Yes, mediators compete seems like an oxymoron. But in Australia, teams of student mediators and role-players do compete, and they do so before adjudicators who determine which teams are best.… read this issue >>

"The hardest students to train as mediators are those who are very shy." I have offered this stock bit of advice countless times to educators who are implementing peer mediation programs.… read this issue >>

I have long known that peer mediation is practiced outside of North America. But, like most of us, I largely attend to my own small corner of the world, consumed with the unique challenges and victories I experience here. Last month, however, I lived what felt like a marvelous dream: People from every corner of the globe — speaking countless languages, displaying every skin tone, in a variety of regional dress — gathered together to share their experience teaching young people to live in peace.… read this issue >>

The most enjoyable part of publishing "The School Mediator" is hearing from you, educators from all over the world who are applying peer mediation where you live. It astonishes me that this concept is now working within stable democracies as well as in countries emerging from dictatorship or civil war; in the most densely populated cities as well as in rural villages; within an environment of relative wealth as well as one of extreme poverty.… read this issue >>

In 1984, the people who were interested in peer mediation could fit in one room. I know because I was lucky enough to be there. About three dozen educators and conflict resolution practitioners gathered on Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the first NAME conference. We were excited. We had begun training young people to mediate conflicts, and the results were impressive and inspiring. Though the quantitative research that confirmed our individual observations came much later, we knew we were on to something special… read this issue >>

"If all the statisticians in the world were laid head to toe, they wouldn't be able to reach a conclusion."  Anonymous It was great to receive so many responses to the "State of Peer Mediation 2011" Survey. Ninety-nine people responded, about 4% of The School Mediator's subscribers. Respondents represent a fairly wide geographic range: they live in 25 different US states and 8 countries.* About 4/5 of respondents are based in the US, and 29% percent of the total live and work in Massachusetts, where School Mediation Associates is based.… read this issue >>