School violence and disruption revisited: Equity and safety in the school house

In the September, 2000, issue of Focus on Exceptional Children, we, along with several colleagues, examined school violence and related disorders through. ecological and other perspectives (Leone, Mayer, Malmgren, & Meisel, 2000). That article attempted to move beyond a discussion limited to child-centered characteristics and toward the contexts of children's lives. Our analysis of school violence examined family structure and poverty, exposure to violence in popular media, access to guns, and influences in the education system (e.g., accountability, zero tolerance) that might help to explain school violence and disorder. After presenting data on the extent of school violence and disorder, we closed with a discussion of promising approaches to preventing school violence. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we reexamine the issues raised in the 2000 Focus on Exceptional Children article and related developments in school violence reporting and prevention since that time. We begin with a review of current reports on school violence and related research. Next we revisit and update information on several key issues discussed in the original article, including (a) data collection and interpretation, (b) family structure and supervision of children, (c) poverty and income inequity, (d) exposure to violence in the media, (e) media coverage of school violence, (f) access to guns, (g) accountability and high-stakes testing, and (h) zero tolerance policies. We then revisit key areas of school violence prevention, legislative developments, the nexus of students' social skills, mental health, bullying, school exclusion, and tradeoffs between educational rights and maintaining a safe and orderly environment. The article concludes with suggestions for a balanced approach to prevention.