National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Guide
The National Center has published a guide on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a systems-wide approach to preventing and improving problem behaviors in classrooms and schools. It is recognized by the U. S. Department of Education as an important strategy in identifing and organizing effective school practices and is applicable to SS/HS programs. The purpose of this guide is to give an overview of PBIS, including the steps involved in initiating this program in schools and communities. To view our PBIS guide, please visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/publications/national_center_guides/
PBIS_guide.html. Other National Center resources, including a PBIS Resource page, materials from our PBIS Series Teleconferences, and a detailed write-up of the teleconference are also available on our Web site.

Two New Resource Pages Available
The National Center has expanded its Resources section to include resource pages on School Resource Officers (SROs) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Each page includes an annotated list of useful Web sites, organizations, materials, and online publications. The School Resource Officers page features important resources for SROs, schools, community organizations, and people who work with SROs. The PBIS page provides important information for educators, school administrators, and people interested in implementing this program in their community; it also features links to local and national PBIS organizations.

New Evidence-Based Program Fact Sheet: Aggression Replacement Training
Evidence-based programs (EBIs) are key components of your Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant. To assist you in selecting, implementing, and sustaining the most effective EBIs, the National Center has created a series of EBI Fact Sheets. These Web pages contain program information, such as key components, intended audiences, costs, and training and evaluation methods. As new Fact Sheets become available, we will post them on our Web site and announce them in our e-newsletter. This month we added the Aggression Replacement Training® (ART®) Fact Sheet to our Web page. The program is designed to help children and adolescents improve social skill competence and moral reasoning, better manage anger, and reduce aggressive behavior. To read the Fact Sheet for ART®, please visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/documents/ebi/
Aggression Replacement Training.pdf. To view all of our Fact Sheets, please visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/publications/evidence_based/.

Follow-Up Second Step Teleconference
On Tuesday, February 13, 2007 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST, the National Center will host a follow-up peer-to-peer teleconference on Second Step, an evidence-based intervention. All grantees who participated in the previous teleconference will receive an email invitation to register for this event. Other grantees who are interested in attending, but did not participate in the first meeting, should contact promotepreventinfo@edc.org for registration information. The notes and materials from the previous teleconference are available at http://learn.aero.und.edu/pages.asp?PageID=91512.

Leadership, Partners, and Creating Systems Change
Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor of the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools identified a four-stage process by which leaders of projects such as SS/HS initiatives can create permanent systems change. Each stage includes tasks related to partners and stakeholders. The four stages are as follows:
1. Preparing the argument for sustaining valued functions: for example, educating partners and stakeholders in how the project’s components contribute to the health and well-being of young people, the school, and the community
2. Mobilizing interest, consensus, and support among key stakeholders: identifying partners and stakeholders who support systems change and helping them bring others into the fold
3. Clarifying feasibility: creating and disseminating specific strategies for integrating project functions into the school and community system
4. Proceeding with specific systems changes: only when a critical mass of stakeholders are ready—and continuing to cultivate their commitment and participation throughout the change process

These stages are described in “On Sustainability of Project Innovations as Systemic Change,” which appeared in the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (2003, Vol. 14, No. 1). More extensive summaries of Adelman and Taylor’s research, as well as guidebooks and other tools based on this research, can be found on the Web site of the Center for Mental Health in Schools (CMHS) (http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu). CMHS is a technical partner of the National Center.

This section highlights just a few updates from the prevention field. Please go to http://library.promoteprevent.org for more news items and resources.

