Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

Chapter 8: Conflict Resolution Research
and Evaluation
Research on conflict situations within schools and
on the impact of conflict resolution education programs
provides strong support for establishing
these programs in schools. Many of the studies conducted
to date have focused on mediation programs,
which are distinctive and perhaps more prevalent
in schools than programs employing one of the other
three approaches to conflict resolution education.
Because the peaceable classroom and process curriculum
approaches integrate conflict resolution
education into the normal curriculum, evidence of
the success of these approaches has been somewhat
difficult to document. However, the positive outcomes
associated with mediation programs hold promise that
broader based conflict resolution programs that use
mediation will be successful as well. Comprehensive
studies to evaluate the two peaceable school programs
highlighted in chapter 5 are under way.
Early Research
In 1974, DeCecco and Richards published the results
of one of the most comprehensive studies on
conflict within schools. 2 They interviewed more than
8,000 students and 500 faculty members in more
than 60 junior and senior high schools in New York
City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco and found
that more than 90 percent of the conflicts reported
by students were perceived to be either unresolved
or resolved in destructive ways. Moreover, negotiation
of conflicts was practically nonexistent.
Studies on the Teaching Students
To Be Peacemakers Program
More recently, David Johnson and Roger Johnson
conducted 11 research studies to examine the
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Research in this field indicates that conflict
resolution and mediation programs show
positive effects in reducing violence. 1
effectiveness of the Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers
program. 3 Results demonstrate the impact
that conflict resolution training programs have on
the ability of students to manage their conflicts constructively.
Johnson and Johnson conducted carefully
controlled studies in inner-city and suburban
school districts throughout the United States and
Canada. The grade level of the students involved
in the research ranged from the 1st through the 10th
grades. Two approaches to training in peer mediation
were studied. In one, the total student body
received the training; in the other, a small group of
teachers and students received the training. Students
were randomly assigned to one of these approaches,
while teachers were rotated across approaches. The
following is a summary of the questions asked by
these studies and their findings:
♦ How often do conflicts among students occur, and
what are the most commonly occurring conflicts?
The findings indicated that students engaged
in conflicts daily. In the suburban schools studied,
the majority of reported conflicts resulted from
the possession of and access to resources, choice
of available activities, playground issues, and
turn-taking. Some conflicts involved physical
and verbal aggression. In one urban elementary
school studied, the vast majority of conflicts referred
to mediation involved physical and verbal
violence.