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.

CRE Conference Presentations
Ohio’s Truancy Prevention Through Mediation Program
- Presented by: Edward M. Krauss, Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
The Organization of American States: 100 Years of Building Bridges in the Americas
- Presented by: Presented By: Pablo Zuniga, Romina Giselle Kasman, and Marcia Bebianno Simoes
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Restorative Measures for School Connectedness & Alternatives to Suspension
- Presented by: Nancy Riestenberg
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Policy to Programs: Initiatives by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management
- Presented by: Sarah Wallis, Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management; Alexis Hayden, Lorain City Schools
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Making Class Matter and Engaging Difference
- Presented by: Rachel M. Goldberg
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here
Developing Courses in Peace and Conflict Studies
- Presented by: Vincent D’Agostino and Patricia Golesic, Sault College
- View Presentation and Abstract: Click 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 |
|---|---|---|
| SACSC Toward a safe and caring secondary curriculum | Web site developed by the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada whose mission "is to encourage home, school and community practices that teach, model and reinforce socially responsible and respectful behaviors, so that living and learning can take place in a safe, caring and inclusive environment. Achieving this mission requires the involvement not only of parents, teachers, and children, but of all the important adults in children's lives." The "purpose of the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum Secondary Unit and Lesson Plans web-based resource is to provide units, lesson plans and other resources that integrate safe and caring knowledge, skills and attitudes into all subject areas in the Alberta secondary curriculum... this resource was developed by Alberta reachers in whose classrooms the accompanying lessons have been field tested." The lessons address 6 topics: Living Respectfully; Developing Self-Esteem; Respecting Diversity and Preventing Prejudice; Managing Anger; Dealing with Bullying; and Resolving Conflicts Peacefully for junior and senior high school students. | |
| Human rights education in the school systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A compendium | 239-page PDF, "compendium of good practice [it] is a compilation of 101 examples of good practice in human rights education in primary schools,ssecondary schools and teacher training institutions ... the term "human rights education" is often used in this resource in a broader sense, to also include education for democratic citizenship and education for mutual respect and understanding, which are all based on internationally agreed human rights standards. These three areas are seen as interconnected and essential within educational systems in order to prepare youth to be active, responsible and caring participants in their communities, as well as at the national and global levels ... this book aims to support quality teaching in these areas and to inspire educational policymakers (those working in education ministries and local school boards) and administrators, teachers, teacher trainers, non-formal educators and all other interested actors, as well as to facilitate networking and the exchange of experience among education professionals." A companion website with additional examples and documents is available at http://bit.ly/2uUsv65 | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| Reaching across boundaries: Talk to create change | 21-page pdf handbook which, "shows you how to conduct Mix It Up Dialogues. In the dialogues, participants will have honest discussions about social boundaries, and they will plan action projects that help cross those boundaries ... Mix It Up Dialogues aren't just about talking, however. They're also about taking action -- changing personal behaviors that may hurt or exclude others and engaging in collective projects to improve school climate." | |
| Mediation on campus: A history and planning guide | 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 exploring the role of mediation at colleges and universities, with a list of questions that those thinking of starting mediation programs should ask themselves. | |
| 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. | |
| Promoting mediation center quality awareness using guided self-assessment | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 4, Number 1, (Oct. 2003), which introduces "NAFCM's [National Association for Community Mediation] manual ... [which focuses] ... not on the direct provision of services themselves, but rather on the quality of the system through which cases are managed, mediators are trained and evaluated, and mediation centers determine what "quality"Â means in their communities, by encouraging community mediation centers to examine their goals and values in light of their communities' needs and values and to develop their own approaches to serving these needs effectively, NAFCM's self-assessment approach aims to increase quality without imposing restrictive and inappropriate standards." | |
| Teacher development for conflict participation: Facilitating learning for "difficult citizenship" | 15-page pdf article which "examines the professional development-related opportunities available to teachers to support their facilitation and teaching for peacebuilding citizenship, the few teacher learning opportunities offered seem unlikely to enhance teachers' capacity to foster diverse students' development of agency for difficult citizenship, much of the explicit professional development available in the schools examined emphasizes teachers' control of students and containment of disruption (peacekeeping), instead of their facilitation of diverse students’ participation in constructive conflict management (peacemaking and peacebuilding), professional learning opportunities are often relegated to short, fragmented occasions, primarily during teachers’ volunteer time after school: this severely limits their potential to foster critical dialogic learning on the difficult issues of citizenship education practice." Includes bibliography. | |
| 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." | |
| Manual for Colleges and Universities Developing Programs in Peace and Conflict Studies | ||
| Nonverbal communication for educators | Online learning module consisting of 14-sections "designed to introduce you to key ideas related to nonverbal communication, with a special emphasis on aspects of nonverbal communication that relate to teaching and learning in the classroom. By the completion of this learning module you should be able to: Understand the importance of nonverbal communication; State a definition of nonverbal communication and identify different types; Describe the purpose nonverbal communication serves in the communication process; Identify core nonverbal communication concepts that relate to classroom management; Understand Dyssemia (a condition related to the inability to read facial expressions) and its causes; Understand the use of DANVA as a tool for recognizing Dyssemia; Access simple activities and reference materials for creating your own teaching activities related to Nonverbal Communication." | |
| Incorporating restorative approaches | 82-page PDF topic guide which presents a, "session plan, guidance and resources for training day focusing on incorporating restorative approaches. Aims to develop an understanding of restorative approaches and their role in behaviour and attendance improvement. The aim is also [to] develop an understanding of the leadership issues in incorporating restorative approaches and explore how restorative approaches might be developed in [one's] own setting." Also available is a related set of 12 slides in ppt format for use in training event. | |
| 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. | |
| 40 cases: Restorative justice and victim-offender mediation | 86-page book in PDF format which, "provides a diverse range of first hand accounts from mediators and facilitators offering some means of communication between victims and offenders. Through the authentic voices of practitioners, the cases unfold to reveal how communication was facilitated and the outcomes that followed. This publication aims to provide practitioners, policy makers and interested professionals with: - Opportunities to compare practice - An examination of the appropriateness of offering access to Restorative Justice - An understanding of the subtleties of facilitated victim-offender communication - An opportunity to see beyond our own preconceptions of victims and offenders - Clarity and inspiration." | |
| 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." | |
| Restorative Justice: A Working Guide for Our Schools | The purpose of this publication, available as a 43-page pdf, is to provide support and guidance for teachers, health workers, community leaders, and school personnel who seek to implement Restorative Justice in their schools. The guide introduces Restorative Justice concepts, articulates what is new about the approach, explores benefits, outcomes and impacts and provides guidance on initiating Restorative Justice at the school or district level. Also included are listings of resources for additional information and support. | |
| Evaluation report: Life skills project implementation in the Armenian education system | 45-page Word 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." | |
| 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. | |
| Accessing free web-based conflict resolution education resources | 28-slide Powerpoint presentation given at the Sustaining Conflict Resolution Education: Building Bridges to the Future conference in Fairfax, VA which introduces "the Conflict Resolution Education Connection, a free online one-stop-shop for resources and information on conflict resolution education. We will review the history of this cooperative project, talk about its future and highlight some of the great tools and resources hidden within." |