Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:12 pm
Time: 9:12 pm
Results for school safety
92 results foundAuthor: Neiman, Samantha Title: Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2007-08. Summary: From the introduction: "[t]his report presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the 2007-08 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2008). First administered in school year 1999-2000 and repeated in school years 2003-04, 2005-06, and 2007-08, SSOCS provides information about school crime-related topics from the perspective of schools. Developed and managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences and supported by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools of the U.S. Department of Education, SSOCS asks public school principals about the frequency of incidents, such as physical attacks, robberies, and thefts, in their schools. Portions of this survey also focus on school programs, disciplinary actions, and the policies implemented to prevent and reduce crime in schools." Details: Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 114863 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Schneider, Tod Title: Ensuring Quality School Facilities and Security Technologies: Effective Strategies for Creating Safer Schools and Communities Summary: This guidebook is intended to help educators and other members of the community understand the relationship between school safety and school facilities, including technology. It covers the following topics: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED); Planning to Apply CPTED: Key Questions to Ask; Security Technology: An Overview; and Safety Audits and Security Surveys. Details: Washington, DC: Hamilton Fish Institute, 2007. 57p. Source: Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118261 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DesignSchool Safety |
Author: Glover, Richard L. Title: Community and Problem Oriented Policing in School Settings: Design and Process Issues Summary: Community and Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) is a multidemsional strategy used by police departments to control crime and improve the quality of life in target areas. This monograph presents CPOP as a possible solution to the problem of school violence. It identifies design components and process dimensions that can contribute to successful applications of CPOP. Five models have gained wide acceptance as strategies for school based problem solving around safety and security issues: the School Resource Officer model, student problem solving, the public health model, the Child Development-Community Policing Program, and the collaborative problem solving model. Eight components from these five models are fundamental to school based CPOP: police-school partnerships, problem solving approach, collaboration that reflects full stakeholder involvement, organizational support, education and training of problem solving group members, effective planning approaches, appropriate problem solving group size, and use of memoranda of understanding. The process dimensions associated with successful implementation of CPOP in schools are partnering between schools and police, collaborative problem solving, implementation, and evaluation of the overall CPOP effort. Details: New York: Columbia University School of Social Work, 2002. 58p. Source: Year: 2002 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118340 Keywords: Community PolicingCrime PreventionProblem SolvingProblem-Oriented PolicingSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: American Association of School Administrators Title: 2008 National School Safety Study Summary: This report provides a survey of security at K-12 schools in the U.S. The study evaluated the following security concerns: access to buildings and grounds; communication and detection systems; emergency procedures; community awareness of school safety policies and procedures; and security funding. Details: Arlington, VA: AASA, 2009. 38p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 114756 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Security (U.S.)Security |
Author: Burke, Kimberly Title: Issues in Illinois College Campus Safety: History & Development of Campus Safety Planning Summary: Incidents of extreme violence on and around college campuses, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, are rare. However, such events can have devastating and long-lasting consequences for students, faculty, and family members. While violent acts on campuses typically receive extensive media coverage, alcohol and drug violations, rather than violent crime, are the most prevalent types of offenses on college campuses. Nonetheless, college administrators and campus law enforcement must take threats of extreme violence seriously and do everything they can to improve the safety and security of students, faculty, and staff on campuses. The purpose of this report is to identify the incidents that inspired federal and state legislative changes regarding campus safety, to trace the history of this legislation, and to identify steps taken to ensure that institutions of higher education are safe learning environments for faculty, staff, students, and visitors. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2010. 26p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118767 Keywords: Campus CrimeCampus SafetySchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Black, Carolyn Title: Evaluation of Campus Police Officers in Scottish Schools Summary: This report presents the findings of the evaluation of campus officers in Scottish schools. The study examined the roles that the 55 campus officers across the country play in Scottish schools and provides information on the impact and effectiveness of their placements. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research, 2010. 50p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 119296 Keywords: Campus PoliceSchool CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Mattson, Susan Title: Keeping Tennessee Schools Safe Summary: In 2008, a tragic, fatal shooting at a Tennessee high school prompted a legislative request for the Comptroller’s Offices of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) to examine and evaluate what Tennessee is doing to ensure that its schools are safe. For this report, OREA compared state-level laws, policies, and requirements against accepted best practices for keeping schools safe from violence. The report also includes background on measures of school violence and Tennessee laws and programs promoting school safety. This report provides information that may be useful to policymakers in ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of Tennessee’s elementary and secondary schools. Details: Nashville, TN: Offices of Research and Education Accountability; Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, 2009. 36p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119541 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Tennessee) |
Author: Wald, Johanna Title: First, Do No Harm: How Educations and Police Can Work Together More Effectively to Preserve School Safety and Protect Vulnerable Students Summary: "This policy brief offers recommendations for how school resource officers can be more effectively deployed in public schools. It provides an overview of how and why police moved in such critical masses into middle and high schools across the country, identifies studies that have examined some of the consequences of placing police in schools, and summarizes major findings from a series of interviews the authors conducted during 2008-2009 of police chiefs and school resource officers in 16 Massachusetts school districts. The last section of this brief offers recommendations for steps that we believe schools, districts, and state legislatures can take to maximize the benefits of placing school resource officers in school, while reducing the likelihood of criminalizing student behaviors that should be handled more appropriately within the school environment." Details: Cambridge, MA: Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, 2010. 14p. Source: Internet Resource; A CHHIRJ Policy Brief; Accessed August 8, 2010 at www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/assets/documents/news/FINAL%20Do%20No%20Harm.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118684 Keywords: School CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: National Association of College Title: Results of the National Campus Safety and Security Project Survey Summary: This report summarizes the results from a survey of NACUBO members about key aspects of the all-hazards campus safety and security environment. In late August 2008, the survey was sent electronically to primary representatives at the 2,203 colleges and universities that were members of NACUBO at that time. 342 colleges and universities responded to the survey—a response rate of 16 percent. Among responding colleges, 35 percent were public four-year institutions, 18 percent were public two-year institutions, and 46 percent were private nonprofit (independent) four-year institutions. The survey was designed to cover the following nine areas: Emergency Preparedness; Ability to Respond to all Threats; Preventive Measures; Physical Infrastructure; Communication and Systems Infrastructure; Strategies for Behavioral/Mental Health Issues; Business Continuity Issues; Funding or Budget Issues; and Emergency Management. This report presents the results of the survey. Details: Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers, 2009. 38p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 9, 2010 at http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/Initiatives/CSSPSurveyResults.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/Initiatives/CSSPSurveyResults.pdf Shelf Number: 115829 Keywords: Campus CrimeCampus SafetyEmergency Preparedness, SchoolsSchool CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Kramen, Alissa Title: Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence. 2nd ed. Summary: School violence has come into the public eye after deadly multiple shootings in such places as Littleton, Colorado; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Santee, California; Red Lake, Minnesota; Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania; and Cleveland, Ohio. The possibility of school shootings has become an issue for urban, rural, and suburban communities alike. Since 1992, more than 40 schools have experienced multiple victim homicides, many in communities where people previously believed “it couldn’t happen here.” Given the number of students and schools in the United States, multiple-victim homicides are still extremely rare, and in recent years, the overall rate of violence in schools has actually declined. Physical conflicts, threats, and harassment are, however, still common. Many students and teachers are more fearful than ever before when they enter the doors of their school. This climate of fear makes it more difficult for schools to provide positive learning environments. This report provides guidance for school violence prevention and response in each of the following areas: 1) Ways to prevent student violence; 2) Threat assessment; 3) Planning and training for what to do during an actual crisis; 4) How to respond during a crisis; 5) Legal considerations; 6) Recommendations for the media; and 6) Legislative issues. Details: Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2009. 66p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 8, 2010 at http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/Publications/schoolviolence2.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/Publications/schoolviolence2.pdf Shelf Number: 117383 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool ViolenceViolence Prevention |
Author: Petkova, Dobriana Title: Research Into Violence Against Children in Schools in Kosovo Summary: The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature and scope of violence against children in schools in Kosovo and to gain a better understanding of the problem for effective prevention and response. This study identified corporal punishment and peer violence as key behaviours to investigate, although other violent behaviours are explored as well. The study included a desk survey, research questionnaires with children and teachers, and interviews and focus group discussions with children, teachers and parents. Specifically the research looked at how respondents defined violent behaviour, what their experiences of violent behaviour had been, how widespread such behaviour is, what the causes of violent behaviour might be, who the victims and perpetrators are and where victims can go for help. Details: Pristina, Kosova: UNICEF Kosovo, 2005. 64p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 13, 2010 at: www.unicef.org/kosovo/kosovo_media_prot_011.08.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Europe URL: Shelf Number: 117669 Keywords: School Crime (Kosovo)School SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Raymond, Barbara Title: Assigning Police Officers to Schools Summary: Nearly half of all public schools have assigned police officers, commonly referred to as school resource officers (SRO's) or education officers. Assigning Police Officers to Schools summarizes the typical duties of SROs, synthesizes the research pertaining to their effectiveness, and presents issues for communities to bear in mind when considering the adoption of an SRO model. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2010. 56p. Source: Internet Resource; Problem-Oriented Guides for Police; Response Guides Series, No. 10; Accessed August 17, 2010 at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e041028272-assign-officers-to-schools.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e041028272-assign-officers-to-schools.pdf Shelf Number: 119624 Keywords: Police Officers, SchoolsSchool CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool Safety |
Author: Fontaine, Jocelyn Title: Violent Prevention at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School Summary: "This summary brief is based on research conducted by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center on the violence prevention activities taking place at the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School during the 2008-2009 school year. Researchers from the Justice Policy Center conducted an assessment of the school's violence prevention activities using qualitative and quantitative data from stakeholder interviews, programmatic records, and surveys with students and faculty. This brief provides an overview of Thurgood Marshall Academy's violence prevention approach." Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2010. 8p Source: Internet Resource: Summary Brief: Accessed August 20, 2010 at: http://www.urban.org/publications/412196.html Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/publications/412196.html Shelf Number: 119646 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Clark, T.C. Title: Youth '07: The Health and Wellbeing of Secondary School Students in New Zealand. Findings on Young People and Violence Summary: Violence has significant health, social and economic costs for New Zealand communities. This report presents findings from Youth’07: The National Survey of the Health and Wellbeing of New Zealand Secondary School Students on how violence impacts on the health and wellbeing of young people and the factors that are associated with their exposure to violence. It discusses the role of protective factors in the lives of young people exposed to and involved in violent behaviours. The report presents findings from Youth’07 about: 1. The prevalence of a range of violent experiences and behaviours in various settings; 2. The experiences of students who witness violence; 3. The associations between experiencing violence, witnessing violence and being violent towards others; 4. Risk and protective factors associated with violence; and 5. Changes since the previous survey in 2001. Details: Auckland, NZ: University of Auckland, 2009. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, at: http://www.youth2000.ac.nz/publications/reports-1142.htm Year: 2009 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.youth2000.ac.nz/publications/reports-1142.htm Shelf Number: 119673 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (New Zealand)Violent Crime |
Author: Fontaine, Jocelyn Title: Violence Prevention in Schools: A Case Study of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School Summary: This report is based on research conducted by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center on the violence prevention activities taking place at the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School during the 2008-2009 school year. Based on an assessment of the school's violence prevention approach using qualitative and quantitative data from stakeholder interviews, field observations, programmatic records, and surveys with students and faculty, this report includes: a logic model of the school's violence prevention approach; detailed information on each of the violence prevention activities within the violence prevention approach and how they compare to national best practices; student and faculty perceptions of the school climate and the violence prevention approach; and recommendations to the school administrators on how to strengthen their violence prevention approach based on the assessment findings. The report concludes with brief remarks on next steps in school violence prevention research. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, 2010. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 1, 2010 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412200-violence-prevention-schools.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412200-violence-prevention-schools.pdf Shelf Number: 119723 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Trimboli, Lily Title: Assaults on School Premises in NSW, 2005-2009 Summary: This study examines the characteristics of, and trends in, police-recorded assault incidents involving school-aged children on school premises in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The sample consisted of all incidents of assault recorded by NSW police officers as having occurred on school premises between 2005 and 2009. The police-recorded free-text narratives of a random sample of 300 incidents which occurred in 2009 were examined to determine the type of victim and offender involved and the location on the school premises where the incident occurred. Over the five years, there was a statistically significant upward trend in the rate of recorded assault incidents between school-aged children on government school premises during school hours. The typical assault occurred in the afternoon in a government secondary school, involved two students of the same gender (generally boys), aged between 13 and 15 years, involved no weapon and no injury or only minor injuries to the victim. Most offenders were not charged with an offence. The most common locations for incidents were either the playground/oval or school corridors/staircases/toilet blocks/gymnasium. While the upward trend in assaults on school premises may be due to an actual increase in assaults, there is also reason to believe that, in recent years, schools have been much more likely to report assaults to police. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2010. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Bureau Brief, Issue Paper no. 50: Accessed September 15, 2010 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb50.pdf/$file/bb50.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb50.pdf/$file/bb50.pdf Shelf Number: 119814 Keywords: AssaultsBullyingSchool CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Petrosino, Anthony Title: 'Policing Schools' Strategies: A Systematic Search for Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies Summary: WestEd researchers undertook a systematic search of the literature to identify experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of policing schools strategies. Police have long implemented strategies at schools, and this study takes stock of the evidence that assesses the effectiveness of those strategies. Although police-taught prevention curricula like Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) have been the subject of many high-quality evaluations and at least two systematic reviews, the evidence concerning other police-led school strategies is less well-known. This study is an attempt to take stock of what is known. Details: Woburn, MA: WestEd, 2011. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2011 at: http://gunston.gmu.edu/cebcp/PetrosinoetalPolicingSchools.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://gunston.gmu.edu/cebcp/PetrosinoetalPolicingSchools.pdf Shelf Number: 120965 Keywords: Police in SchoolsSchool CrimesSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Toronto Police Title: School Resource Officer Program: 2008/2009 Evaluation Summary: The evaluation of the School Resource Officer Program focussed on measuring related perceptions of students, teachers/administrators, parents and SROs in those schools where a School Resource Officer was assigned. Over 11,500 surveys were distributed in October 2008 and again in May 2009. The surveys were designed to benchmark and measure changes in perception of safety in and around the schools, relations with police, student comfort with and willingness to report crime and victimization to the police, and overall value of the program. The evaluation also included an analysis of crimes and victimization in and around the schools, and a review of the activities of the School Resource Officers. The evaluation found that most students felt safe at school and in the neighbourhood around the school before (October 2008) and after (May 2009) the SRO program. Students who spoke informally to their SRO officer during the school year, and those who thought an SRO was a good idea were more likely to say they felt safe in school, while students who thought the program was a bad idea were more likely to say they did not feel safe. Student opinion of the SRO program did not have a significant effect on their perception of safety in the neighbourhood around the school. With regard to student comfort with the police, there was an increase in reporting by students who had been a victim of crime, but no similar increase in reporting to police when students had witnessed a crime. Students who informally talked to the SRO and students who approached the SRO to talk about a problem were more likely to report being the victim of a crime or having witnessed a crime. The frequency with which students approached the SRO to talk about a problem did not affect their willingness to report. Students who thought the SRO was a good idea were more likely to report victimization, while those students who thought the SRO was a bad idea were more likely to report a crime they had witnessed. The perceived relationships between students and police improved during the school year. The proportion of students who felt the relationship between police and students was good or excellent, increased from 56% to 67%; those who thought the relationship was excellent almost doubled over the school year. Almost half of the students at the beginning of the year said they wanted the SRO to make presentations at the school, and when an SRO coached a sports team or headed-up an extra curricular activity, most students believed that it was a very good/okay idea. Most administrators and teachers felt safe at school and in the neighbourhood around the school both before and after the SRO program. Similar to the students, the proportion of administrators/teachers who believed that the relationship between police and students in their school was good or excellent increased during the school year; those who believed the relationship between police and students was excellent almost doubled. Although most parents, in both October and May, were more likely to feel their child was ‘reasonably’ rather than ‘very’ safe, their perception of their child’s safety at school improved over the year. Parents at the beginning and end of the school year felt positively about having an SRO assigned to their child’s school; over 90% in October 2008 and May 2009 said it was a very good or okay idea, while only 2% said it was a bad idea. School Resource Officers felt more a part of the school management team at the end of the school year than at the start; they also felt that conditions involving supportive/positive relationships with the school administration and/or teachers were important for performing their SRO duties. The SROs identified a number of challenges to performing their duties (e.g. unwelcoming or isolated office space, lack of information, and issues related to transportation). By the end of the school year, most SROs felt that students were comfortable with them. In 2008/09 there were decreases in reported offences both on school grounds and within 200 metres of the school, over all the times that were examined. Overall, the evaluation finds that the School Resource Officer program demonstrated a number of positive effects on schools and students, particularly those students who had interacted with the SROs. The SRO program has the potential to be increasingly beneficial to crime prevention, crime reporting and relationship building, in the schools and in surrounding neighbourhoods. Details: Toronto: Toronto Police, 2009. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed March 10, 2011 at: http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/2008,2009-sro_evaluation_program.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/2008,2009-sro_evaluation_program.pdf Shelf Number: 120966 Keywords: PolicingSchool CrimeSchool Resource Officers (Toronto)School Safety |
