•  Olweus Bullying Prevention Program

     is being implemented in Thompson Falls Schools!
     
    All students follow these four rules:
    No Bullying
    1. We will not bully others
    2. We will try to help students who are bullied.
    3. We will try to include students who are left out.
    4. If we know someone is being bullied, we will tell an adult at home and an adult at school 
     
    What happens in the classroom?
    The four anti‐bullying rules will be taught in all classrooms. Class meetings will be held where students talk about what bullying is. Students will learn why bullying should not happen. They will learn to ask an adult for help if they see or experience bullying.  Teachers will use positive and negative consequences for following or not following the four anti-bullying rules. Teachers will work to make the classroom a positive place for students.
     
    What happens in the Community?
    Our school will be looking for ways to develop partnerships with community members and carry the anti‐bullying message community‐wide level.
     
    What happens at the school wide level?
    • Teachers and staff will be trained to use the program and deal with bullying problems.
    • A school wide committee will oversee the program
    • Students will complete a questionnaire to give us information about the amount and type of bullying at our school
    • Staff will make sure that all areas of our school, where bullying is likely to occur, are being watched.
       

    Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)

    A grant was recently received from the Plum Creek Grant Foundation for the purchasing of materials and training for the Systemic Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP).  The following is a brief synopsis of OBPP's basic concepts and methodologies along with empirical evidence.
     
     
    Basic Concepts
     
    With over thirty-five years of research and successful implementation throughout the world, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is a systems-change program proven to prevent or reduce bullying by involving everyone who comes in contact with students at the school, classroom, individual, and community levels. OBPP aims to restructure the elementary, middle, and junior high school environment to reduce opportunities and rewards for bullying.
     

    Grades K–2

    ·        Identifies and shares feelings in appropriate ways.

    ·        Knows ways to seek assistance if worried, abused, or threatened (physically, emotionally, or sexually).

    Grades 3–5

    ·        Knows characteristics needed to be a responsible friend and family member.

    ·        Knows behaviors that communicate care, consideration, and respect of self and others.

    ·        Understands how one responds to the behavior of others and how one’s behavior may evoke responses in others.

    ·        Knows strategies for resisting negative peer pressure.

    ·        Knows the difference between positive and negative behaviors used in conflict situations.

    ·        Knows some nonviolent strategies to resolve conflicts.

    ·        Knows behaviors that are safe, risky, or harmful to self and others.

    Grades 6–8

    ·        Understands how peer relationships affect health.

    ·        Knows appropriate ways to build and maintain positive relationships with peers, parents, and other adults.

    ·        Understands the difference between safe and risky or harmful behaviors in relationships.

    ·        Knows techniques for seeking help and support through appropriate resources.

    ·        Knows potential signs of self- and other-directed violence.

    ·        Knows the various possible causes of conflict among youth in schools and communities, and strategies to manage conflict.

      

    Bullying requires tailored interventions that are distinct from those effective in conflict mediation. OBPP stresses that bullying prevention is not conflict resolution—which assumes that both parties in conflict share some responsibility and the goal is usually compromise—as the student who is bullied cannot be expected to negotiate a resolution. Bullying is about an imbalance of power and a form of “peer abuse.” Conflict resolution models assume equality of both power and responsibility. Applying conflict resolution strategies to a bullying relationship jeopardizes the bullied student by assigning blame and requiring actions beyond that child’s social capacity while freeing the student who bullies from a degree of responsibility.

