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Peacemakers Program

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The Peacemakers Program is a school-based violence reduction intervention for grades 4 through 8. Peacemakers consists of a 17-lesson curriculum for teachers and a remediation component for school psychologists and counselors for students referred for aggressive behavior. Each lesson takes 45 minutes to conduct and addresses beliefs supporting the acceptability and utility of violent behavior and deficits in conflict-related psychosocial skills. There are a variety of classroom activities including didactic instruction, discussion, use of the Socratic method, role-plays, and experiential exercises. Emphasis is placed on infusing program content into students' everyday lives by helping them recognize potentially problematic situations and then recall what they have learned in the program. The goal is to have the principles and strategies of the program become a part of the culture at the school.

Goal / Mission

The goal of this program is to reduce aggressive behavior among children and adolescents.

Impact

An evaluation found significant, positive program effects on six of the seven variables assessed, including knowledge of psychosocial skills, self-reported aggression, and teacher-reported aggression, with a 41% decrease in aggression-related disciplinary incidents and a 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior.

Results / Accomplishments

Peacemakers was evaluated using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design. The study included almost 2,000 students in an urban public school system. There were significant, positive program effects on six of the seven variables assessed, including knowledge of psychosocial skills, self-reported aggression, and teacher-reported aggression, with a 41% decrease in aggression-related disciplinary incidents and a 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior. The aggressive behavior checklist showed that the intervention had a stronger effect on boys than girls and middle school students compared with elementary students. The intervention's suspension-reducing effect was greater for middle school students than elementary school students.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Solution Tree
Primary Contact
Solution Tree
555 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404
800.733.6786
https://www.solutiontree.com/
Topics
Education / School Environment
Community / Crime & Crime Prevention
Community / Social Environment
Organization(s)
Solution Tree
Source
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG)
Date of publication
2001
Geographic Type
Urban
For more details
Target Audience
Children, Teens
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