Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Patricia Anderson

Abstract

Despite the increase in bullying behavior that has occurred among high school students, there is a lack of age appropriate intervention programs available to assist secondary administrators and staff with this problem. The purpose of this case study in 1 high school in a suburb of a major Mid-Atlantic city in the United States was to determine the perceptions held by secondary administrators and staff of an adapted antibullying program, originally created for use in elementary schools, in reducing the incidences of bullying behavior and feelings of strain. This study was also designed to explore how administrators and staff perceived if the bullying prevention program fostered prosocial behavior, and the extent to which the program reduced peer aggression, peer harassment, and strain. The conceptual framework was general strain theory described by Durkheim and Merton. The design for this case study included interviews with 5 teachers and 3 administrators who had been involved in implementation of the antibullying program. Open coding was used to organize and analyze the data for the emergence of significant concepts and patterns. Codes were formulated into four associated meanings or themes; relationships, student responsibility, positive culture, and trusting and supportive environment. The results indicated that school personnel were able to modify an existing bullying prevention program that has changed the culture of the school and the mindset of its student body while helping the students to alleviate strain and issues of aggression and harassment. The current research may affect social change by encouraging other secondary schools to assess their bullying prevention programs to determine if the material being used is age appropriate for secondary students and if the programs are indeed alleviating bullying behavior and strain in their students.

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