The Olweus Bully Prevention Program (OBPP) was first implemented in Norway schools, and focuses on reducing existing bullying concerns, preventing new incidents of bullying, and improving school climate and peer relationships (Limber et al. 2015). Program elements focus on restructuring the school environment to minimize the opportunities and rewards for bullying behavior, to shift social norms to create expectations of inclusion and civility, and to build a sense of community among students and adults in the school (Limber et al. 2015). OBPP is based on the need for adults in the school environment to show warmth and positive interests and to be involved with the students, to set firm limits, to consistently use non-hostile negative consequences when rules are broken, and to function as authorities and positive role models (Olweus and Limber 2010). Typically, the components of the program are implemented across the entire school and include specific interventions that are directed at the different level of school’s ecology, including hallways, classrooms, individuals, and parents (Olweus and Limber 2010).

There have been many evaluations of the OBPP conducted in many different countries, and the data are limited in the US (Espelage 2013). The studies have produced mixed results, including both positive and negative (null) results, however, it is unclear whether the implementation of the OBPP in all of these studies was consistent with the original OBPP (Olweus and Limber 2010).

The Peaceful Schools Project, developed in 2000 (Twemlow et al. 2001) is a philosophy, rather than a program (Twemlow et al. 2004). The Peaceful Schools Project includes five main components. First, schools develop a positive climate campaign that includes counselor-led discussions and the creation of posters that help alter the language and the thinking of everyone in the school (i.e., “back off bullies!” or “stop bullying now”). All stakeholders in the school are flooded with an awareness of the bullying dynamic and bullying is described as a social relationship problem. Second, teachers are taught and coached in classroom management techniques and are taught specific techniques to diffuse disruptive behavior from a relational perspective rather than from a punitive approach. Third, peer and adult mentors are used to help everyone in the school resolve problems without blaming others. These adult mentors are particularly important during times when adult supervision is minimal, such as hallways during passing periods and on the playground. Fourth, the “gentle warrior physical education program” is introduced, and it uses a combination of role-playing, relaxation, and defensive martial arts techniques to help students develop strategies to protect themselves and others. This involves confidence-building exercises that support positive coping. Fifth, 10 min reflection time is included in the school schedule each day. Teachers and students talk at the end of the day about bully, victim, and bystander behaviors. By engaging in this dialogue, language and thinking about bullying behaviors can be subtly altered (Twemlow et al. 2005). In an randomized clinical trial (RCT), elementary students who were assigned to the Peaceful Schools Project had higher achievement scores than students from schools without the project; there were also significant reductions in suspensions for acting out behavior in the treatment schools, whereas the comparison schools had a slight increase in suspensions for problem behavior (Fonagy et al. 2009).

The KiVa program, developed in Finland for elementary through high school students, is a universal school-based program that addresses bullying at school by working with teachers, parents, families, community leaders, and students. Teacher training, student lessons, and virtual learning environments are all critical components of this multi-component program (Salmivalli et al. 2009). Teachers use a manual for classroom instruction, which is supplemented by an anti-bullying computer game for primary school children and an internet forum ‘KiVa Street’ for secondary school students. On ‘KiVa Street’, students can access information pertaining to bullying or watch a short film about bullying. Both the anti-bullying computer game and the internet forum are designed to provide opportunities for youth to practice skills learned in the lessons and apply them in different scenarios. Early data show significant decreases in self-reported bullying and self- and peer-reported victimization in 4th–6th graders (Kärnä et al. 2011), and increases in empathy and anti-bullying attitudes.

School-based violence prevention programs that facilitate social and emotional learning skills, address interpersonal conflict, and teach emotion management have shown promise in reducing youth violence, bullying, and disruptive behaviors in classrooms (Wilson and Lipsey 2007). This is especially the case for programs that target peer violence in a coordinated fashion across different micro-contexts of the school ecology (e.g., individual, classroom, school, community). Many of these social-emotional and social-cognitive intervention programs target risk and protective factors that have consistently been associated with aggression, bullying, and victimization in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Basile et al. 2009; Espelage et al. 2012; Espelage et al. 2003), including anger, empathy, perspective-taking, respect for diversity, attitudes supportive of aggression, coping, intentions to intervene to help others, and communication and problem-solving skills.

