School of Education

Skiba delivers high-profile address on school security in France

Monday, April 12, 2010

Professor in Counseling and Educational Psychology at the IU School of Education Russ Skiba provided the keynote speech April 7 at a conference organized by the French minister of education in Paris. The conference called “Les Etats Généraux de la sécurité à l’école” (The General Assembly on the Security of School) came in the wake of a series of incidents of serious violence in schools in France in recent months.

Skiba is director of The Equity Project, a consortium of research projects offering evidence-based information to educators and policymakers on equity in special education and school discipline, based in the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP). A frequent source for national media stories on school violence, his expertise is sought worldwide.

The presentation by Skiba has received extensive media coverage in France, including interviews for LeMonde, the French evening newspaper, and the Paris daily Libération. Skiba told Libération that the policy of “zero tolerance” in the U.S. has not been shown to be effective and recommended that the delegates to the assembly act on three levels to reduce school violence. He said the effort should actively teach all students the elements of safe and civil behavior, include active work with students identified as at-risk students, and have plans in place for students who engage in violence or disruption.

Skiba’s presentation is available online here. He delivers his speech in French at the 7th video stream from the top of the page. Just below it, Skiba answers audience questions in English.

Many of the articles on Skiba’s Paris appearance are online. You can read a Google French-to-English translation of the Libération article here; the translation of the LeMonde article is available here.

More about the Equity Project, including details of ongoing and past projects and resources is available on the project’s web site.