Safe And Healthy Schools

"This authoritative resource is now in a revised and updated second edition reflecting over 15 years of research advances, new initiatives, and the growth of universal prevention models. It provides a complete toolkit for designing and implementing an evidence-based school safety plan. Foremost experts guide school practitioners to understand and prevent violence, bullying, and peer harassment. Best practices are reviewed for creating a positive school climate, establishing effective security and crisis response procedures, and identifying and supporting. behaviorally at-risk students. The book includes reproducible planning tools that purchasers can download and print for repeated use"--

Millions of children and adults across the nation spend their days in school buildings, and they need safe, healthy environments to thrive, learn, and succeed. This book explores the school environment using the methods and perspectives of environmental health science. Though environmental healht has long been understood to be an important factor in workplaces, homes, and communities, this is the first book to address the same basic concerns in schools. The editors are physicians and educators trained in pediatrics, occupational and environmental medicine, and medical toxicology, and the authors are experts in their fields drawn from across the United States and abroad. Each section of the book addresses a different concern facing schools today. In the first six sections, the various aspects of the school environment are examined. Chapters include the physical environment of the school, air quality issues, pest control, cleaning methods, food safety, safe designs of playgrounds and sports fields, crime and violence prevention, and transportation. In the last two sections, recommendations are made for school administrators on how to maximize the health of their schools. Appropriately evaluating the school environment, implementing strategies to address children and adults with disabilities, emphasizing health services, infectious disease prevention and recognition, and occupational health for faculty and staff are all addressed. The entire book is evidence-based, readable, generously illustrated, and practical. An indispensable resource for parents, school staff, administrators, government officials, and health professionals, this book is for anyone who cares about the health of our schools.

'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for “accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments.†? Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)

Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, this authoritative resource provides a complete toolkit for designing and implementing an evidence-based school safety plan. Foremost experts guide practitioners to understand and prevent violence, bullying, and peer harassment in grades K–12. Best practices are reviewed for creating a positive school climate and establishing effective security and crisis response procedures. The authors describe ways to identify and support behaviorally at-risk students across multiple tiers of intervention, beginning with universal screening. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes reproducible planning tools. Purchasers get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials. New to This Edition *Reflects over 15 years of research advances, new initiatives, and the growth of universal prevention models. *Grounded in current positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) practices; also incorporates restorative discipline, social–emotional learning, and trauma-informed practices. *State-of-the-art behavioral screening and threat assessment methods are integrated throughout. *Discussions of timely topics, including cyberbullying, the role and limitations of policing in schools, and racial/ethnic disparities in discipline. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by Sandra M. Chafouleas.

Successful students are not only knowledgeable but also emotionally and physically healthy, motivated, civically engaged, prepared for work and economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world beyond their own borders. To help students meet this standard, a school must use a coordinated, evidence-based approach that supports learning, teaching and student growth in short, the school must create a healthy school community. This action tool, and accompanying online scoring and analysis tool, offers a practical strategy for structuring your school environment to support the development of students who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to make healthy choices. Updated to reflect current research, new standards, and best practices, the second edition of the action tool guides you through the four steps of the Healthy School Report Card Canadian Edition process with rationale, tips from successful participants, and easy-to-use tools. Tools for organizing can help you develop a school-level process for working with your community. You can then use the scoring tools to assess your school's current health programming and create an evidence-based environment that supports learning and teaching. With the tools for reporting, you can use the Healthy School Report Card Canadian Edition to meet required guidelines and identify and prioritize areas for improvement. The data you collect can assist your ongoing efforts to garner the support of policymakers, family members, and the community.

Publisher Description

Positive Peace in Schools offers a fresh and challenging perspective on the question of conflict, violence and peace in schools. Drawing on the most up-to-date theory and research from the field of peace and conflict studies, this book provides readers with a strong understanding of the concept of positive peace, and how the dimensions of peace-keeping, peace-making and peace-building can be robustly applied in schools. This accessible book challenges educators everywhere to reconsider the nature of direct and indirect violence in schools, and the structural and cultural factors that sustain it. It engages with global traditions of harmony and balance that are often neglected in Western notions of liberal securitised peace, in order to suggest a model for schools that integrates inner and outer peace. The book also includes practical sections that outline restorative approaches to discipline, peer mediation, circle learning, and classroom activities to promote mindfulness, inclusion and wellbeing. Taken together, these provide a philosophy and a highly effective framework for building conflict literacy and a culture of peace in schools.