Author: Knaack, Frank Title: Use of Force in Texas Public Schools: The Case for Transparency, Accountability and Decriminalization Summary: A surprising number of Texas school districts have turned responsibility for what used to be routine student discipline over to law enforcement. As a result, many students receive a criminal record instead of a trip to the principal’s office for engaging in childish misbehavior. This trend is detrimental to Texas schoolchildren, their families and communities, and ultimately, to Texas’ economic well-being. The presence of law enforcement officials, commonly known as school resource officers (SROs), in Texas’ public schools has significantly expanded since the late 1990s. Today in Texas, there are 178 independent school districts (ISDs) that employ their own police departments. Unfortunately, no statewide guidelines exist to govern the mission of SROs, nor does any statewide entity have responsibility for oversight over SROs in Texas public schools. Each individual ISD creates its own governing policies, resulting in an inconsistent patchwork across the state. While some districts have formulated policies that help ensure a safe and positive educational environment, others have adopted policies that are counterproductive to public schools’ core mission: providing the best possible education for students. In the absence of statewide legislative guidance, a number of school districts have encouraged their SROs to take on a dual law enforcement and disciplinary enforcement role. In many school districts, the negative impact of this blending of responsibilities is exacerbated by the blurring of the distinction between criminal acts and childish or adolescent misbehavior. Behavior once subject to school discipline, such as using profanity in class, is now subject to criminal sanction. To make matters worse, despite the obvious differences between apprehending adults in the street and ensuring the safety of children in a school, SROs are currently only required to receive the same basic training that municipal law enforcement personnel receive. Moreover, law enforcement departments operating in schools are not required to provide use of force data to the state. The lack of this basic transparency and accountability mechanism results in an inability of parents, school officials, legislators and other stakeholders to ensure that SROs are acting within their local guidelines. Increased criminalization of childish misbehavior and the failure to require relevant training requirements, coupled with the lack of institutional transparency and accountability in the context of school discipline, leads to escalating consequences for minor conduct infractions. This phenomenon is problematic on multiple levels. First, criminalization of student conduct increases the likelihood of confrontations between children and SROs during which physical force may be deployed. Second, criminalizing non-criminal behavior of schoolchildren introduces affected children into the Texas criminal justice system, which negatively impacts their ability to obtain employment or gain admission to college. Finally, the creation of an adversarial environment “pushes students, particularly at-risk students, out of school rather than engaging them in a positive educational environment.” To address this dangerous and unproductive trend, the Texas Legislature must amend the Texas Education Code to define the mission and role of on-campus law enforcement, and establish a statewide policy governing the use of force by SROs with mandated basic reporting and training requirements. Specifically, the Texas Legislature must ensure that if SROs are deployed, they are provided with a clearly defined mission and the tools necessary to carry out that mission. In addition, the Texas Education Code must be amended to ensure that childish misbehavior is not regarded as a criminal act. Adoption of these recommendations will positively impact not just student safety and education, but will also strengthen Texas’ economic well-being, as a student's disciplinary history is a major indicator in determining the likelihood of student dropout. Texas’ student dropout rate is a scourge on our state’s economic profile. As a recent study issued by the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and Public Service estimated, “[t]he total of the predicted cost [to Texas] of dropouts from the cohort of the senior class of 2012 is between $6 billion and $10.7 billion” over their lifetimes. This report is intended to provide the context necessary to accurately access the real world implications of current Texas law vis-à-vis law enforcement and discipline in Texas public schools. In addition, this report provides recommendations focused on ensuring a safe and positive school environment. In doing so, Section II will look at SROs in Texas ISDs, including a history of SROs and the sources of authority. Section III examines the increased negative interactions between SROs and Texas public schoolchildren. Section IV will discuss use of force policies in Texas school districts, including the use of force continuum, reporting requirements, training requirements, and the Public Information Act exemption that permits law enforcement agencies to withhold their use of force policies. Finally, Section V concludes with ACLU of Texas’ legislative recommendations. Details: Austin, TX: American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 7, 2011 at: http://www.aclutx.org/reports/2011UseofForce.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.aclutx.org/reports/2011UseofForce.pdf Shelf Number: 121264 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool Resource Officers (Texas)School SafetyStudent Misbehavior |
Author: Boccanfuso, Christopher Title: Multiple Responses, Promising Results: Evidence-Based, Nonpunitive Alternatives to Zero Tolerance Summary: In response to highly publicized violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly severe. These policies have been implemented at the school, district, and state levels with the goal of ensuring the safety of students and staff. Many of these policies have one component in common: zero tolerance. While it is clear that protecting the safety of students and staff is one of school leaders‘ most important responsibilities, it is not clear that zero tolerance policies are succeeding in improving school safety. In fact, some evidence based on nonexperimental studies suggests that these policies actually may have an adverse effect on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Child Trends developed this brief to explore these issues. The brief does this in two ways: it reviews existing research on the implementation and effects of zero tolerance in the school setting; and it highlights rigorously evaluated, nonpunitive alternatives to zero tolerance that have shown greater promise in improving school safety and student outcomes. Nonpunitive programs that take a largely preventive approach to school discipline have been found to keep students and schools safe by reducing the need for harsh discipline. These programs take many forms, such as targeted behavioral supports for students who are at-risk for violent behavior, character education programs, or positive behavioral interventions and supports that are instituted schoolwide. Details: Washington, DC: Child Trends, 2011. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Publications #2011-09: Accessed April 25, 2011 at: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2011_03_01_RB_AltToZeroTolerance.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2011_03_01_RB_AltToZeroTolerance.pdf Shelf Number: 121485 Keywords: School CrimesSchool SafetySchool ViolenceZero Tolerance Policies, Schools |
Author: Arciaga, Michelle Title: Responding to Gangs in the School Setting Summary: Gangs are present in many schools in the United States. The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents, released in August 2010 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, reported that: Forty-five percent of high school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their schools. Thirty-five percent of middle-school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their schools. The differences between public and private schools are stark. While 46 percent of students in public schools reported the presence of gangs and gang members at school, only 2 percent of private school students did. According to the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (2007), 23 percent of students reported the presence of gangs on their school campus or in the surrounding area in 2007. This represents an increase in the percentage of students reporting gangs on/around campus in 2003 (21 percent). Schools in urban areas appear to be the most affected by the presence of gangs: 36 percent of urban students reported gangs, versus 21 percent of suburban and 16 percent of rural students in 2005. In a survey of students conducted in almost 1,300 schools nationwide (Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 2001), 7.6 percent of male respondents and 3.8 percent of female respondents at the secondary level reported that they belonged to a gang. Based on the increased number of students reporting a gang presence at school between 2001 and 2010, this number has likely increased, although no subsequent nationwide studies have been conducted. Gang members do not leave their conflicts, attitudes, and behaviors outside the school doors. Some of the most dangerous gang activities in any community may take place in and around local schools. Gang members encounter each other at school during class changes, in the lunchroom, in common areas, and during assemblies and school events. Students may loiter on or around the school campus before and after school, and conflicts may occur between rival gangs. In some instances, gang members come to school to engage in criminal behavior (drug dealing) or to confront rivals. Because of the potential for violent gang interactions at school, school staff members and administrators need to formulate a plan to deal with gang activity. This article provides an overview of action steps that schools can take to prevent, intervene in, and suppress violent gang activity, as well as crisis response plans that can be developed to address potential acts of school violence including, but not limited to, gang activity. Details: Tallahassee, FL: National Gang Center, 2010. 15p. Source: Internet Resoruce: National Gang Center Bulletin, No. 5: Accessed May 3, 2011 at: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Bulletin-5.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Bulletin-5.pdf Shelf Number: 121589 Keywords: Gang ViolenceGangsSchool SafetySchool ViolenceSchools and Crime |
Author: Fabelo, Tony Title: Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study on How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement Summary: This report describes the results of an extraordinary analysis of millions of school and juvenile justice records in Texas. It was conducted to improve policymakers’ understanding of who is suspended and expelled from public secondary schools, and the impact of those removals on students’ academic performance and juvenile justice system involvement. Like other states, school suspensions — and, to a lesser degree, expulsions—have become relatively common in Texas. For this reason and because Texas has the second largest public school system in the nation (where nonwhite children make up nearly two-thirds of the student population), this study’s findings have significance for — and relevance to — states across the country. Several aspects of the study make it groundbreaking. First, the research team did not rely on a sample of students, but instead examined individual school records and school campus data pertaining to all seventh-grade public school students in Texas in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Second, the analysis of each grade’s student records covered at least a six-year period, creating a statewide longitudinal study. Third, access to the state juvenile justice database allowed the researchers to learn about the school disciplinary history of youth who had juvenile records. Fourth, the study group size and rich datasets from the education and juvenile justice systems made it possible to conduct multivariate analyses. Using this approach, the researchers could control for more than 80 variables, effectively isolating the impact that independent factors had on the likelihood of a student’s being suspended and expelled, and on the relationship between these disciplinary actions and a student’s academic performance or juvenile justice involvement. Details: New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center; College Station TX: Public Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University, 2011. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2011 at: http://justicecenter.csg.org/resources/juveniles/ Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://justicecenter.csg.org/resources/juveniles/ Shelf Number: 122112 Keywords: Juvenile Justice PoliciesSchool SafetySchool SuspensionsStudent Discipline (Texas) |
Author: O'Neill, Daniel Title: Campus Violence Prevention and Response: Best Practices for Massachusetts Higher Education Summary: Pervasive media images of mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University have raised the specter of serious violence on college campuses. But by any measure, the risk of serious violence on campus is remarkably low, particularly in its most extreme form. Although the chances of serious violence may be remote, the potential consequences can be devastating and long-lasting. Colleges must respond proactively to the risk, as parents rightly expect a special level of care for their sons and daughters while they are away at school. Thus, it is prudent and imperative that colleges take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of students as well as faculty and other employees. While shootings may be the most visible form of campus violence, they are clearly not the most commonplace. Security practices must also focus on other, more prevalent, forms of violence such as sexual and physical assault. Current best practices, taken in combination with research, demonstrate the essential role of collaboration among all service providers in the prevention of violent incidents on college campuses. This report has four major sections. First, we define the nature and scope of campus violence both nationally and in Massachusetts. Next, we review previous reports of study groups and task forces and discuss established best practices for enhancing campus safety and violence prevention. Third, we examine the current state of security and violence prevention at institutions of higher education throughout Massachusetts based upon a survey conducted of public colleges and universities. Finally, by comparing these results with established best practices, we advance 27 recommendations for how Massachusetts schools can best improve their security and violence prevention efforts. Details: Boston: Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2008. 127p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 17, 2011 at: http://www.mass.edu/library/Reports/CampusViolencePreventionAndResponse.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.mass.edu/library/Reports/CampusViolencePreventionAndResponse.pdf Shelf Number: 122420 Keywords: Colleges and UniversitiesSchool Crime (Massachusetts)School SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Columbia, Richard H. Title: The Safe Schools Program: Student and Teacher Baseline Report on School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Machinga District, Malawa Summary: This report presents results from a baseline survey that was conducted among school children and teachers in the Machinga District in the Southern Region of Malawi in April 2006. The study was conducted at 40 schools participating in the Safe Schools Program. Selected from a random sample, 800 boys and girls enrolled in grades four to eight and 288 teachers were interviewed. Students and teachers were asked questions about: The type of violence, abuse and mistreatment that boys and girls experience at school; Who is responsible for this mistreatment; Where this mistreatment occurs; If there are other school practices or conditions that are inappropriate, place pupils at risk or potentially interfere with their schooling; and The effectiveness of reporting. In Malawi, gender-based violence is known to be a problem in primary schools, especially for girls. An initial participatory learning and action (PLA) exercise conducted by Safe Schools in 2005 mobilized communities and allowed the Safe Schools Program staff to hear the concerns and experiences of more than 2,000 teachers, parents, school children, community leaders and other stakeholders in the Machinga District. The results of the PLA were then used to design interventions including strengthening and disseminating the teachers' code of conduct, training teachers in non-violent classroom discipline approaches, providing opportunities for children to learn how to build healthy relationships, and training school staff to respond effectively to incidents of violence at school. The results from the PLA were also used to inform the development of the baseline study under discussion in this report. An endline survey will be conducted in 2008 and the results of the two surveys compared to measure project impact. Key findings are: Incidents of sexual, physical and psychological violence and abuse were found at every school. Violence and abuse occurs at schools (classroom and compound), on the way to and from school and in school dormitories. This violence is experienced by both girls and boys, although in most categories girls experience a higher rate of violence and abuse. The perpetrators are both school girls and boys and male and female teachers, although men and boys are most often identified as perpetrators in most categories of violence and abuse. These acts of violence and abuse are not often perceived as a violation of children's rights by school girls and boys, male and female teachers, parents and community members. Students awareness of and/or access to youth-friendly services within the school or community is limited when they experience violence or abuse. In the report that follows, the survey findings are presented and analyzed, followed by a brief discussion on each of the five research questions. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2007. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-student-teacher-baseline-report.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Malawi URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-student-teacher-baseline-report.pdf Shelf Number: 122731 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Malawi)Violence Against Women |
Author: DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: Safe Schools Program Final Report Summary: The World Health Organization estimated 150 million girls and 73 million boys were victims of sexual violence in 2002, many of these acts occurring on the way to or at school. The Global School-based Health Survey found that between 20 and 65 percent of children aged 13-15 said that they had been verbally abused or bullied in the past 30 days. Only 50 percent of countries have policies banning corporal punishment in school and despite these policies, corporal punishment is still practiced in many school settings. The Safe Schools Program (Safe Schools) was a five-year initiative (2003-2008) funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Office of Women in Development and implemented by DevTech Systems, Inc. (DevTech). The goal of Safe Schools was to reduce school-related gender-based violence in selected schools in Ghana and Malawi to support the longer-term goal of improving educational outcomes and reducing negative health outcomes for schoolchildren. Changes in student and teacher knowledge, attitudes and practices toward school-related gender-based violence were used to measure progress toward reducing gender violence. Safe Schools was one of the first programs to systematically use a gender approach to identify the relationship between the traditional definition of gender roles and the types of abuse and violence that both girls and boys suffer from and perpetrate in schools. School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) was defined as any form of violence or abuse in and around schools that is based on gender stereotypes or that targets students on the basis of their sex. It results in sexual, physical or psychological harm to girls and boys. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2008. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2011 at: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/pubs/Safe_Schools_Final_Report_9_24.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Africa URL: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/pubs/Safe_Schools_Final_Report_9_24.pdf Shelf Number: 122732 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Ghana and Malawi)Violence Against Women |
Author: Centre for Educational Research and Trainingand DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: The Safe Schools Program: A Qualitative Study to Examine School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Malawi Summary: The Safe Schools Program (Safe Schools) is a five-year project under the U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade, Office of Women in Development. The objective of Safe Schools is to create safe environments for both girls and boys that promote gender-equitable relationships and reduce school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) by working in partnership with children, youth, parents, teachers, schools and communities. This report summarizes the results of the participatory learning and action (PLA) research activity conducted in October and November 2005 to help raise awareness, involvement, and accountability at national, institutional, community and individual levels of SRGBV in the Machinga District in the Southern Region of Malawi. Altogether, 952 pupils participated in the PLA workshops. The focus group discussions included more than 2,000 participants. In addition, 370 key informants including traditional leaders, initiation counselors, members of school management committees and parent teacher associations, head teachers, government Primary Education Advisers, religious leaders, members of the school disciplinary committees (where these existed) and club patrons were interviewed. Details: Washington, DC: United STates Agency for International Development, 2008. 103p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-malawi-qualitative-study.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Malawi URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-malawi-qualitative-study.pdf Shelf Number: 122761 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Malawi)Violence Against Women |
Author: DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: The Safe Schools Program: Malawi Assessment Report October 25th – November 5th, 2004 Summary: From October 25 to November 5, 2004, a three-person team from the Washington, D.C.-based Safe Schools Program (SSP) traveled to Malawi to conduct a school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) assessment. The Safe Schools Team was comprised of two DevTech Systems, Inc. employees: SSP Team Leader Maryce Ramsey, Gender and Education Advisor Wendy Rimer, and one World Education employee - Qualitative Researcher Ji Sun Lee. Accompanying the SSP Team for part of the assessment was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade/Office of Women in Development (EGAT/WID) Cognizant Technical Officer Julie Hanson Swanson. The overall objectives of this first exploratory trip were to: • Assess existing programs for their ability to address SRGBV; • Understand the nature of SRGBV in Malawi; and • Identify individuals and organizations from the key informant interviews to serve as local partners. Details: Arlington, VA: DevTech Systems, Inc., 2006.76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-malawi-assessment-report.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Malawi URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-malawi-assessment-report.pdf Shelf Number: 122761 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Malawi)Violence Against Women |
Author: DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: The Safe Schools Program: Ethiopia Assessment Report: April 26 - May 7, 2004 Summary: From April 26th to May 7th, a four-person team from the Washington, D.C.-based Safe Schools Program (SSP) traveled to Ethiopia to conduct a school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) assessment. The overall objectives of this first exploratory trip were to: • Assess existing programs for their ability to address SRGBV; • Gain understanding of the nature of SRGBV in Ethiopia; and • Identify individuals and organizations from the key informant interviews to serve as local partners. Over the course of the visit, the Team collected data, reports, and materials, conducted openended interviews, and semi-structured focus groups with key stakeholders recommended by the USAID Mission and/or other informants. The Team examined programs/organizations and structures at multiple levels: national, institutional, community, and the individual, interviewing institutions/organizations such as the Ministry of Education (MOE), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) partners, other international donors and organizations, local Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and community level organizations (e.g. Parent Teacher Associations [PTAs]) to identify: (a) Types of gender-based violence; (b) Issues and gaps; (c) Promising programs/organizations; and (d) Recommendations. The purpose of the SSP is to create gender safe environments for all girls and boys that promote gender-equitable relationships and reduce SRGBV resulting in improved educational outcomes and reduced negative health outcomes. Five key principles that guide the SSP’s programming: 1. Take a social mobilization approach working at multiple levels: national, institutional, community and individual; 2. Address the three areas of the SSP SRGBV activities: prevention, reporting and response; 3. Take a gendered approach working with men and boys not only as perpetrators but also as potential victims as well as partners; 4. Have at least minimal support services in place before encouraging victims to come forward; and 5. Build on existing programs. In Section IV. A, the Team provides a summarization of general issues and recommendations as reported by NGO staff, USAID partners such as World Learning and Save the Children, Ethiopian educational personnel, and local schoolteachers, parents and students. The Team augmented these issues and recommendations based on global literature on best practices. After analyzing the data and the general recommendations found in Section IV. A., the Team identified eight priority issues and recommendations that are proposed as the SSP’s pilot program in Ethiopia. Guided by the SSP’s key principles for programming as mentioned in Section I. C., the priority issues and recommendations were selected that address gaps at multiple levels: national, institutional, community and individual; and that address SRGBV in three areas of programming including prevention, reporting and response. In each of these three areas of programming, the Team also identified key organizations that could serve as potential partners. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2004. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-ethiopia-assessment-report.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Ethiopia URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-ethiopia-assessment-report.pdf Shelf Number: 122763 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Ethiopia)Violence Against Women |
Author: DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: The Safe Schools Program: Ghana Assessment Report, January 6-16, 2004 Summary: From January 6 through 16, a five-person team from the Washington, D.C.-based Safe Schools Program (SSP) traveled to Ghana. The overall objectives of this first exploratory trip were to: • Inform the team of the extent of the problem of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV); • Understand how existing programs address SRGBV or could be used to address it; and • Identify individuals and local partners from the key informant interviews to participate in the Advocates Network. Over the course of the visit, the Safe Schools team collected reports, materials and data and conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key informants from the Ministry, USAID and other donor agencies, NGOs, and community level organizations (e.g. Parent Teacher Associations [PTAs]) to identify: (a) Types of gender-based violence; (b) Issues, gaps and what works in existing programs; and (c) Recommendations. The initial recommendations contained herein reflect the complex nature of the issue and range from policy issues at the national level, to procedural and systems issues within the educational institutions, to educating and involving communities, to taking action at the individual girl and boy child level, by involving men and boys and nurturing the development of healthy gender equitable relationships based on respect, rights and responsibilities. The results of the data analysis from the interviews includes the following three overarching recommendations: 1) Plan for a complex response; 2) Put systems of support in place before you encourage victims1 to come forward; and 3) Work with men and boys. In addition, the SSP Team identified programmatic recommendations in seven areas that are detailed in Section V, including the gaps/issues, general recommendations, and identification of programs that work in Ghana. These seven gaps/issues identified for programmatic response include: 1) Lack of visibility of SRGBV on the national agenda; 2) Lack of systems and procedures for implementing code of conduct; 3) Gap in support services for victims of GBV; 4) Gaps in curricula and teaching regarding GBV; 5) Lack of awareness, involvement and accountability of the community; 6) Lack of awareness, involvement and accountability of the parents; and 7) Lack of opportunities and support for children to build healthy, equitable relationships. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2004. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-ghana-assessment-report.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Ghana URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-ghana-assessment-report.pdf Shelf Number: 122764 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence (Ghana)Violence Against Women |
