One may look at school violence a bit differently after reviewing hundreds of websites and research abstracts. Every documented resource about the warning signs of students, who are at risk for violence, conveys nearly identical information. Research has shown that most schools are safe and that less than one percent of deaths occur on school grounds. However, because of the recent and unbelievable acts of violence that has been committed on school property, has made more administrators, staff, teachers, and children become more aware that violence can and will occur at any time and in any school. (Dwyer, Osher & Hoffman, 2000)
Skiba and Boone believe that it is critical for school personnel to be educated in recognizing early warning signs and use those signs to help those students rather than allow for inflicting harm to occur. Schools should develop screening and tracking methods to determine these early signs. The program must be well defined and provide efficient and reliable methods for early identification. Once students have been identified, a team must form to assess and respond to the students needs. If procedures are in place when the situation arises, then effective intervention methods may be conducted and proper agencies may be contacted.
It is often complicated to image that students can become violent and that all together identifying those students can sometimes be difficult. The FBI has a great website that defines what cues and traits to look for in potentially violent students. The FBI developed what they call the Four-Pronged Assessment Model. Meaning that there are four separate areas in which educators and related professionals must search before labeling a student as potentially violent.
The first area is investigating the personality and behavior of the student. There are 28 different traits and behaviors that may be displayed by the student. They include the following: Poor coping skills, low tolerance for frustration, lack of resiliency, resentment for real or perceived injustices, narcissistic behavior, lack of empathy, alienation from people, exaggerated sense of entitlement, superior attitudes, anger management difficulties, often blames others for own short-comings, intolerant of other races and religions, want to be manipulative, unusual interest in violence, fascinated with violent games, and claim to have revelation of clues that signal a violent act.
The second area is searching into the family dynamics. Educators must look at family circumstances and needs. One must also look at values and discipline within the family unit. Look for turbulences in the relationship between the parent and child. Do they speak to one another lovingly and concerned or do they show disproval and hate. Determine if parents accept pathological behavior and if they set limits for bad conduct or behavior. Also look for parents who intimidate their children. Discover if the student has readily access to weapons and get a feel for the kind of relationship that the family members have with one another.
The third area involves the dynamics that the student has for the school community. Some of the key factors and questions that a school staff must consider and define are: At what level does the school tolerate disrespectful behavior? Does the child participate or detach himself from others and how much of this does the school tolerate? Is the school's discipline inequitable? Does the school teach tolerance and differences? What is the code of silence among students and staff? Are some students favored and given more prestige and respect than other students? Are students being supervised while accessing the computer and Internet?
The final area refers to a student's social dynamics. Schools need to develop, understand, and respect the roles of students within the community. Staff should investigate the following questions: What are the students' access to media, entertainment, and technology and what are the themes in which these subjects imply? Which types of reading materials and choices of games does the student prefer? What is the student's attitude about drugs, alcohol, and weapons? What are the patterns of behavior do students have with their peers? What are the outside interests in which the students engage? Staff members must also be aware of the copycat effect and they must try to pinpoint students who may display disturbing behavior following highly publicized school violence cases.
Other research indicates ways to identify early warning signs in troubled students. They suggest observing behavior, emotional disturbances and cues that imminent danger may occur. Some behavior signs may include: bringing weapons to school, drug and alcohol abuse, belonging to a gang, unable to control anger, watches violent television programs, plays violent games, excessive internet usage, making threats of violence, a history of discipline and aggressive behavior, a history of poor academic performance and frequent truancy and/or fighting. Some of the emotional signs would include: being socially withdrawn, feeling rejected or picked on, low interest in school, loneliness and isolation. Some of the most imminent warning signs would include: serious physical fighting with peers and family members, severe destruction of property, uncontrollable rage over minor events, possession of weapons and threats of suicide.
Schools must make certain that before a child is labeled or identified as troubled, that a qualified individual is making that diagnosis. According to the Pantagraph article in 2000, it is difficult to overlook signs of school violence when we have several checklists in which to follow. However, an administration and staff members need to remember that several of these characteristics are found among a variety of students. The focus of the report should be on evaluating a threat once it has been made. As school personnel, we want to avoid profiling students just because they acquire one of the branded Federal Bureau of Investigation traits.
The major question that is still not completely answered is why do students commit such violent acts? In the previous paragraphs the characteristics to identify those students have been defined, however there is another part of the equation. In life we all make decisions that are either good or bad. However, under certain circumstances in which decisions arise we may change our minds and end up making an even better or poorer decision. Each of us has events in our lives that cause us to make decisions. At times we have trigger events, which are events that occur prior to making the big decision. For example, a student may be talking about doing something horrifying but doesn't actually do it until something unsettling happens and this event pushes or persuades the student to actually commit the act.
There are several different types of intervention that may be used before and after identifying those students who may be at risk. Intervention is used as a preventative tool before acts of violence can transpire. All students would benefit from being educated and taught techniques on how to avoid or prevent violence and bullying. The school must share the responsibility by establishing a partnership with students, community, and family. Parents too, need to be informed about what behaviors to watch for. Educators and parents should teach students to be responsible for their behavior also to develop positive interaction skills and adults need to support the necessary emotional and behavioral adjustments to students, and students need to be provided with an alternative to violent behavior. (O'Toole, 2003)
In preparation for consulting students, concerns about the student's troubled behavior must be clarified. Some appropriate ways to deal with this include: following the schools planned and in place crisis response program, reviewing student's past history and records, checking with student's pervious teachers, contacting the student's family and make them aware of those concerns, and seeking informal support from team specialists so that the concerns for the behavior are addressed quickly.
To summarize, every school in the nation should create a policy, if they do not currently have one for their communities. Obtaining, reinforcing, and updating these policies will better help prevent school violence and will make if easier to identify behavioral and emotional factors that lead to unnecessary violent actions. All educators and related professionals must seek ways to ensure safe and effective schools.
References:
O'Toole, M.E. (2003) FBI Academy, The School Shooter: A threat assessment perspective. Quantico, Virginia. National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI School Violence Study Creates Temptation to Profile, Pantagraph, Sep. 11, 2000. Boone, K. & Skiba, R. (2000) Early Identification and Intervention: Using Early Warning Signs. World Wide Web: www.indiana.edu/~safeschl. Dwyer, K.P., Osher, D. & Hoffman, C.C. (2000) Creating Responsive Schools: Contextualizing Early Warning, Timely Response, Exceptional Children (66) 3, 347-359. A Practical Guide for Crisis Response in Our Schools (2003). Identifying Students "at-Risk" for Violent Behavior: A Checklist of Early Warning Signs The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. World Wide Web: www.schoolcrisisresponse.com FBI Lists Caution Signs for Violence In Classroom, The New York Times, Sep 7, 2000.
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