A democratic approach to school discipline via peer helping programs: Perceptions of high school peer leaders and their impact on the school environment

This study is a program evaluation of a peer-helping program, STAAR (Students Teaching Acceptance and Respect), in a large comprehensive high school in Southern California. The evaluation is a mixed method study, exploratory in nature, which is approximately 60% qualitative and 40% quantitative. Students in the program are taught to embrace diversity and spread acceptance and respect throughout the campus. The program is part of a schoolwide democratic approach to discipline that empowers students to take responsibility for appropriate behavior and moves them toward self-discipline. This program evaluation explores the perceptions of the students who participated in the STAAR program regarding how participation in the program affected them through semi-structured interviews. A total of 30 students were interviewed using 16 open-ended questions, and patterns and themes that emerged from the interviews are discussed. Descriptive archival schoolwide data was reviewed to triangulate the data obtained from the interviews. Schoolwide attendance data, suspension data, and D and F grades for a five-year period are discussed. The differences in the academic achievement of students who participated in the STAAR program both before entering the program and after participating in the program is analyzed and discussed, and a change in the support participants felt they received through the program is measured by pre- and post-test measures of the 40 Developmental Assets. Results of two administrations of a schoolwide Bully Questionnaire and a student survey are also analyzed and discussed. Through the interviews and the data collection and analysis, three research questions were addressed. All interviewed students spoke extensively about how participation in the STAAR program had positively affected their lives. They felt the program was providing them increased support as measured by the 40 Developmental Assets. Schoolwide surveys indicated a decrease in bullying and in improvement in the school climate since the implementation of the STAAR program. Overall, the study's findings revealed significant positive effects of the peer helping program, both for the students involved in the program and for the overall school environment.