THREE-YEAR STUDY SHOWS POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INFLUENCE ON INDIANA CHILDREN

This is a report on the findings of the Project PEACE Elementary and Middle School Survey Evaluation Report prepared for the Civil Rights of Children Committee of the Indiana State Bar Association and the Indiana Attorney General by Mary E. Riner, DNSc, RN effective March 8, 2001.

Project PEACE is an alternative dispute resolution program that utilizes students as conflict managers. It was originally created by the Indiana State Bar Association’s Civil Rights of Children Committee and the Office of the Attorney General. Since the program’s inception in 1994, more than 200 elementary and middle schools throughout Indiana have received training. As of January 2001, the Indiana Department of Education joined with the Indiana Bar Association and the Attorney General and now coordinates the program.

This report studied the changes in student responses of over 4,000 elementary school students that occurred during the Project PEACE elementary school intervention from 1998-2000.

Following is a summary of the research conclusions:

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• Large pro-social changes occurred among the participants, especially in the first intervention year.
• Project PEACE succeeded in meeting its goal of helping students gain skills and attitudes needed for peaceful conflict resolution.

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• During this two-year intervention self-reported pro-social gains occurred that indicate students had learned to resolve conflicts in a more peaceful manner.
• Students reported less use of physical aggression in their schools and more willingness to help others with their conflicts.
• An increasing ability to find solutions to their own problems.
• A recognition that peer pressure often makes students do the wrong things to handle conflicts.
• This points to the success of Project PEACE since these behaviors were desired outcomes.

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• Teachers perceived less verbal harassment, physical harassment, and disruptive/uncooperative behavior.
• Interventions by teachers, principals and counselors decreased while there was an increase in students resolving disputes themselves or through other student intervention.
• Teachers believed there were fewer student conflicts and the conflicts that did occur were less serious.
• Teachers perceived less demand on their time and energy to help resolve student disputes.
• Students were perceived to engage in more effective dispute resolution.
• Schools handled disputes in a more timely manner.
• It is not possible to know how much change occurred as a result of the intervention or from other factors such as developmental changes or external events. However, the fact that the teachers’ responses indicate positive gains for almost every item suggest that Project PEACE was successful in its goal of helping students to resolve their conflicts in a peaceful manner.

The Department of Education in partnership with the State Bar Association and the Office of the Attorney General, would like to continue evaluating the effectiveness of the program and plans to conduct future studies.