High Schoolers Mentor Younger Students In Bullying Prevention

By: PRLog
New Anti-Bullying Model Fosters Student Engagement, Program Effectiveness
ATLANTA - Feb. 10, 2016 - PRLog -- HEAR – Helping Everyone Achieve Respect, a national bullying prevention organization, is initiating a new anti-bullying model that uses trained high school students to teach the principles of respectful behavior to younger students in their own schools and communities.

HEAR is a proven bullying prevention workshop designed by leading childhood education and psychology researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of Nebraska — Lincoln and educational training professionals at Career Training Concepts, Inc. (CTC). Over the past three years, HEAR for High Schools and HEAR for Middle Schools workshops have been delivered to hundreds of thousands of high school and middle school students across the country by the National Guard, educators and others.

Eighth grade classrooms at Metter Middle School in the Candler County School District of Georgia became the first in the country to experience the new mentoring approach. Nine Metter High School students – five seniors, three juniors and one sophomore – were trained by CTC staff in the principles of bullying prevention and how to deliver the HEAR workshops. Once trained, these students presented HEAR for Middle Schools to eager and engaged classrooms over the next few days, with exciting results.

“Using high school students as instructors is a unique and effective strategy – they can ‘speak the language’ of middle school students,” noted Dr. Nancy B. Norton, Chair of the Candler County Foundation for Public Education.

“I was extremely pleased with the HEAR program,” noted Dr. Bubba Longgrear, Superintendent, Candler County Schools, who sat in on some of the presentations. “This interactive and scenario-based program enables students to talk and identify anti-bullying solutions themselves. Our students and ultimately our school environment will benefit.”

According to Dr. Amy M. Smith, Director of Educational Programs for HEAR, results from the HEAR for Middle Schools mentor training and subsequent pilot workshops exceeded already-high expectations for the new model. “We have extensive hands-on experience and survey data demonstrating the effectiveness of HEAR for High Schools and HEAR for Middle Schools,” noted Dr. Smith, “so we know the programs work extremely well. It was exciting to confirm that the new mentoring model adds an entirely new dimension of student engagement.”

The HEAR workshops consist of age-appropriate 50-minute interactive classroom presentations, 16-page student workbooks, training manuals, PowerPoint slides, a student commitment banner, student survey, follow-up activities, and other valuable research and reference resources. Participation in all HEAR programs offers the option to engage further with Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common’s Caring Schools Initiative, which provides schools with additional survey tools and resources that can prevent bullying behaviors and promote positive school culture.

HEAR for High Schools is delivered at no cost to high schools by trained members of the National Guard in alignment with the Guard’s core principles and reputation for serving, protecting and defending our communities. Since its inception two years ago, more than 400,000 student workbooks have been delivered to the Guard for presentation to high schools in 46 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

HEAR for Middle Schools is a similarly structured, age-appropriate workshop launched this past fall. The materials are available at a relatively low cost-per-student, delivered through a variety of approaches, including the new student mentoring model. HEAR is currently seeking partners to help further defray the cost to middle schools of experiencing the benefits of HEAR. For information on how to sponsor HEAR for Middle Schools, contact Michael Ares at mares@careertrain.com.

For more, visit project-hear.us, and follow HEAR on Twitter at twitter.com/projecthearus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/projecthearus.

About Career Training Concepts, Inc.

Career Training Concepts, Inc. (CTC) has over 40 years of experience in providing training, publications and personnel services solutions to meet specific customer needs in education, business and non-profit arenas. CTC led the creation of the HEAR program, drawing upon CTC’s decades of experience developing and delivering education programs, including the Career Direction high school guidance program to more than five million students. For more information, please visit www.careertrainingconcepts.com.

Media/Partnership Contact:

Michael Ares

678-294-3651
MAres@careertrain.com

To Schedule a Presentation:

Amy M. Smith, Ph.D.

Cell: 470-258-0404
Office: 678-405-5670
AmySmith@careertrain.com

Contact
Michael Ares
6782943651
mares@careertrain.com

Photos: (Click photo to enlarge)

HEAR: Helping Everyone Achieve Respect Logo High School Bullying Prevention Mentor, Metter GA

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