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Fostering a positive school climate helps prevent bullying and improve student learning
CSBA’S Safe Schools Toolkit provides research and resources for LEAs
A young girl with curly hair is sitting alone on metal stairs with a sad or worried expression. She is leaning over her knees next to her yellow backpack. The setting looks like an outdoor stairwell.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month — a time for local educational agencies to take a deep dive into examining how they can foster positive, safe and inclusive school environments in order to prevent bullying and boost student success.

Often, academic-centered interventions, such as high-dosage tutoring or professional development for educators, are among proposed solutions to addressing achievement gaps and learning loss resulting from the pandemic, natural disasters and more.

However, a positive school climate free of bullying should be on policymakers’ radars as they implement policies to improve academic outcomes. Bullying and cyberbullying impact a student’s ability to learn and can have damaging consequences on a child’s self-esteem, physical and mental health, and can lead to school avoidance. These factors combine to negatively impact their academic achievement and other outcomes.

Bullying can also lead to lasting emotional, psychological and educational harm to victims, as well as perpetrators, with research indicating that individuals who bully others are more likely to suffer academically in school, abuse drugs and alcohol as they get older, and be more prone to committing subsequent violence or experience more acts of violence.

Open, consistent communication with students regarding the importance of identifying and mitigating bullying is encouraged to improve school climate and safety, but determining where to start can be a challenge for administrators.

CSBA’s Research and Education Policy Development (REPD) Department published a governance brief, “School safety: Bullying and cyberbullying,” (csba.pub/bully-prevention) that includes definitions and statistics on bullying and cyberbullying, information on the impacts of bullying and signs that someone is being bullied, how LEAs can help students and families, examples of bullying prevention communications, sample questions for board members and other resources. The brief is part of CSBA’s Safe Schools Toolkit.

Published in 2023, this resource remains as necessary and timely as ever, said REPD Principal Research Manager Angela Asch, the brief’s author.

“Every year, LEAs can strengthen their connections to students and families by fostering a safe and supportive school environment. A positive school climate benefits the entire school community from students to staff,” Asch said. “We know from research that when students feel safe, supported and connected to their school, they are more likely to attend and engage. CSBA’s research brief shares evidence-based programs and communication strategies used by LEAs of various sizes from across the state. Bullying Prevention Month is an opportune time for governance teams to review and update their policies on bullying, harassment and discrimination and to consider implementing the bullying prevention programs and resources highlighted in the brief.”

Under Assembly Bill 2291, the Safe Place to Learn Act adopted in 2018, LEAs are required to adopt bullying prevention policies and practices. Additionally, California anti-bullying laws include cyberbullying acts that occur on or off school sites, and require LEAs to notify parents and families when a student is involved in harassment, intimidation, cybersexual bullying, or bullying, and must share information on statewide resources with parents and families regarding harassment, intimidation, cybersexual bullying, and bullying.

To support governance teams, in addition to guiding questions, CSBA’s bullying and cyberbullying brief includes relevant CSBA sample policies, administrative regulations and legal guidance. The California Department of Education (CDE) also provides more information, policies and complaint procedures for specific student populations.

Effective anti-bullying efforts
LEAs can implement proven bullying-prevention methods such as utilizing diverse, communitywide resources; implementing clear schoolwide expectations; providing training for all staff, enacting Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports; addressing multiple components of bullying behavior and the environments that foster it; including student voice in the creation and implementation of bullying prevention programs; including mentorship for students; strengthening peer-to-peer relationships; encouraging more students to report incidents by providing clear and accessible methods of doing so; and teaching inter- and intrapersonal skills.

Throughout California, LEAs have implemented programming that includes some of the above factors. For example, Stockton Unified School District’s peer-led PLUS program trains students to act as restorative advocates for prevention of and reducing bullying and school violence, alcohol and drug use, suicides and other risk factors by promoting opportunities for building a strong sense of belonging.

Additionally, Stockton USD school counselors deliver social-emotional lessons through the Second Step Curriculum to students on how to recognize and define bullying, understanding how bullying can affect them and their peers, empathize with individuals who are bullied, and understand what they can do when they or someone they know are being bullied.

Woodland USD provides the community with comprehensive guidance and resources in multiple languages to ensure more students and families have the information needed to understand bullying and intervene safely when they see it.

Additional resources for bullying prevention
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