Chapter 1:
Introduction

Schools are almost always safe places. Even so, recent school shootings created a widespread demand to improve school safety. In 1998, President Clinton directed the departments of Education and Justice to develop a guide to help "adults reach out to troubled children, quickly and effectively." The result was Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools (also called the Early Warning Guide). Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Education Richard Riley said the guide "should be seen as part of an overall effort to make sure that every school in this nation has a comprehensive violence prevention plan in place." (Early Warning Guide, p i.).

The Early Warning Guide has been copied, downloaded, reprinted, and distributed to agencies, organizations, and every school across the nation. The Early Warning Guide is a good example of effective collaboration between federal agencies, national associations, and researchers from various disciplines, as well as practitioners, family members, and youth. Hundreds of people worked together to design, develop, review, and disseminate the research-based and practice-validated Early Warning Guide. In fact, the Early Warning Guide was so well-received that the departments of Education and Justice decided to develop a companion piece--Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide (or the Action Guide).

The purpose of this Action Guide is to help schools develop and implement a comprehensive violence prevention plan grounded in the principles of the Early Warning Guide. This Action Guide is based on evidence-based practices. Effective action plans are strategic, coordinated, and comprehensive. They involve schoolwide prevention, early intervention, and intensive services for students with significant emotional or behavioral needs, including those with disruptive, destructive, or violent behaviors.

Prevention, early intervention, and intensive services can reduce violence and other troubling behaviors in schools. Understanding the causes of violence and knowledge of evidence-based practices can help schools identify and address warning signs early so children can get the help they need before it is too late. The most promising prevention and intervention strategies extend beyond the schoolhouse door; they include administrators, teachers, families, students, support staff, and community agency staff. Everyone's support is important to safeguard our children.

Schools that have comprehensive violence prevention and response plans in place, plus teams to design and implement those plans, report the following positive results:

• Improved academics.

• Reduced disciplinary referrals and suspensions.

• Improved school climate that is more conducive to learning.

• Better staff morale.

• More efficient use of human and financial resources.

• Enhanced safety.

Overview of the Action Guide

School violence occurs in a unique context in every school, making a one-size-fits-all approach ineffective. This Action Guide helps schools develop and carry out a violence prevention and response plan that can be customized to fit each school's particular strengths. The plan includes the following:

* Identifying and understanding the problem of school violence and its relationship to school climate.

* Building a schoolwide foundation that prevents most problems from occurring.

* Recognizing, reporting, and using the early warning signs effectively.

* Developing interventions to respond to students with troubling behaviors.

Building a comprehensive plan takes time and requires input from students, staff, agencies, families, and other community members. This Action Guide presents strategies that schools have used successfully to create and implement these plans. The Action Guide provides examples of sound practices and programs and offers suggestions on what to look for and what to do.

A Comprehensive Three-Level Approach to Prevention

Research on safe schools demonstrates that a comprehensive three-level approach to prevention is the most efficient and cost-effective way to reduce the risk of violence.

Schoolwide Foundation

An effective schoolwide foundation is designed to improve the academic performance and behavior of all children. The schoolwide foundation includes the following:

• Compassionate, caring, respectful staff who model appropriate behaviors, create a climate of emotional support, and are committed to working with all students.

• Developmentally appropriate programs for all children that teach and reinforce social and problem-solving skills.

• Teachers and staff who are trained to support positive school and classroom behaviors.

• Engaging curricula and effective teaching practices.

• Child- and family-focused, culturally competent approaches.

• Collaborative relationships with families, agencies, and community organizations.

These approaches alone are sufficient for most students' needs, but they will not address fully the needs of all students. However, an effective foundation makes it easier to identify students who require additional interventions and increases the effectiveness of all interventions--both early and intensive. Chapter 2 describes the schoolwide foundation.

Early Intervention

Early intervention is necessary for those students who are at risk of academic failure or behavior problems. Early intervention, along with an appropriate foundation, is sufficient for almost all students. Chapter 3 describes early intervention and how it can be used to respond to early warning signs.

Intensive Interventions

Intensive interventions are necessary for those students whose needs cannot be fully addressed by early intervention. Intensive interventions should always be individualized to a student's needs and strengths. These interventions often involve multiple coordinated services, such as individualized special education services or interagency wraparound supports. Chapter 4 describes intensive interventions.

Safe Schools Combine All Three Levels

For a school to be safe for all children, all three levels must be in place. A school that builds a schoolwide foundation will still fail if it ignores the needs of children at risk of severe academic or behavioral problems or children who are seriously troubled. In most schools, a schoolwide foundation will meet the needs of most students, while early intervention will address the needs of most of the other students. Individualized intensive interventions will be needed for a relatively small number of students.

Safe Schools Employ Teams Efficiently and Effectively

Each day, school personnel make important decisions about how to implement the best educational program for the entire school and how to provide the best education possible for specific students who may be experiencing difficulties.

Effective schools usually form a small number of teams composed of professionals and support personnel who are responsible for these decisions. This Action Guide recommends that schools employ two teams: one that addresses overall school performance and another that addresses individual student problems. These teams are integral to creating and implementing a comprehensive plan for safe and effective schools. A minimum of three people--the principal, a teacher, and a mental health specialist--should serve on both teams. This Action Guide will refer to the first team as the Schoolwide Team, and the second as the Student Support Team.

Although schools may use other titles for their teams, almost every school has them. The Schoolwide Team is sometimes called the School Management Team or School Improvement Team. The Student Support Team may be known as The Child Study Team or the Student Assistance Team. While the primary functions of these two teams are different, both teams are necessary to create safe, educationally sound learning environments.

The teams have different responsibilities, but coordination is necessary. To facilitate this coordination, the teams should have a number of members in common, such as the principal, a teacher, and the school's mental health professional. A dynamic, collaborative relationship, in which knowledge and information are continuously shared, will help ensure that the schoolwide, early, and intensive interventions are aligned to meet the goals of a safe and effective school.

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Plan, Implement, Monitor, and Evaluate a Prevention and Intervention Plan

Safe schools are strategic and smart. They identify and assess their needs and strengths, determine their safe school goals and objectives, align their efforts with other school reform and community initiatives, select and implement evidence-based approaches to realize these goals and objectives, coordinate and monitor their implementation, and evaluate the effect of their interventions. These responsibilities require team members who have the appropriate expertise, credibility with relevant stakeholders, access to resources, and authority to act.

The Schoolwide Team should have expertise and credibility in the following seven areas:

• Prevention, early intervention, and intensive intervention.

• School reform.

• Community resources.

• Family concerns.

• Student concerns.

• Staff concerns.

• Administrative concerns.

Chapter 5 describes the role of this team.

Safe Schools Have the Capacity to Identify and to Respond to Individual Needs

Safe schools have Student Support Teams to assess the needs of children who exhibit early warning signs. Members of this team should have the professional, cultural, and linguistic competence to identify the students' needs and strengths. These teams should have expertise in the following six areas:

• Diagnosing mental health problems.

• Evaluating academic difficulties.

• Conducting a functional assessment of student behavior to determine the "why" behind a behavioral problem or incident.

• Consulting with and supporting school staff, students, and families.

• Coordinating school and community services.

• Collaborating with students and families.

To be most effective, the Student Support Team should involve the student and his or her family in its deliberations. If the student is being considered or is eligible for special education services, requirements for individualized planning under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) must be met. Also, the team is more effective when regular and special educators collaborate. If the student receives services from other community agencies, the team should coordinate with those agencies (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, vocational rehabilitation, and substance abuse). The role of the Student Support Team is described further in Chapter 3.

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