That's why Ripple Effects, a leader in e-learning tools to solve behavior problems, today announced release of an expanded version of its online School Safety Profiler, to help individual schools quickly figure out where their underlying problems are, and head off violence before it erupts.

The School Safety Profiler allows students and adults in a school to fill out an anonymous survey on the web. It covers four areas that the departments of Education and Justice have identified as connected with early warning signs of potential school violence. They are discipline/school climate, respect for persons (including inclusion of people with perceived differences), presence of drugs or alcohol, and presence of, or access to, weapons.

The School Safety Profiler also asks about students' ability to use social skills to handle challenging situations, and student access to and confidence in community resources for problem solving. Both students and educators can see the results for their school, and can compare educator and student perceptions. Now, schools can get a free narrative interpretation of what the results mean for their school.

Unlike many online profiling tools now available, the point of the School Safety Profiler isn't to set up a surveillance atmosphere, which can further alienate troubled kids. Rather, it's to help identify what positive actions can be taken to help PREVENT problems from erupting into violence.

"Some schools are putting a lot of resources into detecting who's carrying guns to school. That's awfully late in the equation to try to stop violence. With tools like the School Safety Profiler, we're making earlier, more effective prevention, easier," says Ripple Effects President Alice Ray.

The School Safety Profiler is the third in a series of research-based e-learning tools from Ripple Effects. Its flagship program, Ripple Effects for Teens, helps prevent adolescent involvement in violence, drugs, and discipline problems, and builds life skills. It has won a host of national awards, and been recognized by the US Department of Health & Human Services.

The School Safety Profiler is available free of charge at www.rippleeffects.com/needs. For more information, contact Ripple Effects at 888-259-6618.