Massachusetts requires public schools to have an anti-bullying plan — the result of a 2010 law passed in reaction to the suicides of two students who reportedly had been victims of bullying. George Sugai, co-director of the National Center of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and a professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, said research shows that “if classrooms and schools are positive, safe, and caring, [the] likelihood of bullying decreases.”

As sure as school bells begin to ring after Memorial Day, so too do news stories appear of students in elementary, middle, and high school being bullied. Some school districts have a new state “cyber bullying” law that allows administrators to punish students for what they say online. With one out of every three online […]

Rather than react to bullying incidents in schools with heavily punitive policies, a systemic, preventive approach that avoids demonizing students and strengthens the overall climate in classrooms is the way to go, Neag School of Education‘s George Sugai and co-authors advise in a paper prepared for President Obama’s White House Conference on Bullying Prevention held […]