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.

A very young administrator working at desk

CRE Conference Presentations

Fairfax County Public Schools Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Training 2010

  • Presented by: Joan Packer, Swaim Pessaud, Kristen John
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Changing the World – Youth Mediators Across the Globe

  • Presented by: Tricia Jones
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Expert Chat Session with Richard Cohen

  • Presented by: Richard Cohen
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State-wide Initiatives in New York and Ohio: Creating Positive Learning Environments

  • Presented by: Mark Barth, Mary Lou Rush and Cheryl Kish
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Connected and Respected: Lessons from Resolving Conflict Creatively

  • Presented by: Larry Dieringer
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Neighbor Circles as a Tool for Building Community

  • Presented by: Mark Chupp, Case Western Reserve University
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View More Presentations 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
UNESCO: Mainstreaming the culture of peace 26-page pdf created by UNESCO which "defined the Culture of Peace as consisting of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. The 1999 United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (resolution A/53/243) called gor everyone – governments, civil dociety, the media, parents, teachers, politicians, scientists, artists, NGOs and the entire United Nations system – to assume responsibility in this respect. It staked out eight action areas for actors at national, regional and international levels:" Those 8 action areas are: Fostering a culture of peace through education; Promoting sustainable economic and social development; Promoting respect for all human rights; Ensuring equality between women and men; Fostering democratic participation; Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity; Supporting participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge and Promoting international peace and security.
Teaching conflict and conflict resolution in school: (Extra-) curricular considerations Report that explored "the school factors that influence young people's developing understandings of war, conflict, and peace ... as children grow, they develop understandings about interpersonal and social conflict, about procedures for handling it, and about the violence and war that may emerge when conflicts are not resolved, in school, official curricula guide children's and adolescents' development of understanding about war, conflict and peace, at least as powerfully, young people also learn about conflict from the implicit curricula of student activities, teacher and peer responses to political events, school governance, and discipline practices."
Composite campus ombuds profile, A Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 4, Number 1, (Oct. 2003), which presents a composite portait of a campus ombuds from, "information received from the Ombuds Profile Project survey, in the spring of 2002 questionnaires were sent out with a call for case studies to 103 campus ombuds in the United States, Canada, and Australia (65 women, 32 men, 6 to "ombuds offices" without ombuds listed), this profile blends eleven responses to the questionnaire (6 women, 5 men) that were received in time for the 2002 profile."
Conflict resolution, negotiation & team building: Reviewing an impossible course that worked Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 5, Number 1, (Sept 2004), which presents the story of a "course teaching dispute resolution, negotiation and team building (ACS 201: Dispute Resolution and Team Building) [which] was designed to fit into the program's first year curriculum, this essay reviews the nature of the course and in some detail the student response to it." The course was taught at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario.
Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 2 class meetings 8-page pdf lesson which "through role-play and discussion, this lesson will help students understand the motives behind offending and re-offending and to develop problem-solving consequences that will help offenders learn a better way to behave. By developing restorative consequences, the classroom community can help the offender repair the harm he/she has caused and discourage the offender from re-offending. Students practice consensus building and explore the consequence-setting aspect of justice circles."
Youth & conflict: A toolkit for intervention 35-page PDF toolkit which is, "part of a series that explores how development assistance can address key risk factors associated with conflict. One area that is receiving increasing attention is the relationship between young people and violence ... This document: 1) examines key issues related to youth participation in violence; 2) discusses lessons learned in developing programs for at-risk youth; 3) presents a range of program options; 4) includes illustrative monitoring and evaluation tools; and 5) identifies relevant USAID mechanisms and partners. Together, the elements of this toolkit are designed to help raise awareness about the linkages between young people, development aid, and conflict; and to help officers integrate a conflict perspective into their development programming."
Campus conflict hotspot mapping Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 3, (May 2003), which discusses the idea of Hotspot mapping, the "opportunistic sampling of campus community members to get their input on where conflict occurs on campus and what its relative intensity may be."
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."
Theater and conflict resolution education 8-slide Powerpoint presentation "examining the ways theater is being used to teach and learn about conflict."
PROS: Peaceful resolutions for Oklahoma [elementary] students: School-based peer mediation curric 83-page PDF manual which helps teachers and trainers introduce elementary school students to peer mediation and conflict and teach communication and problem solving skills.
Practicing peace: A peace education module for standards 4 through 6 in Solomon Islands 87-page word document which presents peace education for the Solomon Islands context. "The primary method used in peace education is generally referred to as a "facilitated" or "interactive" model of teaching. In this method, the teacher becomes a facilitator of learning and a co-learner with the students. Students and teachers use experiential strategies to practice skills for peace. There is a shift in the value placed on being a teacher. Using the facilitated processes of conflict resolution and peace education, teachers and students learn together and teach each other." Covered areas include: Interpersonal skills; Understanding and accepting differences; Children's rights; Building community and Mediation.
