SCHOOL VIOLENCE PREVENTION DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

The Providence, Rhode Island site has actively participated in the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program (SVPDP) for six years.  Each year it has grown by engaging more schools, teachers, students, and school districts.  The primary focus has been on Providence Public Schools which has been designated as needing corrective action or needing to be restructured as guided by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.  Last year, the Providence site started to concentrate on Grade 5 classrooms from the city schools and Diocese of Providence schools as part of a five year plan to saturate schools with SVPDP concepts and resources and to promote civic education.  This year, the program has started a gradual shift to other school districts (Pawtucket and West Warwick) and alternative schools such as the Bridge School – which is a Hispanic advocacy/transitional school.

All schools in this year’s program have been designated by the Rhode Island Department of Education as urban schools which share a myriad of socio-economic indicators and are either on the Department of Education’s watch list of schools/districts needing remediation or in need of help to meet standards. 

Teachers, students and administrators have enthusiastically supported the SVPDP curricula materials.  SVPDP materials give schools the opportunity to promote positive learning and civic awareness and opportunity to align learning to the principles articulated in the NCLB Act by emphasizing literacy skills.

PROGRAM’S IMPACT
	September 2008 – June 2009	September 2004 – June 2009	Total
Schools	9	38	38*
Students	845	2880	3725
Teachers	17	105	122

*This number reflects the total number of schools engaged in the program

Program Highlights and Anecdotes:

The students engaged in SVPDP have utilized continued to utilize Rhode Island’s political and community leaders to help with public policy, gather information, and gather public support for their issues.

· At the D’Abate Elementary School in Providence, two SVPDP teachers developed a unit on Civil Rights. They invited Janice Kelsey from Birmingham, Alabama to speak to students, teachers, parents and the community about her experiences as a person who worked with Martin Luther King and others in endeavoring to integrate her community.

· Rhode Island works with RI-AARP adult volunteers to listen to students in the classroom and assess student activities.  This program will be expanding.

·   Student discipline improved as SVPDP students centered activities increased.

·   SVPDP materials helped teachers integrate literacy skills into civic education content.

·   SVPDP materials have been aligned to the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) literacy skills used in Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire.  The alignment standards can be found at www.civiced-ri.org.

For further information contact:

Michael Trofi, Site Coordinator, mtrofi@westwarwickpublicschools.com

Maria Gallo, Director, School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program, gallo@civiced.org