Peace Games, School Climate, and Academic Achievement Steven Brion-Meisels and Casey Corcoran Peace Games Institute
Attributing improvements in school academic achievement to any single intervention is complex and difficult. The alchemy of schools is complex, involving multiple inputs in an open system with substantial student and adult turn-over and multivariable interactions among family health, school climate, instructional practices and measurement strategies. However, it is important to understand the relationships among Peace Games, school climate and academic achievement for several reasons. First, there is a growing research interest in these connections, led in part by pioneering work done at the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Second, there is a growing interest in these connections among schools and supporters in the Peace Games Network. Third, understanding the connections among peacemaking, school climate and academic achievement can contribute to educational practice and policy in the future. This paper suggests some of the impacts that Peace Games may have on school climate and academic achievement, as well as some directions for future work. Peace Games, Peacemaking and Social Emotional Learning. The Peace Games program and evaluation frameworks are based on research and evaluation in social development and social change (see Cohen, 2006, for a useful summary of relevant research in Social Emotional Learning). Our curriculum is built on developmentally appropriate themes and methods. Peace Games defines the core skills of peacemaking as communication, cooperation, conflict resolution and active engagement (in the school and community). These core skills align well with the core Social Emotional Learning skills identified by CASEL and others: self –awareness, selfmanagement, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. However, peacemaking involves institutional components and relationships as well as individual ones. For example, our program and evaluation measures explore how children stay out of fights, share materials and make decisions. However, we also focus on how students include a lonely or isolated peer on the playground, help make the school or community a better place and link their personal behavior to community and international peacemaking efforts. The common ground between Peace Games and SEL programs offers some important opportunities to investigate the impact of Peace Games on school climate and academic achievement. Social Emotional Learning, School Climate and Academic Achievement. Recent research has demonstrated that Social Emotional Learning programs are effective at increasing pro-social
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skills among students in participating schools. For example, Education Week1 recently reported on a four year study conducted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) that supports the connections among social development, school climate and academic achievement. The report analyzed 207 school-based programs designed to foster children’s social and emotional skills, and developed a scale called the “improvement index” to measure these skills. The groups of students receiving these school-based programs scored on average 11 percentile points higher than the comparison groups on the index (the difference between the mean rank of the intervention group and the control group).2 Furthermore, social and emotional learning is increasingly becoming a priority for states and school-districts. For example, the New York City Department of Education and the Chicago Public Schools have identified social emotional learning skills as core components of a healthy learning environment; Illinois has included SEL in its state-wide education frameworks. 3 Peace Games, School Climate, and Academic Achievement. Because we have not had the funds to conduct a comparison-school study, we make no causal claims about the relationship between Peace Games and academic achievement. However, data from students and staff suggest that school climate is positive in Peace Games schools, academic achievement has improved, and Peace Games has contributed to these positive changes. Student outcomes: school climate. Each year, Peace Games surveys students in all 17 of our schools, because we believe that students provide critical perspectives on our work and outcomes. These surveys have strong reliability results. 4 We supplement these data with teacher surveys as well as interviews with students, teachers and principals. Our most recent data is from the 2006-07 school year. Here are two snapshots that suggest a positive role for Peace Games in promoting school climate. Aggregated data from our national student survey (n= 6,700 students in grades 3-8 across 17 schools) indicated that peace breaking behavior occurs infrequently, and that peacemaking behavior occurs often. Peace breaking behavior. Students reported that they never/seldom are: excluded from games (75%), hurt or hit by other students (61%), pushed/shoved (75%), or teased by other students (61%). Peacemaking behavior. Students reported that they always.often: offer to help other students in class (52%), share school materials with other students (55%), invite other students into recess games (48%), get involved in community service projects (59%), and can walk away from a fight without feeling like a coward (72%). Students consistently reported that Peace Games has helped them improve in key areas related to school climate. For example, students reported that Peace Games helped them solve problems without violence (64%), get engaged in community projects (64%), cooperate with others (71%), include others in games (66%) and reduce levels of fighting (47%). Peace Games schools in New York City received positive evaluations from parent and student surveys in the area called safety and respect.5 1
Education Week is newspaper for educators designed help raise the level of awareness and understanding among professionals and the public of important issues in American education. The article can be found at www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/12/19/16social.h27.html 2 The report is titled, The Benefits of School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs. For a full copy of the report, visit the CASEL website. 3 NYC Department of Education “School Environment Survey”. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/94AA43CA-03434F86-92C9-2CB1E6E7A09E/25283/SurveyReport_Citywide.pdf 4 Anne Guevremont from Harvard Graduate School of Education completed a reliability study of the Peacemaker Survey in 2003 which reported high reliability rates for 3rd-8th grades. 5 New YORK City Department of Education: Learning Environment Survey Report 2006-07 (http://schools.nyc.gov/surveys)
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Student outcomes: Academic achievement. We have begun to gather academic data from a sample of five Peace Games schools; the data show progress in student behavior (reduced frequency of suspensions) and academic achievement (based on state-wide tests):
Scores on mathematics state-wide tests (Proficient/Advanced) improved at all five schools: 15% at the 186th Street School, 20% at the Norwood Street School, 24% at PS 191/Hudson Honors, 19% at PS 208 and 7% at the Tobin School.6 Scores on English/Language Arts tests (Proficient/Advanced) improved at four of the five schools: 15% at 186th Street School, 8% at the Norwood Street School, 24% at PS 191/Hudson Honors and 7% at the Tobin School; these scores remained steady at PS 208.
