Learning About School Violence : Lessons for Educators, Parents, Students, and Communities

What is school violence? How do we prevent it? How do we react to tragedies when they occur? Education and crime are at the top of the list of concerns that parents and community members share. School violence is the issue and policy problem that joins these two priorities. In the wake of such incidents as the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, Americans are clamoring for action. Yet, there is little sense of a well-reasoned approach being taken by the federal government, states, and local schools and districts. Learning about School Violence provides readers with an overview of the school violence problem, a comprehensive redefinition of that problem, and lessons for how to learn more effectively about what works in preventing school violence. Based on interviews with teachers, administrators, legislators, prevention and criminal justice practitioners, and other stakeholders in Colorado – Denver and Colorado Springs – this book presents a narrative of how one state and two school districts have dealt with school violence. It draws lessons from these experiences about the policy learning and problem definition processes.