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

Restorative Approaches in Luton Schools

  • Presented by: Dr. Belinda Hopkins
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Peer Mediation Partnerships: Linking University with Community

  • Presented by: Lisa E. Shaw, Program Advisor and Interns: Rebecca Newman, Roxanne Libby, William Still and Jared Schmidt
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

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

Using Extracurricular Activities to Broaden Perspectives of a Diverse College Community

  • Presented by: Megan Erclauz, Susan Lohwater, Shirien Muntaser, Sarah Smith, Amana Zahriyeh, Cuyahoga Community College
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Theater and Conflict Resolution Education

  • Presented by: Tricia S. Jones
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Hemispheric Course on Evaluation of Policies and Programs in Citizenship Education

  • Presented by: Adriana Cepeda-Organization of American States, Washington, DC, USA
  • 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
Peer mediation programs: An end to school violence? On-line journal article which "focuses on the ineffectiveness of PMPs [Peer Mediation Programs] to combat higher-levels of school violence, part I discusses school violence, both past and present, part II explores the shift from traditional methods of discipline to more proactive and education-based methods that are used in many schools today, part III addresses the fundamentals of peer mediation including what it is and how it is implemented, part IV examines which students PMPs should be targeting and why PMPs fail to prevent them from committing violent acts on their schools, finally, the conclusion recommends ways to reduce conflict in schools."
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.
Shared Solutions - A Guide to Preventing and Resolving Conflicts (in Special Ed) The Ontario Ministry of Education encourages the use of approaches and strategies that lead to higher achievement for all students in Ontario's publicly funded education system. This Shared Solutions resource guide is intended to help parents, educators, and students with special education needs work together to prevent conflicts, resolve them quickly, and allow students to develop their full potential and succeed in school. The approaches outlined build on techniques and strategies for conflict prevention and resolution that are already in place in many school boards.
Lessons for helping students develop emotional awareness to support CRE 20-page Powerpoint presentation given at the Second International Summit on Conflict Resolution education, in which "participants will learn multiple, developmentally appropriate, lowcost activities that can be used in classroom or counseling settings to develop emotion foundation abilities, in students grades K-8, adaptations that would suit students with cognitive, behavioral and emotional challenges."
Building bridges in conflict areas: Educational report 23-page PDF report in which, "the reader is invited for an overview of the methods, theories and tools that were offered to the participants. It shows how the process of theoretical presentation becomes "alive" when participants interact with trainers and share their opinions through brainstorming or reflecting on the concepts that were discussed for a better understanding of conflict resolution ... Theoretical inputs, practical exercises, thematic energizers and interactive activities created suitable atmosphere to raise awareness among participants, deepen their knowledge and raise their skills and abilities in pro-active interventions in youth field of conflict zones. Mainly during the two last days of the training course, participants were involved in partnership building activities."
PROS: Peaceful resolution for Oklahoma [high school] students 106-page PDF manual designed to help teachers and trainers teach high school students the art of peer mediation. Includes definitions, exercises to improve communication skills, leadership and problem solving.
Positive impact of social and emotional learning kindergarten to eighth grade students, The 51-page PDF technical report which, "summarizes results from three large-scale reviews of research on the impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on elementary and middle-school students — that is, programs that seek to promote various aocial and emotional skills. Collectively the three reviews included 317 studies and involved 324,303 children. SEL programs yielded multiple benefits in each review and were effective in both school and after-school settings and for students with and without behavioral and emotional problems. They were also effective across the K-8 grade range and for racially and ethnically diverse students from urban, rural, and suburban settings. SEL programs improved students’ social-emotional skills, attitudes about self and others, connection to school, positive social behavior, and academic performance; they also reduced students’ conduct problems and emotional distress. Comparing results from these reviews to findings obtained in reviews of interventions by other research teams suggests that SEL programs are among the most successful youth-development programs offered to school-age youth. Furthermore, school staff (e.g., teachers, student support staff) carried out SEL programs effectively, indicating that they can be incorporated into routine educational practice. In addition, SEL programming improved students’ academic performance by 11 to 17 percentile points across the three reviews, indicating that they offer students a practical educational benefit. Given these positive findings, we recommend that federal, state, and local policies and practices encourage the broad implementation of well-designed, evidence-based SEL programs during and after school."
PROS: Peaceful resolutions for Oklahoma [elementary] students: Student edition 46-page PDF (student edition) manual which introduces elementary school students to peer mediation and conflict and teaches communication and problem solving skills.
Positive approaches to discipline scenario Web-based interactive scenario which "demonstrates the differences between positive discipline and punishment. Discipline techniques focus on what we want the child to learn and what the child is capable of learning. Punishment, on the other hand, focuses on misbehavior and may do little or nothing to help a child behave better in the future. The differences between positive discipline and punishment are great, as well as the lessons learned that result from the technique used."
PROS: Peaceful resolutions for Oklahoma [high school] students: Student edition 46-page PDF high school student manual designed to teach peer-mediation techniques as well as communication skills, leadership and problem solving.
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
Educational discipline using the principles of restorative justice 15-page pdf article which "shows how restorative justice techniques can be used with students in correctional and alternative education settings. The simple principles of restorative justice are outlined and their suitability for offenders is illustrated through actual prison incidents that have been dealt with using these principles. A protocol is suggested for teachers and administrators who might consider adopting this approach."
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."
Grasping the nettle: Policy issues for university dispute resolution programs Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 2, Number 4, (July 2002), which discusses issues and challenges in conflict resolution education at the university level.
1st Report to the Nation on Youth Courts and Teen Courts This national report (43-pages in MS Word format) documents significant highlights and events over a fifteen (15) year period of unprecedented and historic growth of this groundbreaking American juvenile justice prevention and intervention program that utilizes volunteer youth to help sentence their peers. The report begins in 1993, when fewer than seventy-five (75) local youth and teen courts existed in just about a dozen states. The report concludes fifteen (15) years later in 2008, when more than a record 1,000 local communities in 48 states and the District of Columbia now operate these local juvenile justice programs. Historic numbers of youth and adults are now involved, as more than 111,868 juvenile cases were referred to local youth and teen courts and more than 133,832 volunteers to include both youth and adults who volunteered to help with the disposition and sentencing of these juvenile cases.
Men stopping rape exercises Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which presents a "list of some of the exercises developed by the members of Men Stopping Rape in Madison, WI, for use in anti-rape workshops, I compiled this list for use in Syracuse at a Man-to-Man training program entitled 'Practical Strategies for Ending Abuse: A Skill Training for Educators.'"
To be or not to be: Conflict resolution as a discipline 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 discussing conflict resolution as an academic discipline.
VOV activities: Preventing feelings of isolation through trust and cooperation, grades 7-12 6-page PDF with activities for 7-12 graders to improve communication skills and build trust.
Ferdinand the bull: The story of a bull who wouldn't fight: Resource guide for teachers on NV 23-page pdf study guide created to accompany "The Hudson Vagabond Puppets’ production of Ferdinand tthe Bull [which] can serve as a focus point for an indepth look at conflict resolution in the classroom. The performance will end with a brief lecture-demonstration developed in conjunction with ENACT, a not-for-profit organization that teaches social skills to young people."
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.