrated component of providing a fully functioning learning environment. They make the case for addressing barriers to learning not as a separate set of programs (such as traditional “bullying prevention”) but as a fully recognized component of the learning mission of the school.

The time has come to move away from stand-alone programs for addressing problems such as bullying and other specific types of problems manifested by students. Such programs add to the marginalized, fragmented, and piecemeal approach to student and learning supports that has dominated schools for far too long. Rather than pursuing one more discrete program focused on a specific concern, it is essential to use each concern that rises to a high policy level as an opportunity to catalyze and leverage systemic change. The aim should be to take another step toward transforming how schools go about ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at school. To this end, it is time to develop a comprehensive system of interventions for addressing the full range of barriers to learning and teaching and for re-engaging disconnected students. Such a system is needed to coalesce an intervention continuum ranging from programs for primary prevention (including the promotion of mental health) and early-age intervention — through those for addressing problems soon after onset – on to treatments for severe and chronic problems.

Addressing barriers to learning and teaching and reengaging disconnected students is a school improvement imperative. Developing and implementing a comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive system of student and learning supports is the next evolutionary stage in meeting this imperative. It is the missing component in efforts to close the achievement gap, enhance school safety, reduce dropout rates, shut down the pipeline from schools to prisons, and promote well-being and social justice.

The time has come to move away from stand-alone programs for addressing problems such as bullying and other specific types of problems manifested by students. Such programs add to the marginalized, fragmented, and piecemeal approach to student and learning supports that has dominated schools for far too long. Rather than pursuing one more discrete program focused on a specific concern, it is essential to use each concern that rises to a high policy level as an opportunity to catalyze and leverage systemic change. The aim should be to take another step toward transforming how schools go about ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at school. To this end, it is time to develop a comprehensive system of interventions for addressing the full range of barriers to learning and teaching and for re-engaging disconnected students. Such a system is needed to coalesce an intervention continuum ranging from programs for primary prevention (including the promotion of mental health) and early-age intervention — through those for addressing problems soon after onset – on to treatments for severe and chronic problems.

Addressing barriers to learning and teaching and reengaging disconnected students is a school improvement imperative. Developing and implementing a comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive system of student and learning supports is the next evolutionary stage in meeting this imperative. It is the missing component in efforts to close the achievement gap, enhance school safety, reduce dropout rates, shut down the pipeline from schools to prisons, and promote well-being and social justice.”

Conclusion from Embedding Bullying Interventions into a Comprehensive System of Student and Learning Supports (PDF) from the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA

Sylvia

Youth Risk Online – Why Engage Youth in Bullying Prevention?

A prevalent view of education is that young people are empty vessels and schools simply open up their heads and pour in knowledge. Unfortunately this is a vision of education that is not serving us well in the 21st century. For a few students, this clearly works, but for many, this is a futile effort — made worse by an increasing focus on testing a few subjects at the expense of high-interest subjects like art and music.

By looking at students as objects to be changed, we lose many opportunities for students to be agents of change. Our society needs change agents — people who care about others, citizens, voters, creative imaginers and leaders. Where will they come from if we don’t allow young people to explore these roles?

Bullying prevention is an opportunity to engage youth in becoming change agents for an important cause, one that impacts them directly. However, lecturing them about rules or organizing pep rallies for kindness misses the mark.

To truly engage youth in bullying prevention, we must take the risk of turning some of the power over to them and allow them to be part of the solution. For example, some students can create their own presentations about bullying or participate in peer mediation. Students listen to other students much more about these subjects than adults, and identify information from peers as more truthful. Involving youth in solutions where they DO something important allows adults to steer youth towards the right answers and good behavior, instead of just lecturing. As adults and youth work together, learning and teaching merge, and youth find new empathy for others.

This kind of engagement requires long-term commitments and caring adults with talent in youth development. However, it pays off when youth develop real skills, compassion, and responsibility.

——————–

Next week I’ll be in Seattle presenting as part of a day-long pre-conference panel on Youth Risk Online: Issues and Solutions at the International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA) November 15-17 in Seattle, Washington. I was asked to contribute 300 words to a handout for the participants and thought I’d share them here too!

Sylvia