PeaceBuilders^®Results from Alisal School District, Salinas, California

• Outcome Measures: The number of disciplinary actions, episodes of violence, tardies, absences, incidents of violence, volunteer time donated, and community donations were tracked.
• Teacher's Survey and Supporting Staff Survey: Teachers and staff completed surveys of children's aggression, cooperation, and academic skills.
• Principal's Survey: Principals rated the school's implementation of PeaceBuilders

Here's what the results showed:

Outcome Measures: Every single measure improved across the entire district.

• Disciplinary actions were down by 56%.
• Episodes of serious violence were down by 59%.
• Tardies decreased by 20% and absences by 31%.
• Incidents of vandalism declined by 60% and costs of repairing vandalism by 61%.
• Perhaps best of all, volunteerism increased by 99%, and community donations increased by 15%.

Teacher's Survey and Supporting Staff Survey: These surveys indicated positive changes in the school climate and children's behaviors:

• About half the teachers saw fewer behaviors that are often the focus of discipline: 47% reported children were defiant less often; 48% reported less bullying; 49% reported fewer fights; and 45% reported fewer disruptions in class.
• Most teachers also noticed improvements in children's social skills and behavior: 53% said children had better work habits since PeaceBuilders, and 58% reported that more children listened to their instructions.
• Of the staff, 77% claimed that PeaceBuilders had made their jobs easier.
• A strong majority of staff members also reported that children were better behaved, children and staff were calmer, and fewer discipline problems occurred now than before PeaceBuilders.

Teachers suggested making PeaceBuilders stronger by bringing the concepts to parents and the community, by providing more schoolwide activities to "keep PeaceBuilders alive," and by developing special activities to give children "a shot in the arm after Christmas."

Principal's Survey: The principal's surveys proved that PeaceBuilders is pervading their schools:

• All the principals stated that they hear children talk about being PeaceBuilders.
• An impressive 83% felt that important components of PeaceBuilders were being implemented in their schools, including a PeaceBuilders bulletin board in every classroom, teachers integrating PeaceBuilders into the curriculum, staff members praising one another, and "Be a PeaceBuilder" becoming part of classroom rules.
• A promising finding was that the most difficult children were most affected by the consistent language, plus training and support in how to solve problems, which gave them a chance to be successful.

Principals echoed teachers' feeling that more parent training components are needed.

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