Second Step Program
Initiative Description: Student Success Through Prevention Middle School Program, a school-based violence prevention program. Teachers implemented 15 weekly lessons of the sixth-grade curriculum that focused on social-emotional learning skills, including empathy, communication, bully prevention, and problem-solving skills. All sixth graders (n = 3,616) in intervention and control conditions completed self-report measures assessing verbal/relational bullying, physical aggression, homophobic name-calling, and sexual violence victimization and perpetration before and after the implementation of the sixth-grade curriculum
Study Results: The prevention program was able to significantly reduce self-reported physical aggression in adolescent youth after a 15-week SEL integration intervention.
Reference: Espelage, D. L., Low, S., Polanin, J. R., & Brown, E. C. (2013). The impact of a middle school program to reduce aggression, victimization, and sexual violence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(2), 180-186.
doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.02.021
Level of Evidence: 
Very Good