Social emotional learning (SEL) programs can be quite diverse in format and intensity, but all have a goal of promoting youth development by building competencies and fostering skills that enable students to flexibly respond to demands and opportunities in their environments (Durlak et al. 2011). SEL approaches focus on students acquiring skills that focus on their ability to recognize and manage emotions, take the perspectives of others, establish and maintain positive relationships and handle interpersonal conflicts appropriately (Elias et al. 1997). More specifically, within the SEL framework there are five interrelated skill areas: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and organization, responsible problem-solving, and relationship management. Within each area, there are specific competencies supported by research and practice as essential for effective social-emotional functioning, including emotion recognition, stress-management, empathy, problem-solving, or decision-making skills (Elias et al. 1997). Self-regulated learning is both directly and indirectly targeted in these programs. As students are better able to control their feelings, thoughts and actions, especially under emotional demands, academic learning is optimized. Further, exercises and opportunities to practice these skills and competencies differ in their level of cognitive-emotional complexity across development in order to ensure SEL skills are sustainable.

SEL programs use social skill instruction to address behavior, discipline, safety, and academics to help youth become self-aware, manage their emotions, build social skills (empathy, perspective-taking, respect for diversity), friendship skill building, and make positive decisions (Zins et al. 2004). SEL programs offer schools, after-school programs, and youth community centers with a research-based approach to building skills and promoting positive individual and peer attitudes that can contribute to the prevention of bullying.

SEL approaches and programs are quite efficacious in improving academics and decreasing youth violence. A recent meta-analysis including more than 213 SEL-based programs found that if a school implements a quality SEL curriculum, they can expect better student behavior and an 11 percentile increase in academic test scores in comparison to schools with no SEL programming (Durlak et al. 2011). Schools elect to implement these programs because of the gains that schools see in achievement and prosocial behavior. Students exposed to SEL activities feel safer and more connected to school and academics, build work habits in addition to social skills, and youth and teachers build strong relationships (Zins et al. 2004).

Several randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of bullying prevention programs (based on a SEL framework) have attended to the rigorous evaluation of the intervention effects (Brown et al. 2011; Espelage et al. 2013). As schools are increasingly pressed to find time in the day to address psychosocial issues, SEL programs that prevent victimization and its correlates (e.g., social rejection) and also simultaneously improve academic engagement should be rigorously evaluated to make convincing arguments to educators and school administrators that the use of these resources will produce noticeable benefits.

Steps to Respect: A Bullying Prevention Program© is designed to help students build supportive relationships with one another (STR; Committee for Children 2001). The Steps to Respect program utilizes a whole-school approach to bullying prevention by addressing factors at the staff, peer group and individual level. Intervening at multiple levels is the most effective way to reduce school bullying, given the complex origins, forms, and maintenance factors associated with bullying. Steps to Respect relies heavily on adults to deliver scripted training from a curriculum and to continually emphasize those lessons throughout the school year.

Empirical support has shown reductions in playground bullying, acceptance of bullying behavior, and argumentative behavior. At the same time, it has demonstrated increases in prosocial student interactions and students’ perceived adult responsiveness in comparison with control schools (Frey et al. 2005). More recently, it has demonstrated reductions in physical perpetration, destructive bystander behavior, and increases in bystander behavior and positive social school climate (Brown et al. 2011), especially among schools with high student engagement in the program (Low et al. 2014).

Universal interventions have the potential to reach approximately 80 % of students in a school, which encourages school officials and stakeholders to invest time and effort into these systemic efforts (Walker and Shinn 2002). Thus, the first component of the Steps to Respect program is staff training for “all adults” in the school building, emphasizing that the term includes janitors, bus drivers, mentors, receptionists, school nurses, volunteers, licensed staff, administrators, teachers, assistants, and other adults at school who are involved in the daily lives of students. Training meetings include a scripted training session that provides basic information on the Steps to Respect program, information on bullying, and training on how to receive bullying reports from students. Administrators, teachers, or counselors who will work directly with students who have been bullied or who are bullying others also receive training.