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Quotes
TRAINING ACTIVE BYSTANDERS
STUDENT TRAINERS SAY:
“To me TAB means training kids to try to stick up for themselves and other kids that cannot stick up for themselves. Also it means kids can now know what to do in a situation. In school, maybe kids will not get into fights as much anymore, because they know all the bad things that can come from it. Also, it makes the school look good in the community, how the kids act; and when we do well in school and behave, we may get good things for the school. For example, with track and field, if we did not behave, and we just did not try in school, the community might think, these kids just don’t deserve this track and field. So that’s why TAB is very important to know and use.”
 “Training Active Bystanders is a very important program, which will help everyone in our community work better, act better, and share all of our ideas. Our school is very unique because it is a safe place and it also means a lot to me because everyone helped me when I first came to the USA so I want to be in a place with harmony and friendship. Our community is a community that works together and I like it that way.”
Josefina Carra, TAB Trainer - Athol High School, Grade 10
 “To me, Training Active Bystanders means help with acceptance and support. For schools, it means a safe reputation and less fights and bullying. For the community, it means parents and other adults feeling safe that their peers and children have other peers that will stand up for them and support them.”
Joshua Spencer, TAB Trainer- Athol High School, Grade 11
“To me, TAB is very important because I think it is beneficial to live in a violence-free community. My school has occasional fights and now that this program is being taught in our 10th grade health classes, this number can hopefully be minimized.”
Blue Swan Otto, TAB Trainer - Athol High School, Grade 10
“TAB is extremely important because it not only affects the school that I attend, but it affects the entire community. With the training active bystanders group, I feel that I personally can help with the making of a safe, friendly community .as we were taught in the training, I hope to eliminate the “them” and make more of an “us” outlook on the way our community lives. I already see that just in my school, people have begun to break out of their cliques and focus on a person’s inside rather than his or her outside and not judge people by appearance. My main goal when stepping into this training was to try to positively effect everyone’s lives with a simple teaching on the outlook of harm and why it happens, how it happens, why it isn’t stopped, and how to stop it. I hope that we have and believe we have started a wonderful new beginning to a save and friendly world.”
Shelby Bickford, TAB Trainer - Athol-Royalston Middle School, Grade 8
 “TAB means a lot to me and everyone around me. I have learned many things throughout the training lessons and from all of the kids in my classes. To my school, it is definitely a step in the right direction. Everyone has really gotten into it and I know they have learned a lot. My community has also benefited because the children we are teaching change the way they act and by doing that, their parents and people around them notice the difference.”
Heather Hunt, TAB Trainer - Mahar Middle School, Grade 8
 “Training Active Bystanders to me is something everyone knows is right and should be done but has never been given structure. This class takes things kids know and brings them into their lives. It’s something I strongly believe in and support.”
Brian Mallet, TAB Trainer - Athol High School, Grade 11
“TAB means a lot to my school, my community, and me. TAB has made me a better person, become more active, and helped me make better decisions. I can use this to better my school, which will grow to strengthen our community.”
Ben Coleman, TAB Trainer - Athol High School, Grade 11
“TAB is a good program that lets kids know how they can help and what they could do in some situations. To my school, they are really getting into it and understanding what can happen. To the community and everyone, it has benefited because TAB can help the kids learning to teach others about the program.”
Tamieka Adams, TAB Trainer - Mahar Middle School, Grade 8
“TAB has given me the power to challenge my surroundings in a good way and training others to act in the same way is an empowering experience. I hope that it will, in time, change our entire society.”
Malcolm Hall, TAB Trainer - Mahar High School, Grade 11
Excerpts from Grade 10 Student Participants’ TAB Journals:
“We learned about calling attention to a situation, how to offer help, how people express their disapproval, how to stop negative by standers, and what to say in all of these situations. It would help because you would know what to do in these situations.”
“I can use it by helping others around me more, myself included. Also, I could try to get other people to do that. Maybe like a pay it forward act.”
“I can use what we talked about today by knowing in many situations where I am a bystander. Most people feel the same way as me, so if I do something, other people may want to, also. Everyone wants to help but no one does.”
“We learned about why bystanders do not act. I can use what I learned today by sticking up for what I believe in, own up to responsibility, ask if someone needs help, and not to be concerned with what others think. Keep the Peace.”
Excerpts from Grade 8 Student Participants’ TAB Journals:
“I can use what we learned today to be an active bystander, because if everyone was a passive bystander, it would be a crazy world. Inclusive caring could affect a situation because someone could stand up for the target. Also, empathy could affect a situation because a harm-doer could put himself in someone else’s shoes and stop picking on other people.”
“I have more courage to stick up for someone.”
“When I helped someone, it did change me. I felt good about myself and didn’t feel bad because I didn’t help them. It gave me more courage to help not only who was getting hurt but to help the harm-doer try to become nicer to everyone.”
“I can use what we learned today by when I should and should not intervene. I should intervene when the conflict is only verbal. I shouldn’t intervene if the conflict is at all physical or if it puts my safety at risk.”
“It gave us options on how to recruit people to stop a situation. It showed how strength in numbers is very effective. Having more people with me would give me more confidence to stop a fight or a situation.”
“I can use what we talked about today because if anyone’s house was burning down, I would call the fire department and help them with their stuff or I would let them live with me until they found a place to live. I would supply them with food and drinks.”
“One of my friends was in a bad conflict with some new student and they almost got in a fight so I tried to stop it and that change me by helping people out of they need it.”
Excerpts from the Executive Summary
Program Evaluation and Research Findings
Prepared by Alexandra Gubin, Ph.D. and Deborah Habib, Ed. D.
December 2007
Quabbin Mediation’s
Training Active Bystanders
TAB
Findings
- Harmdoing, as reported by targets, went down in the TAB schools compared to the control schools, a 20% difference.
- Witnesses reported a statistically significant decline in harmdoing in the TAB schools compared to the control schools.
- Students who receive the TAB curriculum demonstrate an ability to use new terminology and identify actions they can take as an active bystander.
- TAB supports anti-harassment policies, district improvement plans, and civic and social goals of schools’ mission statements.
- Youth trainers exhibit behavior shifts, demonstrating active bystandership or utilizing TAB language and techniques in peer and family contexts.
- TAB impacts active bystandership among adult stakeholders involved in TAB.
- Students perceived, at baseline, that slightly over sixty percent of harmdoing occurred where adults could see it.
Recommendations
- Replicating TAB may reduce harmdoing in other schools.
- Continuing TAB in schools in which it is already implemented may further decrease levels of harmdoing.
- Emphasize that youth leadership development is a key element of TAB.
- Continue to incorporate opportunities for student reflection on program content through ongoing journal writing, encouraging students to make meaning of TAB content in their lives
- Consider a program model of the full training in middle school and refresher (or advanced) training in high school, towards manageability combined with school-wide integration.
- Provide schools with professional development to complement the TAB program and illuminates links to curriculum frameworks and district policies.
Consider program expansion for parents and the community.
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