Author: DevTech Systems, Inc. Title: The Safe Schools Program: Jamaica Assessment Report, April 11-22, 2005 Summary: From April 11 – 22, 2005, a four-person team from the Washington, D.C.-based Safe Schools Program (DevTech SSP)1 traveled to Jamaica to conduct a school-related gender-based violence(SRGBV) assessment. Using the social mobilization model as its frame of reference, DevTech SSP collected SRGBV information at the national, institutional, community and individual levels, as well as types of SRGBV. Matrices were created to organize the information collected, which included a programmatic overview, information on NGO partners, and perceptions of SRGBV in Jamaica. DevTech SSP began by collecting information on current Mission programming, which provided a historical overview of USAID-funded and other programs within Jamaica by meeting with the USAID teams working in Education, Health, Economic Growth, and Democracy and Governance. Other data collection activities included a review of reports and other materials, and the administration of open-ended interviews and informal group discussions with government and non-governmental organizations and individuals. Key information collected included: • Types of school-related gender-based violence • Issues and gaps • Promising programs and/or organizations • Recommendations for further action After five days of interviews in Kingston, DevTech SSP divided into three groups: two teams traveled to the field and one team member remained in Kingston to continue interviews with government and NGO representatives. The teams outside Kingston met with a sample of New Horizon supported school representatives (e.g. principals, teachers, guidance counselors, PTA members, students) as well as other NGO and government organizations. These field visits afforded the team an opportunity to more closely examine the programs being implemented in schools, to discuss how SRGBV is defined in schools, and consider possible approaches to addressing SRGBV. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2005. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2011 at: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-jamaica-assessment-report.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.devtechsys.com/assets/Uploads/docs/publications/safe-schools-jamaica-assessment-report.pdf Shelf Number: 122780 Keywords: GenderSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool ViolenceViolence Against Women |
Author: Advancement Project Title: Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia: Denying Educational Opportunities and Creating a Pathway to Prison Summary: This report criticizes zero tolerance in Philadelphia schools as a failed policy that makes city schools less safe, criminalizes or pushes out of school tens of thousands of students every year, and creates a School-to-Prison Pipeline. Among the most startling findings in the report are the following: •Philadelphia’s arrest rate was up to 25 times higher than some of the other large districts in the state. In fact, one single high school in Philadelphia had more arrests in 2008-09 than 17 of the other 19 largest school districts in the state. •According to the data, Philadelphia schools are punishing the same behavior far more harshly than it did just a few years ago, and also appear to be criminalizing its students far more often than other Pennsylvania school districts for the same behaviors. •Philadelphia’s school security force is almost three times larger than that of the 19 other districts combined, despite a far lower student enrollment. •The number of expulsions has skyrocketed in recent years, and nearly all of the students expelled in 2008-09 were between the ages of 8 and 14, with the most common ages of the expelled students being 11 and 12. •Black and Latino students are far more likely to be suspended, transferred to alternative schools, and arrested than White students, and the data suggests that students of color are being punished more harshly than their peers for the same behavior. •There are strong negative relationships between the use of exclusionary discipline and both graduation rates and academic achievement rates, meaning that schools with high suspension and arrest rates are far more likely to have low graduation rates and low achievement levels. •Charter schools in Philadelphia appear to have disciplinary practices that are as harsh, or even harsher, than traditional public schools. The report recommends a number of steps that the district, Department of Education, and state legislators can take to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in Philadelphia. Details: Washington, DC: Advancement Project, 2011. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 26, 2012 at: http://www.advancementproject.org/sites/default/files/publications/YUC%20Report%20Final%20-%20Lo-Res.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.advancementproject.org/sites/default/files/publications/YUC%20Report%20Final%20-%20Lo-Res.pdf Shelf Number: 123764 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetyZero Tolerance, Schools (Philadelphia) |
Author: Kaba, Mariame Title: Policing Chicago Public Schools: A Gateway to the School-to-Prison Pipeline Summary: This report relies on data from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to show (for the first time in seven years) the type of offenses and the demographics (gender, age and race) of the juveniles arrested on Chicago Public Schools properties in calendar year 2010. We were limited because CPD reports data by police district rather than by individual school. In the 2003-2004 academic year, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had about 1,700 security staff, nearly tripling in number in five years (2). We were unable to obtain the current number of security guards in CPS despite repeated requests. We are sure that this number exceeds the 1,700 from the 2003-2004 academic year. The presence of so many security staff and especially police officers in schools means that school discipline issues quickly turn into police records. In our discussions about the school-to-prison pipeline, we need concrete examples of how the process works. As such, it is important to understand the role that police and security staff play in our schools. Yet reports about police involvement in CPS have unfortunately not been readily available to the public. There is no easily accessible citywide or statewide data that illustrate how many students are arrested in schools each year. The last report that was written about the role of police in Chicago Public Schools was published in 2005 by the Advancement Project. That report, “Education on Lockdown,” found that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) referred over 8,000 students to law enforcement in 2003. Forty percent of these referrals were for simple assault or battery with no serious injuries. Most of these cases were dismissed (3). Our purpose in writing this report was to ensure that the public is informed about the scope and extent of policing in Chicago Public Schools. We hope that this will galvanize educators, parents, students, policymakers and community members to advocate for a dramatic decrease of CPS’s reliance on law enforcement to address school discipline issues. Instead, we would like to see an increase in the use of restorative justice, which is an effective approach, to respond to student misbehavior in our schools. In light of a push for budget austerity, limited resources should be re-directed away from policing and into affirming programs and opportunities for students. This, we believe, will improve the overall well-being of all stakeholders in the educational system (most especially students). We also call on our city council to improve data transparency by passing an ordinance requiring CPS and CPD to report quarterly on the numbers of students arrested in the district. Having timely and reliable information will support efforts to hold CPS and CPD accountable. Finally, we believe that student privacy should be protected rather than further eroded. Current reporting practices between schools and law enforcement do not need to be reformed to increase the exchange of student information between these parties. The key data points in the report are that: 1.Too many young people are still being arrested on CPS properties. Over 5,500 arrests of young people under 18 years old took place on CPS properties in 2010. If we include those between 18 and 20 years old, the number increases to over 6,100 arrests. 2.Black youth are disproportionately targeted by these arrests. While they represent 45% of CPS students, black youth account for 74% percent of juvenile school-based arrests. This mirrors the general trend of disproportionate minority contact within the juvenile legal system. For example, while they comprise only 34% of youth ages 5 to 17 in the city of Chicago, African American youth accounted for 76% of citywide juvenile arrests (youth 17 and under) in 2010. 3.Young men are much more likely to be arrested on CPS properties than are their female counterparts [73% vs. 27%]. 4.Male youth under 21 years old are most often arrested on CPS property for simple battery followed by drug abuse violations and disorderly conduct. Females under 21 are most often arrested for simple battery, disorderly conduct and miscellaneous non-index offenses. Nearly a third (27%) of school-based arrest offenses on CPS property are simple battery. This suggests that a significant number of CPS students are probably being arrested for fighting. 5.Certain police districts are more likely to arrest youth in schools than others. In particular, the highest aggregate (4) numbers of juvenile school-based arrests are in the 4th, 6th, 8th, 22nd, and 5th police districts. Together these five districts account for 39% of total juvenile school-based arrests on CPS properties. Details: Chicago: Project NIA, 2012. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 26, 2012 at: http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/blog/report-policing-chicago-public-schools Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/blog/report-policing-chicago-public-schools Shelf Number: 123767 Keywords: School Crimes (Chicago)School DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Suspensions |
Author: Woolfenden, Sue Title: Establishing Appropriate Staffing Levels for Campus Public Safety Departments Summary: IACLEA (International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators) engaged Strategic Direction LLC to conduct a study of appropriate campus public safety staffing levels. It conducted a thorough review of existing literature on this topic, convened focus groups to identify staffing issues and considerations, and administered a comprehensive survey of U.S. campus public safety departments. This publication identifies the factors and considerations that impact staffing, including the characteristics of a particular campus, the geographic setting (urban, rural, suburban), number of students, faculty and staff, programs and/or facilities that have security implications, venues and athletic programs that affect campus public safety staffing, and other considerations. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on February 3, 2012 at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e061122378_Est-Approp-Stfg-Levels_FIN.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e061122378_Est-Approp-Stfg-Levels_FIN.pdf Shelf Number: 123924 Keywords: Campus CrimeCampus SafetyCommunity Oriented PolicingSchool CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Ozdemir, Habib Title: Zero Tolerance in Implementation of Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995 in the USA Summary: The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995 aimed to provide a safe environment to children in building their and nation's future. However, the harsh discipline suggested by this act may cause severe negative outcomes for kids‟ psychologies and judgment skills, especially by mandatory expulsions. Since the act decreased the illegal gun possession at schools and outlying areas, this paper proposes to continue the implementation of the act with some amendments. A suggested network comprised of educators, police, families, peer/youth organizations is assumed to improve the results of the act while promoting the role of teachers in the eyes of students and sharing their responsibilities with the courts in expelling students through court verdicts. In this project, police is the major institution in dealing with delinquency within schools and surroundings with specialized units. Families and peer/youth organizations are silent but more constructive units of this network. It is projected that there will a strong commitment and information sharing within the network components. Details: International Police Executive Symposium (IPES) and the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) and COGINTA., 2011. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: IPES/DCAF Working Paper No 32; Accessed February 6, 2012 at: http://www.ipes.info/WPS/WPS_No_32.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.ipes.info/WPS/WPS_No_32.pdf Shelf Number: 123993 Keywords: Gun ControlGun ViolenceGun-Free School ZonesSchool CrimeSchool SafetyZero Tolerance |
Author: Skiba, Russell Title: Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations Summary: There can be no doubt that schools have a duty to use all effective means needed to maintain a safe and disciplined learning environment. Beyond the simple responsibility to keep children safe, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in a climate marked by chaos and disruption. About this there is no controversy. Abundant controversy has arisen however, over the methods used to achieve that aim. Since the early 1990s, the national discourse on school discipline has been dominated by the philosophy of zero tolerance. Originally developed as an approach to drug enforcement, the term became widely adopted in schools in the early 1990s as a philosophy or policy that mandates the application of predetermined consequences, most often severe and punitive in nature, that are intended to be applied regardless of the seriousness of behavior, mitigating circumstances, or situational context. Such policies appear to be relatively widespread in America’s schools, although the lack of a single definition of zero tolerance makes it difficult to estimate how prevalent such policies may be. In addition to universal goals of any school discipline approach, such as maintaining a safe school climate, zero tolerance policies assume that removing students who engage in disruptive behavior will deter others from disruption, and create an improved climate for those students who remain. In an era of educational policy defined by accountability, it is appropriate and important to examine the extent to which any widely-implemented philosophy, practice, or policy has demonstrated, through sound research, that it has contributed to furthering important educational goals. Thus the American Psychological Association, as part of its mission to advance health, education, and human welfare, commissioned the Zero Tolerance Task Force to examine the evidence concerning the effects of zero tolerance policies. The task force examined the assumptions that underlie zero tolerance policies and all data relevant to testing those assumptions in practice. In addition, due to concerns about the equity of school discipline, the task force synthesized the evidence regarding the effects of exclusionary discipline on students of color and students with disabilities. Finally, the Zero Tolerance Task Force examined research pertaining to the effects of zero tolerance policies with respect to child development, the relationship between education and the juvenile justice system, and on students, families, and communities. The task force was also charged with offering recommendations for the improvement of zero tolerance policies and with identifying promising alternatives to zero tolerance. Thus the report concludes with recommendations for both reforming zero tolerance policies and for implementing alternatives in practice, policy, and research. The following are the findings of the Zero Tolerance Task Force. Details: Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2006. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 2, 2012 at: http://fairfaxzerotolerancereform.org/images/20060221_APA_Report_on_Zero_Tolerance.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://fairfaxzerotolerancereform.org/images/20060221_APA_Report_on_Zero_Tolerance.pdf Shelf Number: 104040 Keywords: School DisciplineSchool SafetyZero Tolerance Policies, Schools |
Author: Neiman, Samantha Title: Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2009-10, First Look Summary: This report presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the 2009-10 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2010). First administered in school year 1999-2000 and repeated in school years 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08, and 2009-10, SSOCS provides information on school crime-related topics from the perspective of schools. Developed and managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences and supported by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools of the U.S. Department of Education, SSOCS asks public school principals about the frequency of incidents, such as physical attacks, robberies, and thefts, in their schools. Portions of this survey also focus on school programs, disciplinary actions, and the policies implemented to prevent and reduce crime in schools. SSOCS:2010 is based on a nationally representative stratified random sample of 3,476 U.S. public schools. Data collection began on February 24, 2010, when questionnaires were mailed to principals, and continued through June 11, 2010. A total of 2,648 public primary, middle, high, and combined schools provided usable questionnaires, yielding an unweighted response rate of approximately 77 percent. When the responding schools were weighted to account for their original sampling probabilities, the response rate increased to approximately 81 percent. A nonresponse bias analysis was performed because the weighted response rate was less than 85 percent, and the results suggest that nonresponse bias is not an issue for SSOCS:2010. For more information about the methodology and design of SSOCS, including how response rates were calculated and the details of the nonresponse bias analysis, please see Appendix B: Methodology and Technical Notes in this report. Because the purpose of this report is to introduce new NCES data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information, only selected findings are presented below. These findings have been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available when using SSOCS:2010 data rather than to discuss all of the observed differences. The tables in this report contain totals and percentages generated from bivariate cross-tabulation procedures. All of the results are weighted to represent the population of U.S. public schools. Comparisons drawn in the bulleted items below have been tested for statistical significance at the .05 level using Student's t statistic to ensure that the differences are larger than those that might be expected due to sampling variation. Adjustments for multiple comparisons were not included. Many of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not been explored. Due to the large sample size, many differences (no matter how substantively minor) are statistically significant; thus, only differences of 5 percentage points or more between groups are mentioned in the findings. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2012 at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011320.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011320.pdf Shelf Number: 124948 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Dahlberg, Robin L. Title: Arrested Futures: The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts' Three Largest School Districts Summary: On October 23, 2007, a 14-year-old boy at the Kennedy Middle School in Springfield, Massachusetts, was arrested after he refused to walk with a teacher to her office and instead returned to his classroom. According to the police report, he yelled at the teacher, bounced a basketball in a school hallway, failed to respond to a police officer’s request to go with the teacher and slammed his classroom door shut. He was subsequently taken into police custody, handcuffed, transported to the police station and charged with “disturbing a lawful assembly.” This incident illustrates a matter of growing concern to educators, parents and advocates: the extent to which the permanent on-site presence of police officers in public schools results in the criminalization of disruptive behavior. While other research has focused on zero-tolerance policies and the overuse of out-of-school suspension and expulsion as significant factors in feeding the “School-to-Prison Pipeline,” this report focuses on the additional problem of arrest, in particular the use of arrest to address behavior that would likely be handled in the school by school staff if not for the presence of on-site officers. Details: Boston: American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, 2012. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 125137 Keywords: School Discipline (Massachusetts)School SafetyZero Tolerance Policies |
Author: Calbom, Linda M. Title: School Bullying: Extent of Legal Protections for Vulnerable Groups Needs to Be More Fully Assessed Summary: Millions of youths are estimated to be subject to bullying in U.S. schools. GAO was asked to address (1) what is known about the prevalence of school bullying and its effects on victims, (2) approaches selected states and local school districts are taking to combat school bullying, (3) legal options federal and selected state governments have in place when bullying leads to allegations of discrimination, and (4) key federal agencies’ coordination efforts to combat school bullying. GAO reviewed research on the prevalence and effects on victims; analyzed state bullying laws, and school district bullying policies; and interviewed officials in 8 states and 6 school districts. States were selected based on various characteristics, including student enrollment, and their definitions of bullying. Also, GAO reviewed selected relevant federal and state civil rights laws, and interviewed officials from Education, HHS, and Justice. GAO recommends that Education compile information about state civil rights laws and procedures that relate to bullying, and inform complainants about state legal options; Education, HHS, and Justice develop information about bullied demographic groups in their surveys; and assess whether legal protections are adequate for these groups. Education disagreed with our first recommendation and we clarified it to address some of their concerns. Education is considering our second recommendation, agreed with our third, and provided information on efforts related to the last. HHS agreed with our recommendations. Justice Details: Washington, DC: GAO, 2012. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: GAO-12-349: Accessed June 26, 2012 at: http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591202.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591202.pdf Shelf Number: 125401 Keywords: School Bullying (U.S.)School CrimesSchool DisciplineSchool Safety |
Author: Biegel, Stuart Title: Safe at School: Addressing the School Environment and LGBT Safety through Policy and Legislation Summary: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students face a unique set of safety concerns each day. Over 85% report being harassed because of their sexual or gender identity, and over 20% report being physically attacked. Far too often teachers and administrators do nothing in response. In part because of this, the suicide rate for LGBT students continues to be 3-4 times higher than that of their straight counterparts, and in some parts of the country LGBT runaways may comprise up to 40% of the entire teen homeless population. Advances in law and policy have helped lead to much more fulfilling and productive lives for many LGBT persons, but the problems facing LGBT youth in America‘s public schools are still substantial. Gay and gender-non-conforming students continue to be confronted with challenges that can become overwhelming. Court records and academic research reveal a highly troubling pattern of mistreatment, negative consequences, and a dramatic failure on the part of many educational institutions to adequately address LGBT-related issues and concerns. This brief describes those issues, presents concrete policy recommendations, and then offers model statutory code language to implement many of those recommendations. Details: Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado, 2010. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/safe-at-school Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/safe-at-school Shelf Number: 125702 Keywords: Bias Motivated CrimesDiscriminationGender IdentityHate Crimes (U.S.)School CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Guasp, April Title: The School Report: The Experiences of Gay Young People in Britain's Schools in 2012 Summary: Key findings: Homophobic bullying continues to be widespread in Britain’s schools. More than half (55 per cent) of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils have experienced direct bullying The use of homophobic language is endemic. Almost all (99 per cent) gay young people hear the phrases ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘you’re so gay’ in school and ninety six per cent of gay pupils hear homophobic language such as ‘poof’ or ‘lezza’ Three in five gay pupils who experience homophobic bullying say that teachers who witness the bullying never intervene Only half of gay pupils report that their schools say homophobic bullying is wrong, even fewer do in faith schools (37 per cent) Homophobic bullying has a profoundly damaging impact on young people’s school experience. One in three (32 per cent) gay pupils experiencing bullying change their future educational plans because of it and three in five say it impacts directly on their school work Gay people who are bullied are at a higher risk of suicide, self-harm and depression. Two in five (41 per cent) have attempted or thought about taking their own life directly because of bullying and the same number say that they deliberately self-harm directly because of bullying Details: London: Stonewall, 2012. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_school/education_resources/7957.asp Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_school/education_resources/7957.asp Shelf Number: 125705 Keywords: Bias Motivated CrimeGays, Crimes AgainstGender IdentityHate CrimesHomophobiaSchool BullyingSchool CrimeSchool Safety |
