Violence in Schools:

Identification, Prevention & Intervention Strategies

 

Instructor Name:          Dr. Karen Lea

Phone:                         509-891-7219

Office Hours:               8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST Monday - Friday

Email:                          karen_lea@virtualeduc.com

Address:                      Virtual Education Software

                                   23403 E Mission Avenue, Suite 220F

                                    Liberty Lake, WA 99019

Technical Support:       support@virtualeduc.com

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Introduction

Welcome to Violence in Schools, an interactive computer-based instruction course, designed to give you a better understanding of school violence and increase your interventions strategies.  Violence in Schools provides a foundational understanding of violence and the motivational purposes behind aggression.  The correlation with and impact of the media, community and family upon violence will be investigated.  The course teaches identification and intervention approaches for working with out-of-control behaviors.  In addition, each student will receive information on available national resources for both parents and teachers.  This course will help each person to increase his or her understanding of violence, the motivations behind the use of violence and specific strategies to minimize the occurrence of violence in a school and community. 

 

This computer-based instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction, structured practice, and evaluation all on your home or school computer.  Technical support information can be found in the Help section of your course.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Course Materials (Online)

Title:                Violence in Schools: Identification, Prevention & Intervention Strategies

Instructor:        Dr. Karen Lea

Publisher:         Virtual Education Software, inc. 2000, Revised 2004, Revised 2010, Revised 2013, Revised 2016, Revised 2019

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Academic Integrity Statement

The structure and format of most distance-learning courses presume a high level of personal and academic integrity in completion and submission of coursework.  Individuals enrolled in a distance-learning course are expected to adhere to the following standards of academic conduct.

 

Academic Work

Academic work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to its correct source.  Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.

 

Aiding Honesty in Others

 The individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used improperly.

 

Violations of these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss of credit for the course.

 

Level of Application

This course is designed to be an informational course with application to work and work-related settings.  The intervention strategies presented in this course may be generalized to all students (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) and adults.  While an intervention may be geared toward a specific age population, with minimal modifications an educator should be able to adapt the strategy for his or her students.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Expected Learning Outcomes: 

As a result of this course, participants will demonstrate their ability to:

·         Identify factors contributing to violent behaviors

·         Develop strategies to address school/community violence

·         Effectively intervene, provide safety and minimize violent actions

·         Develop a “school violence” assessment with specific intervention strategies

·         Assess the climate of the classroom and school, making the necessary adjustments to increase safety

·         Address preventative methods within the school system for students

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Course Description:

Anger management strategies have become an important topic in schools, businesses, homes and communities.  Our society is inundated with classes, books and counseling programs that explain various ways to “manage anger.”  Despite our best attempts, aggression and violence are still on the rise.  We regularly hear and read from various media sources how dangerous our society has become, especially our youth population.  This class will focus on developing new ways of handling violence without getting involved in the typical power struggles.  During this course, each person will learn specific strategies and practical ideas to aid in the reduction of school violence.  Key intervention ideas for developing a civil climate within each school will be presented, and identification and recognition of potential violence will be discussed.  Included in this approach will be an emphasis on safety for students and educators.  This course is not attempting to be a “cure all” or “fix it” approach, but will aid educators in their ability to develop a safer environment in a school and community.  In addition, it will help each person feel more qualified and capable of handling emerging violent behaviors within a school, home or community setting.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Student Expectations 

As a student you will be expected to:

·         Complete all four information sections showing a competent understanding of the material presented in each section.

·         Complete all four section examinations, showing a competent understanding of the material presented.  You must obtain an overall score of 70% or higher, with no individual exam score below 50%, to pass this course.  *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.

·         Complete a review of any section on which your examination score was below 50%.

·         Retake any examination, after completing an information review, to increase that examination score to a minimum of 50%, making sure to also be achieving an overall exam score of a minimum 70% (maximum of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.

·         Complete a course evaluation form at the end of the course.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Chapter 1: Why We Have Violence in Schools                                                                                               

1.       Introduction

2.       Statistics

3.       Types

4.       Risk Factors

5.       Why Escalating Violence, Part I

6.       Why Escalating Violence, Part II

7.       Media

8.       Reasons

9.       Characteristics

10.   Warning Signs

11.   Self-Awareness Activity

12.   Learned vs. Instinctive

13.   Gang Assessment Tools

14.   Anger/Aggression Activity

15.   Summary

 

Chapter 2:  Strategies/Prevention for Individuals

1.       Behavior Response

2.       How to Respond

3.       Avoiding Power Struggles

4.       Tips

5.       Controlling Anxiety

6.       Control & Direct Activity

 

Chapter 3: Strategies/Prevention for Schools

1.       Action Steps for Students

2.       Action Steps for Teachers

3.       Action Steps for Parents

4.       Actions Steps for Schools

5.       Patterns of Aggression

6.       Preventing Behavior

7.       Making Peace

8.       Decision Making Activity

9.       Confrontation Communication

10.   Changing Behavior

11.   Prevention Strategies

12.   Conflict Negotiation

13.   Crisis Planning Guidelines

14.   Possible Interventions

15.   Anger:  It Won’t Work Here

 

Chapter 4: Have a Plan

1.       Case Study

2.       Violence Prevention Training/Tools

3.       Summary

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Examinations

At the end of each chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three times. Your last score will save, not the highest score.  After your third attempt, each examination will lock and not allow further access.  Your final grade for the course will be determined by calculating an average score of all exams.  This score will be printed on your final certificate.  As this is a self-paced computerized instruction program, you may review course information as often as necessary. You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your information will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one sitting.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Instructor Description

Karen Lea holds a Ph.D. in education, has TEFL certification, and is Project Management Professional certified.  Dr. Lea has fifteen years’ experience teaching at the K–12 level and another seventeen years’ experience teaching education and leadership courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.  Currently she is an Assessment Developer at Western Governor's University.  Dr. Lea has been professionally published over fifteen times and has served on more than a dozen panels and boards, including serving on the NCATE (CAEP) Board of Examiners.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Contacting the Instructor

You may contact the instructor by emailing Dr. Lea at karen_lea@virtualeduc.comor by calling him at 509-891-7219, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. PST. Phone messages will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to ten minutes per student, per day, given that this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not contact the instructor about technical problems, course glitches, or other issues that involve the operation of the course.

 

Technical Questions

If you have questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try everything twice. If the problem persists please check our support pages for FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com and also the Help section of your course.

 

If you need personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com or call (509) 891-7219.  When contacting technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system, and be seated in front of the computer at the time of your call. 

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Minimum Computer Requirements

Please refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if you have further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Refer to the addendum regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be Submitted and how to submit your completed information. The addendum will also note any additional course assignments that you may be required to complete that are not listed in this syllabus.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

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Muschert, G. W., Henry, S., Bracy, N. L., & Peguero, A. A. (2014). Responding to school violence: Confronting the Columbine effect. Boulder, CO: National Criminal Justice Reference System.

Na, C., & Paternoster, R. (2018). Prosocial identities and youth violence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 56(1), 84–128. doi:10.1177/0022427818796552

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Rich, S. L., Wilson, J. K., & Robertson, A. A. (2019). The impact of abuse trauma on alcohol and drug use: A study of high-risk incarcerated girls. Journal Child Adolescent Substance Abuse, 25(3), 194–205. doi:10.1080
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Shandwick, W., & Tate, P. (2013). Civility in America 2013: Incivility has reached crisis levels. KRC Research. Retrieved from https://www.webershandwick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Civility_in_America_2013_Exec_Summary.pdf

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Course content is updated every three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding organization's web home page.

 

8/11/20 JN