Final Summary Overview: Impact Evaluation of No Bully System

• NCJ Number: 253298
• Author(s): Thomas Hanson; Jo Ann Izu; Trevor Fronius; Anthony Petrosino
• Date Published: February 2019
• Length: 29 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-CK-BX-0007
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation; Program/Project Description
• Award: A Randomized Impact Evaluation of the No Bully System

Annotation

This is the Final Summary Overview of the impact evaluation of the No Bully System (NBS), which consists of a promising set of interventions that are designed to activate adult and peer support for targets of bullying in a school.

Abstract

NBS trains school staff to prevent and interrupt student harassment and bullying, and it ensures that school-wide anti-bullying policies are in place. The core component of NBS is the Solution Team. A trained adult facilitator (Solution Coach) enlists six to eight students for the Solution Team. The team includes the bully or bullies, bystanders, and pro-social peers linked to a bullying incident. The Solution Coach leads the team through three brief meetings in an effort to end the bullying of one of their peers. This is done by cultivating empathy for a bullying victim and developing peer-driven solutions. The target of the bullying is not included in these initial meetings, although she/he is invited to attend the final team session. The impact evaluation used a cluster randomized experimental design that involved 24 elementary schools in the Oakland Unified School District (California). The goal of the evaluation was to determine whether NBS reduced the recurrence of bullying perpetration and victimization among students involved in incidents targeted by Solution Teams. The evaluation also examined whether NBS reduced bullying perpetration and victimization among students at risk of bullying involvement (victims and perpetrators). In addition, the evaluation determined whether NBS improved perceptions of school safety, peer support, and other indicators of school climate among all students in participating schools. Overall, the results suggest that NBS may be an effective tool for responding to bullying incidents and reducing bullying victimization for students at high risk of being bullying targets. 8 figures, 6 tables, and 23 references