Author: Fischman, Allison Title: Reconciling Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Walkability Factors for Safe, Active Trips to School: The Role of School Site Size, Placement and Design Summary: Obesity is a growing threat to child health, and active transportation through walking and biking to school is one way to reduce its prevalence. As school districts and local governments begin to coordinate planning for the location of new schools, the ability of children to walk and bike to school is receiving greater attention. With increased media focus on school shootings and terrorist attacks, child safety at and around schools is also receiving greater attention than ever before. More and more school districts and local governments are employing the theory of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in development regulations and school facilities plans. This research analyzes the largely unexplored effects of the implementation of CPTED mechanisms on public health, specifically its effects on walkability and the potential for children's active transport to school. In this study, a methodology set forth by Steiner et al. (2008) is used to determine the potential for children to walk and bicycle to school in a sample of sixteen elementary schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Results from the walkability analysis are then compared to the results of a CPTED survey to identify and explore any relationship(s) between walkability and the presence of CPTED-related elements. The study has three research components: (1) analysis of the potential for children to walk to school based on a variety of measures for a sample of elementary schools; (2) analysis of the presence and location of CPTED-related elements at and around the sample school sites; and (3) comparison of the potential for walkability to the presence of CPTED-related elements and identifying any relationship(s) or interaction. There is considerable variation, but results generally do not support a clear answer to the question of how CPTED and walkability interact at school sites and in surrounding neighborhoods, this study presents an initial methodology for exploring the issue. A more refined methodology may help researchers and practitioners better understand facilitators and impediments to active transportation among children. With this information, planners will be more knowledgeable about the effects of CPTED on walkability and will be able to make informed recommendations to improve CTPED-influenced policies. Also, school facilities planners and officials will be better informed about these effects and can use the information to help maximize the potential for safe, active trips to school. Details: Gainesville, FL: Department of Urban and Regional Planning; College of Design, Construction, and Planning; University of Florida, 2009. 115p. Source: Dissertation: Library Resource, Available at Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice, Acc. # 126075. Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 126075 Keywords: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTDesign Against CrimeEvaluative StudiesSchool Safety |
Author: High Hopes Campaign Title: From Policy to Standard Practice: Restorative Justice in Chicago Public Schools Summary: The High HOPES (Healing Over the Punishment of Expulsions and Suspensions) Campaign is calling on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to reduce suspensions and expulsions by 40% through the implementation of restorative justice practices, which are recognized and embraced in CPS' own Student Code of Conduct. A reduction of at least 40% would mean that thousands of students would be disciplined more effectively and a true culture shift would begin to take place throughout the city's schools. To do this, we call on CPS to work with youth, parent, and community organizations to implement restorative justice strategies, as well as develop and provide accurate and timely performance measures to track the effectiveness of reaching our goals. Details: Chicago: High Hopes Campaign, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 23, 2013 at: http://www.dignityinschools.org/sites/default/files/FromPolicyToStandardPractice.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.dignityinschools.org/sites/default/files/FromPolicyToStandardPractice.pdf Shelf Number: 127356 Keywords: Restorative JusticeSchool Crimes (Chicago)School DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Suspensions |
Author: American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi Title: Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools Summary: Mississippi is mired in an extreme school discipline crisis. Across the state, public schools are hindering the success of children and youth by employing harsh and destructive disciplinary practices. These practices not only exclude students from the classroom thereby reducing learning opportunities, but even worse, Mississippi’s children are being trapped in a pipeline to prison, too often for the most trivial misbehaviors. Whether it is a dress code violation, profane language, or a schoolyard scuffle, young people are being herded into juvenile detention centers and into the revolving door of the criminal justice system. Sadly, none of this is shocking. After all, the State’s harsh approach to discipline still allows corporal punishment. In fact, as one of only 19 states left that permit the paddling of students in public schools, Mississippi has the highest percentage of students being beaten by educators. Finally, Mississippi’s track record is being exposed. In October 2012, the United States Department of Justice filed suit against the city of Meridian, the County of Lauderdale, two youth court judges, the State of Mississippi, and two state agencies for operating a school-to-prison pipeline. The complaint alleges that these actors are “engag[ing] in a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct through which they routinely and systematically arrest and incarcerate children, including for minor school rule infractions, without even the most basic procedural safeguards, and in violation of these children’s constitutional rights.” Among other disturbing facts, the complaint alleges that Meridian schools repeatedly respond to infractions such as “disrespect,” “refusal to follow directions,” and “profanity” by referring students to law enforcement. They also routinely suspend students on juvenile probation, resulting in their automatic incarceration, for such low-level behaviors as use of vulgar language, flatulence in class, and dress code infractions like having a shirt untucked. While the suit is the most recent event to sound the alarm, the school-to-prison pipeline is nothing new to Mississippi and it is certainly not unique to Meridian. In fact, it is a problem that has plagued Mississippi schools statewide for years. For well over a decade, heartbreaking stories of extreme discipline and the criminalization of young people have poured out of Mississippi public schools. This report discusses the ways in which these extreme and destructive approaches to school discipline not only have directly harmed students and families, but also have caused teachers, law enforcement officials, and community members to have their lives and careers made more difficult by these ineffective and counter-productive school discipline policies and practices. Furthermore, the entire state of Mississippi has suffered damage to its economic health and well-being. Given this, the State should eliminate its school-to-prison pipeline, and this report provides recommendations for how it should begin to do so. Details: Jackson, MS: ACLU of Mississippi, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 23, 2013 at: http://b.3cdn.net/advancement/bd691fe41faa4ff809_u9m6bfb3v.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://b.3cdn.net/advancement/bd691fe41faa4ff809_u9m6bfb3v.pdf Shelf Number: 127362 Keywords: School Discipline (Mississippi)School SafetySchool SuspensionsSchool-to-Prison Pipeline |
Author: Wilhelm, Daniel F. Title: Youth, Safety, and Violence: Schools, Communities, and Mental Health Summary: One of the most shocking elements of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy is that it took place in what is supposed to be a safe place for children: a school. Understandably, much attention is being paid to how to make and keep schools safe. Some propose that increasing the police presence in schools is necessary. However, in a 2005 national survey of principals, a quarter of those who reported the presence of school-based law enforcement personnel (often referred to as School Resource Officers, or SROs) said that the primary reason for introducing police was not the level of violence in the school, disorder problems, or even requests from parents, but “national media attention about school violence.” In considering this approach, it is important to recognize that little is known about the immediate and long-term effects of such a policy and practice. Intensive information gathering and discussion about the potential implications of allowing or increasing school-based police is needed to ensure that a well-intentioned policy initiative does not have unintended consequences, such as: further criminalizing youth, particularly youth of color from marginalized and under-resourced communities; impeding the development of positive school enviroments; and in some cases, actually reducing the likelihood of achieving the goal of fostering safe school environments. It is also necessary to put school violence in context: according to national data, less than 1 percent of all homicides among school-aged children occur on school grounds or in transit to and from school. This figure does not detract from the tragedy of any death or other violent incidents related to school, but it demonstrates where most lethal violence takes place in young people’s lives: outside school settings. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed March 12, 2013 at: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/youth-safety-and-violence.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/youth-safety-and-violence.pdf Shelf Number: 127926 Keywords: HomicidesMental Health ServicesSchool CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool Violence (U.S.) |
Author: Moll, Jeanette Title: Expelling Zero-Tolerance: Reforming Texas School Discipline for Good Summary: It is universally acknowledged that children will misbehave. Thus, so long as institutionalized education exists, so too will disciplinary problems. Both school discipline practices and the prevailing societal norms evolved with the educational institutions, which created the present-day system of zero-tolerance discipline: a system of mandatory punishments for specified behavior with little discretion and few alternatives. Zero-tolerance policies today extend to cover drugs, alcohol, violence on and off campuses, and sometimes even relatively minor infractions. Zero-tolerance policy supporters claim that this method of discipline is forceful enough to eliminate school violence through deterrence and removal from the classroom. Advocates also argue that zero-tolerance policies are clear-cut and uniform, and can provide peace of mind to parents. The data, however, reveals that the intended results of zero-tolerance measures were not necessarily achieved. Many studies have been conducted on zero-tolerance policies that cast doubt on their effectiveness. Furthermore, current crime and victimization rates do not indicate that zero-tolerance policies have produced increases in school safety. On top of that, these programs have been found to cost millions in taxpayer dollars each year through costly alternative programs for suspended students, while other costs compound the taxpayer investment, including lost educational hours for students and lost wages for parents taking time off work to deal with a suspended child. This evidence indicates that alternatives to zero-tolerance policies may lead to a more effective system of school discipline for students by keeping them in school and reducing overreliance on the justice system for school-based discipline. A tiered response to most low-level school discipline issues could create a far more effective approach to discipline via effective, targeted intervention into minor misbehavior, while ensuring that the most serious of oncampus offenses are still dealt with immediately, appropriately, and strictly. Details: Austin, TX: Texas Public Policy Foundation, Center for Effective Justice, 2012. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Policyi Perspective: Accessed April 4, 2013 at: http://www.texaspolicy.com/sites/default/files/documents/2012-08-PP18-ExpellingZeroTolerance-CEJ-JeanetteMoll.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.texaspolicy.com/sites/default/files/documents/2012-08-PP18-ExpellingZeroTolerance-CEJ-JeanetteMoll.pdf Shelf Number: 128211 Keywords: School Crimes (Texas)School SafetySchool ViolenceStudent DisciplineZero-Tolerance Policies |
Author: National Rifle Association. National School Shield Task Force Title: Report of the National School Shield Task Force Summary: This report presents the NRA position and suggestions for preventing school violence. Details: Washington, DC: National Rifle Association, 2013. 225p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2013 at: http://www.nraschoolshield.com/NSS_Final_FULL.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nraschoolshield.com/NSS_Final_FULL.pdf Shelf Number: 128306 Keywords: Gun ViolenceSchool SafetySchool Violence (U.S.) |
Author: Mncube, Vusi Title: The Dynamics of Violence in Schools in South Africa Summary: There is an oft-repeated argument by many social commentators that our streets, schools and roads are unbearably violent. As we continually witness events unfolding in several spheres of our society, be it in the mines; in our education system, or even in the political arena, the question of using violence to get points across perpetually rears its ugly head. The question we should be asking ourselves, if we are convinced that we are a violent society, is to what extent is violence prevalent in our schools and how does it contribute to the shaping of the young mind? Because in a normal sequence of events, the learners we have in our classrooms today are the leaders of tomorrow. The dynamics of violence in schools: Implications for policy makers in South African Education’ is an instructive study which was conducted by a team of researchers from Unisa’s College of Education in six of South Africa’s provinces: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal, North West and the Western Cape. It explored the nature and extent of violence in South African schools focussing mainly on the types of violence, the underlying causes of violence and initiatives for its prevention. The findings of the study suggest that violence is a serious problem in many South African schools. Details: Pretoria, South Africa: University of South Africa, 2013. 144p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2013 at: http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/colleges/col_education/docs/The%20Dynamics%20of%20Violence%20in%20South%20African%20schools.pdf Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/colleges/col_education/docs/The%20Dynamics%20of%20Violence%20in%20South%20African%20schools.pdf Shelf Number: 128513 Keywords: School CrimesSchool SafetySchool Violence (South Africa) |
Author: Losen, Daniel J. Title: Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools Summary: In this first of a kind breakdown of data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools, we estimate that well over two million students were suspended during the 2009-2010 academic year. This means that one out of every nine secondary school students was suspended at least once during that year. As other studies demonstrate, the vast majority of suspensions are for minor infractions of school rules, such as disrupting class, tardiness, and dress code violations, rather than for serious violent or criminal behavior. Serious incidents are rare and result in expulsions, which are not covered by this report. Given the recent research showing that being suspended even once in ninth grade is associated with a twofold increase in the likelihood of dropping out, from 16% for those not suspended to 32% for those suspended just once (Balfanz, 2013), the high number of students suspended, as presented in this report, should be of grave concern to all parents, educators, taxpayers, and policymakers. We are publishing this report because of the serious academic implications these statistics have for students who attend schools with high suspension rates. We believe greater awareness will help produce more effective approaches that create safe, healthy, and productive learning environments, which research indicates is best accomplished without resorting to frequent out-of-school suspensions. Done well, efforts to reduce suspensions should also improve graduation rates, achievement scores, and life outcomes, while also decreasing the rate of incarceration for juveniles and adults. The findings of this report also highlight critical civil rights concerns related to the high frequency of secondary school suspensions. We focus on secondary schools because children of color and students from other historically disadvantaged groups are far more likely than other students to be suspended out of school at this level. Our prior report, released in August 2012, looked only at K-12 suspension rates across the entire grade span and contained no new analysis at the secondary school level. While the racial discipline gap has always been largest in middle schools and high schools, it has grown dramatically at the secondary level since the early 1970s. Details: Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies, 2013. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2013 at: http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/out-of-school-and-off-track-the-overuse-of-suspensions-in-american-middle-and-high-schools/OutofSchool-OffTrack_UCLA_4-8.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/out-of-school-and-off-track-the-overuse-of-suspensions-in-american-middle-and-high-schools/OutofSc Shelf Number: 128670 Keywords: School DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Suspensions (U.S.) |
Author: Buck, Sarah A. Title: Teachers with Guns: Firearms Discharges by Schoolteachers, 1980 – 2012 Summary: Following the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the National Rifle Association proposed arming schoolteachers as a means of confronting and preventing such tragedies. The Center’s study identifies 30 instances prior to the proposal that involve a schoolteacher discharging his/her weapon, though not necessarily on school grounds. Most incidents involved intentional, unlawful discharges. Details: Minneapolis, MN: Center for Homicide Research, 2013. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://homicidecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Teachers-with-Guns-RESEARCH-REPORT-FINAL1.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://homicidecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Teachers-with-Guns-RESEARCH-REPORT-FINAL1.pdf Shelf Number: 129632 Keywords: FirearmsGunsSchool Safety |
Author: Welch, Edward Title: Preventing School Shootings: A Public Health approach to Gun Violence Summary: Gun violence in America must be addressed at the highest levels of society. Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech were attacks on the very fabric of America. School shootings represent attacks on our nations' future. A public health approach to gun violence focuses on prevention. Public safety professionals, educators and community leaders are squandering opportunities to prevent horrific acts of extreme violence. Preparedness is derived by planning, which is critical to mobilizing resources when needed. Rational public policy can work. Sensible gun legislation, which is accessible through a public health approach to gun violence, neither marginalizes nor stigmatizes any one group. University administrators must fully engage the entire arsenal of resources available to confront this pernicious threat. The academic community can create powerful networks for research, collaboration and information sharing. These collective learning environments are investments in the knowledge economy. In order for the police to remain relevant, they must actively engage the community they serve by developing the operational art necessary to cultivate knowledge, relationships and expertise. Police departments must emphasize strategies that improve performance. Police officers must understand the mission and meaning of "To Protect and Serve" and the consequences of public safety, which often comes at their personal peril. Gun violence in America is a public health epidemic and preventing it requires a collective responsibility Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2013. 171p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 28, 2013 at: Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=736339 Shelf Number: 131398 Keywords: Colleges and UniversitiesGun ControlGun ViolenceSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool ShootingsSchool Violence |
Author: Connecticut. Office of the Child Advocate Title: Shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Summary: On Friday, December 14, 2012, our state and nation were stunned by the overwhelming tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School where twenty children and six educators were shot in their school. AL, who had already shot his mother in their home, also shot himself. In the immediate aftermath of this terrible event, state and federal law enforcement agencies began investigating the circumstances leading up to the shooting. On January 30, 2013, the State Child Fatality Review Panel (CFRP)--charged with reviewing the sudden and unexpected death of children-directed the state Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of the children at Sandy Hook, with a focus on any public health recommendations that may emanate from a review of the shooter's personal history. The Office of the Child Advocate, with the assistance of co-authors and consultants, reviewed numerous subjects pertinent to the charge from the CFRP, including: - The mental health, developmental and social history of AL from his birth to the days before the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. - The educational record of AL, including documentation of needs and services provided. - The medical history of AL from childhood to adulthood. - Relevant laws regarding special education and confidentiality of records and how these laws implicate professional obligations and practices. OCA began a comprehensive collection and review of records related to the life of AL-including his medical, mental health and education records, as well as un-redacted state police and law enforcement records. OCA reviewed thousands of pages of documents, consulted with law enforcement and members of the Child Fatality Review Panel, conducted interviews, and incorporated extensive research to develop the report's findings and recommendations. Details: Hartford, CT: Office of the Child Advocate, 2014. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2014 at: http://www.ct.gov/oca/lib/oca/sandyhook11212014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.ct.gov/oca/lib/oca/sandyhook11212014.pdf Shelf Number: 134281 Keywords: Gun Violence Mass Homicides (Connecticut)Mass MurdersSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool ShootingsSchool Violence |
Author: Swayze, Dana Title: Law enforcement in Minnesota schools: A statewide survey of school resource officers. Summary: Police agencies have long had a role in service to schools. Traditional activities have included periodic patrols, responding to calls for service and criminal investigations of offenses involving youth. Only in the last 20 years has assigning law enforcement officers to schools on a full-time basis become a widespread practice. Some factors thought to have contributed to the expanded use of police in schools include the rising involvement of juveniles in crime in the 1980s and 1990s; the shift to accountability-based policies to behavior in schools, including "zero tolerance;" and new, federal funding for community oriented policing, which includes funding for law enforcement in schools. In addition, high profile school shootings in the late-1990s, coupled with the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, significantly elevated concern for schools as targets of violence. The presence of law enforcement in schools has been controversial. Proponents assert that School Resource Officers (SROs) keep students and educators safe, which in turn creates an environment conducive to learning. SROs help schools prepare for potential external threats and help reduce the internal presence of drugs, alcohol, weapons, gangs and violence. In addition, SROs can serve as mentors for youth, and educators for students and staff. Supports believe SRO programs encourage positive relationships between students and police, increasing the likelihood that youth will come to police with information about illegal activity. Those opposed to law enforcement presence in schools contend there is little evidence to demonstrate that SRO programs reduce illegal or disruptive behavior. By the time SROs became common in the late 1990s, juvenile involvement in crime was already declining both inside and outside of schools. Opponents express concern that SROs can negatively affect school climate and compromise the civil rights of youth. Of particular concern is the criminalization of certain behaviors by a justice system response - behaviors which, in the absence of an SRO, would have been addressed with school-based discipline. Furthermore, justice system responses are more likely to be applied to youth of color, special education students and low income students. The practice of school-based policing expanded rapidly in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, leaving little time for evaluation or establishment of best practices. Goals and outcome measures for SRO programs have been elusive given the tremendous variability across states and jurisdictions. Throughout the 2000s, researchers studied the effects of law enforcement in schools in an attempt to provide policy-and-practice guidelines for these unique partnerships. Details: St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs, 2014. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 28, 2015 at: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ojp/forms-documents/Documents/SRO%20REPORT.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ojp/forms-documents/Documents/SRO%20REPORT.pdf Shelf Number: 134478 Keywords: School Crime (Minnesota)School DisciplineSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Kim, Catherine Y. Title: Policing in Schools: Developing a Governance Document for School Resource Officers in K-12 Schools Summary: K-12 public schools across the country have begun to deploy law enforcement agents on school grounds in growing numbers. Although there are no current national figures for the number of such officers, in 2004, 60 percent of high school teachers reported armed police officers stationed on school grounds, and in 2005, almost 70 percent of public school students ages 12 to 18 reported that police officers or security guards patrol their hallways. Frequently referred to as "School Resource Officers" or SROs, these agents are often sworn police officers employed by the local police department and assigned to patrol public school hallways full-time. In larger jurisdictions such as Los Angeles and Houston, these officers may be employed directly by the school district. Without addressing the question of whether police officers should be deployed to schools in the first instance, this White Paper posits that if they are deployed, they must be provided with the tools necessary to ensure a safe school environment while respecting the rights of students and the overall school climate. Details: New York: ACLU, 2009p. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: ACLU White Paper: Accessed January 30, 2015 at: http://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/racialjustice/whitepaper_policinginschools.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/racialjustice/whitepaper_policinginschools.pdf Shelf Number: 134501 Keywords: School Crimes (U.S.)School Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool Security |
