Public schools represent the pluralism of American society. Unfortunately, many children experience their public school environment as unwelcoming or even violent. Prejudicial attitudes contribute to problematic intergroup relations in public school settings. Furthermore, teachers are often unprepared to work with the diversity of class, linguistic groups, sexual orientation, and other sociocultural backgrounds that make up the student body in their classrooms. This article discusses theories of prejudice and how they inform an understanding of bullying, conflict, and violence in schools. Evidence-based prejudice reduction approaches are presented that teachers and school administrators can use to improve school culture and climate.
Aboud, F., & Doyle, A. ( 1996). Parental and peer influences on children’s racial attitudes. International Journal of Intercultural Relations , 20, 371-383.
2.
Aboud, F., & Fenwick, V. ( 1999). Exploring and evaluating school-based interventions to reduce prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 767-786.
3.
Achinstein, B., & Athanases, S. ( 2005). Focusing new teachers on diversity and equity: Toward a knowledge base for mentors. Teaching and Teacher Education , 21, 843-862.
4.
Adams, M., Bell, L., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook . New York: Routledge.
5.
Allport, G. ( 1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
6.
Altemeyer, B. ( 1988). The other "authoritarian personality". Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 47-92.
7.
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. (2002 ). Minority teacher recruitment and retention: A public policy issue. Racine, WI. Washington, DC : Proceedings and Background Materials of the Wingspread Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 298 123, 1987). Retrieved April 29, 2006 from http://www.aacte.org
8.
Anti-Defamation League. (2006). A world of difference. Retrieved April 23, 2006 from http://www.adl.org/awod/awod_institute.asp
9.
Aronson, E., & Patnoe, S. ( 1997). The jigsaw classroom: Building cooperation in the classroom (2nd ed.). New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
10.
Ashmore, R., Jussim, L., & Wilder, D. (Eds.). (2001). Social identity, intergroup conflict, and conflict resolution. New York: Oxford University Press.
11.
Athanases, S., & Larrabee, T. ( 2003). Toward a consistent stance in teaching for equity: Learning to advocate for Lesbian-and Gay-identified youth. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 237-261.
12.
Avery, P., & Hahn, C. ( 2004). Diversity and U.S. 14-year-olds’ knowledge, attitudes, and experiences. In W. Stephan & W. Vogt (Eds.), Education for improving intergroup relations (pp. 195-210). New York: Teachers College Press.
13.
Banks, C. ( 2005). Improving multicultural education: Lessons from the intergroup education movement. New York: Teachers College Press.
14.
Bargal, D., & Garvin, C. ( 2008). Summary and implications for the next stage: An epilogue . Small Group Research, 39, 104-110.
15.
Bennett, C. ( 2001). Genres of research in multicultural education. Review of Educational Research, 71, 171-217.
16.
Bigler, R. ( 1999). The use of multicultural curricula and materials to counter racism in children. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 687-705.
17.
Bigler, R., & Liben, L. ( 1992). Cognitive mechanisms in children’s gender stereotyping: Theoretical and educational implications of a cognitive-based intervention . Child Development, 63, 1351-1363.
18.
Bobo, L., & Hutchings, V. ( 1996). Perceptions of racial group competition: Extending Blumer’s theory of group position to a multiracial social context. American Sociological Review, 61, 951-972.
19.
Branch, C., & Newcombe, N. ( 1986). Racial attitude development among young Black children as a function of parental attitudes: A longitudinal and cross-sectional study . Child Development, 57,712-721.
20.
Brown, C., & Bigler, R. ( 2005). Children’s perceptions of discrimination: A developmental model. Child Development, 76, 533-553.
21.
Character Counts. ( 2007). Retrieved January 13, 2007 from http://charactercounts.org/doing/survey-reports.htm
22.
Ciardullo, M. ( 2005). Advocates on both sides are as passionate as ever: SIECUS controversy report 2004-2005 school year. SIECUS Report, 33, 4-19.
23.
Cokley, K. ( 2000). An investigation of academic self-concept and its relationship to academic achievement in African American college students. Journal of Black Psychology, 26,148-164.
Cushner, K. ( 2004). Conditions in the organizational environment that support positive intergroup relations. In W. Stephan & W. Vogt (Eds.), Education for Improving intergroup relations (p. 211-226). New York: Teachers College Press.
