BULLYING

Bullying continues to be a serious problem for American youth with more than a quarter of school age students reporting they have been bullied in the past year.  Bullying is defined as aggressive, repeated behavior intending harm by a more powerful student to one who is weaker.  Students with disabilities are frequent targets,  bullied at twice the rate of other students.  In addition to verbal (teasing, name calling) and relational (social exclusion, spreading rumors) bullying, students with exceptionalities report high levels of physical bullying (being hit or kicked).  

The psychological effects of bullying include depression, anxiety and increased alcohol and drug use.  Bullying is linked to reduced school performance and failure.  For students with disabilities lifelong consequences include not seeking employment because of fear of bullying in the work place.  

Teachers across grade levels can effectively address the problem of bullying by employing the Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) educational strategy developed at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.   CIRLI (www.cirli.org) prepares teachers to integrate study of bullying and evidence-based prevention into classes across subject areas and grade levels:

• In language arts classes students can read literature, write and speak about bullying.
• In math classes students can work with data on the extent and consequences of bullying.
• Social studies classes can address the negative consequences of bullying on individuals and groups (e.g. students with disabilities).
• In science classes students can study how the stress of bullying affects the human body.

Life issues assignments are designed to meet class learning objectives and build student skills in analysis, research and communication, helping student reach Common Core State Standards.

Evidence-based strategies to reduce bullying can be readily incorporated into classes.  These strategies include:

• Increasing understanding of the harm bullying does to individual students and the school community
• Increasing pro-social responses to bullying, especially by bystanders who can learn the value of supporting the target of bullying 
• Establishing clear rules against bullying in the classroom and supporting anti-bullying policy in schools
• Supporting the targets of bullies, encouraging them to seek support and teaching them how to best respond when bullied

Information on curriculum based bullying prevention is available from prevention staff at Northeastern Illinois University (r-glick@neiu.edu; s-larson5@neiu.edu).