EVALUATION OF COMPREHENSIVE VIOLENCE PREVENTION EDUCATION - EFFECTS ON STUDENT BEHAVIOR

Purpose: This study evaluates the impact on student behavior of violen ce prevention education in school settings. Methods: School records we re obtained for three panels (1985, 1986, and 1987) of urban public hi gh school students (n = 1,523) who were nonrandomly assigned to three different conditions of school-based violence prevention education: (1 ) in a class-specific comprehensive educational intervention, (2) as p art of a school-wide violence prevention initiative, and (3) no exposu re. Changes in suspension status from sophomore to junior year were tr acked within exposure groups and the risk of junior year suspension wa s compared across exposure groups, controlling for age, gender, race, absenteeism, and previous year suspension. Results: The class-specific exposure, compared to a not-exposed group from the same school showed a significant 71% reduction in suspension rates (RR = .286, CI .12, . 66). The school-wide exposure school shows reductions in and maintenan ce of very low rates of junior year suspension in each cohort year, al though these are not always statistically significantly different from not-exposed groups. Conclusion: Results indicate that violence preven tion education can reduce negative school behaviors, particularly when other supportive curricula and activities are added.