Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Linda Thurston / Previous research examined various factors of program design, specific program curriculum, and student and faculty attitudes, but repeated studies and methodology questions have been raised with some of the research. Much of the research in the field has examined specific program effectiveness where the researcher is the author of the program or curriculum being used. This study examines the effects of programs designed to reduce school violence and the impact they have on reducing out of school suspensions (injury and non-injury). The three programs examined are bully prevention programs, peer mediation programs, and conflict resolution programs used in middle schools. This study does not focus on a specific curriculum, but has chosen independent measures that have been identified to reduce out of school suspensions. The independent variables for this study are: 1) type of programming, 2) number of lessons being taught, 3) administration, 4) counselor to student ratio, and 5) interaction effects. The research questions guiding this study were: 1) Which, if any, violence prevention programs are used in middle schools in the state of Kansas? 2) Is there a main effect for violence reduction program on violent incidents resulting in out of school suspensions (injury and non-injury) reported? 3) Is there a main effect for the number of counselors to students on the number of violent incidents resulting in out of school suspensions (injury and non-injury) reported? 4) Are there main effects or interaction effects for number of lessons and method of administration on the number of violent incidents resulting in out of school suspensions (injury and non-injury) reported? 5) Are there interaction effects for violence reduction program and each of the following variables: counselor to student ratio, number of lessons, and method of administration? All 231 middle schools in the State were surveyed to obtain information regarding type of prevention programs being offered and how these programs are administered. The return of 129 surveys resulted in a data set of 122 schools participating once incomplete surveys were eliminated. State Department of Education data from the Discipline Incident System provided the dependent variable data on school suspensions (injury and non-injury) for a three year period from 2008-2011. The only significant finding related to schools that had a counselor to student ratio of less than 1:500. These schools reported significantly fewer out-of-school suspensions (injury and non-injury) than those schools with a counselor to student ratio of more than 1:500. The findings from this study will provide middle schools with data to improve violence prevention programming.

xiii, 118 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Bullying behaviors are a growing concern in U.S. schools, and are documented to have detrimental effects for victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. Most interventions focused on bully prevention either have limited empirical support, or focus primarily on the behavior of the bully. We present here an alternative approach to bully prevention based on the growing recognition that interventions should be function-based. Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Support (BP-PBS) gives students the tools necessary to remove the social rewards maintaining bullying behavior through a strong link to school-wide positive behavior support, a discrimination between "being respectful" versus "not being respectful" in unstructured settings, and the explicit teaching of a simple, school-wide response to bullying effective for victims, bystanders, and perpetrators of bullying. This is coupled with an efficient strategy for school staff to use when dealing with reports of bullying including a sequence of questioning and practice. A single-subject, multiple-baseline design across six students and three elementary schools was implemented in an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of BP-PBS. Results indicated that implementation of the program not only significantly decreased incidents of bullying behavior for all six students observed, but also increased the likelihood of appropriate victim responses and bystander responses, indicating a substantial decrease in the social rewards that served to maintain bullying behavior. In addition, through a pre-post survey, students also reported improved perceptions of the bullying and safety at their schools. Finally, school staff members were able to implement the program with a high degree of fidelity and regarded the program as effective and easy to implement. These findings have major implications for the design and support of effective social culture in schools. Limitations of the research and future efforts are suggested to encourage the field in a new direction with bully prevention efforts, away from overly complicated definitions and interventions, toward a school-wide approach including specific strategies and a reconceptualization of the bullying construct. / Committee in charge: Robert Horner, Co-Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Kenneth Merrell, Co-Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Jeffrey Sprague, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Bruce Stiller, Member, Not from U of 0; Lou Moses, Outside Member, Psychology

The purpose of this research study was to explore the effectiveness of the KiVa anti-bullying programme with Grade 4 learners in a primary school, located in the Eden Central Karoo District of the Western Cape. Since bullying is a worldwide phenomenon, it is important to explore to what extent it is an issue in South Africa. International anti-bullying programmes, which are well researched and highly recommended, are described with an overview of the integration of systems theory with the practicalities of this research project. A mixed methods intervention design was used to collect data. Grade four learners completed questionnaires prior to and after implementation of the intervention programme, which comprised the quantitative data. The experiment schools Grade 4 Life Skills teachers led the implementation of the programme. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the Grade 4 teachers and the principal of the experiment school. The findings demonstrate that the implementation process over less than a year, did raise awareness and certain skills were developed and practised by learners. The effectiveness of the KiVa anti-bullying programme during a short period of six months, did establish consciousness and a change in attitude and behaviour. A statistically significant difference for two of the three categories, experiences at school (bullying) and about your life (well-being), of the questionnaire from before the implementation to after the implementation of the intervention programme was indicated at the experiment school. Thus, implications for future research regarding the implementation of the KiVa school-based programme are suggested. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)