26.
Dickinson, G., Holifield, M., Holifield, G., & Creer, D. ( 2001). Elementary magnet school students’ interracial interaction choices. Journal of Education Research, 93, 391-394.
27.
Dilworth, M., & Ardila-Rey, A. (2004). Culture, language, and student achievement: Recruiting and preparing teachers for diverse students. The growing need for minority teachers. New York: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
28.
Dupper, D., & Meyer-Adams, N. (2002). Low-level violence: A neglected aspect of school culture. Urban Education, 37, 350-364.
29.
Echenique, F., & Fryer, R. ( 2007). A measure of segregation based on social interactions . The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(2), 441-485.
30.
Eisenberg, M., & Resnick, M.( 2006) Suicidality among Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth: The role of protective factors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39, 662-668.
31.
Erickson, C., Mattaini, M., & McGuire, M. ( 2004). Constructing nonviolence cultures in schools: The state of the science. Children & Schools, 26, 102-116.
32.
Ervin, K. ( 2001). Multiculturalism, diversity, and African American college students: Receptive, yet skeptical?Journal of Black Studies , 31, 764-776.
33.
Finkel, M., Storaasli, R., Bandele, A., & Schaefer, V. ( 2003). Diversity training in graduate school: An exploratory evaluation of the safe zone project. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 555-561.
34.
Finney, J., Ferguson, D., & Tate, J. ( 1997). Intergroup attitudes among ethnic minority adolescents: A causal model. Child Development, 68, 955-969.
35.
Fisher, C.B., Wallace, S.A., & Fenton, R.E. ( 2000). Discrimination distress during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 679-695.
36.
Garcia, S., & Guerra, P. ( 2004). Deconstructing deficit thinking: Working with educators to create more equitable learning environments. Education and Urban Society, 36, 150-168.
37.
Gaertner, S., Mann, J., Murell, A., & Dovidio, J. ( 1989). Reducing intergroup bias: The benefits of recategorization . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 239-249.
38.
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. (2005). National School Climate Survey. Retrieved April 25, 2006 from http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/1927.html
39.
Gilovich, T. ( 1991). How we know what isn’t so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life. New York: Free Press.
40.
Glisson, C., & Green, P. ( 2006). The effects of organizational culture and climate on the access to mental health care in child welfare and juvenile justice systems . Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 33, 433-448.
41.
Glisson, C., & James, L. ( 2002). The cross-level effects of culture and climate in human service teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 767-794.
42.
Glisson, C., & Schoenwald, S. (2005). The ARC organizational and community intervention strategy for implementing evidence-based children’s mental health treatments. Mental Health Services Research , 7, 243-259.
43.
Goodman, D. ( 2001). Promoting diversity and social justice: Educating people from privileged groups. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
44.
Graham. S., & Juvonen, J. ( 2002). Ethnicity, Peer Harassment, and adjustment in Middle School: An exploratory study. Journal of Early Adolescence , 22, 173-199.
45.
Gurin, P., Nagda, B., & Lopez, G. ( 2004). The benefits of diversity in education for democratic citizenship. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 17-34.
46.
Heck, R. ( 2000). Examining the outcome of school quality on school outcomes and improvement: A value-added approach. Educational Administration Quarterly, 36, 513-552.
47.
Houlette, M., Gaertner, S., Johnson, K., Banker, B., & Riek, B. ( 2004). Developing a more inclusive social identity: An elementary school intervention. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 35-55.
48.
Hoy, W. ( 1990). Organizational climate and culture: A conceptual analysis of the school workplace. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 1, 149-168.
49.
Huddy, L. ( 2004). Contrasting theoretical approaches to intergroup relations . Political Psychology, 25, 947-967.
50.
Hughes, J., Bigler, R., & Levy, S. ( 2007). Consequences of learning about historical racism among EuropeanAmerican and African American children. Child Development , 78, 1689-1705.
51.
Hurtado, S. ( 2005). The next generation of diversity and intergroup relations research. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 595-610.
52.
Hurtado, S., Milem, J., Clayton-Pederson, A., & Allen, W. ( 1999). Enacting diverse learning environments: Improving the climate for racial/ethnic diversity in higher education ( Ashe-Eric Higher Education Report Volume26, No. 8). Washington, DC: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development .
53.
