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 Initiative for Creating Positive Learning Environments (Ohio)

  • Presented by: Mary Lou Rush, Cheryl Kish, Ohio Department of Education
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Conflict Resolution & Peace Education: Proven Impacts

  • Presented by: Tricia S. Jones Ph.D.
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Transitioning CRE into a Classroom Management Course

  • Presented by: Lynnette Mawhinney, Lincoln University
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Cyberbullying & Relational Aggression: Who is it & What Can be Done?

  • Presented by: Kimberly Mason, Laura Hammel, Amanda K. Brace, Rachel A. Vitale
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Field Services Arbitration Process: Building Stronger Teachers through Facilitated Dialogue

  • Presented by: Anne Price and Marcia Roach, Cleveland State University
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Columbine Facilitation: Lessons Learned

  • Presented by: Lisa Loescher and Myra Isenhart
  • 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 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."
Podcast audio resources for conflict studies Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which introduces the concept of podcasting and its use in conflict resolution education, it also provides basic start up information and sites of interest.
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."
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."
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."
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.
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."
ASJA mediation component gaining strength Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 2, (March/April 2000), presenting the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) and events and programs at their Twelfth Annual International Conference.
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."
Multiple Responses, Promising Results: Evidence-Based, Nonpunitive Alternatives To Zero Tolerance Research brief by Child Trends that finds that zero tolerance school discipline policies have not been proven effective by research and may have negative effects, making students more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate on time. Instead, the brief recommends the use of nonpunitive disciplinary action, such as behavior interventions, social skills classes, and character education.
Fall interreligious festivity feast: Autumn -- thankfulness at harvest time 7-page PDF lesson plan to introduce children to, "different traditions’ fall festivity foods and use math skills to create their own menu."
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.
Peace education: A pathway to a culture of peace 178-page pdf document which "helps the educator, whether in formal or non formal settings, to understand that peace is a holistic concept and state of being and that it can not be learned in the traditional lecture-note taking-testing framework. Indeed, peace education can be integrated into many disciplines. The culture of peace must replace the culture of violence if we and our home, planet Earth, are to survive ... teaching the value of tolerance, understanding and respect for diversity among the school children could be introduced through exposing them to various countries of the world, their geography, history, and culture. At the appropriate levels, curricula must include human rights, the rules governing international law, the United Nations Charter, the goals of our global organization, disarmament, sustainable development and other peace issues. The participation of young people in this process is very essential. Their inputs in terms of their own ideas on how to cooperate with each other in order to eliminate violence in our societies must be fully taken into account. In addition to expanding the capacity of the students to understand the issues, peace education aims particularly at empowering the students, suited to their individual levels, to become agents of peace and nonviolence in their own lives as well as in their interaction with others in every sphere of their existence ... We have organized the book into three sections. Part I presents chapters that are meant to help us develop a holistic understanding of peace and peace education. Part II discusses the key themes in peace education. Each chapter starts with a conceptual essay on a theme and is followed by some practical teaching-learning ideas that can either be used in a class or adapted to a community setting. Part III focuses on the peaceable learning climate and the educator, the agent who facilitates the planting and nurturing of the seeds of peace in the learning environment. Finally, the whole school approach is introduced to suggest the need for institutional transformation and the need to move beyond the school towards engagement with other stakeholders in the larger society."
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."
How to run a student mediation conference 22-slide Powerpoint presentation given at the Sustaining Conflict Resolution Education: Building Bridges to the Future conference in Fairfax, VA, which provided "an overview of the conference planning and offer the nuts and bolts information on how to organize and run a successful conference in your community."
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."
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.
Researching campus conflict management culture(s): A role for ombuds? Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 1, (Oct 2002), whose "purpose in this article is to briefly explore a somewhat expanded role set for the ombuds, one that includes the ombuds as researcher ... I suggest here that the ombuds is in a unique position to serve as a guide or "primary informant" ... to researchers interested in campus organizational culture and subculture, especially as it relates to conflict-related behaviors and beliefs." Includes bibliography.
Place to work things out, A Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 2, Number 4, (July 2002), which presents the idea of personal narrative model of mediation and the work at Oberlin College using this model.
Culture of power, The Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 5, Number 1, (Sept 2004), which examines the culture of power particularly within educational institutions.