Chapter 10: The Coping Power Program for At-Risk Agressive Students

Children’s aggressive behavior is a concerning issue for schools, not only in terms of maintaining order and safety, but also in regard to students’ academic achievement. For school-aged children, aggression rarely exists independently of other maladaptive behaviors. Indeed, aggressive-disruptive behavior has a strong association with poor academic performance and dropping out of school (e.g., Farrington, 1989). The need to address antisocial aggressive behaviors as well as intellectual factors in students at risk for dropping out of school is underscored by the fact that the majority of students who drop out have IQs in the normal range (French & Conrad, 2001). However, the relation between aggression and academic problems is somewhat complex.