ABSTRACT
Violence in the K-12 classroom appeared to have reached its pinnacle on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado when two students, initially believed to be victims of bullying and harassment by their classmates (Cullen, 2009; Toppo, 2009), killed 13 people and wounded 23 others before killing themselves. Since then, over 25 shootings have been reported on elementary school, middle school, and high school campuses across the United States (“A Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings,” 2007). While these types of events often become well publicized, these forms of violence are relatively isolated and not at all common (Bucher & Manning, 2005). What is less publicized, less isolated, and much more common is other forms of student maltreatment. These forms, which include bullying, theft, vandalism, fighting, rejection, retaliation, name calling, teasing, ridicule, and even the formation of cliques, in-groups, and out-groups (Farmer, 2000; Hernandez & Seem, 2004; Johnson, Johnson, & Dudley, 1992), share one common theme: They are rooted in student aggressiveness.
