New Featured Resource:
Recommended Standards for School-Based
Peer Mediation Programs 2007

Order form (PDF) for hard copies of standards.

The Fourth R

Winter/Spring 2008-2009 Edition Now Available (Click Here)

Call for Submissions Summer/Fall 2009!

Are you a scholar or practitioner in the field of Conflict Resolution Education? Are you interested in sharing your work among your peers? Here is your chance! The Fourth Ris the semi-annual newsletter of the Education Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, and a venue for presenting conflict resolution education research, writing, and artistic works. After the successful issues of the 2007 and 2008, The Fourth R is back in action and pleased to announce the call for submissions for June 2009!   ACR’s Education Sectionprovides resources and support for practitioners, educators, students, young people, trainers, community activists, and administrators in the fields of peace and conflict resolution in pre-K-12 to higher learning settings. Accessible to all, The Fourth R is a great way for the conflict resolution education community to network and share their work.   We Inviteyour articles of approximately 800-1500 words related to your research and work in the field of conflict resolution education. The Fourth R’s Summer/Fall 2009 issue will highlight works on:Conflict Stories: Narrating the Meaning of School Conflicts. The submissions should include: 1.  A conflict story (parties: students, parents, staff, paraprofessionals, teachers, administrators;    issues: relationships, discrimination, harassment, bullying, individual education plans, access, quality, assessments, conflict of interests, union contracts, grade appeals, etcetera); 2. An analysis of the conflict or its impact on school culture; 3. A theoretical or research grounded resolution process. Submissions for feature articles may cover current projects or evaluation of past endeavors, as well as related events or on-going research. Contributors are also welcome to submit book or curriculum reviews, poetry, pictures, cartoons, student reflections or work on peer mediation, short descriptions of innovative or peer mediation programs, news clips, announcements, and more.   Your workfor the Summer/Fall 2009 issue must be submitted in an electronic, word-processing format (preferably Microsoft Word) by June 5, 2009. All work must be the original work of the author, and will be thoroughly reviewed by the editors. Submissionsmust include the author’s full name, a photograph, complete references (APA), institutional affiliation, and contact information (physical and e-mail addresses), as well as a short bio. We also encourage authors to include relevant photographs, graphics, and tables they would like to include with their article.   Please direct all inquiries and submissions to: the4thr@gmail.com

Our Mission

The Education Section provides resources and support for practitioners, educators, students, young people, trainers, community activists, and administrators in the fields of peace and conflict resolution in pre-K-12 to higher learning settings.

Work of the Section

The Education Section is on the move and working in many directions, thanks to the dedication of its member volunteers! It is busy with committees, planning for the 2007 ACR conference to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, and working on grant proposals to enable the work to continue. One committee chaired by Leigh Jones-Bamman, the "Updating and Revising Guidelines for Peer Mediation Programs," has successfully completed their work on recommended guidelines for peer mediation programs which are now available.

8/5/07 Update

TO: Education section members

New Education Section Award:

The ACR Education Section is planning on giving an annual award at the ACR conference during the presidential luncheon. The award will be in honor of William J. Kreidler, who was an outstanding conflict resolution educator. The award will be presented to a person who has given distinguished service in the field of conflict resolution education, thereby benefiting the organization. If you would like to nominate someone who you feel deserves this special acknowledgment, please send your nomination to Priscilla Prutzman (CCRCNYACK @aol.com) or to me (smiley_aw@yahoo.com) by August 15th. Please include your thoughts about why you are making this nomination.

Education Section Elections:

It is time again for us to elect a new person to serve in the position of Chair-Elect of the Education Section. This person will serve a 3-year term, moving on to the positions of Chair and Immediate Past Chair. The Education Section Chairs form a triumvirate with a past, present, and incoming chair sharing the leadership responsibilities. These positions and responsibilities are described in Article II of our Organizing Document. Here’s the Nomination Form.

Also, if you are would be interested in participating in the section leadership committee, you are also more than welcome. The "Ed Heads" meet once per month via phone meetings. The section committees are also described in the Organizing Document in Articles IV and V.

ACR Annual Conference in Phoenix:

Finally, we hope to see you in Phoenix for the annual conference from Oct 24-27th. We will have a Youth Day on Friday, October 26 with secondary high school mediators descending among us for added diversity.

Save the Date:

Please put March 9-11, 2008 on your calendar for a regional ACR Education Section conference co-sponsored by Northern Virginia Student Mediation Conference and the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University. If you can help with the planning (program and local planning) please let me know. Stay posted for announcements about proposals.

Enjoy the rest of the summer that always goes too fast!!!

Thanks,

Anne Smiley

ACR Education Section Chair

E-mail address: smiley_aw@yahoo.com

Dear members of the Education Section:

The Nominations and Elections Committee of the Education Section is pleased to nominate Cynthia L. Morton from Covington, Georgia to be Chair-Elect of the Education Section. Cindy is a school counselor and trained mediator with experience running school mediation programs and training program coordinators. We are very pleased that she has offered her leadership skills to our Section. Her candidate statement can be found on the ACR Education Section website in the section marked 2006 Section Elections:

Under the framework of our new Organizing Document, as Chair-Elect, Cindy will serve in that role until the conclusion of the 2007 ACR conference. Then she will serve as Chair of the Education Section; the following year, she will serve as Immediate Past-Chair. The description of the role of Chair-Elect and other section positions is in the Organizing Document.

Thanks go to Kathy Bickmore and Bill Warters for working with me as the Nominations and Elections Committee.

All the best, Marsha Blakeway
Immediate Past-Chair ACR Education Section