Minneapolis Public Schools uses the Second Step Program to proactively reduce aggressive behaviors and increase children's social-emotional competence. The Second Step program is a classroom-based social skills program for K-8 students.

Group discussion, modeling, coaching, and practice are used to increase students' social competence, and decision-making, self-regulation, and positive goal setting skills. The program’s lesson content varies by grade level and is organized into three skill-building units covering:

• Empathy:  teaches young people to recognize and identify their own emotions and those of others
• Impulse control and problem solving:  helps young people choose positive goals and evaluate consequences of their behavior in terms of safety, fairness, and impact on others
• Anger/emotion management:  enables young people to manage their emotional reactions so that they can make good decisions about their social responses

For more information about Second Step, please visit http://www.cfchildren.org/programs/ssp/overview.