Author: Cornell, Dewey Title: Threat Assessment in Virginia Schools: Technical Report of the Threat Assessment Survey for 2013-2014 Summary: In 2013, Virginia passed legislation (S 22.1-79.4) which required local school boards to establish threat assessment teams for each public school. The Threat Assessment Survey was designed to gather information on the quantity and quality of threat cases in Virginia schools in order to assist them in developing effective school safety practices. Threats are broadly defined as a student's communication or behavior that indicates intent to harm someone. Schools were asked to describe their threat assessment program and report on up to five threat assessment cases. An initial summary of overall results is provided in the 2014 School Safety Audit Report. This report is a technical supplement to the 2014 School Safety Audit Report that is intended to provide information specific to elementary, middle, or high schools, excluding 196 other types of schools such as alternative, pre-kindergarten, and special education schools. Many of the analyses in this report are limited to the 810 schools that had at least one threat assessment case during the 2013-14 school year and focused specifically on cases involving threats to harm others. Readers are cautioned that these results are based on a selected sample and may not generalize to all Virginia schools. This report is concerned with describing the threat assessment process from start to finish, with information on the prevalence of threats across school levels and student populations, description of the kinds of threats, how schools responded to threats, and the outcomes for students and their intended victims. One caveat is that prevalence rates and other results obtained from this survey may change in future years as all school threat assessment teams refine their procedures and become more experienced in conducting threat assessments. Details: Charlottesville, VA: Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 20, 2015 at: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/vcscs/documents/TechnicalReport2014ThreatAssessmentSurvey5-12-15.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/vcscs/documents/TechnicalReport2014ThreatAssessmentSurvey5-12-15.pdf Shelf Number: 135736 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool ViolenceThreat Assessment |
Author: Leach, Fiona Title: School-related Gender-Based Violence A global review of current issues and approaches in policy, programming and implementation responses to School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) for the Education Sector Summary: Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global phenomenon that knows no geographical, cultural, social, economic, ethnic, or other boundaries. It occurs across all societies and represents a brutal violation of human rights, the worst manifestation of gender-based discrimination and a major obstacle to the achievement of gender equality. It is tolerated and sustained by social institutions, including the school, the very place where we expect our children to be safe and protected. It is a serious obstacle to the right to education and learning, with implications for the ways that people understand and enact their social lives and exercise their citizenship. The extent to which children are exposed to school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) was brought to the attention of the international community by two studies commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in the past decade: the Global Study on Violence against Children1 and the In-depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women, both published in 2006. The global presence of SRGBV seriously compromises the ability of UNESCO's Member States and the international community to meet commitments towards the provision of human rights. Major international frameworks, such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the UN 4th World Conference on Women - Beijing Platform for Action denounce violence and call for measures to protect all human beings, especially women and girls, from all forms of violence. Article 19 of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) calls on State Parties to take all appropriate measures, including through education, to protect children from all forms of violence, including sexual abuse. UN Resolution 61/143 (2007) regarding the 'Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women', calls upon the international community, including the United Nations system, to enhance national efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, including through 'the sharing of guidelines, methodologies and best practices'. Until the World Report on Violence against Children was published in 2006, however, little attention was paid to the school as a forum for violence against children. Since then, it has received increasing attention in national and international agendas. The priority theme of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), planned for March 2013, is the 'Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls', with prevention and the provision of support services to victims/survivors being the main focus. In preparation for the CSW meeting, an experts meeting on GBV was held in Bangkok in September 2012, in order to explore ways of preventing and addressing GBV through a multi-sectoral approach with a focus on legal and policy guidelines. Education has been identified as one of the priority areas for strategic intervention. However, the transformative potential of schools to empower individuals, to champion gender equality and challenge violence against women and girls depends on a school environment that is itself safe and violence free. This review of current issues and approaches in policy, programming and implementation responses to SRGBV has been commissioned by the HIV and Health Education section in the Education Sector at UNESCO to contribute to the development of comprehensive evidence-informed policy guidelines for the prevention and elimination of SRGBV in and through education. Despite the call for action and the increasing awareness among governments, civil society and the international community of the scale of SRGBV, efforts to address it have been patchy and largely ineffective. The evidence base for the global scale and nature of the problem is limited and there is little collective intelligence to date on best practice in either prevention or response, e.g. on what makes intervention successful, how to measure success and how to scale up promising initiatives. Yet, we know that SRGBV continues to be a serious barrier to educational participation, especially of girls, and casts doubt on the school as an appropriate forum for educating young people about gender equality, non-violent behaviour and sexual and reproductive health. Schools have the potential to bring about change but this cannot be effective if they are simultaneously sites of gender inequality and violence. This review seeks to advance our knowledge and learning in this field, both in terms of what we know about the phenomenon and its impact on individuals, and on how best to address it, including through education. We start the review with a brief explanation of the conceptual framework and of the problematic nature of definitions of GBV, followed by a brief note on our methodology. The substance of the review follows, first summarising the research evidence on SRGBV by region, and then outlining approaches to policy, programming and implementation, with key messages for the education sector and for UNESCO's role in the post-MDG era. Details: Paris: UNESCO, 2014. 101p. Source: Internet Resource: Background research paper: Accessed July 15, 2015 at: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/HIV-AIDS/pdf/SRGBV_UNESCO_Global_ReviewJan2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/HIV-AIDS/pdf/SRGBV_UNESCO_Global_ReviewJan2014.pdf Shelf Number: 136059 Keywords: Gender-Based ViolenceSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool ViolenceViolence Against Women, Children |
Author: Morna, Janine Title: Vulnerable Students, Unsafe Schools: Attacks and Military Use of Schools in the Central African Republic Summary: Vulnerable Students, Unsafe Schools: Attacks and Military Use of Schools in the Central African Republic was launched in New York on September 10, 2015 and highlights the risks students and teachers face in schools in the Central African Republic (CAR). Based on field research, the report details attacks on schools by parties to the conflict and military use of schools by armed groups and, on occasion, international peacekeeping forces. It also provides policy recommendations to key stakeholders, including the Transitional Government of CAR, armed groups, humanitarian actors, and United Nations agencies, to strengthen children's right to education. Details: New York: Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 18, 2015 at: http://watchlist.org/vulnerable-students-unsafe-schools-attacks-and-military-use-of-schools-in-the-central-african-republic/ Year: 2015 Country: Africa URL: http://watchlist.org/vulnerable-students-unsafe-schools-attacks-and-military-use-of-schools-in-the-central-african-republic/ Shelf Number: 136819 Keywords: Child ProtectionSchool SafetySchool SecurityViolence Against Children |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Studying Under Fire: Attacks on Schools, Military Use of Schools During the Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine Summary: The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed militants has led to widespread damage and destruction of hundreds of kindergartens and schools. All sides carried out indiscriminate or deliberate attacks on schools using heavy artillery, mortar, and in some cases unguided rockets. They have also used schools for military purposes, deploying military forces in and near schools. In most cases investigated by Human Rights Watch, schools that were used by fighters remain unsafe because troops left behind heavy artillery or unused munitions. Military use of a school can turn it into a legitimate military target and put students at risk. Deploying military in and near schools exposes important education infrastructure to damage and destruction. Based on 62 interviews, this report documents attacks on schools on both sides of the line of contact that separates areas held by Ukrainian government forces from those held by rebels. It also documents the use of schools by both sides for military purposes. The report examines some of the negative impacts of the armed conflict on the right to quality education for Ukrainian children. It describes obstacles children face in accessing schools due to hostilities, government-imposed travel restrictions, and lack of transportation. Human Rights Watch urges both Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed militants to cease all attacks against schools that do not constitute military objectives and avoid deploying inside or adjacent to schools and kindergartens. Ukrainian authorities should deter the military use of schools by, among other things, endorsing the UN Safe Schools Declaration. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 25, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/ukraine0216_web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Ukraine URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/ukraine0216_web.pdf Shelf Number: 137965 Keywords: Militias School Safety |
Author: Fronius, Trevor Title: Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: A Research Review Summary: This report provides a comprehensive review of the literature on restorative justice in U.S. schools. The review captures key issues, describes models of restorative justice, and summarizes results from studies conducted in the field. The review was conducted on research reports and other relevant literature published, or made publicly available, between 1999 and mid-2014 and was guided by the following questions: - What are the origins and theory underlying U.S. schools' interest in restorative justice? - How does the literature describe restorative justice programs or approaches in U.S. schools? - What issues have been identified as important to consider for implementing restorative justice in the schools? - What does the empirical research say about the impact of restorative justice in the schools? In the literature reviewed for this report, restorative justice is generally portrayed as a promising approach to address school climate, culture, and safety. Although the community of support for its implementation has grown exponentially over the past several years, more research is needed. Several rigorous trials underway will perhaps provide the evidence necessary to make stronger claims about the impact of restorative justice, and the field will benefit greatly as those results become available over the next several years. Details: San Francisco, California: WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center, 2016. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 1, 2016 at: https://www.wested.org/wp-content/files_mf/1456766824resourcerestorativejusticeresearchreview.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.wested.org/wp-content/files_mf/1456766824resourcerestorativejusticeresearchreview.pdf Shelf Number: 138001 Keywords: Restorative JusticeSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool Safety |
Author: Safe Havens International Title: Arapahoe High School Active-Shooter Incident Summary: On December 13, 2013, an aggressor who was a current student at Arapahoe High School (AHS) entered the school via an unsecured entrance and fatally shot seventeen-year-old student Claire Esther Davis before killing himself (McCauley, n.d., p. 2). Like other school attacks, this incident caused immense emotional suffering for many people. As the victim's family stated in their letter to the public on October 10, 2014: The result was a terrible tragedy for all of us - not only our family, but for all the kids and staff at Arapahoe High School, our entire community, the State of Colorado, the [aggressor's] family, and all the persons across the country and around the world that have sent us their condolences and have held us up in their thoughts and prayers. (Davis, 2014) As this report will demonstrate, there were missed opportunities that might have prevented the death of Claire Davis. The report will also demonstrate that since the incident, the LPS has taken many steps in an effort to draw lessons from the AHS incident for the LPS community as well as the surrounding community. For example, the District conducted multiple internal post-incident evaluations, formed a Safety and Mental Health Advisory Committee (SMHAC), and sought nationally recognized experts in school safety and mental health to conduct thorough evaluations of the District's strategies, policies and procedures prior to, during, and after December 13, 2013. Based on the site visit to AHS during a trip to present for the SMHAC in February 2015 and an initial review of the incident with LPS officials, Safe Havens International (SHI) Executive Director Michael Dorn offered to discuss the possibility of SHI conducting an evaluation with SHI's senior leadership team. During this discussion, the SHI leadership team approved SHI performing a review of this incident as a pro-bono effort with no costs for the LPS aside from actual travel expenses for any analysts who had to travel to the District for the review, report findings, etc. Our primary purpose of conducting this in-depth review of the case is to compile lessons that LPS and schools around the nation can study to further improve the safety of their schools. An important secondary rationale for SHI to perform this review is to help our analysts learn more about school safety and apply these lessons to improve our ability to make schools safer. As a non-profit school safety center, a significant part of our mission is to help further the cause of school safety via pro-bono projects. SHI frequently performs pro-bono projects for a variety of educational, state, federal, and non-profit organizations as a way to provide our knowledge and expertise to help improve safety and security in the school environment. Eleven SHI analysts and one support staff member agreed to donate their time, talent, and energy to perform more than a thousand hours of work for this evaluation without any compensation. These analysts are from a variety of disciplines with extensive experience working in the K12 school environment. Details: Macon, GA: Safe Havens International, 2016. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 8, 2016 at: http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/sites/default/files/Safe%20Havens%20Intl%20Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/sites/default/files/Safe%20Havens%20Intl%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 138125 Keywords: School CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Abramovay, Miriam Title: Violences in Schools Summary: All over the western world, the occurrence of violence in the schools is not a recent phenomenon. Beyond being an important issue for reflection, this violence constitutes a serious social problem above all else. Since the first studies were developed on this subject in the United States in the nineteen-fifties, various dimensions of this phenomenon have undergone huge changes and the resulting problems have taken on a more serious nature. Some of the most notable transformations have been the appearance of weapons and guns in the schools, widespread drug use and the expansion of gangs. These elements have influenced the school routine and are eventually associated with drug trafficking. Another great change that has taken place is a result of the fact that the schools and their surrounding areas have ceased to be protected or preserved areas and have become elements that have been incorporated into the daily violence of urban spaces. Above all, school has ceased to represent a safe and secure place for the students and has lost a huge part of its ties to the community. The focus of analysis of the phenomenon could not help but change as well in comparison with the first studies. Initially, violence in school was treated simply as a question of discipline. Later, it began to be analyzed as a demonstration of juvenile delinquency, a manifestation of anti-social behavior. Today, this violence is seen in a much broader way from the perspective of phenomena like globalization and social exclusion. These issues require analyses that are not restricted to transgressions practiced by the youths as students or to the violence in the social relationships among them. Brazilian society has been hit with the increase of violence in the schools. There have been diverse incidents involving the participants in the school community in episodes of verbal, physical and symbolic aggression. This situation has alerted the attention of a variety of governmental agencies as well as international agencies and civil society. Since 1997, UNESCO Brazil has initiated a series of studies focusing on the themes of Youth, Violence and Citizenship, providing concrete proposals for political policies in order to contribute to the search for solutions for the problems that affect youth. The emphases of these studies include issues such as social exclusion, the job market, family, education, social participation and the youth as protagonist. The importance of this theme brought about a partnership with institutions that have been active in combating violence through actions directed towards identifying the mechanisms to prevent this phenomenon with emphasis on the theme as a priority issue. These institutions include: the Ayrton Senna Institute; the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS); the World Bank; United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the Ford Foundation; the National Council of State Secretariats of Education (CONSED) and Municipal Directors of Education Union (UNDIME). This research finds itself in the sphere of preoccupations and corresponding efforts involved with this issue. The objectives of this research may be described in the broadest sense as analyzing the perceptions of the students, the technical-pedagogical staff and the parents about violence in the schools and the causes of that violence. This research describes the frequency and gravity of the incidents and evaluates the impact of violence on the learning process. It also identifies the mechanisms adopted and/or recommendable for the prevention, reduction and eradication of the problem. Details: Braslia : UNESCO, Ayrton Senna Institute, UNAIDS, World Bank, USAID, Ford Foundation, CONSED, UNDIME, 2002. 344p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001287/128718e.pdf Year: 2002 Country: Brazil URL: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001287/128718e.pdf Shelf Number: 138393 Keywords: Anti-Social Behavior School Crime School SafetySchool Security School Violence |
Author: Schwartz, Heather L. Title: The Role of Technology in Improving K-12 School Safety Summary: Violence in schools negatively affects children's future life outcomes and the culture and performance of the school. For these reasons, promoting school safety is a national priority for many federal agencies, including the National Institute of Justice. This report focuses on school safety technologies as one among many approaches to prevent and respond to school violence. In the report, the authors summarize existing research on school violence, categorize school safety technologies and describe the available research about them, present six case studies of innovative technologies as used in schools, summarize experts' views of technologies and safety problems based on interviews, and present experts' rankings of technology needs to improve school safety produced during two day-long panels. These activities revealed that some of the most pressing safety needs that technology could address relate to (1) enabling two-way communication between teachers and emergency responders; (2) "all-in-one" applications that would integrate currently fragmented and outdated school safety policies, procedures, and training for school staff and parents; (3) advances in social media monitoring; and (4) improved tip lines to make them more robust and effective. Results should be of interest to organizations and individuals involved with K-12 school technology planning, research funding, and product development. Key Findings Violence in Schools Is Not Uncommon - In the 2009-10 school year, 74 percent of public schools recorded at least one incident of violence, including serious violence, fights, physical attacks, and threats. Many Factors Affect the Likelihood of Violence Occurring in a School - School climate is one element that affects the likelihood of violence occurring in a school. Also, violence is more common in places with the least adult supervision, such as hallways, bathrooms, and stairwells. Males are more likely than females to be victims, as are Hispanic and black students. Other important factors include student behavior and activities, such as substance abuse, mental health symptoms, belief in violence, school misbehavior, and prior exposure to violence. The Authors Identify 12 Types of School Safety Technologies - The technologies identified include employing entry control equipment, ID technology, video surveillance, and school-site alarm and protection systems. Other technologies identified were metal detectors and X-ray machines, anonymous tip lines, tracking systems, mapping schools and bus routes, using violence prediction technology, and social media monitoring. Recommendations The authors identify several areas with the potential for improving safety in U.S. schools. These include investments in communication strategies, comprehensive school safety plans, improved tip lines, and improved upkeep of technology. Schools need better information on what works; technology developers should test their technology solutions in real-world settings; and schools should develop an all-hazards safety plan, examine the underlying psychological and social problems that lead to school violence, make sure that the technology being considered will integrate with the school's current system, and identify the school's needs, budget, and community values before selecting a technology. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2016. 148p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 27, 2016 at: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1400/RR1488/RAND_RR1488.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1400/RR1488/RAND_RR1488.pdf Shelf Number: 140059 Keywords: School BullyingSchool CrimesSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Lapointe, David Audet dit Title: Teacher Perception of School Safety Between Mississippi Secondary Schools With School Resource Officers And School Safety Officers Summary: The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the perception of school safety by teachers between secondary schools that employ School Resource Officers (SROs), who are armed, and School Safety Officers (SSOs), who are unarmed or a combination of SROs and SSOs. The School Resource Officers and School Climate Teacher Survey, created by Dr. Amy Oaks (2001), was utilized to gather data. The 193 participants of the study included certified teachers at secondary schools in the Jackson Public School District, the Jackson County Public School District, and the Ocean Springs School District. A Pearson Chi-Square test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference in the perception of safety between the two groups. In all items analyzed, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in the perception of school safety with the SRO group perceiving their schools as being safer than the teachers in the SRO/SSO group. In an environment in which the issue of school safety is becoming an increasingly important topic, the perception of teachers working in these schools is vital. Details: Hattiesburg, MS: University of Southern Mississippi, 2016. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 8, 2016 at: http://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1357&context=dissertations Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1357&context=dissertations Shelf Number: 145080 Keywords: School CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Gill, Charlotte E. Title: Process Evaluation of Seattle's School Emphasis Officer Program Summary: Summary of Findings This process description and assessment examines Seattle's School Emphasis Officer (SEO) program, an initiative operated by the Seattle Police Department (SPD) as part of the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI). The report is based on an examination of program documentation, interviews with key stakeholders, and observations of SEO activity in three Seattle middle schools conducted by the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University and the University of Maryland for the City of Seattle Office of City Auditor. The SEO Program - Police officers are assigned to four public middle schools in Seattle (Denny International MS, Washington MS, Aki Kurose MS, South Shore K-8). - Schools are selected for truancy, suspension, and discipline issues and location within SYVPI network areas. - Officer activities include school support; safety and security; education; SYVPI referral and follow-up; and law enforcement. Law enforcement activities are minimal. Most activities involve prevention and intervention with at-risk students. Program Strengths - Potential for integration with services. Police officers can fall back on a network of services through SYVPI rather than defaulting to law enforcement responses for troubled youth. - Potential to improve police-community relations. The SEOs build trust among school students, which could help to change perceptions of the police in school and the wider community. - Non-law enforcement focus. SEOs minimize their involvement in the disciplinary process and do not arrest students. However, their information gathering activities could be shared with others for law enforcement purposes. Program Challenges - Clarity of program structure and relationship with SYVPI. The day-to-day operation of the program occurs on an ad hoc basis and the relationship between the SEOs, SPD, SYVPI and the schools is not fully defined. - Evaluability. The program lacks a logic model and outcome measures and cannot be evaluated for effectiveness. - Sustainability. The program lacks a formal structure and is driven by individual personalities and relationships. Summary of Recommendations 1 Clarify the program and the link between SEOs and SYVPI. 1.1 Develop a program manual that lays out clear expectations for operations and stakeholders. 1.2 Clarify and document the relationship between the SEOs and SYVPI in the logic models and program documentation. 1.3 Eliminate or reduce formal curriculum education in favor of a focus on relationshipbuilding with at-risk youth and the wider school community. 2 Develop a systematic performance and outcome measurement and evaluation plan for the SEO program and participating schools. 2.1 Clearly articulate the program goals, structure, activities, and outcomes in the program manual and a logic model. 2.2 Align data sources with proposed program outcomes and SYVPI outcomes, identify gaps in data sources and develop new instruments and measures, and build capacity within SPD's crime analysis unit to provide tracking of crime outcomes. 2.3 Facilitate appropriate data sharing. 2.4 Develop a long-term evaluation plan. 3 If the SEO program is effective, take steps to ensure its sustainability. 3.1 Articulate the program goals and training requirements. 3.2 Ensure that memoranda of understanding are developed with each individual school. 3.3 Systematize the process for identifying new schools. Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, Department of Criminology, Law & Society, 2015. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 8, 2016 at: http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/CityAuditor/auditreports/SEOFinalReport100615.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/CityAuditor/auditreports/SEOFinalReport100615.pdf Shelf Number: 145420 Keywords: School CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool Security |