     

    OBPP is not a curriculum. However, regular class meetings will be held with students, during which key concepts about bullying and related topics are discussed. Among the topics for discussion are the following:

    • What is bullying?
    • What are the different forms bullying can take?
    • What are the different roles students can take in a bullying situation?
    • What are possible consequences of bullying for the student who is bullied?
    • How may bullying affect bystanders? Why is there reason to be concerned about students who bully?
    • What are the four school rules about bullying?
    • What should you do if bullying happens to you?
    • Who should you talk to if you see or experience bullying?
    • What should you do when you see bullying happen? How can you support someone who is being bullied?
    • What are some positive ways to include students who are often excluded in activities?
    • What are some ways you can resist peer pressure to participate in bullying others?
     Empirical Support
     

    OBPP has been more thoroughly evaluated than any other bullying prevention/reduction program so far. Six large-scale evaluations involving more than 40,000 students have documented effective results:[1]

    ·                    A 20 to 70 percent reduction in student reports of being bullied and bullying others.

    ·                    Reduction in existing bully and victim problems as well as prevention of new cases of bullying.

    ·                    Significant reductions in student reports of general antisocial behaviors (e.g., vandalism, fighting, theft, and truancy).

    ·                    Significant improvements in classroom order and discipline.

    ·                    More positive attitudes toward schoolwork and school.

    ·                    Improved peer relations at school.

     

    Using OBPP will also help schools meet portions of many federal mandates and programs they are already administering, such as Safe and Drug-Free Schools, school connectedness, high-stakes testing, juvenile delinquency prevention, school dropout prevention, school health programs, suicide prevention, and the promotion of developmental assets. Since research has also shown that there is a correlation between bullying and academic performance, OBPP may help schools improve their results in statewide student achievement assessments and No Child Left Behind requirements as well.[2]

     

    Significant long-term benefits:

    • Student health, attendance, self-esteem, behavior, and academic achievement improve.
    • Schoolwide climate improves.
    • The school is perceived as more effective, caring, and respectful.
    • Teaching time and student time on task increase.
    • Members of the school community experience positive empowerment.
    • Legal and risk management concerns decrease.
    • Related high-risk and criminal behaviors decrease.

     

    Physical and mental health effects: Beyond the perpetration of violence, bullying also has serious physical and mental health consequences. An estimated 160,000 U.S. children miss school every day because they are afraid they will be attacked or intimidated by other students.[3]Students who are bullied are five times more likely to be depressed and suicidal,[4]and students who bully are more likely to fight, drink, and smoke than their non-bullying peers.[5]

     

    Community benefits: Studies by Dan Olweus, Ph.D., show how bullying can affect the community at large because students who bully are more apt to commit crimes or abuse drugs. One such study found that students who bully are five times as likely as non-bullying students to become adult criminals, while those they target are more likely to be depressed as adults or suffer from substance abuse. Olweus found that bullying prevention lowers rates of vandalism, fighting, theft, and truancy, while improving the overall school climate.

     

     
     
    References
    [1]. Dan Olweus, “Bully/Victim Problems among Schoolchildren: Basic Facts and Effects of a School-Based Intervention Program,” in The Development and Treatment of Childhood Aggression, ed. D. Pepler and K. Rubin (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1991), 411–48; Dan Olweus, “A Useful Evaluation Design, and Effects of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program,” Psychology, Crime & Law 11 (2005): 389–402; Dan Olweus and Susan P. Limber, Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Bullying Prevention Program (Boulder: Program Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, 1999); Jan Helge Kallestad and Dan Olweus, “Predicting Teachers’ and Schools’ Implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A Multilevel Study,”
    Prevention and Treatment 6 (2003): 3–21.
    [2]. C. B. Fleming, K. P. Haggerty, R. F. Catalano, T.W. Harachi, J. J. Mazza, and D. H. Gruman, “Do Social and Behavioral Characteristics Targeted by Preventive Interventions Predict Standardized Test Scores and Grades?” Journal of School Health 75 (2005): 342–49.

    [3]. Nancy Mullin-Rindler, Teasing and Bullying: Facts About Bullying (Wellesley, MA: Wellesley Centers for Women, 2002).

    [4]. Fox et al., Bullying Prevention Is Crime Prevention.

    [5]. Nansel et al., “Bullying Behaviors among U.S. Youth.”