Interviews with school principals. We asked a cohort of principals who have been involved in Peace Games for at least three years to address how Peace Games has affected student achievement at their schools. Here is a sample of what they told us: Our climate has changed because there aren’t nearly as many fights. Students are getting along better. The district wanted us to bring down the suspension rate so kids weren’t being sent out of school. The children have worked so beautifully with Peace Games that they’ve self corrected. Now they don’t have to be suspended and don’t have to resort to violence.” (Dr. Genevieve Shepherd, Tom Bradley Magnet Charter School) “Attitude is everything and it makes a difference in how you achieve (in all ways). Peace Games has given us the foundation in order to improve academically. If you’re not able to reach students, if they are literally not in the classroom (because of behavior) they can’t achieve. Peace Games has decreased the office traffic. We are keeping them in the classroom so that they achieve and soar! Peace Games is part of that. You helped us get to that point.” (Marcia Reed, 186th Street School) Students look forward to Peace Games and get excited about it. Any time a student gets excited about learning, I think it’s a good thing. And while there are no studies that directly correlate test scores with Peace Games, our test scores have gone up over the past few years. (Frances Strasberg, Norwood Street School) “I always say that we have seen a decrease in the number of fights, but what’s more important to me is that when the children come in to speak with me about the exchange their language has changed. They might have still had a fight but they will say, “I was trying to avoid the fight or I tried to use my peacemaking skills or I tried to walk away.’ The fact that they now know there is a better way to handle this; so maybe they are not at the point where they can actually do those things but that is a life’s journey. The changes and awareness that it can be different from what it is [counts for me].” (Cheryl Watson-Harris, Maurice J. Tobin School)
Lessons and Next Steps. Our work has identified several lessons and next steps. •
Peacemaking is an important skill and contributes to school success. Despite the challenges of high-stakes academic testing, budget reductions and staff turnover, principals at Peace Games schools report that peacemaking remains important in their efforts to promote positive school climate and equitable academic success.7
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186th Street and Norwood Street are in Los Angeles; PS 191/Hudson Honors and PS 208 are n New York; Tobin is in Boston. 7 Cohen, J. Social, Emotional, Ethical and Academic Education: Creating a Climate for Learning, Participation in Democracy, and Well-Being. Harvard Educational Review (Volume 76, summer 2006); Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [CASEL]: Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs. Chicago, Illinois (2005); Illinois State Department of Education: Guidelines for Social Emotional Learning (2005)
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Peacemaking can be effectively integrated into academic and school climate activities. Students enjoy Peace Games and are using the skills being taught. Peacemaking activities contribute to positive school climate – which in turn contributes to student success (including academic achievement)
In the future, we plan to: Identify appropriate comparison schools from which to collect. This will allow us to helping us to better understand our impact on school climate and student achievement. Make better use of data already being collected in school districts in which Peace Games is working. Refine our evaluation tools so that they better capture the effect of Peace Games on school achievement. There is more work to do, and we will continue to improve our evaluation strategies so that they more clearly demonstrate the connection between Peace Games and student achievement at schools. However, our evaluation results to date suggest that Peace Games continues to accomplish the core of our mission: to help schools promote and sustain a culture that supports peacemaking and positive school climate.
References Cohen, J. (2006). Social, Emotional, Ethical and Academic Education: Creating a Climate for Learning, Participation in Democracy, and Well-Being. Harvard Educational Review (Volume 76, summer 2006) Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).The benefits of school-based social and emotional learning programs. www.casel.org. retried 9/08 Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [CASEL] (2005). Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs. Chicago, Illinois (2005): www.casel.org Illinois State Department of Education. (2005). Guidelines for Social Emotional Learning (2005) New York City Department of Education: Learning Environment Survey Report 2006-07 (http://schools.nyc.gov/surveys) Zins, J.E., Weissberg, R.P., Wang, M.C., & Walberg, H.J. (Eds.). (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? New York: Teachers College Press
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