Author: Leoschut, Lezanne Title: Carrying it Forward: Overcoming Violence as a Barrier to Education in Mozambique Summary: Mozambique has been described 'as a dialectic between forces of integration and those of disintegration'. This is perhaps because Mozambique's past has been fraught with colliding ecological, social and political challenges that have left much of the population fractured by violence. The country's long civil war (1977-9), which started shortly after independence, had a devastating effect on the population. Some 4-5 million civilians were displaced and fled to refugee camps in Zambia and Malawi. At least a million people were killed as a result of the war, and even more children were orphaned. A further feature of the war was the systematic destruction of Mozambique's economic infrastructure. The country's education system did not escape this devastation. Half of all primary schools in rural areas were damaged; 840 schools were destroyed or closed, which affected more than 150,000 children. Following the war, Mozambique has embarked on several reform processes in an attempt to stabilise the economy and alleviate poverty. In addition, the realisation that education is critical to national development has resulted in the creation of key pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the quality and accessibility of education in the country. Despite these achievements, however, many problems persist. Even though the Constitution of Mozambique declares education a right and a duty of every citizen, less than half the population are literate, with the illiteracy rate for women estimated at 71%. Since the Millennium Development Goals and Education For All objectives were established in 1999, donors to Mozambique have increased their contributions to the expansion and reform of the country's education system. Funding, however, still falls short of meeting all the educational needs of children in Mozambique, specifically girl children. The right of children to education is arguably one of the most significant of all human rights. All children have the right to education - but this education must be provided in a safe context, free of violence. If not, their right to dignity and security, and to live in safety, free from violence, also becomes unobtainable. Children's right to education is of critical importance in countries characterised by poverty, under-development and high levels of inequality. When this right is denied, a great number of opportunities for self-advancement are inevitably also denied. Recent experience in South Africa has drawn attention to the importance of addressing school-related violence by adopting an evidence-based approach that takes into consideration the local context. However, little nationally representative data on the experiences of violence against children as a barrier to education and as an infringement on human rights exists in the region, with the exception of South Africa and Malawi. This monograph details the findings of a study aimed at bridging this statistical gap. To this end, the study was designed to: - collect scientifically based, reliable quantitative and qualitative data on the extent, nature and implications of school-related violence against children in three Southern African Development Community countries; - add substantially to the local and regional body of knowledge on children, young people, violence and education within each country; - contribute to the sharing of research skills and capacity building within each country; and - further regional and international advocacy efforts focusing on the prevention of violence against girls. For the purpose of the study, the term 'violence' was used to encompass structural, direct and indirect forms of violence, as well as cultural practices that may be harmful to children and inhibit their access to education. In Mozambique, 499 youths aged 12-9 years were randomly selected from areas in and around Maputo. Since the study was exploratory in nature it was not designed to be generalisable to all children in Mozambique. Thus, although the results presented in this monograph provide a glimpse of the violence experienced by young people in the country, it needs to be remembered that the findings are specific to the capital city, Maputo. In line with recent increases in Mozambique's school enrollment rates, school attendance was high among those surveyed. However, the quality of learning was often found to be compromised due to violence within the school environment - an international phenomenon that is not peculiar to Africa. The study results show that some learners in Mozambique are directly victimised at school, while others, although not personally affected by violent incidents at school, are keenly aware of such victimisation and often witness it. Actual or direct victimisation reported in the study encompassed threats of harm or violence (36.4%), verbal insults or teasing (33.1%), physical attacks (19.6%), sexual assaults (being forced to do things with their body against their will) (4.2%) as well as being forced to do other things they felt were wrong and did not want to do (7.1%). In addition to direct experiences of violence, learners often had to contend with other school-related issues that make it nearly impossible to receive quality education. These included poor resource allocation, lack of physical infrastructure, high learner-teacher ratios, overcrowded classrooms, lack of textbooks and other school materials, and a high percentage of unqualified educators. Despite these issues, learners generally demonstrated a favourable attitude towards their schooling. The violence occurring at schools was often a reflection of what was happening in these young people's homes and communities. Addictive substances such as alcohol (67.8%), marijuana (27.4%) and other drugs (25.6%) were found to be easily accessible by those interviewed. This is concerning given that such access tends to increase the likelihood of violence occurring within a community. Not surprisingly, violence exposure in the areas in which the participants live was common. One in two youths had personally witnessed someone being hit or punched one or more times in their community. Nearly two-thirds had witnessed people in their community being pushed, grabbed or shoved one or more times, while more than a tenth of the sample had observed someone in their community being threatened or assaulted with a weapon, shot, sexually harassed or kidnapped by armed forces one or more times. Young people were also subjected to violence in the home, both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, cultural beliefs and traditions pertaining to gender were found to contribute to gender-based violence in the home. These beliefs also impacted on children's access to education, particularly for young girls who tend to be kept out of school to assist with household responsibilities and because parents fail to see the significance of educating girls. Violence infringes on children's right to learn in a safe and protected environment. The study demonstrates that children in Mozambique have very few spaces where they are safe and free from the threat of violence. Mozambique does have an extensive legislative framework in place to address issues related to education and violence. In addition to the Constitution and various national policies, Mozambique has ratified several international laws and conventions; however, these laws are not enforced at a practical level. Based on the study findings, several recommendations are made herein, which, if implemented, would go some way towards ensuring that education -and more specifically, quality education -becomes a reality for all in Mozambique. Details: Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for Justice and Criminal Prevention, 2011. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series, No. 9: Accessed October 20, 2016 at: http://www.cjcp.org.za/uploads/2/7/8/4/27845461/monograph_9_-_carrying_it_forward_mozambique.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mozambique URL: http://www.cjcp.org.za/uploads/2/7/8/4/27845461/monograph_9_-_carrying_it_forward_mozambique.pdf Shelf Number: 140819 Keywords: School CrimesSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Protecting Schools from Military Use Law, Policy, and Military Doctrine Summary: The 101-page report, "Protecting Schools from Military Use: Law, Policy, and Military Doctrine," contains examples of law and practice from 40 countries, from Afghanistan to Yemen, instituting some level of protection for schools or universities from military use. Many of the examples come from countries currently or recently involved in armed conflict, indicating that governments and armed forces are recognizing the negative consequences of military use of schools and have found practical solutions to deter such use. Examples of these measures can be found throughout the world, in legislation, court decisions, and military policies and doctrine. Governments should adopt and follow protections for schools. Details: New York: HRW, 2017. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2017 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/crdsafeschools0317_web_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/crdsafeschools0317_web_0.pdf Shelf Number: 144568 Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Military School Safety |
Author: Nguyen, Thi Thu Hang Title: School Violence: Evidence from Young Lives in Vietnam Summary: The issue of school violence in Vietnam has previously been addressed in some papers, but only with reference to a specific locality or combined with other issues under the broader theme of child abuse. However, news about school violence is now appearing in Vietnam's national daily media at an increased frequency and intensity, and attracting general public attention. Despite the existence of legal regulations related to child protection in general and prohibiting school violence in particular, cases of school violence still appear regularly in the media. This raises questions about the enforcement of current legislation and whether the key causes of violence have been properly addressed. There is no generally applicable definition of school violence but the term "school violence" used in this paper includes both acts of violence and bullying among students and those performed by teachers on students within the school grounds. In terms of physical violence, quantitative evidence from the Young Lives study shows a higher level of fighting reported by 8-year-olds in 2009, as compared with children of the same age in 2002. Such incidents were common among students in the sample, regardless of their economic status. The data from Young Lives also allow us to track changes in the rate of physical violence as the same group of children grow up (so picking up differences by child age). The rate of children beaten by other children more than tripled between Rounds 1 and 2 (when the Older Cohort were aged 8 and 12). In contrast, cases where teachers beat students dropped from 3.84 per cent in Round 1 to an insignificant level in Round 2. However, when comparing 8-year-old children at two different times (2002 and 2009), we see an increasing trend in physical violence across the board. Analysis of emotional violence was more difficult because the data recorded both answers by caregivers and by students themselves. It is interesting that students reported a lower rate of peer bullying (19.7 per cent) than that reported by caregivers (24.8 per cent). Results from the qualitative data collected from interviews with 36 of the Young Lives children uncovered the long-term impact of school violence as well as its causes. Causes of violence among students vary greatly, and sometimes there is no explicit reason. Therefore, more weight should be given to preventative measures such as improving children?s life skills or raising their awareness about the impacts of school violence. Responses from parents and school to violence among students are very important. The ways in which violence is addressed and disputes are settled can have long-term, even lifelong, impacts on children's futures. The right intervention, therefore, requires effort and closer co-operation between families and schools. Key policy implications of this paper include closer cooperation between the school, family, community and police, accompanied by the introduction of life skills for children into the school curriculum, training in positive discipline for teachers and better data collection. Details: Oxford, UK: Young Lives, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Young Lives Vietnam Policy Paper 1: Accessed March 29, 2017 at: http://www.younglives.org.uk/sites/www.younglives.org.uk/files/YL-Vietnam-PP1.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Vietnam URL: http://www.younglives.org.uk/sites/www.younglives.org.uk/files/YL-Vietnam-PP1.pdf Shelf Number: 144624 Keywords: Child ProtectionSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Hemphill, Sheryl Title: Positive associations between school and student problem behaviour: Recent Australian findings Summary: School suspension- the temporary removal of a student from school-is one of the most severe responses to student misbehaviour in Australian schools. Evidence suggests school suspension is associated with negative behavioural outcomes in adolescence. Using data from the International Youth Development Study, a large longitudinal study of adolescent development, this research found positive associations between school suspension and adolescent problem behaviour. These associations remained after taking into account other known risk factors for such behaviours. The paper discusses the implications for policy development around the management of student misbehaviour and conduct breaches. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2017. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 531: Accessed June 5, 2017 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/tandi_pdf/tandi531.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/tandi_pdf/tandi531.pdf Shelf Number: 145924 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Suspensions |
Author: New York (City). Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline Title: Safety with Dignity: Phase 1 Recommendations Summary: Safety with Dignity details policy recommendations made by the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline ("Leadership Team"). The Leadership Team is a one-year task force that was launched by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2015 with the mission of developing recommendations to enhance the well-being and safety of students and staff in the City's public schools, while minimizing the use of suspensions, arrests and summonses. Co-chaired by Ursulina Ramirez, Chief of Staff, NYC Department of Education and Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Advisor, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, the Leadership Team was charged with the task of examining data and studying best practices in order to: Improve the use of data to assess the effectiveness of current policy and practice, and spread promising positive discipline innovations system-wide; Reduce the frequency and duration of suspensions and minimize arrests and referrals to the justice system for school-based disciplinary offenses; Reduce disparities by race, gender, disability and Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender (LGBT) status in student discipline, arrests and summonses; Increase access to mental health and other community-based supports for high-need students; and Update the Discipline Code and the Memorandum of Understanding between the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the Department of Education (DOE) to align the use of school discipline and security personnel and security measures with supportive school climate goals. To meet its objectives, the Leadership Team developed five Working Groups that involved more than 150 stakeholders, including representatives from city agencies, community organizations, and unions, as well as researchers, practitioners, educators, students and parents. Over the past five months, these Working Groups convened to define a vision and system-wide approach to positive climate, discipline and safety in schools, as well as to develop targeted initiatives to assist schools with high rates of suspensions, arrests and summonses - and high disparities in those areas - to improve their practices. Details: New York: The Leadership Team, 2015. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2017 at: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/sclt/downloads/pdf/safety-with-dignity-final-complete-report-723.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/sclt/downloads/pdf/safety-with-dignity-final-complete-report-723.pdf Shelf Number: 146597 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool Safety |
Author: Kelly, Brian P. Title: K-12 and the Active Shooter: Principals' Perceptions of Armed Personnel in New Jersey District Factor Group GH Public Schools Summary: The purpose of this study was to explore the predicament school principals face when formulating the best methodology to provide a safe environment for their students and faculty, while simultaneously creating an atmosphere that is conducive to education. This multiple-case study is a replication of a dissertation published in 2014 which explored a unique phenomenon containing multiple variables within an urban public school district. Conversely, this research study examined suburban public school districts within communities that possessed a median household salary ranging between $86,000 and $105,000, where the socioeconomic status of these schools is identified and delineated by New Jersey District Factor Group GH, as designated by the New Jersey Department of Education. Twenty-one school principals were interviewed to collect evidence of their perceptions in relation to utilizing armed personnel in their schools. The literature on school shootings and armed personnel in schools was thoroughly reviewed. This literature consisted of peer-reviewed articles and federal and state laws, as well as books and ancillary studies and articles depicting the contemporary climate of school shootings in our nation. Through the face-to-face interviews I conducted with the school principals, this research study examined the perceptions of the principals as they related to school safety, armed personnel, policies and procedures, mental health, and communications safety, armed personnel, policies and procedures, mental health, and communications among all stakeholders within the scope of their employment as administrators. The results of this study provided valuable information, which I was able to vividly articulate into recommendations for future research, policy, and practice. Details: South Orange, NJ: Seton Hall University, 2016. 203p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2017 at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1820870493/fulltextPDF/6A02C956DAB84BF7PQ/1?accountid=13626 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1820870493/fulltextPDF/6A02C956DAB84BF7PQ/1?accountid=13626 Shelf Number: 146802 Keywords: School AdministrationSchool SafetySchool ShootingsSchool Violence |
Author: Goodrum, Sarah Title: Report on the Arapahoe High School Shooting: Lessons Learned on Information Sharing, Threat Assessment, and Systems Integrity Summary: To better understand how the December 13, 2013 shooting at Arapahoe High School, in which senior Karl Pierson (hereafter, referred to as KP3 ) shot and killed Claire Davis and then himself, might be prevented, the Arapahoe High School Community Fund Honoring Claire Davis, a donor-advised fund of The Denver Foundation, approached the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado Boulder to assist with the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data obtained from an arbitration proceeding in the case. The purpose was to understand the school's threat and risk assessment procedures and responses, and the lessons that might be learned from this incident that could improve youth violence prevention in school settings in Colorado and the U.S. The data for the report came from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office's (ACSO) investigation materials, Littleton Public School's (LPS) interrogatory responses, deposition exhibits, and deposition testimony. The principal investigators attended most of the depositions and reviewed all of the documents produced by ACSO and LPS. The findings revealed three major failures within AHS and LPS in the months and years leading up to the shooting: (1) a failure of information sharing, (2) a failure of threat assessment, and (3) a failure of systems thinking. While not the focus of this report, preliminary evidence indicates that AHS staff and LPS administrators have made several changes in their approach to school safety since 2013, and those changes represent important steps in the right direction To better understand how the December 13, 2013 shooting at Arapahoe High School, in which senior Karl Pierson (hereafter, referred to as KP3 ) shot and killed Claire Davis and then himself, might be prevented, the Arapahoe High School Community Fund Honoring Claire Davis, a donor-advised fund of The Denver Foundation, approached the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado Boulder to assist with the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data obtained from an arbitration proceeding in the case. The purpose was to understand the school's threat and risk assessment procedures and responses, and the lessons that might be learned from this incident that could improve youth violence prevention in school settings in Colorado and the U.S. The data for the report came from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office's (ACSO) investigation materials, Littleton Public School's (LPS) interrogatory responses, deposition exhibits, and deposition testimony. The principal investigators attended most of the depositions and reviewed all of the documents produced by ACSO and LPS. The findings revealed three major failures within AHS and LPS in the months and years leading up to the shooting: (1) a failure of information sharing, (2) a failure of threat assessment, and (3) a failure of systems thinking. While not the focus of this report, preliminary evidence indicates that AHS staff and LPS administrators have made several changes in their approach to school safety since 2013, and those changes represent important steps in the right direction leading the school staff to believe that they would be more liable if they had shared information about KP's concerning behaviors, than if they had not. Second, the Sheriff's Report clearly states that at least ten AHS students had substantive concerns about KP's anger problems and gun ownership prior to the shooting, but only one student reported their concern to a counselor and no students reported their concerns to Safe2Tell (see ACSO Report, pp. 10-11). If just one student or teacher, had called Safe2Tell, this tragedy might have been averted. At the time of the shooting and as of July 2015, LPS and AHS administrators did not have a policy regarding Safe2Tell training and did not require that students or staff receive training on the Safe2Tell system. In fact, the information shared about Safe2Tell at AHS was limited to a sticker on the back of student identification cards, posters displayed in the school hallways, and a PowerPoint slide displayed in the cafeteria. Third, AHS and LPS failed to implement an Interagency Information Sharing Agreement to facilitate the sharing of vital information about an individual's safety concerns with law enforcement, juvenile justice, and social services agencies, which is recommended by Colorado statute (SB 00-133), the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV), and the Colorado School Safety Resource Center (see the CSSRC's Essentials of School Threat Assessment: Preventing Targeted School Violence, LPS 03421-03443). Details: Boulder, CO: Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado Boulder, 2016. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2017 at: http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/publications/AHS-Report/Report_on_the_Arapahoe_High_School_Shooting_FINAL.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/publications/AHS-Report/Report_on_the_Arapahoe_High_School_Shooting_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 147035 Keywords: Information SharingSchool SafetySchool ShootingsSchool ViolenceThreat AssessmentViolence Prevention |
