Using Annual Indicator Systems to Address Bullying and School Climate

• In Event: Dealing with Bullying--Moving the Needle in Light of the AERA Report on Prevention of Bullying among Schools, Universities, and Colleges

Abstract

The third paper (Ron Astor and Rami Benbenishty) will focus on the successful use of reliable and valid annual indicator systems focused on bullying and school climate developed by school districts, States (California), countries (Israel, Chile, France, Taiwan, and others). It will also outline potential obstacles and lessons learned. Schools in these locations have integrated bullying issues into the school climate missions of their school systems based on ongoing routine annual data rather than a component program -oriented approach alone. The manuscript will focus on how the multiple ways ongoing semi-annual bullying data are used in the classroom, school, district, state, and national contexts. It will emphasize how using a school reform model with integrated climate, behavior, and academic information could be conceptualized differently than the traditional evaluations that look at bullying programs rather than an ongoing basis. The outcomes of broader and comprehensive bullying indicator systems and social-emotional climate approaches may address an array of risk behaviors in addition to bullying. Knowing this at each school and within each region could change the manner through which school sites, districts, and states respond over time to these risk behaviors. This may require a different set of scientific tools and university training methods for teachers and administrators than those currently used to externally evaluate programs focused on a narrower set of behaviors.

Authors

• Ron Avi Astor, University of Southern California

• Rami Benbenishty, Bar-Ilan University