Policymakers and Administrators
Welcome to the Conflict Resolution Education Connection’s resources for policymakers and administrators. Our goal is to provide information that will support administrators interested in promoting or extending conflict resolution work within education. The sidebar menu to your right provides a listing of the content areas we focus on at this site.

CRE Conference Presentations
Designing, Marketing and Implementing a School-Based Restorative Justice Program: Lessons Learned
- Presented by: David T. Deal and Joan Packer
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Legislative Support for Character Education on the State Level
- Presented by: Sharon Burton-US Department of Education, Washington, DC, USA
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Lessons for Helping Students Develop Emotional Awareness to Support CRE
- Presented by: Christa M. Tinari
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Neighbor Circles as a Tool for Building Community
- Presented by: Mark Chupp, Case Western Reserve University
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Effective Ways to Motivate Change in Youth Using Restorative Justice Practices
- Presented by: Keysha Myers, Summit County Juvenile Court; Myron Lewis, Summit County Public Health
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Cyberbullying & Relational Aggression: Who is it & What Can be Done?
- Presented by: Kimberly Mason, Laura Hammel, Amanda K. Brace, Rachel A. Vitale
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Sample Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
| Resource Title | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Collaboration and conflict resolution skills: A core academic competency? | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 4, (Nov/Dec 2000), examines "an innovative program at California State University Monterey Bay [which] has incorporated conflict resolution as one of the program's 11 Major Learning Objectives that students must know and understand in order to graduate." | |
| Exploring emotional literacy through visual the arts: With embedded literacy and numeracy skills | 21-page PDF document created to "enable staff who are not Arts practitioners to carry out this [art based] work. They are designed as individual projects but can equally be extended into small group activities ... The aim is to encourage the young person to express visually emotions that are difficult to articulate verbally." Projects include: Making masks (expressing feelings using facial expressions); Abstract art (expressing feelings using colors and shapes); Designing a chair (expressing how I feel about myself); Creating a book (expressing how I feel, exploring what I know about an issue in my life); and Drawing a neighborhood map (exploring safe and unsafe areas where I live). | |
| What have I done: Victim empathy pack responsibility exercises | 13-page Word document presenting a "new victim empathy resource designed to keep victim awareness high in Restorative Justice practitioner's priorities." Contains a number of exercises about taking responsibility for one's actions and exploring feelings. | |
| Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 5 the justice circle part 3 | 8-page pdf lesson which provides "students with an opportunity to learn and practice the facilitation of Justice Circles. After a review of the purpose and process, students role-play scenarios, covering all roles including the role of facilitator. After their role-play experience, students discuss whether the circle would be effective in both healing the victim and helping the offender learn a better way to behave, and explore what could have been done differently to more effectively meet those objectives." | |
| Peer mediation training for schools: Best practice guidelines (UK) | 8-page Word document which presents best practice guidelines developed by the Peer Mediation Network in the UK. Paper begins with a definition of peer mediation and then outlines best practices for many aspects of training. | |
| Hip-Hop artists: Lesson and activity excerpted from the Tanenbaum curriculum COEXIST | 5-page PDF lesson plan in which students (grade 6-12), "will learn about stereotypes as well as how to identify and challenge their own biases. Students will also make connections to religion as an important aspect of identity and an influence within the realm of Hip-Hop." | |
| Evaluation report: Life skills project implementation in the Armenian education system | 45-page PDF report which "represents an evaluation of implementation of the Life Skills Project being conducted in the Armenian education system as [a] component of an overall effort in education reform ... the project was piloted in the first and fifth grades in 16 schools in 1999-2000. In 2000-2001 the project was expanded to 100 schools and to the second and sixth grades. UNICEF provided funding and some logistical support and the MOES provided administrative and logistical project support and workspace for the curriculum development team." | |
| VOV activities: Understanding the value of dialog, grades 7-12 | 13-page PDF document with a number of activities to aid secondary students in improving communication skills. | |
| Reaching across boundaries: Talk to create change | 21-page pdf handbook which, "shows you how to conduct Mix It Up Dialogues. In the dialogues, participants will have honest discussions about social boundaries, and they will plan action projects that help cross those boundaries ... Mix It Up Dialogues aren't just about talking, however. They're also about taking action -- changing personal behaviors that may hurt or exclude others and engaging in collective projects to improve school climate." | |
| Nonviolent communication and ombuds work | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which relates the author's experience using a model from "Nonviolent Communication (NVC)," created by Marshall B. Rosenberg, in her work as university ombudsman at Humboldt State University. | |
| Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 4 the justice circle part 2 | 5-page pdf lesson which provides "students with an understanding of the process of Justice Circles and teaching them how to use this strategy in conflict resolution. Students practice setting restorative consequences and assess whether the consequences they identify would be effective in both healing the victim and helping the offender learn a better way to behave." | |
| Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL): Improving behaviour, improving learning | This fully articulated curriculum resource from the United Kingdom is available as a 90MB zip file containing the full kit or as individual pdfs. It aims to develop the underpinning qualities and skills that help promote positive behaviour and effective learning. It focuses on five social and emotional aspects of learning: self-awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills. The materials help children develop skills such as understanding another's point of view, working in a group, sticking at things when they get difficult, resolving conflict and managing worries. They build on effective work already in place in the many primary schools who pay systematic attention to the social and emotional aspects of learning through whole-school ethos, initiatives such as circle time or buddy schemes, and the taught personal, social and health education (PSHE) and Citizenship curriculum. The materials are organised into seven themes: New Beginnings, Getting on and falling out, Say no to bullying, Going for goals!, Good to be me, Relationships and Changes. Each theme is designed for a whole-school approach and includes a whole-school assembly and suggested follow-up activities in all areas of the curriculum. The colour-coded resources are organized at four levels: Foundation Stage, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6. Pupil reference material and photocopiable teacher reference material accompany each theme. | |
| Virginia Tech shooting: Lessons for dismantling norms about violence | 10-page Powerpoint presentation given at the Second International Summit on Conflict Resolution Education, which "offers a Preliminary inquiry into pedagogical actions for addressing the intersections among gender, race, ethnicity, social class, mental illness, and violence, the limitations of the thinking that pervaded the recent public discourse on the Virginia Tech Shooting will be revealed and a responsive pedagogical action proposed." | |
| Inter-agency P.E.P.: Skills for constructive living: Teacher activity book of secondary modules | 36-page pdf manual which "is one of the components of the Inter-Agency Peace Education Programme, the programme is designed for education managers of ministries dealing with both formal and non-formal education and for agencies which implement education activities on behalf of the government ... the teacher's main resource it has a lesson-by-lesson curriculum for formal schooling structured according to the children's cognitive and emotional development ... these secondary modules are designed primarily for those students who have undertaken the Peace Education programme in Primary School, there may be specific lessons in the primary grades that adapt very well to the secondary situation, these should be used where appropriate, in addition there are some stories (and poetry) in the Story Book (part of the primary component) that may also be useful." | |
| Flirting or hurting?: Teacher guide, grade 6-9 | 9-page PDF teacher's guide which accompanies 3 filmed programs on sexual harrassment, "two of the modules target students, and one targets teachers. Throughout the student programs, the host, an older sister character, provides definitions, explanations and insights based on her own experiences ... the two 15-minute classroom programs include breaks for discussions or activities. These programs are appropriate for coeducational Health, Guidance, Family & Consumer Science, English, Social Studies, Physical Education, and New Student Orientation classes, or Vocational shops in grades 6 through 9." | |
| Statement of restorative justice principles: As applied in a school setting: 2nd edition | 24-page PDF document of "Principles [which] form the basis for restorative practices in all settings, using all models, where the primary aims are to repair harm and promote dialogue ... Restorative practices are underpinned by a set of values, these include: Empowerment, honesty, respect, engagement, voluntarism, healing, restoration, personal accountability, inclusiveness, collaboration, and problem-solving." | |
| Cyberbullying and relational aggression: Who is it and what can be done | 74-page Powerpoint presentation given at the Second International Summit on Conflict Resolution Education which presents a workshop "designed to help school personnel understand the dynamics underlying indirect aggression, detect indirect aggression, discover who is doing it, and ways they can intervene and prevent this covert form of bullying, results from a study examining the relationship between media and relational aggression and ways to infuse the information into the new anti-bullying legislation in Ohio will be shared, a comprehensive program being used in two Northeast, Ohio schools for teachers, families, and students will also be shared." | |
| Good Practice Guidelines for Peer Mediation Initiatives | A one-page summary of guidelines for best practice for peer mediation program initiatives. Based on a larger evaluation of Peer Mediation Programs in New South Wales Government Schools published in 2003 | |
| Institutional and Program/Practitioner Guidelines For Conflict Management in Higher Education | Document (30-page pdf) provides a set of guidelines designed to support the development of comprehensive, educational, integrated and conflict-friendly approaches to managing conflict and disputes in institutions of higher education. The target audience includes key decision makers such as senior administrators, deans and department heads, ombudspersons, anti-harassment officers, housing and security administrators, faculty, student affairs professionals, and various frontline conflict services staff. The consensus document was developed by a national working group including the full spectrum of campus conflict resolvers. Presents a set of nine core principles that are elaborated on reflecting best practices in the higher education ADR field. Includes appendix with resource links. | |
| Conflict resolution skills ladder | 1-page PDF document which outlines a progression of skills and the behaviors associated with them in conflict resolution. |