No Bully System in Oakland (CA) Elementary Schools Shows Limited Benefits

• NCJ Number: 254639
• Date Published: May 2020
• Author(s): National Institute of Justice
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Article
• Award: Chicago Public Schools's Connect and Redirect to Respect (CRR) Program to use social media monitoring to identify and connect youth to behavioral interventions.

Annotation

This article discusses a program to reduce bullying in elementary schools by providing adult and peer support activities.

Abstract

Student bullying in elementary through high school is a pervasive problem in the United States, with between 30 and 45 percent of youth experiencing bullying — as victim, perpetrator, or both — in their peer group. This article discusses the results of an NIJ-supported randomized controlled trial of the No Bully System conducted in the Oakland Unified School District by WestEd. The evaluation found individual benefits in terms of reduced bullying incidents for those at highest risk for victimization but no reductions in bullying perpetration for those at highest risk for perpetration. It also indicated that there was no benefit to school-wide impact on bullying or measures of school safety and climate.