School Bullying Prevention Task Force Wants Less Talk, More Action
When it comes to student bullying, a task force of education researchers wants schools to focus more on addressing the underlying issues contributing to bad behavior and spend less time worrying about how to define it.
Spurred by recent school shootings and student suicides, last year the American Educational Research Association decided for the first time to formally address bullying at the K-12 and higher education level. The task force, made up of experts from a range of fields, considered existing research, identified effective policy and practice, and compiled recommendations to help schools develop more effective interventions.
But researchers quickly determined the term “bullying” itself is problematic, said Dorothy Espelage, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who co-chaired the's task force.
But researchers quickly determined the term “bullying” itself is problematic, said Dorothy Espelage, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who co-chaired the's task force.
“How about we rein it back in?” Espelage suggested Tuesday at the AERA’s annual meeting in San Francisco