Strategies for Bullying Prevention
by Stan Davis

Start with the ABCs:

• Respect young peoples’ autonomy. We can’t make them change. We can increase the cost of their existing behavior by following through with consequences. We can build supportive relationships so they want to be contributing members of the school. We can recognize positive actions. They will choose their behavior; we can help them see they have a choice and help them find the best choices for themselves.
• Maintain young peoples’ sense of belonging. When we welcome youth to school each day; when we build mentoring relationships; when consequences are seen as being earned instead of given in anger or rejection; and when we avoid taking their misbehavior personally, young people are more likely to risk changing their behavior.
• Teach cause and effect thinking and promote conscience development. Help young people see the connections between what they do and what happens to them through using predictable, transparent, consistent discipline approaches. Help them connect their positive behavior with positive outcomes. Help them discover the positive and negative effects of their actions on others through observation and reflection. Use questions instead of statements whenever possible so young people learn to think about their own goals and about their behavior.

The following ten steps help us set up effective interventions to encourage young people to change aggressive behavior.

1. Maintain positive feeling tone and strong staff-student connections. When young people know they belong and are welcomed, they are more likely to try out new behaviors and to learn from consequences. When they see us modeling positive behavior, they are more likely to imitate us. Build mentoring connections. Maintain optimism and the belief that young people can change. Avoid the use of anger as a discipline strategy.
2. Praise positive behavior. Praise is important when an aggressive young person breaks his or her pattern and acts responsibly and kindly, or even when aggression is less frequent or less intense over a period of time. Descriptive feedback (“I notice that you have been playing without fighting.”) is more effective than trait-based praise (“You’re so kind”) or I-messages (“I’m so happy you are acting better.”). It is also important to help young people see the positive effects of their changed behavior.
3. Develop staff-wide consensus about specific rules. Unacceptable behaviors are often grouped by level, based on potential harm. For example: teasing, hitting, severe harassment, and physical aggression. Except for clearly accidental behavior, focus rules on actions or words rather than intention. Maintain one behavior standard whether the target ‘minds’ or not.
4. Maintain a school wide reporting expectation. All staff report peer-to-peer aggressive behavior to one central person (often the principal or assistant principal) to emphasize the importance of this behavior and to allow for consistent administration of consequences. Note: this does not mean that other behaviors such as class disruption or failure to complete work are handled this way.
5. Use a school wide behavior rubric for aggression. The school outlines specific, predictable and escalating consequences for each category of peer-to-peer aggression. Students with behavior IEPs may have different consequences, but will have the same expectations. Focus on actions rather than on “who started it” or whether the person intended to do harm (excluding true accident).
6. Administer consequences for aggression centrally. To ensure consistency and to make it clear that safety is a high priority, I have found it works best when the principal or assistant principal is the individual to receive reports of peer-to-peer aggression, carry out a brief interview of aggressive youth (focused on helping the student take responsibility for the behavior and look up his or her consequence on the rubric), and investigate when necessary. The administrator sends a letter home outlining behavior, consequence, and consequence next time. Copies go to teacher and file.
7. Support reflection and development of empathy after consequences are known. During consequence time (inside recess, quiet lunch away from peers, detention, or in-school suspension), the person supervising this time helps young people to complete a “Think-About-It” form in which they reflect about what they did, how that behavior affected the target, what goal they were trying to reach through those actions, and how else they can reach those goals in the future. This reflection is most often done by several young people in parallel, on clipboards or at desks, with the person on duty moving between them the way a writing teacher will edit with one student after another. Ask open- ended questions that promote reflection: (“What did you do?”, “What was wrong with that?”, “What goal were you trying to reach?”, Next time you have that goal how will you reach it without hurting anyone?”) Avoid questions like “Why did you do it?” or “How would you feel if someone did that to you?” as they may provide the youth with an opportunity to blame the target, give excuses, or trivialize the behavior.
8. Involve parents. Let parents know about both positive and negative behaviors (“I knew you’d want to know”). Help parents find roles in the school’s intervention (for example, praise at home for positive behavior) and give them credit when things change. Invite them to suggest better interventions (“What would you like us to do next time?”) rather than reacting defensively when they criticize our interventions. When there are consistent issues, meet with parents regularly (not just when there is a crisis) to develop a working relationship.
9. Support peer bystanders. Encourage students to speak up in safe ways about bullying, to tell staff what they see and hear, and to befriend isolated peers. Thank and protect young people who report aggressive behavior toward themselves or toward others. Train and support a self-selected group of bystanders who want to be more effective at stopping bullying and exclusion in real-life situations.
10. Show students and staff that the program is working and what they are doing to make a difference. Specific positive feedback to staff and students about declining rates of aggression help them continue changes. Feedback about what they are doing to make a difference is also important.

Stan Davis is a school counselor, bullying prevention consultant, and author of Schools Where Everyone Belongs (Research Press, 2005).