Hyman, I.A., & Perone, D.C. ( 1998). The other side of school violence: Educator policies and practices that may contribute to student misbehavior. Journal of School Psychology, 36, 7-27.
54.
Jennings, L., & Smith, C. ( 2002). Examining the role of critical inquiry for transformative practices: Two joint case studies of multicultural teacher education. Teachers College Record, 104, 456-481.
55.
Jones, G. ( 2007, September 14). Film with same-sex parents splits school district. New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com
56.
Khmelkov, V., & Hallinan, M. ( 1999). Organizational effects on race relations in schools. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 627-645.
57.
Kimmel, M., & Mahler, M. ( 2003). Adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence: Random school shootings, 1982-2001. American Behavioral Scientist , 46, 1439-1458.
58.
Le-Doux, C., & Montalvo, F. ( 1999). Multicultural content in social work graduate programs: A national study. Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 7, 37-55.
59.
Levy, S. ( 1999). Reducing prejudice: Lessons learned from social-cognitive factors underlying perceiver differences in prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 745-765.
60.
Marshall, P. ( 2001). Multicultural teaching concerns: New dimensions in the area of teacher concerns research? Journal of Education Research , 89, 371-379.
61.
McAlister, A., Ama, E., Barroso, C., Peters, R., & Kelder, S. ( 2000). Promoting tolerance and moral engagement through peer modeling. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology , 6, 363-373.
62.
McGregor, J. ( 1993). Effectiveness of role playing and antiracist teaching in reducing student prejudice. Journal of Educational Research , 86, 215-226.
63.
McKown, C. ( 2005). Applying ecological theory to advance the science and practice of school-based prejudice reduction interventions. Educational Psychologist, 40, 177-189.
64.
Miller, N. ( 2002). Personalization and the promise of contact theory. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 387-410.
65.
Olson, M., & Fazio, R. ( 2003). Relations between implicit measures of prejudice: What are we measuring? Psychological Science, 14, 636-639.
66.
Paluck, E.L. ( 2006). Diversity training and intergroup contact: A call to action research. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 577-595.
67.
Pearce, K., & Pearce, W. ( 2001). The public dialogue consortium’s school-wide dialogue process: A communication approach to develop citizenship skills and enhance school climate. Communication Theory, 11, 105-123.
68.
Perkins, D., & Mebert, C. ( 2005). Efficacy of multicultural education for preschool children: A domain-specific approach. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology , 36, 497-512.
69.
Pettigrew, T. ( 1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65-85.
70.
Pettigrew, T. ( 2006). The advantage of multilevel approaches. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 615-620.
71.
Pettigrew, T., & Tropp, L. ( 2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 751-783.
72.
Poteat, V., & Espelage, D. ( 2007). Predicting psychosocial consequences of homo-phobic victimization in middle school students. Journal of Early Adolescence, 27, 175-191.
73.
Prentice, D., & Miller, D. (Eds.). (1999). Cultural divides. New York: Russell SAGE Foundation.
74.
Pyser, S. ( 2005, August). Dialogue and action: A call to build community . Developing solutions for respecting diversity and creating harmony in Bristol Township. PA: AI Practitioner.
75.
Rettig, M. ( 2002). Cultural diversity and play from an ecological perspective . Children & Schools, 24, 189-1999.
76.
Roberts, G., Bell, L., & Salend, S. ( 1991). Negotiating change for multicultural education: A consultation model. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation , 2, 323-342.
77.
Rudman, L., Ashmore, R., & Gary, M. ( 2001). "Unlearning" automatic biases: The malleability of implicit prejudice and stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 856-868.
78.
Russell, S., Seif, H., & Truong, N. ( 2001). School outcomes of sexual minority youth in the United States: Evidence from a national study. Journal of Adolescence , 24, 111-127.
79.
Ryan, K., & Kilpatrick, W. (1996). Is character education hopeless? American Enterprise, 7, 19-20.
80.
Schofield, J. ( 1991). School desegregation and intergroup relations: A review of the literature. Review of Research in Education, 17, 335-409.
81.
Schorr, L. ( 1997). Common purpose: Strengthening families and neighborhoods to rebuild America. New York: Anchor Books.
82.
Schultz, L., Barr, D., & Selman, R. ( 2001). The value of a developmental approach to evaluating character development programmes: An outcome study of Facing History and Ourselves. Journal of Moral Education, 30, 3-27.
