By Thomas Hanson, Jo Ann Izu, Trevor Fronius, Anthony Petrosino

Bullying affects large numbers of U.S. students in elementary schools and is associated with short and long-term harms for both victims and bullies. Although prevention is critical, schools also need effective interventions for dealing with bullying once it occurs. Funded by the National Institute of Justice and in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District and No Bully, WestEd conducted a two-year study of the impacts of the No Bully System (NBS) - a promising set of interventions designed to activate adult and peer support systems within the school for the targets of bullying – using a cluster randomized experimental design involving 24 elementary schools. No Bully trains staff to prevent and interrupt student harassment and bullying and ensure school-wide anti-bullying policies are in place. The core component of NBS is the Solution Team where a trained adult facilitator (Solution Coach) brings together a group of 6-8 students (Solution Team) that includes the bully or bullies, bystanders and pro-social peers, and leads the team through a series of three brief meetings to end the bullying of one of their peers by cultivating empathy and developing peer-driven solutions. The target is not included in the initial meetings though s/he is invited to attend the final session.  

Los Alamitos, CA: WestEd, 2019. 29p.