"Creating school climates that prevent school violence," by Peterson & Skibaá(2001). This article presents the topic of school violence with the resolution being the creation of a positive school climate. These authors presented their view of this solution to school violence with a review of supportive literature. Different aspects or factors involved in a positive school climate were presented along with support for their effect on school violence. For example, the authors stated that parent and community involvement, character education, violence-prevention and conflict-resolution curricula, peer mediation, and bullying prevention were all aspects of a positive school climate.
While the authors presented a possible solution to school violence, they failed to present adequate support for their conclusions. For example, their presentation regarding parent involvement, failed to provide support for the relationship between this involvement and reductions in school violence. While the authors stated that bully prevention programs "have been shown to reduce general antisocial behavior such as fighting, vandalism, and truancy . . ." (p. 165), they failed to provide relevant references to support this statement. In addition to the lack of support for the factors mentioned, the authors failed to provide alternate views; findings would have been more informative if they have also provided alternative solutions with reasons that school climate considerations would be more optimal. Despite limitations, the reader was left with a possible solution to the problem of school violence.
"Zero tolerance as public policy: The good, the bad, and the ugly," by Stader (2004). This article presented an alternative view to the solution to school violence: a zero tolerance policy. The author presented the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act noting that it requires a minimum of one-year expulsion for a student that brings a firearm t
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