School Sampler:
Seattle, Washington

Location
Assumption St. Bridget School (Grades K–8)
6220 32nd Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115

Contact
Michael Foy, Principal
Phone: (206) 524-7452
E-mail: mfoy@asbschool.org

Description
A private K–8 school serving 540 students in Seattle, Assumption St. Bridget had been using the Committee for Children’s award-winning conflict resolution program, Second Step, for a number of years. While Second Step has been very effective, especially with the younger children who are learning the skills of impulse control, empathy, and solving problems with peers, exclusionary behavior among the older children was not being addressed. When the school was asked to pilot Committee for Children’s new research-based bullying prevention program, Steps to Respect, Principal Michael Foy was delighted to agree. Says Foy, “Steps to Respect builds on what the children have already learned with Second Step, and further helps children identify healthy relationships.”

Consistent with the research that demonstrates the effectiveness of a whole-school approach to bullying, Steps to Respect provides strategies to decrease bullying at the individual child, peer group, and schoolwide levels.

The student curriculum part of the program focuses on three main components: friendship skills; the “three R’s” of bullying (Recognizing, Refusing, and Reporting); and the role of bystanders. Lessons build on each other as students learn concrete skills for making friends, conversational skills, managing conflicts between friends, and role-playing the techniques.

The skill lessons relating to the role of bystanders are key to the curriculum. Students are given the skills to make it easier for them to intervene when they see bullying behavior.

Improving the effectiveness of adults’ response to bullying is a major goal. The importance of adult training is crucial to the success of the program, especially to rally the entire staff around the importance of the issue. For the program to work, report the developers, you must have a consistent approach for all staff to use when dealing with problems. “The lessons teach all children to report bullying,” says Karen Summers, a trainer and implementation specialist for Steps to Respect, “and adults need to learn to listen and coach them on how to deal with it. Children know their problems will be taken seriously when teachers take action.”

The program recommends that the following steps be taken before the lessons are taught to the children so that an environment is created that is less conducive to bullying:

• Establish an anti-bullying policy

• Train the entire staff in the harmful effects of bullying and the need to consistently respond to children’s reports (include all staff members, from playground monitors to teachers to bus drivers)

• Communicate with parents regarding curriculum and policy

The most crucial parts of the program as seen by Foy over the years, have been:

1. Using a survey to understand and assess student and teacher perceptions about bullying. This is a powerful tool to show parents and teachers the extent of the problem. When Assumption St. Bridget first surveyed students and teachers, the students reported a much higher incidence of bullying than their teachers. This came as quite a wake-up call to parents.

2. Providing extensive teacher and staff training so that everyone understands how to help.

3. Empowering both kids who are targeted by bullies and those who are bystanders. The foundation of Steps to Respect is in giving children the skills to resolve the problem themselves if possible.

4. Helping all have a common language for identifying healthy relationships.

When asked why a whole-school approach has worked for the school, Foy said, “This program is well integrated into the curriculum and is not just an add-on.” For example, the literature component of the program reinforces the concepts introduced in the other lessons. Teachers can choose from a selection of novels at each grade level. Different types of bullying occur in each novel.

Another plus about this program has been the different curricula for different age groups. “One-shot programs don’t work for middle school students to really see the continuum of behavior. An ongoing curriculum for each grade enables children to recognize patterns as they mature.”

Although the school is just now tabulating data based on a recent survey, staff members have made many observations since the program was implemented, including:

1. Kids are reporting incidents of bullying or asking for assistance in dealing with bullying much more often than before. Rather than seeing this as a sign that bullying has increased, staff see that the program has been successful in empowering students to take action against bullying, and also in creating a climate where students feel safe in approaching an adult and knowing that an adult will help them.

2. Children understand how being a bystander affects bullying behavior. Many kids who have observed bullying behavior are reporting these incidents to adults. “This is what we want to see happening in our school,” says Foy.

3. The program has given the school a forum to talk to parents about what is valued at the school. The parent education component shows parents that even incidents outside school affect learning inside school.

4. As a result of the parent education program, more parents are calling the school staff asking for assistance in dealing with children who are bullied and also asking what to do about children who exhibit bullying behavior.

5. Parents are also calling other parents and resolving problems without conflict, where “no one has to be the bad guy.”