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

Creating and Promoting Positive School Climate in Ohio’s Schools

  • Presented by: Ohio Department of Education
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Words Work

  • Presented by: Tricia Jones and Tim Hedeen
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State-wide Initiative for Creating Positive Learning Environments (Ohio)

  • Presented by: Mary Lou Rush, Cheryl Kish, Ohio Department of Education
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25 Years: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

  • Presented by: Larry Dieringer
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Strategies for Teaching Peace and CR in U.S. Undergraduate Environments

  • Presented by: David Smith
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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

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
Mixitup: 2008-2009 planner 50-page pdf document, "designed for teachers, counselors, students, administrators and others looking for activities and ideas to organize Mix It Up at Lunch Day, reduce social boundaries at school and promote an inclusive learning environment for all students. It includes lesson plans for early, middle and upper grades based on content standards and can easily be adapted for use in school clubs. For additional activity ideas, online polls and essay prompts, visit www.mixitup.org."
Evolution of the Role of Ombudsperson on University and College Campuses, The Pdf article reprinted from the February/March 1995 Issue (Vol 55) of The Fourth R, The Newsletter of the National Association for Mediation in Education which discusses the history and role of ombuds people in colleges and universities.
Intake hints Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 2, Number 2, (Feb 2002), which examines intake procedures and scheduling issues for community mediation, based on work done by "Neighborhood Dispute Settlement Program of Dauphin County (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), ... a community mediation program which receives referrals from criminal justice entities."
Profile of the CMHE REPORT's "Early Adopters" Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 2, (March/April 2000), presenting a survey of users and subscribers of the Conflict Management in Higher Education Report electronic newslettter.
Peer mediation partnerships: Linking university with community 22-page Powerpoint presentation given at the Sustaining Conflict Resolution Education: Building Bridges to the Future conference in Fairfax, VA, which highlighted "best practices pertaining to peer mediation partnership initiatives between undergraduates and high school peer mediation programs ... issues addressed include[d] team-building and motivation, skills-sharing and training, program assessment, and leadership and guidance."
Alternative dispute resolution at public colleges: Overcoming two built-in legal hurdles Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which investigates the fact that, "Public colleges face two special challenges in resolving disputes that involve students, employees and outsiders, the first is the problem of due process and the second is the problem of free speech, these are problems that public colleges face simply because they are part of the government."
Tale of two colleges, A: Diversity, conflict, and conflict resolution Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 5, Number 1, (Sept 2004), which shows, "how real people can achieve dramatically different outcomes depending on the strategies they devise and the methods they employ, the first chapter shows people digging in to their positions and trying to force the Other Person to give in, the second chapter shows similarly situated people using the problem-solving negotiation strategy popularized in the book Getting To Yes."
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."
Best practices of non-violent conflict resolution in and out-of-school some examples 78-page pdf document which "aims to inform teachers, trainers, educators, parents, youth and students who, one way or another, are confronted with violence in the school or in non-formal community education, and are looking for practical solutions. The intention of UNESCO in this project is not only to inform them what is best internationally in terms of education for peace and non-violence, but above all to supply concrete pedagogical tools to prevent and transform the violence with which they are confronted on a daily basis at work."
Strategies to prevent youth violence 92-page pdf chapter from "Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Sourcebook for Community Action," which investigates "Social-cognitive interventions strive to equip children with the skills they need to deal effectively with difficult social situations, such as being teased or being the last one picked to join a team. They build on Bandura’s social-cognitive theory, which posits that children learn social skills by observing and interacting with parents, adult relatives and friends, teachers, peers, and others in the environment, including media role models (Bandura 1986). Social-cognitive interventions incorporate didactic teaching, modeling, and role-playing to enhance positive social interactions, teach nonviolent methods for resolving conflict, and establish or strengthen nonviolent beliefs in young people ... Mentoring—the pairing of a young person with a volunteer who acts as a supportive, nonjudgmental role model—has been touted by many as an excellent means of providing a child or adolescent with a positive adult influence when such an influence does not otherwise exist. Evidence has shown that mentoring can significantly improve school attendance and performance, reduce violent behavior, decrease the likelihood of drug use, and improve relationships with friends and parents."
