School Safety and No Child Left Behind Implications

School Safety

Children must feel safe in school in order to learn, achieve high standards and become competent, resilient adults. Research conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education examined 37 incidents of targeted school shootings and attacks which led to ten key findings, one of which was that a majority of the attackers felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured by others prior to the incident. One of the first things Columbine High School did in the wake of the shooting disaster was to implement a comprehensive freshmen transition program. You have to wonder if things could have been different if any of these students had an upper-class mentor throughout their freshmen year. The Kick-Off Program gives every incoming student at least one more person to reach out to, keeping many of them from slipping through the cracks.

Bullying is a major problem in today's schools. Consequences of bullying range from lower attendance and lower student achievement to increased incidence of violence and juvenile crime. Even students not directly involved in bullying can be affected: Students who regularly witness bullying at school suffer from a less secure learning environment, the fear that the bully may target them next, and the knowledge that teachers are either unable or unwilling to control a bully's behavior.

No Child Left Behind Act

Are you wondering how you are going to meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act? If you start planning now for a comprehensive transition program you can see improvements in your school as early as next year!

One of the requirements of the NCLB is to hold high schools accountable for graduation rates. States incorporate graduation rates in defining AYP objectives for their high schools. That means, most importantly, including the graduation rate in a high school's AYP objectives focuses attention on the needs of students who are at the greatest risk of dropping out, getting expelled, getting held back, and failing multiple classes. At most schools, the group with the highest number of suspensions, discipline referrals, and failing grades is new students. The Kick-Off Transition Program addresses all of these issues. What better way to focus on each new student's needs than to assign each of them a mentor to who will help ease the transition into a new school environment. The No Child Left Behind Act forces schools to target areas for improvement and the Kick-Off Program helps in a number of these different target areas.