Effectiveness of Alternative School Interventions in Reducing Incidences of Violence in Schools and Improving Attendance and Graduation Rates

Abstract

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine whether alternative school interventions were effective in reducing the incidences of violence in schools and improving attendance and graduation rates, whether positive behavior intervention supports were effective intervention strategies in school violence prevention initiatives, and whether parental and community involvements were necessary for intervention strategies and supports to be effective in school violence prevention initiatives.

I was concerned about the negative impact violence had on academics, health, the school environment, and within the community. I expected to identify as many problem types as possible and research similar problems in other areas to see what had been done to reduce violence and improve conditions in those schools and communities affected by violence. The presence of violence in schools led to a disruptive and threatening environment, physical injury, and emotional stress. To address this, teachers and administrators implemented programs designed to prevent, deter, and respond to potential violence in schools.

What I found was that it was difficult to assess the effectiveness of individual intervention strategies, because districts applied them in combination with one or more additional interventions. One way to overcome this difficulty and provide more useful data on the success of particular interventions was to begin longitudinal studies that tracked specific students over a long period of time, if those interventions could be studied in isolation. The impact of external factors, such as the neighborhood and home environment, must be considered and factored into each individual case as well, because of the many variations that existed. Generalizations were made in this study, because many of the schools studied had similar demographics. Despite the collateral influences that negatively impacted student success, the use of the various intervention strategies appeared to have had an impact on school improvement in the United States.