M.O.V.E.: Mind over violence everywhere 88-page PDF manual developed to provide learning materials on violence prevention for youth with low literacy skills. The objectives of M.O.V.E. are to: Increase awareness of violence and develop skills to prevent violence, increase literacy through non-traditional learning activities, encourage youth to participate actively and assist the facilitator in recording the workshop responses. The program is organized into five sections: Learning and thinking styles, Communication rights and responsibilities, Peer mediation, Resisting peer pressure and Social action.
Teaching and learning in circle Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 2, (February 2003), which "explores the impact of teaching using a circle format, both at the high school and college level."
Conflict negotiation skills for youth 186-page PDF training manual on Conflict Negotiation Skills for Youth. The manual is directed at government and nongovernmental organization personnel working with young people. It presents a variety of participatory training methods and exercises. Users are encouraged to refine and adapt the materials. The contents are organized as follows: Conflict Negotiation Skills for Youth: Facilitator's Guide Section I: Youth and the conflicts they face in daily life, Session 1: Understanding youth, Session 2: Understanding conflict, Section II: Techniques for resolving intra-personal conflicts, Session 3: Self-awareness, Session 4: Communication, Session 5: Negotiation, Session 6: Mediation, Section III: Techniques for resolving group conflict, Session 7: Group building, Session 8: Team building and cooperation, and Session 9: Advocacy for youth development References.
Schools conflict resolution and mediation competition: Manual 27-page pdf manual for SCRAM a, "Year 9 & 10 interactive role play program which encourages the development of mediation skills in secondary school students. The mediation is based on fictitious community based scenario. A team of 6-8 students is given background information on an issue which is causing conflict among 4 participants. The team uses this information to practice their mediation skills." Objectives for the students include: Learning to manage conflict in a productive way, to encourage the development of self esteem through self awareness, to encourage the development of self esteem through self responsibility, to encourage the parties to identify the issues that are in dispute, considering options, working towards an agreement that will meet the needs of all parties and encouraging the development of self esteem. For practice training scenarios go to: http://www.scram.business.ecu.edu.au/scenario.htm To find out more information about SCRAM see their website at: http://www.scram.business.ecu.edu.au/
National curriculum integration project: Report on year one (1998-1999) Word document which summarizes findings from research that examined: The best practices for developing and implementing curriculum infusion and integration processes, the impact of the NCIP conflict resolution education on students' conflict orientations and the impact of the NCIP conflict resolution education on classroom climate.
Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths (2nd Ed) This 373-page compendium, available as a pdf, provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences, as well as to evaluate programs to prevent youth violence. Although this compendium contains more than 170 measures, it does not claim to be an exhaustive listing of available measures. Most of the measures in this compendium are intended for use with youths between the ages of 11 and 24 years, to assess such factors as serious violent and delinquent behavior, conflict resolution strategies, social and emotional competencies, peer influences, parental monitoring and supervision, family relationships, exposure to violence, collective efficacy, and neighborhood characteristics. The compendium also contains a number of scales and assessments developed for use with children between the ages of 5 and 10 years, to measure factors such as aggressive fantasies, beliefs supportive of aggression, attributional biases, prosocial behavior, and aggressive behavior. When parent and teacher versions of assessments are available, they are included as well.
Racial and ethnic conflict on campus Pdf article reprinted from the June/July 1991 Issue (Vol 33) of The Fourth R, The Newsletter of the National Association for Mediation in Education which discusses the, "role of the ombudsman in relation to racial incidents and the development and implementation of racial harassment policies ... in developing our training, we will be incorporating racial and cultural differences into the mediation process, including training about communication styles, conflict styles, different expectations for mediation and neutrality and different approaches to emotions and aggressiveness."
Mediating a Better Solution A 5-page article on peer mediation written for principals. It appeared in the magazine Principal Leadership as part of a monthly column entitled "Counseling 101" that is written by members of the National Association of School Psychologists. Includes a case study exploring the need for improved referral system for a peer mediation program.
Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools, Youth-Serving Orgs A manual in pdf format providing an overview of various models for conflict resolution education program implementation. The first chapter defines conflict as a natural condition and examines the origins of conflict, responses to conflict, and the outcomes of those responses. It introduces four approaches to implementing conflict resolution education. Each of the next four chapters discusses one of these approaches and presents examples of programs that use the approach. One chapter describes an approach to conflict resolution education characterized by devoting a specific time to teaching the foundation abilities, principles, and one or more of the problemsolving processes in a separate course or distinct curriculum. Another chapter describes an approach in which selected, trained individuals provide neutral third-party facilitation in conflict resolution. A chapter presents an approach that incorporates conflict resolution education into the core subject areas of the curriculum and into classroom management strategies, and another chapter presents a comprehensive whole-school methodology that builds on the previous approach. The next two chapters address conflict resolution education in settings other than traditional schools. The final three chapters address more overarching topics: conflict resolution research and evaluation; a developmental sequence of behavioral expectations in conflict resolution; and the process of developing, implementing, and sustaining a conflict resolution program.