Author: U.S. National Institute of Justice Title: Sharing Ideas & Resources to Keep Out Nation's Schools Safe! Volume V Summary: In this fifth volume of Sharing Ideas and Resources To Keep Our Nation's Schools Safe, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Justice Technology Information Center (JTIC), part of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) System, present a new compilation of articles posted on the SchoolSafetyInfo.org website in the past year. While at first glance these articles seem to profile a wide variety of projects and programs, all of them have at least one thing in common. That is, their planners, coordinators and organizers told us the same thing: We want to help other schools. We want them to know what we're doing, and we want them to feel free to call us with questions, to help them start similar projects of their own. In 2017, schools, law enforcement agencies and communities keep on coming together across the United States as they create innovative and groundbreaking solutions to the persistent problems of violence, bullying, security breaches, gang tensions and social media abuse. For the past five years, SchoolSafetyInfo. org has worked toward ensuring that schools and school administrators, local law enforcement agencies and school resource officers know that they're not alone in their quest to make their schools safer, that others are working toward the same goal. We reach out to small rural school districts and to federal government agencies, and we always get the same answer: "We're taking a proactive approach here, and we want the rest of the country to know about it." These are just some of the projects you'll read about in this fifth volume: - Training for school bus drivers that emphasizes good communications skills and situational awareness. - A free video on how to handle bomb threats. - A simple reverse checkout procedure initiated by a school in rural Alabama. - A New Jersey program for a new class of Special Law Enforcement Officers. - A wide-ranging bullying prevention program that started with a group of concerned students. Details: Washington, DC: National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, 2017. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2017 at: https://justnet.org/pdf/Sharing-Ideas-and-Resources-Schools%20Safe_Vol5.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://justnet.org/pdf/Sharing-Ideas-and-Resources-Schools%20Safe_Vol5.pdf Shelf Number: 147394 Keywords: School BullyingSchool CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: U.S. National Institute of Justice Title: Sharing Ideas & Resources to Keep Our Nation's Schools Safe! Volume IV Summary: Apps. Databases. Tiplines. Videos. Educational campaigns. Throughout the United States, schools, law enforcement agencies and communities keep on coming together, continuing to create innovative and groundbreaking solutions to the persistent problems of violence, bullying, security breaches, gang tensions and social media abuse. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Justice Technology Information Center (JTIC), part of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) System, bring you more of these solutions in this fourth volume of Sharing Ideas and Resources to Keep Our Nation's Schools Safe. We want you to know about the people who are searching for, and finding, positive ways to address these problems. We want to tell you about the technologies and strategies that are working across the country, and we want to hear from you about what's going on in your area. In addition to the success stories that fill the three previous volumes in this series, we continually post new ones on SchoolSafetyInfo.org, the JTIC website dedicated to school safety news, information and technology. In addition to downloadable files of Volumes I, II and III, our site includes links to a wide range of resources and materials produced at the federal, state and association levels, and provides access to school safety-related publications and videos from NIJ and the NLECTC System. You can also learn about School Safe - JTIC's Security and Safety Assessment App for Schools, and obtain instructions on how to download it. In this fourth volume, you will read about an educational video on cybersafety produced by a concerned law enforcement officer in Georgia; new approaches to training implemented by the Indiana State Police and the campus police at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; a free campus safety app developed by a team of students at the University of Michigan; an educational campaign produced by high school students in Connecticut; and a number of other school-community-law enforcement collaborative projects. Details: Washington, DC: National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, 2016. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2017 at: https://justnet.org/pdf/00-Sharing%20Resources_Vol4_FINAL_508_06282016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://justnet.org/pdf/00-Sharing%20Resources_Vol4_FINAL_508_06282016.pdf Shelf Number: 147395 Keywords: CybercrimeCybersecuritySchool Bullying School Crime School Resource Officers School Safety School Security School Violence |
Author: U.S. National Institute of Justice Title: Sharing Ideas & Resources to Keep Out Nation's Schools Safe! Volume I Summary: Tragic events lead to new prevention and response strategies. We recognize that there are dangers in our communities and in our schools. These realities call for an enhanced focus on safety. The decades-old school fire drill has evolved to active shooter/ threat drills as threats have escalated and materialized, often with tragic outcomes. Our nation is seeking new and innovative ways to keep children and adults safe in school settings. Far from simply developing techniques to respond efficiently to an active incident, public safety officials are also exploring technologies to gauge and prevent potential crises. And they are sharing their ideas and results. Across the country, entire communities are rallying and dedicating themselves to being proactive in preventing school violence. There is much talk about how existing programs can be reinvigorated, what new technologies can be created and how training tools can be distributed to school resource officers (SROs), administrators and local law enforcement agencies. Modern threats are being addressed with modern technology, strategy and resolve. The U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is a leader in identifying and sharing new training and technology with law enforcement and other first responders. Since Congress passed the Safe Schools Initiative 15 years ago, NIJ has worked collaboratively with other federal agencies on behalf of our nation's law enforcement to answer the call to develop tools and strategies to boost security in our schools. Front-line professionals are working more closely with teachers and administrators, students, parents and community leaders to create alliances that will transform our nation's schools. NIJ, through the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), is helping communities gather and share their success stories in this publication and at SchoolSafetyInfo.org. In this guide, you will read about new uses for familiar, standard-bearing technologies such as: - Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT). - NIJ's School Critical Incident Planning-Generator (SCIP-G) tool. - NLECTC System video "It Can Happen Here." - Free online training from International Association of Chiefs of Police. - School Safety Audits. In addition, you will read about new products and apps such as: - Anne Arundel County (Md.) Police Department's Speak Out app. - Tucson's Mass Casualty Trauma Kits. - SmartPhone app for students to communicate with police. - See-Hear-Report text a tip program. - Real Time Location Systems (RTLS). This guide also reports on unique collaborative community efforts that are succeeding in cities and rural areas alike. Details: Washington, DC: National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), 2013. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2017 at: https://www.justnet.org/pdf/SharingResources_508.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.justnet.org/pdf/SharingResources_508.pdf Shelf Number: 147398 Keywords: School Bullying School Crime School Resource Officers School Safety School Security School Violence |
Author: Cramer, Julia Title: Funding for Safety and Security in Schools: A Fifty-State Review Summary: The 2016 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to "evaluate how Washington and other states have addressed the funding of school safety and security programs." In our 50-state review, we found that states use a variety of funding sources to support school safety and security measures like school resource officers, trainings, security equipment, and emergency plans. These sources may be specifically dedicated to school safety, or may allow-but not require-funds to be used for these purposes. These sources include dedicated state education formula funding, local levies, state grants and budget provisos, and federal grants. In Washington, education formula funding currently accounts for the majority of dedicated school safety resources. State and federal grants and state budget provisos are also used in Washington. All 50 states have used federal grants to support school safety activities. Many states also use ongoing or one-time state grants to support school safety. Washington, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Ohio are the only states that dedicate funding for school safety and security in their education funding formulas. Minnesota, Idaho, Colorado, and Ohio allow school districts to enact levies for additional revenue for school-safety purposes. Details: Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 2017. 42p Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2017 at: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1676/Wsipp_Funding-for-Safety-and-Security-in-Schools-A-Fifty-State-Review_Report.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1676/Wsipp_Funding-for-Safety-and-Security-in-Schools-A-Fifty-State-Review_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 148748 Keywords: School Crime School SafetySchool Security |
Author: Newman, Graeme R. Title: Bomb Threats in Schools Summary: The guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that increase the risk of bomb threats in schools. The guide then identifies a series of questions that might assist you in analyzing the local problem of bomb threats in schools. Finally, the guide reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice. The scope of this guide is limited to bomb threats in schools, public or private, kindergarten through 12 th grade. Colleges and universities are excluded because they generally differ from schools. Their organization and administration differ; they have their own police within the university community; and many universities do not have a physically identifiable perimeter as schools do. In fact, college campuses have much more in common with other public service organizations, such as health services, entertainment venues and, to some extent, shopping malls. While there are a number of common responses to bomb threats that apply to almost any setting, the environment of schools is sufficiently different to warrant separate consideration. The feature that distinguishes a bomb threat from other kinds of assaults and threats is that it is primarily a furtive crime - or at least a crime that can be committed from a distance. Modern communications make it possible for offenders to communicate their threat without having to physically confront the targets at the time of the threat or even at the time of the assault. Many assaults or destructive acts in schools follow threats, or constitute threats in themselves. The reason why an offender might choose a bomb as the carrier of the threat over some other item or implement of destruction and injury (e.g., assault weapons, arson) is unknown, though the immediate, disruptive action it causes is surely part of the reason. Certain kinds of injury and damage may also be enhanced by a bombing, such as arson achieved through an explosive device. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2005. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Problem-Specific Guides Series; Problem-Oriented Guides for Police No. 32: Accessed March 1, 2018 at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/pdfs/BombThreats.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/pdfs/BombThreats.pdf Shelf Number: 96682 Keywords: Boom ThreatsExplosivesSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Diliberti, Melissa Title: Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2015-16 First Look Summary: This report presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools,1 using data from the 2015-16 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2016). First administered in school year 1999-2000 and repeated in school years 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009- 10, and 2015-16, SSOCS provides information on school crime-related topics from the perspective of schools. Developed and managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education and supported by the National Institute of Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice, SSOCS asks public school principals about the prevalence of violent and serious violent crimes in their schools. Portions of this survey also focus on school security measures, disciplinary problems and actions, school security staff, the availability of mental health services in schools, and the programs and policies implemented to prevent and reduce crime in schools. SSOCS:2016 is based on a nationally representative stratified random sample of 3,553 U.S. public schools. Data collection began on February 22, 2016, when questionnaires were mailed to principals, and continued through July 5, 2016. A total of 2,092 public primary, middle, high, and combined schools provided complete questionnaires, yielding a response rate of approximately 63 percent once the responding schools were weighted to account for their original sampling probabilities. Per NCES Statistical Standards, a unit nonresponse bias analysis was performed due to the weighted response rate being less than 85 percent. The results suggest the characteristics of nonresponding schools differed significantly from those of responding schools. However, the unit nonresponse bias analysis also provided evidence that the nonresponse weighting adjustments used for SSOCS:2016 removed the observed nonresponse bias in characteristics known for both respondents and nonrespondents. This suggests that the weighting adjustments likely mitigated nonresponse bias in the SSOCS:2016 survey estimates, although some bias may remain after adjustment. For more information about the methodology and design of SSOCS, including how response rates were calculated and the details of the nonresponse bias analysis, please see Appendix B: Methodology and Technical Notes in this report. Because the purpose of this report is to introduce new NCES data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information, only selected findings are presented below. These findings have been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available when using SSOCS:2016 data rather than to discuss all of the observed differences. For a more detailed description of the variables presented in the tables, please see Appendix C: Description of Variables in this report. The tables in this report contain totals and percentages generated from bivariate crosstabulation procedures. All of the results are weighted to represent the population of U.S. public schools. The comparisons drawn in the bulleted items below have been tested for statistical significance at the .05 level using Student's t statistic to ensure that the differences are larger than those that might be expected due to sampling variation. Adjustments for multiple comparisons were not included. Many of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not been explored. Due to the large sample size, many differences (no matter how substantively minor) are statistically significant; thus, only differences of 5 percentage points or more between groups are mentioned in the findings. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2017. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 8, 2018 at: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf Shelf Number: 149323 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: James, Nathan Title: School Resource Officers: Law Enforcement Officers in Schools Summary: Some policymakers have expressed renewed interest in school resource officers (SROs) as a result of the December 2012 mass shooting that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. SROs are sworn law enforcement officers who are assigned to work in schools. For FY2014, the Administration requested $150 million in funding for a Comprehensive Schools Safety Program under the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The proposed program would provide funding for hiring school safety personnel, including SROs, civilian public safety personnel, school psychologists, social workers, and counselors. Funding would also be available for purchasing school safety equipment, developing and updating public safety plans, conducting threat assessments, and training crisis intervention teams. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show that the number of full-time law enforcement officers employed by local police departments or sheriff's offices who were assigned to work as SROs increased between 1997 and 2003 before decreasing slightly in 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available). Data show that a greater proportion of high schools, schools in cities, and schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more report having SROs. Two federal grant programs promoted SRO programs: the COPS in Schools (CIS) program, which was funded until FY2005, and State Formula Grants under the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA), which was funded until FY2009. The CIS program provided grants for hiring new, additional school resource officers to conduct community policing services in and around primary and secondary schools. Local educational agencies could use funds they received under the SDFSCA State Formula Grant program for, among other things, hiring and training school security personnel. The body of research on the effectiveness of SRO programs is limited, both in terms of the number of studies published and the methodological rigor of the studies conducted. The research that is available draws conflicting conclusions about whether SRO programs are effective at reducing school violence. Also, the research does not address whether SRO programs deter school shootings, one of the key reasons for renewed congressional interest in these programs. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Office, 2013. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS R43126: Accessed march 14, 2018 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43126.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43126.pdf Shelf Number: 149462 Keywords: School CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Payne, Allison Ann Title: Creating and Sustaining a Positive and Communal School Climate: Contemporary Research, Present Obstacles, and Future Directions Summary: Although school-related deaths, violent victimizations, and overall school crime have declined over the past two decades, crime and victimization in schools are still a cause for concern (Robers et al., 2015). As attention to school safety has increased over the past two decades, research has highlighted a variety of school-related factors shown to influence school disorder. Among these is school climate, the importance of which has been recognized for over a century (Perry, 1908; Dewey, 1916). Interest in school climate continues to grow, particularly as recent federal initiatives reflect increased recognition of the importance of school climate for positive youth development (U.S. Department of Education, 2010, 2014). School climate has a clear impact on all members of the school community. Students in schools with a positive and communal climate demonstrate stronger academic achievement and engagement, better socio-emotional health, and lower levels of absenteeism, truancy, dropping out, and victimization (Cohen and Geier, 2010; Payne et al., 2003). They also display lower levels of substance use and aggression, are subjected to fewer suspensions and expulsions, and engage in fewer deviant and criminal acts (Payne, 2008; Thapa et al., 2013). Additionally, teachers in a school with a positive and communal climate experience higher levels of efficacy, morale, and satisfaction, and lower levels of absenteeism, turnover, and victimization (Cohen and Geier, 2010; Gottfredson et al., 2005; NSCC, 2007; Payne et al. 2003). It is clear that this type of school climate has great influence on the safety and success of a school and the behavioral and academic outcomes of its students. Unfortunately, the benefits resulting from a positive and communal school climate have not been translated into effective educational practices. This "translation gap" - the gap between school climate research and policy - stems from several problems. One is the lack of an agreed-upon definition of school climate (NSCC, 2007). Researchers define school climate in countless ways and continue to debate the key components of a positive and communal school climate. While many focus on the relationships among school community members and the commonality of the school's goals, norms, and values, there is no consensus on a universal definition. Without a clear definition that fully articulates exactly what constitutes school climate, school leaders are left without a roadmap for school climate improvement, and the translation gap continues to widen. A second matter that contributes to the gap between research and policy stems from this lack of a universal definition. Because there is disagreement on what constitutes school climate, there is also disagreement on how it can best be assessed. This has led states, districts, and schools to use tools that have not been tested for reliability and validity or have come up short in this area, and that do not capture the comprehensive nature of school climate, either in terms of components or in terms of school community members (Cohen, 2013). It is imperative that school climate is assessed using reliable and valid instruments that capture all elements of school climate and recognize the voices of all school members. Results from such an assessment can provide useful and accurate data to inform the school improvement process. Another area that has not been fully explored is the process that links school climate to its beneficial outcomes. Some have proposed that a positive and communal school climate leads to a greater sense of belonging, which, in turn, leads to more prosocial behaviors: Schools with such climates meet the needs of both teachers and students, who therefore become more attached to other school community members, more committed to the school's mission and goals, and more likely to internalize school norms and rules (Payne, 2008). This process is key for schools because students who are well integrated are not only more likely to have a positive learning experience but are also less likely to engage in deviance and crime. Although research has begun to document the relationship between positive and communal school climates and school bonding, more work is needed. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie this relationship is vital as school leaders work to develop successful school improvement plans. A lack of school climate leadership also plays a role in the gap between school climate research and policy. Having strong and defined leadership roles at the state, district, and school levels is integral for school climate policies and practices to be effectively developed and implemented (NSCC, 2007). In addition, many school climate improvement efforts are generally isolated within a narrower focus, such as student health or school safety, rather than holistically implemented into larger school-wide changes that include a focus on accountability, school community norms and beliefs, and other dimensions of school climate (NSCC, 2007). It is abundantly clear that creating and sustaining a positive and communal school climate would lead to beneficial improvements in students' academic and behavioral success. By engaging in a school climate improvement process, education leaders at the state, district, and school levels can increase the safety and success of all members of the school community. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2018. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 10, 2018 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250209.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250209.pdf Shelf Number: 149755 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool ShootingsSchool Violence |
Author: Advancement Project Title: Police in Schools Are Not the Answer to School Shootings Summary: Today, we are reissuing Police in Schools are Not the Answer to the Newtown Shootings, an issue brief that our organizations released in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. At the time, many of the responses to the shooting focused on placing more police officers and more guns in schools. Research and the experiences of countless students, teachers, and parents have taught us that while these proposals may create the appearance of safety, the actual effects wreak havoc on school culture and fuel the school-to-prison pipeline. After Newtown, we urged lawmakers at the local, state, and national level to resist policies that would turn even more schools into hostile environments where students, especially Black and Brown students, are more likely to be arrested, harassed, and assaulted by police. Five years later, in the wake of the tragic Parkland shooting, we have yet again seen calls to militarize and weaponize our schools, despite no evidence that these policies will protect our students. Our position remains the same: proposals that increase the presence of police, guns, and other law enforcement approaches to school safety should not be the response to school shootings. This foreword includes new evidence and experiences that demonstrate why police do not belong in schools. Police do not contribute to positive, nurturing learning environments for students. The increased presence of police officers in schools across the country discipline has been linked to increases in school-based arrests for minor misbehaviors and negative impacts on school climate. In the last five years, the evidence against placing police in schools has only grown. National School Survey on Crime and Safety data show that having a School Resource Officer at a school on at least a weekly basis increases the number of students who will be involved in the justice system. Arrest rates for disorderly conduct and low-level assault substantially increase when police are assigned to schools. The evidence does not suggest that police are the best way to improve school safety; rather, increasing their numbers comes at an unacceptable cost in the form of the criminalization and overincarceration of students. Although students of color do not misbehave more than white students, they are disproportionately policed in schools: nationally, Black and Latinx youth made up over 58% of school-based arrests while representing only 40% of public school enrollment and Black and Brown students were more likely to attend schools that employed school resource officers (SROs), but not school counselors. Black students were more than twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement or arrested at school as their white peers. Research shows that police officers perceive Black youth differently than they do white youth, and this bias, not any actual difference in behavior, leads to the over-criminalization of students of color. Police see Black children as less "childlike" than their White peers and overestimate the age and culpability of Black children accused of an offense more than they do for white children accused of an offense. Details: Los Angeles: Advancement Project, 2013. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 20, 2018 at: https://advancementproject.org/resources/police-schools-not-answer-school-shootings/ Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://advancementproject.org/resources/police-schools-not-answer-school-shootings/ Shelf Number: 149870 Keywords: Mass ShootingsRacial DisparitiesSchool CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool ShootingsSchool Violence |
