We present outcomes from a field test of a student-centered and technology-driven school safety framework. We describe the framework components rooted in school violence prevention. Results from our field test indicate moderate student and teacher use of the framework components, improvements in student perceptions of school safety, reductions in…

Outlines a 14-step process for establishing a suicide prevention program, including collecting data; gaining administrative approval; seeking legal advice; establishing an ad hoc crisis intervention committee; collecting sample forms; appraising agency resources; developing a written policy; appraising community resources; involving the media;…

For some youth, schools provide more structure and stability than any other source. Project Pioneer, a pilot project at a Wichita (Kansas) high school, helps create a support base for high risk youths entering high school. Success depends on extensive staff training and close counseling for potential dropouts. (MLH)

Most school-based drug abuse prevention programs comprise five categories, stressing knowledge change, attitude change, knowledge and attitude change, peer relationships, or drug use alternatives. Peer programs seem most effective. Programs often fail because of unrealistic expectations, wasted energy, program weakness, lack of creativity, failure…

Describes Operation Snowball, an extensively used prevention model that emerged in response to drug abuse problems in school and society. Designed to engender positive student attitudes, this program combats alienation and attendant substance abuse through a process emphasizing information, education, alternatives to drugs, and environmental…

Neither health education nor suspension appears to help tobacco-addicted students cut back or stop smoking completely. This article describes a Long Island high school's efforts to help 27 (volunteer) students develop their own smoke-cessation program. Most participants, who had begun smoking in middle school, reduced their tobacco dependency, and…

Teenage depression and suicide are a growing problem across the nation. A New Jersey high school has developed a crisis management team to deal with such problems. Twelve steps to take in developing such a team are provided, along with guidelines on the referral process, student representation, and community support. (TE)

The proposed "classroom" approach identifies the school counselor as a primary participant in students' overall development. This model enhances students' mental and emotional well-being by providing a preventive/developmental context, normalizing developmental struggles, increasing awareness of self and others, encouraging appreciation of…

By addressing bullying issues, school personnel may prevent more serious violent behavior. This article reviews bullies' and victims' characteristics and describes a school-based intervention plan for managing bullying behavior on the playground and classroom, educating parent/teacher organizations and counselors, and publicizing and implementing…

Author believes that most of our schools' current drug programs are ineffective because they deal with the facts (pharmacology and toxology) of drug abuse rather than with the values which surround a person's decision to use or to avoid drugs. (Editor)

Early sexual activity is seen in youngsters who exhibit school behavior problems. As one middle-school prevention program shows, adolescent parenthood can be prevented through careful, thoughtful, and developmentally appropriate strategies. The program's focus-group approach emphasized equal male-female responsibility and discussion of life goals…

A serious lack of sophistication marks our efforts to combat drug abuse, the author believes. We must consider the complex relationships among the individual, drugs, and society to create effective drug education programs. (Editor)

Chronically disruptive students are often funneled into "watered-down" alternative schools that warehouse rather than educate them. The Atlantic County (New Jersey) Alternative High School is a successful college-based program that expects referred students to fulfill normal academic requirements while taking tuition-free college…