Promoting School Climate and Violence Prevention through the Connections Program in Mississippi

The University of Mississippi will implement curriculum in English classes that teach skills of civil dialogue and ethical reasoning; training authority figures such as parents, community members (including law enforcement), school staff (counselors, administrators, and school resource officers), and teachers in civil dialogue and curriculum reinforcement; providing schools with safety plans and behavioral threat assessment training and technical assistance; and creating student opportunity networks through after-school programs and state-wide competitions for school teams. This interdisciplinary program with experts from philosophy and ethics, psychology, social work, education, and criminal justice brings the resources of multiple national centers based at the state flagship university to support the subrecipient partner, the Center for Urban Family Health and Wholeness, to meet Priority Area 1B. The university-community partnership will benefit middle and high schools from ten rural school districts (Covington County Schools, Hazlehurst Public Schools, Hinds County Schools, Laurel Public Schools, McComb Public Schools, Moss Point School District, North Pike County Schools, South Pike County Schools, Vicksburg-Warren County Schools, and Yazoo County Schools) to impact an estimated 22,000 students.
Expected outcomes include a reduction of truancy, verbal conflicts, bullying, and frequency and severity of violent behaviors, as well as an improvement of threat assessment, emergency planning, protective factors, and cohesive support and reinforcement. Professional development workshops and trainings will impact an estimated 150 teachers, 80 school resource officers, counselors, and administrators, and 30,000 parents and community members (including law enforcement). The program includes robust research to assess program implementation and effectiveness and to advance evidence-based practices on school climate using large-scale pre and post implementation surveys and focus group interviews, focused assessments after workshops and trainings, and extensive data on student learning and behavior.