As Students Return to School, So Does School Violence

Dr. Mason was interviewed and quoted by US News in an article on school violence. Check out the full article on US News.

Read an excerpt below:

Christine Mason, an assistant clinical professor at Yale University and the founder of the Center for Educational Improvement, says it will take considerable action by schools to address the pandemic-induced trauma that has made conditions ripe for violence in schools and to start preventing it before it happens.

Because of the lost learning time during the pandemic, many schools are putting pressure on teachers and students to quickly catch up academically, she says. But schools would do better to address social and emotional health services first, because “trauma presents a huge barrier to learning,” according to Mason.

“It may be really important to slow down a bit and truly engage with kids,” she says. “We need to talk to kids, listen to them and help them make sense of the world right now.”

Mason and other experts in school psychology recommend instituting school violence prevention efforts that can help kids adjust. That includes training teachers in trauma-informed practices so that they can recognize students who may be struggling socially and emotionally. Mason added that schools also need aggressive programs for bullying prevention; social and emotional learning that is integrated throughout the school day; and restorative practices that focus less on punishments and more on talking through disagreements with other students.

The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) has posted a list of school violence prevention tactics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published resources to help communities combat youth violence.

Though research and training programs on how to prevent violence in schools have been available since before the pandemic, Mason says many schools have not implemented best practices for averting violent incidents before they happen.

“Most schools haven’t put the right package together,” she says. “It does take time.”