Schools Turn to Bullying Prevention Programs

Preventing bullying at school is a nice idea, and in many states, including Illinois, it is the law.

The Illinois Prevent School Violence Act requires all schools in Illinois, except for sectarian ones, to set up policies to address bullying. Stopping bullying already happening is part of the challenge, but a lot of effort also goes into showing students how to prevent bullying in the first place, ranging from in-school programs to motivational speakers.

Travis Brown of Indianapolis is a motivational speaker who talks to school-age children about bullying prevention.

"It’s an inspirational message that lets them know that they can change, they can make a positive difference, and creating that desire in them to do so," said Brown, who goes by the nickname Mr. Mojo.

"For the students that are being bullied, it’s about letting them know they have the value, they have worth, no matter what happens to them, in that how people are attacking them," Brown added. "For the bystanders, it’s about the encouragement to mojo up, you’re realizing that they have the power to help people, and that they can take a stand, they can make a difference."

Rossville-Alvin School District Superintendent Crystal Johnson brought Brown to her district in Vermilion County last month.

"He was excellent. He did a great job of relating to our students and parents," Johnson said. "He used this phrase like ‘Mojo up’ or ‘Mojo swag,’ and our students learned some of those phrases and what they meant. To me, it’s stuck when you can hear the students still saying the phrases down the hallway."

Not every school has a guest speaker coming in to talk about bullying.

At the larger, Urbana school district, Assistant Superintendent Don Owen said his staff has drawn from Bullying Prevention materials provided by the Illinois State Board of Education. For instance, Owen said the phrase ‘stop, walk and talk’ is something people will hear in just about every Urbana public school.

"Teaching students how to say Stop to another student, and how to tell another student that’s bothering them, “Stop, I don’t like that," Owen said. "And then, how to walk away, how to remove themselves from a situation that they are not comfortable in. And then also, talk; going to an adult and talking about what it is, and kind of making sure that the adult is aware."

Owen said the progress Urbana has made in addressing bullying reflects growing knowledge about the issue. But one researcher who has worked with the Urbana school district said there is still a lot they do not know.

Dr. Phil Rodkin is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois.

"What is it that the best teachers do and the best school officials do, that other schools can try and assimilate that will reduce instances of bullying; particularly bullying that involves getting harassed because of reasons relating to gender or physical weakness or disability," Rodkin said. "That, we really don’t know a whole lot about."

Patricia Faughn with the University of Illinois Extension said she surveys students and teachers in an effort to measure the impact of the anti-bullying program she helped created called “Breaking the Code.” But she said she has seen firsthand how the program moves students who have been bullies.

"At two schools, I’ve had the students raise their hand and say, ‘I need to say something to another student here,'" Faughn said "And they turn to that student in front of everyone and apologized for bullying them. And that is just always wonderful to see something like that happen."

In addition to such anecdotes, Faughn said she tries to add to the research on bullying, by interviewing teachers to see what changes they notice, and by having students record their attitudes towards bullying both before and after going through the program.