The Role of Restorative Justice in Teen Courts: A Preliminary Look In March 2000, the American Probation and Parole Association convened a focus group to examine and discuss the role of restorative justice in teen court programs (also called youth and peer courts). The panel consisted of persons working actively in teen courts and persons working actively in more traditional restorative justice-based programs. This paper provides a brief overview of restorative justice principles and addresses several key issues the focus group members identified that serve as a promising foundation from which teen courts can begin to move toward integrating more restorative justice-based practices within their programs. Key issues discussed include how youth courts can rethink the role of victims and the community within their programs, how youth courts can alter the way that their proceedings and practices are structured, and how youth courts can rethink and redefine sentencing options so that they are based on the restorative justice philosophy.
Peace education curriculum: Programa pendidiken damai (pdf) 84-page pdf translation of the Indonesian "Kurikulum Pendidikan Damai" which "was the first of its kind to be developed in Indonesia, representing peace education from an Islamic and Acehnese perspective. It promotes a positive, comprehensive peace encompassing peaceful relations with God the Creator, with oneself, with one's fellow humans, and with the environment. The curriculum teaches communal peace in accordance with the positive Islamic approach, namely the absence of war and discrimination and the necessity of justice in society. This manual emphasizes that peace is neither a subjugation to situations nor a passive acceptance of injustice, discrimination, and war, but rather a recognition of these problems and addressing them in a peaceful manner. The curriculum also stresses the importance of process and ends, since peace is both process and results, as reflected in active involvement of students in a system of learning by doing ... The materials and learning activities were authored in such a manner to allow the students dominant roles in the learning process. The students are guided to observe, analyze, and seek for solutions to existing conflicts. We feel that this strategy can better improve the students' knowledge on conflict and peace, build their skills in managing conflicts without violence, and actualize them all in their real life."
Doing anti-rape work: One man's perspective Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which discusses the author's "anti-rape prevention work with men [which] means trying to reduce the likelihood that the men who attend a workshop will behave in ways that are assaultive."
Inter-agency P.E.P.: Skills for constructive living: Teacher activity book 361-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."
10 challenges facing campus mediation programs Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 2, Number 2, (Feb 2002), which discusses the role and challenges among college mediation programs based on interviews with university campus mediation programs, and then "extrapolating examples to look at the larger issues facing these programs."
National evaluation of the restorative justice in schools programme 99-page pdf document which provides the findings of national (England and Wales), "projects [which] spanned a range of different approaches to introducing restorative practices into schools, including restorative justice conferences ... the contract to evaluate these initiatives was awarded to Partners in Evaluation, a specialist agency with a multi-ethnic team of researchers and a national reputation for conducting evaluations in the fields of health, education, social exclusion and regeneration." Includes a literature review, sample pupil and school staff surveys and post-conference interview schedule for perpetrators and aggrieved.
All equal in diversity: International campaign mobilizing schools against racism, discrimination... 13-page PDF booklet which, "is part of the "All Equal in Diversity” International Campaign Kit comprising a poster and stickers promoting the campaign, an Application Form, a Report Form and Evaluation Questionnaire ... Some 100 schools in Africa, the Americas/Caribbean and Europe participate in the TST [Transatlantic Slave Trade] Education project. Their opinions and commitment have formed the basis of the “All Equal in Diversity” International Campaign. By deepening their understanding of the past, these schools work towards a better understanding of the present so as to build a brighter future based on mutual respect and unity in diversity, thus contributing substantially to the quality of education in the twenty-first century."
Conflict transformation: A standards-based conflict resolution unit for middle school students Web-based "twelve-unit, thirty-six-hour course designed to teach middle school students basic conflict transformation skills for personal, community, national, and international situations. The short stories, current events, class discussions, guided reading activities, and guided writing assignments make this course ideal both for social studies and language arts classes."
Evaluation of the Truancy Prevention through Mediation Program (Ohio) 12-page pdf presents an evaluation of the Truancy Prevention through Mediation Program developed in Ohio. "Although the Truancy Prevention through Mediation Program (TPMP) has consistently demonstrated positive results in the effort to combat truancy, absent from these evaluations has been an examination of the impact of the program on the academic performance and behavior of the children whose families participate in the program. To fill this void, the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and the Supreme Court of Ohio collaborated to commission an independent evaluation to ascertain answers to these questions." This report summarizes the findings from this study.
Collegiate mediation programs: A critical review Pdf article reprinted from April/May 1994 issue (Vol. 50 pp. 36-37) of The Fourth R, the Newsletter of the National Association for Mediation in Education discussing mediation programs at colleges and universities. Although these types of programs, like community medation, can be helpful in solving problems the author worries that mediation centers can become a controlling arm of university administration rather than a "meaningful way for the issues to be confronted by the community," remedies for overcoming this challenge are suggested.