Recently, The Challenge had the opportunity to speak with William Modzeleski, director of the U.S. Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, about the latest developments in the field of school violence prevention and what schools can do to help make learning environments even safer.

The Challenge: What's the most important thing teachers and parents need to know about school violence?

William Modzeleski: The key thing to remember is that schools are extremely safe places. Ninety percent of schools report no serious violent crime; 40 percent of schools report no crime at all. All of the leading indicators show us that youth drug use and involvement in violence are on the decline. Schools are safer now in 2001 than they were five years ago. But we can make them even safer.

The Challenge: How?

William Modzeleski: First, it's a matter of focusing on real problems, rather than perceived ones. For example, there is a very small population of students who have been affected by targeted school shootings. Yet, 7 million students are bullied each year; 20 million are truant. Columbine and other high-visibility school shootings have driven us to focus our resources on the very top of the school violence pyramid, even though less than 1 percent of students in less than 1 percent of the schools are affected by those kinds of rare instances. Of course, it's important to attend to and prevent school shootings, but we can't forget the very bottom of the school violence pyramid--issues of bullying and other problem behaviors--because those are the issues that bubble to the top and eventually become crises.

The Challenge: What can schools do to focus their limited resources appropriately?

William Modzeleski: Researchers like Denise and Gary Gottfredson, Sheppard Kellam, and others are providing science to the debate about what schools should be doing with regard to prevention. Traditionally, schools have tended to add to their plates, piling on more and more prevention programs and strategies, rather than take anything away. Research is showing us that perhaps the answer lies in not adding to what we're already doing, but in eliminating some activities that haven't been proven to work and starting clean with those that have been shown to work.

We know that there is no one prevention program or curriculum that will work for all students all of the time. Schools need to think in terms of processes rather than individual programs. It's all about caring for kids and connecting students to adults, families, churches, and other social institutions that can provide them support. Schools need to tie their prevention efforts into a seamless web of support to ensure that all students are part of a caring environment from the beginning to the end of their school careers.

The Challenge: What's the biggest impediment that schools face to creating that web of support?

William Modzeleski: There are several impediments to creating a seamless web of support. They range from lack of information or knowledge about how to develop an effective strategy that meets the needs of all students, to lack of understanding about how to integrate that strategy into the school day. This latter issue is one of the biggest obstacles that schools face. The primary mission of schools is to teach children. As states continue to raise the standard for what students need to learn, there is going to be a tendency to focus on academic subjects. Those working in the field of prevention need to work closely with those designing the academic day to ensure that both issues are addressed. We need to work together to find ways we can integrate prevention efforts into the school day without negatively impacting the school day.

The Challenge: What role do community groups play?

William Modzeleski: Clearly schools cannot do it all. We need to continue our efforts to build bridges between schools and communities. Businesses, faith communities, law enforcement and victim service agencies, youth service organizations, health agencies, mental health organizations, and others all have to be part of our prevention strategy. The bottom line is that we need to ensure that every young person has someone to talk to when they are in trouble. Community groups can help schools achieve that goal.