Research evidence on bullying prevention at odds with what schools are doing

Punishing the bullies doesn’t really help, researchers say. But what does work?

Column by JILL BARSHAY https://hechingerreport.org/research-evidence-on-bullying-prevention-at-odds-with-what-schools-are-doing/

“Trump effect” on bullying in schools, citing a study that found higher bullying rates in GOP districts after the 2016 presidential election.

The scientific evidence on what works is complicated.

For example, this 2007 review of anti-bullying programs found “little discernible effect on youth participants.”

twenty-some years of empirical research that shows punishing kids is unhelpful

Instead, he argues that schools should combine consequences for bullies with mediation, counseling or a learning experience.

School shootings and violence have prompted schools to take an even more punitive stance against student misbehavior, experts I talked to said.

the higher a school’s climate rating — that is, the more that students, parents and teachers think their school is a safe place where people are respected — the lower the bullying rates. Similarly, the higher the social-emotional skills, such as the ability to wait and not react impulsively, the lower the bullying rates. But what hasn’t been clearly proven is that improvements in school climate or social-emotional skills will necessarily lead to a reduction in bullying.

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more on bullying in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=bully