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

State-wide Initiatives in New York and Ohio: Creating Positive Learning Environments

  • Presented by: Mark Barth, Mary Lou Rush and Cheryl Kish
  • 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

Words Work

  • Presented by: Tricia Jones and Tim Hedeen
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

How to Run a Student Mediation Conference

  • Presented by: Marge Bleiweis
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Supporting Community “Thirdsiders” via the East Side Conflict Resolution Outreach Project

  • Presented by: Bill Warters and Daniela Shuke, Wayne State University MADR Program
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Collaboration Across Fields: Implementation and Sustainability of SEL, CRE, PE, and CE

  • Presented by: Janet Patti - Hunter College - City University of New York, New York, 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
Conflict management skills leadership competencies: A higher ed success model 26-slide Powerpoint presentation given at the Sustaining Conflict Resolution Education: Building Bridges to the Future conference in Fairfax, VA, which "highlights a successful professional development program for staff at University of Wisconsin-Madison, this program infuses conflict management skills into the workplace culture, from new and aspiring supervisors to experienced program and project managers, teaching conflict resolution, facilitation, and mediation skills and integrating them into a broader leadership development curriculum, the program serves to build bridges and support for student leadership efforts, enhancing opportunities for peer mediation as well."
Reducing youth crime 4:50 podcast discussing "school-based violence prevention programs [which] have been proven effective at reducing violence, truancy, drug abuse, and delinquency."
CRETE Project Overview (April 2010) An overview of the Conflict Resolution Education in Teacher Education (CRETE) initiative as of April 2010. The document reviews the need for CRETE and provides a list of current partners and a history of funding support for the initiative.
Manual for community colleges developing programs in peace and conflict studies: 1st ed. 96-page PDF, "Manual [which] is a product of a collaboration in which lessons learned are shared on developing programs, certificates, and degrees in the field for community colleges. It is a resource for faculty and administrators authored by faculty and administrators. The chapters submitted reflect a range of approaches and writing styles – some informal, others more rigorous. The authors generally approached topics in a generic way providing recommendations that could be used in a range of institutions. Some pieces reflect looking at one institution and its efforts in a case study approach and then focusing on lessons learned. Overall, the chapters demonstrate the range of strategies that community colleges – arguably the most diverse and varied academic institutions in the U.S. today - are taking to teaching about peace and conflict issues. As such, the writing is reflective of the topics and settings they arise from. It is the intent of the editors that chapters will continue to be edited, updated, revised, and new articles added as the field develops and community college involvement increases."
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.
Recommended Guidelines for Effective Conflict Resolution Education Programs These Recommended Guidelines for Effective Conflict Resolution Education Programs, released in 2002, are the product of work begun by a committee of the Conflict Resolution Education Network (CREnet) and completed by the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). The Guidelines outline how elementary and secondary school teachers, administrators, conflict resolution education practitioners, and policy makers can measure progress toward effective conflict resolution education programs. By addressing core goals, components, content and qualities of effective school-based conflict resolution education programs, these Guidelines are intended to also help leaders to make decisions about the resources and strategies needed to support such educational programs in their schools.
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."
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.
Preparing for special education mediation and resolution sessions: A guide for families & advocates 28-page PDF document created, "to contribute to better outcomes for children with special needs. Through a collection of articles, this guide seeks to provide families and advocates with an array of information that will equip them to make the most of the new and expanded dispute resolution options offered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). As the nation’s special education law has evolved, Congress has consistently sought to provide new ways to encourage informal and speedy resolution of problems ... This guide provides a comprehensive article on preparing for special education mediation and resolution sessions, including tips for both families and advocates. A flowchart of mediation and resolution session supports the understanding of how these two processes work and intersect. For additional insight, it provides both an interview with a seasoned special education mediator and a summary of a study that sought to identify the factors that contribute to parent-school conflict. Finally, it offers communication tips for building strong partnerships and additional resources for locating further information."
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."
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."
Conflict resolution protocol for elementary classrooms, A 4-page PDF excerpt from the book, "The First Six Weeks of School" which discusses teaching conflict resolution, "a basic belief underlying The Responsive Classroom® approach to teaching is that how children learn to treat one another is as important as what they learn in reading, writing, and arithmetic. We believe that social skills such as cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and selfcontrol are essential to children’s academic and social success and we emphasize the teaching of these skills, along with academics, throughout the school day. There are many strategies we use to teach these social skills at the elementary level (K-6), one of which is teaching a protocol for conflict resolution."
Bullying prevention and intervention: TeamMates Mentoring Program Lincoln Public Schools 9-page PDF case study which, "looks at one program in Nebraska, Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) TeamMates, that has decided to address bullying at several schools through mentoring, using volunteers from the community to reach out to bullies and victims alike."
Evaluating Your Conflict Resolution Education Program: A Guide for Educators and Evaluators This 258-page pdf manual is intended to help educators and/or evaluators conduct evaluations of their conflict resolution education programs. Because much of the funding from the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management and the Ohio Department of Education supports school programs, most attention was placed on helping users evaluate these kinds of programs. The manual was prepared as a workbook so that it should be easy to use. Worksheets are included throughout the beginning parts of the manual to help users identify the program goals and evaluation goals they want to emphasize. When offered, questionnaires and interview questions are presented so that the user can simply copy the forms from the book and use them in a school.
Multi-party roommate conflict Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 5, Number 1, (Sept 2004), which presents a "roleplay for a graduate course in interpersonal and small group conflict resolution, while it could be used for a mediation roleplay, it's written to be a 4-5 person small group conflict with no formal, outside intervenor, the expectation is that students can represent the characters and still demonstrate conflict resolution skills."
Preparation of pre-service teachers for a culture of dignity and peace, The 38-page PDF article which argues the necessity of peace education for future teachers. Abstract: This paper argues that since schools are considered spaces for critical transformation and teachers play a vital role in creating conditions where students can become loving, caring members of society, peace education should be made explicit in teacher education. It asserts that the teacher education culture in Ontario is keen and positioned for this endeavour to take place despite implicit and marginalized peace education content and practices. It continues by suggesting how a move to prepare teacher candidates with education for and about peace through the magnifying of current implicit peace practices may strengthen the overall momentum of producing just societies, thereby, building human dignity. Drawing from findings derived from a small-scale study, three implications for teacher education are given: teacher education must recognize the proclivity of teacher candidates for partnership pedagogy; create space for sharing experiences; and expose teacher candidates to peace education knowledge. Six recommendations are provided for increasing possibilities for peaceful and equitable social pathways. The overarching purpose is to stimulate further discussion and networking among Ministry of Education in Ontario and faculties of education by advocating how peace education aligns with the goals inherent in their own philosophies and those of the global peace agenda.
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."
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.
Impact of violence on learning for youth: What can we do? 35-page PDF report that focuses "on the words of the interviewees, particularly the youth—both in school and out of school—and what they tell educators and others working in educational programs about what we can do to support learning." In writing the report the author wanted to understand "how violence affects learning, and to examine how school responses played a part in creating this picture. Most importantly I wanted to look for ways to strengthen the possibilities of supporting learning for youth in high schools and in youth literacy and training programs."
Restorative justice for the classroom: Lesson 1 the community web 3-page pdf lesson "to identify community roles in conflict resolution and develop understanding of the significance of each role in keeping the community safe. Through role play, students learn how each role is a part of an intricate web of community support and how a breakdown in one part of the web affects the whole. Through this lesson students develop communication skills and empathy."