Peer Mediation in Middle Schools

Steps for Implementing a program (list taken from www.csmp.org/peermed/steps.htm).

Continue the process of telling others about the benefits and need for such a program. Take your time to talk to the right people and evaluate the school's ability to accomplish this goal. Consider having peer mediators demonstrate the process to the staff, parents and school community.

This team acts to oversee, steward, and set your plan of action. Choose on coordinator/sponsor or two co-coordinators/sponsors for the project. Consider grade level representation, setting clear time commitments for meetings, setting roles (facilitator, note taker, reporter, timekeeper) for the meetings, picking a CSMP staff support person to call when needed.

Design for the long term and take one step at a time. Plan on how you might use trained students as facilitators for the next peer mediation group and providing incentives for those staff who help with the training. Consider adding student teacher mediations for the second or third year after receiving advanced training.

Decide how you will select students to be peer mediators and begin this process.

Use the forms in the back of the manual and conduct interviews to select students. All students who interview may still be selected because the interview may provide an opportunity for students to practice going to an interview, hearing about the "job" and recognizing that there are certain requirements for and benefits of being a mediator.

Set dates, time and place; design your agenda; recruit trainers and coaches; purchase student training manuals; copy role plays, handouts and certificates; think about providing snacks during breaks; and prepare any other posters or materials you might need.

This may be done after school in short sessions, over a couple of weekends, during school hours, or a combination of the above.

Decide how students will pair up for duty and spread out their time mediating so it feels comfortable. One suggestion is to have each pair mediating one or two times a week.

9. Orient the Student Body to the Program.

Students need to be made aware of and excited in the program. Involve student mediators in designing and planning the orientation. Consider an all school assembly and demonstrating the process or putting on a skit, having mediators demonstrate to each class, showing a video, having each teacher mention it in their classroom, and having the whole school do something to set a new norm.

Weekly meetings for peer mediators are crucial in updating skills, problem solving, and team building. Consider holding weekly meetings for the initial stages of the program; then see how bi-weekly meetings work. Some topics for meetings include: debriefing mediations, providing ongoing skill building (training and practice, role playing for ideas), bringing in outside speakers or other student mediators to describe their program, letting students run the meetings, team builders and energizers, and even expanding the goal of the mediation program to include other related school service projects.

An effective program needs to be presented before the school community on a regular basis so that all are aware of its benefits, needs and potential. Some programs may need to advertise and sell themselves before they become a norm for teachers, students and administrators. Make the program visible and publish successes. Think about putting up flyers around the building, mentioning it in staff meetings, providing incentives for students to use the process.

Once the program is going, it needs ongoing supervision, support and monitoring so things stay on track. Evaluating student skill level, numbers of mediations, number of office referrals, etc. is critical in providing information to the staff regarding the usefulness of the program. Some options for doing this include: keeping track of all mediation statistics and providing them to staff once or three times a year; handing out an end of the year evaluation for students and teachers; students who may be misusing the process; setting a policy for students whose grades are low or behavior is poor.

Taking time to celebrate is important; it builds community, gives back to the students for the time and effort they put in, and provides them with a small incentive for being a peer mediator. Some ideas are having a (student planned) pizza party, putting on a year-end skit, having an award ceremony, and sending out Thank You notes.

Because needs and parameters change, it is important to review your plan periodically. Some things to consider are getting the sponsors together to review the plan, reviewing how teachers are supporting the program and reviewing when and who trains the student mediators.

Building a strong foundation of conflict resolution skills requires ongoing training and awareness and it takes small steps each year, including training new teachers and providing advanced training to interested staff.

Copyright 2002
EDU 262 Web Project
Jennifer Preston, Julie McCubrey, Chrstina Gratto, and Charlene Archer
University of Maine at Farmington