New Study Examines Philadelphia’s Student Dropout Rate from 2000 to 2005
The student dropout rate in the Philadelphia School System from 2000–2005 is discussed and analyzed in a recent report, Unfulfilled Promise: The Dimensions and Characteristics of Philadelphia’s Dropout Crisis, 2000–2005, by Ruth Curran Neild and Robert Balfanz. Schools and communities can use the information in this report to identify the at-risk population and provide the necessary support for academic success. The study used data from the University of Pennsylvania’s Cartographic Modeling Laboratory’s Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS), and the findings indicated that from 2000 to 2005, 30,000 of Philadelphia’s students who entered the ninth grade did not graduate. In addition to addressing graduation and dropout trends, the report also examines the characteristics of students who do not complete their education. For example, the study found that 75 percent of eighth graders who missed more than five weeks of school and received a failing grade in math and/or English would not finish high school. The full report can be accessed at http://www.williampennfoundation.org/usr_doc/Unfulfilled_Promise_(Project_U-turn).pdf.

The University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University have produced a companion to this report, Turning It Around: A Collective Effort to Understand and Resolve Philadelphia's Dropout Crisis, which is available at http://www.williampennfoundation.org/usr_doc/Turning_it_around_
Project_U-Turn).pdf.

New Publications on Students and Trauma
The RAND Corporation has recently released two documents related to students who have experienced trauma. The first publication describes best practices for schools helping students recover from traumatic experiences and is intended as a tool kit for supporting long-term recovery. The report is sectioned into different types of trauma that students may experience—disaster-related, traumatic loss, violence, and complex traumas—and provides information about specific programs and practices related to each topic. It is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR413.pdf.

The second study describes the experiences of Louisiana public school students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the subsequent effects on the education system, and the policies enacted in response to the large-scale displacement. The full report is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR430.pdf.

New Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing
Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing, a report from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, provides an effective developmental framework for information-sharing among agencies that serve at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. The guide outlines a course of actions for states and local jurisdictions and addresses the three critical components—collaboration, confidentiality, and technology—of information sharing. It promotes using more efficient technology to access data from multiple locations or agencies, eliminating redundant data collection and entry methods, and using systems that safeguard and protect private information based on juvenile information exchange policies. The full report is available at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=237372.

National School Counseling Week: February 5–9, 2007
The theme of National School Counseling week is “School Counselors: Helping Students Reach New Heights” and is sponsored by American School Counselors Association (ASCA). This week highlights the positive effect that school counselors have on the academic, personal, social, and career development of their students. More information about this event is available at http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=497. To help schools and communities celebrate the week, the ASCA is selling kits, which include posters, stickers, and sample press releases, for $25 for ASCA members and $35 for nonmembers.

The Grant Opportunities page is updated regularly with new announcements of available public and private grant competitions. Here is just one of the listings you'll find:

Title: Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program
Funder: Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Description: The purpose is to promote school readiness and improved learning outcomes of young children by providing high-quality professional development programs to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators and caregivers who work in early childhood programs located in high-poverty communities and who serve primarily children from low-income families.
Award: $3,600,000 (3-6 awards)
Eligibility: Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), Local Education Agencies (LEAs), Nonprofit Organizations, Other Organizations and/or Agencies, State Education Agencies (SEAs). Partnerships of a professional development provider; public agencies, Head Start agencies, or private organizations; and if feasible, an entity with experience in training early childhood educators about identifying and preventing behavioral problems or with experience in working with children who are victims of abuse may apply.
Application Notice: February 19, 2007
Deadline: April, 20 2007
For more information: http://www.ed.gov/programs/eceducator/index.html
Note: Forecasted Grant: Please check Web site for official announcement.

We regularly add to a detailed listing of conferences and events occurring within the National Center and across the nation. For example,

Date: February 26–28, 2007
Location: Washington, D.C.
Title: Children 2007: Raising Our Voices for Children
Sponsor: The Child Welfare League of America
Description: The CWLA national conference will highlight best and promising practices, enhance outcomes for children, families, and communities, and focus on collaborative work across systems. The conference will feature presentations that emphasize how collective voices have been successful, how to substantiate success in research, and how to work across systems to ensure that voices are heard.
Web site: http://www.cwla.org/conferences/2007nationalrfp.htm