NCJ Number
88398
Date Published
1978
Length
163 pages
Annotation
This monograph presents essays, conference proceedings, and reports on collaborative projects of the Teacher Corps and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to train teachers in helping troubled secondary school students and to involve the students themselves in school delinquency prevention programs.
Abstract
An overview of school crime emphasizes that youth's active and meaningful involvement in education programs can be most effective in improving the school climate. Consequently, the Teacher Corps and the OJJDP selected this format as a major intervention strategy to be demonstrated in the Youth Advocacy Teacher Corps (YATC) project. Following a brief history of the YATC's development, the book summarizes the keynote speeches and discussions of the Youth Participation Conference on Student Initiated Activities held in Rochester, Mich., in November 1977. Training models for youths and teachers were presented by YATC training sites, and adult participants explored community involvement, teacher training, evaluation, curriculum, and alternative programs. A separate paper evaluates the conference using participants' response data, recommends improvements for YATC programs, and concludes that the sessions were valuable experiences for participants. The next section contains reports from individual sites in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, and Vermont which review their staff development efforts and programs to combat specific school problems, such as vandalism, fear of crime, disruptive behavior, and lack of commitment. Each report describes the project, its goals and strategies, accomplishments, and problems. A final essay by the Teacher Corps' director examines that program's achievements and future directions. References accompany some papers.