83.
Shamai, S., Yardeni, E., & Klages, B. ( 2004). Multicultural education: Israeli and German adolescents’ knowledge and views regarding the holocaust. Adolescence, 39, 765-778.
84.
Shapiro, J., Burgoon, J., Welker, C., & Clough, J. ( 2002). Evaluation of the peace-makers program: School-based violence prevention for students in grades four through eight. Psychology in the Schools, 39, 87-100.
85.
Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. ( 1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
86.
Slavin, R., & Cooper, R. ( 1999). Improving intergroup relations: Lessons learned from cooperative learning programs. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 647-663.
87.
Southern Poverty Law Center. (2006). Teaching tolerance. Retrieved April 25, 2006, from http://www.tolerance.org/
88.
Spencer, M., Brown, M., Griffin, S., & Abdullah, S. ( 2008). Outcome evaluation of the intergroup project. Small Group Research, 39, 82-103.
89.
Stacey, J., & Biblarz, T. ( 2001). How does the sexual orientation of parents matter? American Sociological Review, 66, 159-183.
90.
Stephan, W. ( 1999). Reducing prejudice and stereotyping in schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
91.
Stephan, W., & Vogt, W. (Eds.). (2004). Education programs for improving intergroup relations. New York: Teachers College Press.
92.
Stone, S., & Han, M. ( 2005). Perceived school environments, perceived discrimination, and school performance among children of Mexican immigrants. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 51-66.
93.
Sue, D. ( 2004). Whiteness and ethnocentric monoculturalism: Making the "invisible" visible. American Psychologist, 59, 759-769.
94.
Talbert-Johnson, C. ( 2006). Preparing highly qualified teacher candidates for urban schools: The importance of disposition. Education and Urban Society, 39, 147-160.
95.
Tatum, B. ( 2004). Family life and school experiences: Factors in the racial identity development of Black youth in White communities. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 117-135.
96.
The Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life and The First Amendment Center. (2003). Teaching about religion in public schools: Where do we go from here? Retrieved April 6, 2006, from http://pewforum.org/publications/reports/TeachingAboutReligion.pdf
97.
Towles-Schwen, T., & Fazio, R. ( 2001). On the origins of racial attitudes: Correlates of childhood experiences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(2), 162-175.
98.
Twemlow, S., Fonagy, P., & Sacco, F. ( 2005). A developmental approach to mentalizing communities: II. The Peaceful Schools experiment. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 69, 282-304.
99.
Twemlow, S., Fonagy, P., Sacco, F., Gies, M., Evans, R., & Ewbank, R. ( 2001). Creating a peaceful school learning environment: A controlled study of an elementary school intervention to reduce violence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 808-810.
100.
United States Department of Education. (2003 ). Status and trends in the education of Hispanics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Press.
101.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Statistical abstract of the United States. (120th edition). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
102.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2002a). State and county quick facts. Retrieved April 22, 2006, from http://www.census.gov
103.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2002b). Projections of the resident population by race, Hispanic origin, and nativity: Middle series, 2050-2070. Population Projections Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved April 22, 2006, from http://www.census.gov/population/projections/nation/summary/np-t5-g.pdf
104.
Whitted, K., & Dupper, D. ( 2005). Best practices for preventing or reducing bullying in Schools. Children & Schools, 27, 167-175.
105.
Whitted, K.S., & Dupper, D.R. ( 2007). Do teachers bully students ? Findings from a survey of students in an alternative education setting. Education and Urban Society, doi:10.1177/0013124507304487.
106.
Wren, D. ( 1999). School culture: Exploring the hidden curriculum. Adolescence, 34, 593-596.
107.
Yee, M., & Brown, R. ( 1992). Self-evaluations and intergroup attitudes in children aged three to nine. Child Development, 63, 619-629.
108.
Young-Bruehl, E. ( 1996). The anatomy of prejudices. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.
109.
Zirkel, S., & Cantor, N. ( 2004). 50 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The promise and challenge of multicultural education. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 1-15.
110.
Zollers, N., Ramanathan, A., & Yu, M. ( 1999). The relationship between school culture and inclusion: how an inclusive culture supports inclusive education. Qualitative studies in education, 12, 157-174.
