A fourth-grade girl from suburban Pittsburgh arrived home distraught after her first classroom session about bullying.
"I know they must have meant me," she wailed. "I bully people. I leave them out."
During the second session – ways to change behavior – she learned that she should include a little boy who's always left out. "Let's see if he wants to play with us," she suggested.
"That's exactly what we want to happen," Highmark Healthy High 5 HALT! trainer Jim Bozigar says. "We want the kids to see what they're doing, how it's hurtful and how to change it."
Since 2006, the Highmark Foundation has been bringing the internationally renowned, evidence-based Olweus program into schools through Highmark Healthy High 5 HALT! – A Bullying Prevention Program. The results have been spectacular.
In Mt. Lebanon and Allegheny Valley schools, students learn about bullying behaviors and preventions through teacher-led role-playing sessions that result in healthier school environments. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a school child is bullied every seven minutes.
After classroom sessions on bullying, teasing, exclusion, intimidation, theft and physical violence beginning in 2007, Mt. Lebanon has realized a significant reduction in reported bullying at its Washington Elementary, based on preliminary data.
In Allegheny Valley, "We had classroom meetings to teach bystanders to report and stop bullying," offers special education director Roberta Rowan. "If, for example, a child is excluded from the lunch table, the students must develop alternative behaviors that are inclusive, implemented and monitored by teachers and staff."
The high school there reduced discipline reports by 30 percent between the fall of 2007 and the fall of 2008.
Learn how to recognize and prevent bullying by reading our Bullying Prevention pages.
Learn more about Highmark Healthy High 5 Halt! — a bullying prevention program.
This story was originally published in an April 5, 2009, advertising supplement for Highmark Healthy High 5.