Author: Madan, Gita Rao Title: Policing in Toronto Schools: Race-ing the Conversation Summary: In 2008, fully armed and uniformed police officers were deployed to thirty public high schools in Toronto to patrol the hallways on a full-time basis. The permanent assignment of police to the city's schools represents an unprecedented turn toward a disciplinary strategy rooted in a paradigm of security and surveillance. This institutional ethnography traces the chronology of the program, exploring how race-absent official discourses of safety and relationship building are used not only to legitimize the program but also to conceal how it works to produce and sustain social inequalities in schools. I argue that racial power is constitutive of the SRO program itself-that it is not simply an effect or consequence of the program's existence but the very instrument through which it operates. As such, a framework for school discipline that is rooted in equity and justice would require the complete removal of police officers from school spaces. Details: Toronto: University of Toronto, 2016. 101p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed Mary 4, 2018 at: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/71685/1/Madan_Gita_R_201603_MA_thesis.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Canada URL: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/71685/1/Madan_Gita_R_201603_MA_thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 150047 Keywords: School CrimeSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool Violence |
Author: Losen, Daniel J. Title: Suspended Education in Massachusetts: Using Days of Lost Instruction Summary: Missed instruction can have a devastating impact on educational outcomes. Scholars have found that missing three or more days of school in the fourth grade predicts a reduction in reading achievement by one full grade level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Ginsburg, Jordan, & Chang, 2014). Of course, some reasons for missed instruction are beyond the control of schools and districts: some students miss school due to mental or physical illness or injury, and transportation problems sometimes are to blame. These external reasons for missed instruction contribute a great deal to chronic absenteeism, but they are difficult for schools to address because they are not caused directly by a school policy or practice. One major reason for missed instruction that schools can directly influence is the decision school administrators make to suspend students, as well as the length of suspensions. In 2015-16, students in Massachusetts missed an estimated 156,793 days of school, or approximately 16 days per every 100 enrolled students, all due to suspension. School policy and practice varies widely in Massachusetts, but because the majority of schools use suspension as a measure of last resort, most parents don't realize the massive amount of instruction time children lose due to disciplinary removal in some schools and districts. Discipline reform efforts have been built around extensive research that has tracked individual students over many years, which shows that suspensions are among the leading predictor of failing to graduate high school and involvement in the juvenile justice system. (Fabelo et al., 2011). In fact, leading scholars estimate that suspensions can lower graduation rates by six to 14 percentage points, depending on the state (Balfanz, Byrnes, & Fox, 2015; Marchbanks et al., 2015; Rumberger & Losen, 2016). This is critically important given that after controlling for race, poverty, students' prior behavior, and 80 other variables, the factors schools control are powerful predictors of whether suspensions are used frequently or rarely (Fabelo et al., 2011). Another leading predictor of disparities in suspension rates was found to be the school principals' attitudes toward school discipline. (Skiba et al., 2014). Specifically, after controlling for demographic differences in enrollment, in response to a statewide survey, principals of schools that embraced harsh discipline as a needed punitive response and blamed parents and children for problematic behavior had higher suspension rates and lower achievement scores than those principals that framed their discipline approach as part of their school's educational mission, to help ensure that students learned appropriate behavior, rather than a punitive response. As this report will demonstrate, numerous schools in the Commonwealth regularly remove a high number of students, culminating in large amount of lost instruction time. Furthermore, the impact of discipline has more to do with the conditions of learning than of safety, as most missed instruction is the result of suspensions for minor behaviors that do not involve violence, drugs, or criminal activity. Details: Los Angeles, Center for Civil Rights Remedies, 2017. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 7, 2018 at: http://schottfoundation.org/report/suspended-education-massachusetts Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://schottfoundation.org/report/suspended-education-massachusetts Shelf Number: 150078 Keywords: School AttendanceSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Suspension |
Author: Liu, John C. Title: The Suspension Spike: Changing the Discipline Culture in NYC's Middle Schools Summary: Research findings have established that a middle school pattern of even mild behavioral issues, either alone, or in conjunction with several other factors including absenteeism and academic performance in English and Mathematics, is an early warning that a student may be on the path to potentially dropping out of school. The Department of Education's current disciplinary approach, rooted in "zero-tolerance" philosophy, relies heavily on punitive measures, including suspensions, as a response to a wide array of behaviors. In the 2011- 2012 school year, more than 18,000 suspensions were meted out to students in grades 6 through 8 attending standalone middle schools. Yet, lengthy and repeated suspensions for disruptive behavior such as speaking disrespectfully to a teacher or fellow student result in lost learning days, contribute to students' feelings of alienation from school, and perhaps most importantly, do little or nothing to address the root causes of the behavior. Moreover, there are significant racial, ethnic, and other disparities in suspension rates. Maintaining a calm, respectful, and secure school climate is critical to the success of New York City's approximately 210,000 middle school students. Middle school is the last chance to "catch up" on both the academic and social-emotional skills needed to be successful in high school. Accordingly, concerns about improving New York City's middle school grades are well-deserved. Despite the myriad studies and good intentions, however, the middle school years have not received the same sustained focus and resources as educational reforms targeted at younger children. In particular, the interplay between school climate and behavioral issues and its relationship to academic achievement merits greater attention at a time when graduating from high school and pursuing post-secondary educational attainment is more important than ever. Violent, disruptive behavior that compromises the safe and supportive learning environment that all students deserve is not acceptable. The proposals in this report identify a range of positive approaches to promoting a safe and considerate learning environment for middle school students, teachers, and administrators that recognize the social-emotional and behavioral issues of this age group, particularly for students most at risk of eventually dropping out. A pilot program to introduce a whole-school climate change program based on the principles of restorative justice offers new tools for addressing and repairing the harm created by behavioral issues. Increasing the availability of school counselors and social workers would provide critical front-line support for struggling students. To advance these recommendations, system-wide changes should be made to the Department of Education's Discipline Code, the oversight of School Safety Agents, and the collection of data on suspensions and arrests. Details: New York: New York City Comptroller, 2013. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 7, 2018 at: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/NYC_MiddleSchools_Report.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/NYC_MiddleSchools_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 150080 Keywords: Restorative JusticeSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool SuspensionsZero Tolerance Policies |
Author: Stringer, Scott M. Title: Safe and Supportive Schools: A Plan to Improve School Climate and Safety in NYC Summary: At a time when the nation is deeply embroiled in concerns around school safety, it is not surprising that many strategies for creating safe school environments are under renewed consideration - everything from providing more mental health services to students, to expanded school lockdown drills, to extreme responses calling for arming teachers with guns. The horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida served as a catalyst to this debate, forcing communities across the country to consider how best to safeguard their students. It is an important and overdue conversation - and one that New York City should seize as an opportunity to re-evaluate its own approach to creating safe and supportive school environments. To help guide the discussion, this report by the Office of the Comptroller Scott M. Stringer presents a review of current data related to school safety in New York City, and from that data draws a series of holistic recommendations on how to make City schools healthier and more secure.[i] It is based on the premise that "school safety," as a goal, extends beyond protecting children from external threats, and must include universal school-based mental health services, anti-bullying programs, and school disciplinary systems that students and teachers alike perceive as fair, not only in the rules they establish, but also in how equitably those rules are applied to different students and situations. Unfortunately, progress in improving the climate of New York City schools has been uneven. When surveyed, students disclose the fact that bullying remains common in schools, and has climbed in recent years. Additionally, despite the significant long-term impacts on students' academic outcomes, suspensions, issuing summonses, and even arrests continue to be used frequently in schools. These punishments continue to fall disproportionately on students of color. At the same time, while some schools are adopting less punitive, more restorative approaches to conflict resolution and behavioral challenges, without a system-wide, strategic implementation plan to support student mental health in schools and professional development of all school staff in trauma-informed crisis prevention and de-escalation, many schools are poorly equipped to significantly improve school climate. Research indicates that arrest or court involvement involving students doubles the likelihood that a student will not complete high school. Similarly, suspension from school increases the likelihood that a student will drop out by more than 12 percent. The higher risk of drop out due to arrests and suspensions translates to significant costs, including lost tax revenues and additional social spending to taxpayers. And yet, despite recent improvements, such extreme responses are still common for students in New York City. Specific findings of this report include: In the 2017 student survey, 82 percent of students in grades 6-12 said that their peers harass, bully, or intimidate others in school, compared with 65 percent of students in 2012. In 2017, over 17 percent of students in grades 6-12, disagreed or strongly disagreed that they felt safe in hallways, bathrooms, locker rooms, or the cafeteria of the school. Likewise, 23 percent of students in the same age groups disagreed or strongly disagreed that they felt safe in the vicinity of the school. In 2017, 17 percent of students surveyed feel that there is no adult in the school in whom they can confide. Despite supporting policies to reduce suspensions, the most recent data shows that suspensions increased in City schools by more than 20 percent in the first half of the 2017-18 school year compared with the same time period the year before. Black students are suspended at more than three times the rate of white students. Of the 612 schools reporting the most violent incidents in the 2016-17 school year, 218 (36 percent) have no full-time social worker on staff. Of those that do have a social worker on staff, caseloads average over 700 students - well above the minimum recommended level of one social worker for every 250 general education students. School Safety Agents and NYPD officers issued over 2,000 arrests or summonses in schools in the 2016-17 school year for charges including marijuana possession and disorderly conduct. In newly released data on law enforcement activity in the City's schools, during the first quarter of 2018, there were 606 summonses and arrests, down from 689 in the same time period in 2017. In the 2016-17 school year, students were handcuffed in over 1,800 incidents, including children as young as five years old. More than 90 percent of students handcuffed were Black or Latinx. Similarly, 90 percent of all arrests or summonses involved Black or Latinx students. These trends underscore the urgency to apply new strategies to the long-running challenge of system-wide school safety and discipline reform. Without investments in school-based mental health, fostering student social and emotional growth, and clear accountability measures for school climate improvement, too many students will be left to feel that schools are not doing enough to keep them safe and to provide the healthy environment necessary for building strong communities and advancing academic progress. To address these issues, the Comptroller's Office recommends that the City and the Department of Education: Expand small social emotional learning advisories in all schools. Students who have a trusted group of peers and at least one adult to confide in have greater academic outcomes as well as more positive social attitudes and behaviors. Offering a daily or weekly advisory period within the school-day schedule, complete with a structured curriculum and teachers who are supported in implementing it, provides a framework to support and encourage students as they navigate social challenges. Many smaller schools already offer an advisory program and understand the benefits of a small group dynamic. To scale the advisory program to all schools, the DOE should begin by surveying schools to learn how many offer an advisory program within the school day. Additionally, the DOE should mandate that all middle and high schools have advisories in place and ensure schools have access to adequate curriculum supports and professional development. Expand the Ranks of Social Workers and Guidance Counselors in Our Schools. In most cases, in-school behavior incidents are best dealt with by professionals who are trained in the appropriate responses to emotional or behavioral crises. Yet many schools do not have even a single social worker on staff to respond to school incidents in a trauma-informed way. The City should invest in social workers, ensure they have dedicated time and space in schools to work with students, and ensure school management has the capacity to help them succeed. Add More Clarity to the Role of School Safety Agents. School Safety Agents (SSAs) are well-equipped to protect students from threats that may exist outside a school building, and to maintain secure school buildings and property. However, their training cannot prepare them - and they should not be expected - to police student behavior or manage mental health crises. In some cases, school administrations rely on Safety Agents or NYPD officers to respond to in-school incidents. In other cases, SSAs may interact with students in a way that is at cross purposes to a school culture based on trust and mutual respect. When Safety Agents interactions with students hinder a supportive school climate, other efforts to build trust within a school are minimized. This misalignment of resources has high economic costs to the City, as well as long-term social costs for children who end up diverted into the criminal justice system as a result of policing in schools. The City should update the Memorandum of Understanding that governs DOE's relationship with NYPD to clearly outline the appropriate SSA interventions for specific student misconduct scenarios. Fund a Comprehensive Mental Health Support Continuum. Nationwide, approximately two-thirds of youth with a mental health disorder go untreated. In New York City, with the launch of the ThriveNYC mental health initiative, more supports have become available in schools. However, to address mental health challenges for students - especially in schools with the highest incidents of suspensions and arrests - more targeted interventions and direct services for students are needed. The City should fund a continuum of mental health supports for the highest-need schools including hospital-based mental health partnerships, mobile response teams, and school-based mental health care. Establish and Oversee System-Wide Trauma-Informed Schools. Students impacted by trauma are present in every school in the City, particularly when that trauma is linked to the chronic stresses of poverty. Because trauma can severely disrupt a student's academic potential, schools need to support educators in taking a trauma-informed approach to students, through recognizing the signs in children and understanding how to positively respond to their academic and social-emotional behaviors. Classroom discipline that is trauma-informed is consistent, non-violent, and respectful. The Positive Learning Collaborative, an innovative pilot launched in 20 New York City Schools in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers, provides in-depth training to teachers in therapeutic crisis intervention, and supports school-wide bullying prevention and gender-inclusive schools. The City should create a system-wide trauma-informed approach at all City schools. Expand Baseline Funding for Restorative Practices. Restorative practices, an alternative to exclusionary discipline, emphasize empathy, personal responsibility, and restoring community in the conflict resolution process. Examples from around the nation show that the approach has been highly effective in improving school climate and reducing suspensions. But transitioning to restorative practices requires investment in school-based consulting on implementation and capacity-building, and centralized program supports and evaluation. The City should adopt and sustain funding for restorative justice initiatives for a minimum three-year implementation period, and expand the initiative's reach to more schools. School climate is a bedrock education issue. Without cultivating safe and supportive schools for students and teachers alike, other initiatives aimed at improving academic outcomes will not be maximized. Details: New York: New York City Comptroller, 2018. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2018 at: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/School-Climate.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/School-Climate.pdf Shelf Number: 153288 Keywords: School BullyingSchool ClimateSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SafetySchool Security |
Author: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Title: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Initial Report Summary: Commission Responsibilities and Scope of Report The MSDHSPSA specified a number of specific considerations and topics that the Commission should address in its initial report to the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President. The following is a summary of the tasks as assigned by law. - Produce a timeline of the incident, incident response and all relevant events preceding the incident. - Review interactions between the perpetrator and governmental entities such as schools, law enforcement agencies, courts and social service agencies. - Identify failures to adequately communicate or coordinate regarding indicators of risk or possible threats and whether failures contributed to an inability to prevent deaths and injuries - Analyze incident response by local law enforcement agencies and school resource officers, including a review of existing policies and procedures for active assailant incidents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. - Evaluate whether the incident response complied with the existing policies and procedures and how those existing policies and procedures compare to national best practices. -Evaluate whether failures in the policies and procedures, or execution of them, contributed to an inability to prevent deaths and injuries. - Provide recommendations for improvements for law enforcement and school resource officer response. - Provide recommendation for a ratio of school resource officers per school by school type along with a methodology for determining ratio, which must include school location, student population and school design. - Provide recommendations for improving communication and coordination of agencies that have knowledge of indicators of risk or possible threats of mass violence. - Provide recommendations for effectively using available state/local tools and resources for enhancing communication and coordination related to indicators of risk or possible threats. During the Commission's first meeting on April 24, 2018, the requirements of the law were discussed and grouped into specific topic areas. The Commission voted on a list of topic areas to be included in the initial report. They are as follows: - History of K-12 active assailant events - Nikolas Cruz background and timeline - Marjory Stoneman Douglas physical structure and security - Active assailant response- Broward schools and school board - Active assailant response Broward sheriff's office on campus response - Active assailant response- law enforcement officer response by Broward Sheriff's Office, Coral Springs Police Department and incident command response. - Other topics: social media, Florida mental health system, baker act, privacy laws and threat assessment and management. During the course of the Commission's investigation and subsequent Commission meetings, other topics were addressed and these topic areas were slightly modified and reorganized as presented in this report. Because of the urgency of this issue, the Commission's initial report was completed within a relatively short time-frame in relation to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. In many other similar incidents, such as Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, post incident reports and evaluations were completed several years following the events. As a result, several ancillary investigations into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre or parts of the incident were also in the process of being conducted at the same time the Commission was conducting its investigation. This Commission attempted to coordinate with the entities conducting the other investigations so as not to duplicate or interfere with the other investigations, but some of the final reports were not available to the Commission for the purposes of compiling this report. There were also several active legal cases regarding the incident, which impeded obtaining some relevant testimony, documents and other investigative materials. During the Commission's subsequent years, portions of this report may be amended to take into account new information not available at the time this report was prepared. Details: Florida: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, 2018. 407p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/Meetings/2018/December-Meeting-Documents/Marjory-Stoneman-Douglas-High-School-Public-Draft1.aspx Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/stoneman-douglas-safety-commission-findings/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content&eid=350368269&bid=2329105 Shelf Number: 154071 Keywords: Active ShooterGun ViolenceLaw Enforcement ResponseMarjory Stoneman High School MassacreMass ShootingsMass ViolenceMental HealthSchool Resource OfficersSchool SafetySchool ShootingsThreat Assessment |
Author: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Title: Behind the numbers: ending school violence and bullying Summary: School-related violence in all its forms is an infringement of children's and adolescents' rights to education and to health and well-being. No country can achieve inclusive and equitable quality education for all if learners experience violence and bullying in school.This UNESCO publication provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of global and regional prevalence and trends related to school-related violence and examines the nature and impact of school violence and bullying. It reviews national responses, focusing on countries that have seen positive trends in prevalence and identifies factors that have contributed to an effective response to school violence and bullying.Addressing school violence and bullying is essential in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and SDG 16, which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies. Monitoring progress in this regard requires accurate data on prevalence and trends in school violence and bullying, and on how effectively the education sector is responding to it. This publication aims to contribute to monitoring progress towards the achievement of safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments.School violence and bullying can be devastating for the victims. The consequences include children and youth finding it difficult to concentrate in class, missing classes, avoiding school activities, playing truant or dropping out of school altogether. This has an adverse impact on academic achievement and future education and employment prospects. An atmosphere of anxiety, fear and insecurity is incompatible with learning and unsafe learning environments can, therefore, undermine the quality of education for all learners.This publication builds on previous UNESCO work on school violence and bullying including publication of the School Violence and Bullying: Global Status Report (UNESCO, 2017), and we trust that it will be useful to everyone who has an interest in preventing and addressing school violence and bullying. We also hope that it will make an important contribution to the Safe to Learn Campaign, which aims to end all violence in schools by 2024, by raising awareness and catalyzing action to eliminate school violence and bullying Details: Paris: UNESCO, 2019. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2019 at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366483 Year: 2019 Country: International URL: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366483 Shelf Number: 154394 Keywords: School BullyingSchool CrimeSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Title: Initial Report Summary: School safety in Florida needs to be improved. We can do more and we can do a better job of ensuring the safety of students and staff on K-12 school campuses. Not all school security changes or enhancements have financial costs, and some only require the will of decision-makers to effect change and hold people responsible for implementing best practices. Safety and security accountability is lacking in schools, and that accountability is paramount for effective change if we expect a different result in the future than what occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDHS) on February 14, 2018. Accountability starts at the top of every organization, and all leaders have an obligation to ensure not only that the law is followed, but that effective policies and best practices are implemented. Even after the MSDHS shooting and the implementation of new Florida law requiring certain safety measures, there remains non-compliance and a lack of urgency to enact basic safety principles in Florida's K-12 schools. All stakeholders-school districts, law enforcement, mental health providers, city and county governments, funding entities, etc. - should embrace the opportunity to change and make Florida schools the safest in the nation. There must be a sense of urgency-and there is not, across-the-board-in enhancing school safety. At its core, basic, effective school safety begins with prevention. Prevention strategies not only focus on target hardening, but include early intervention when youth demonstrate indicators that should be immediately and appropriately assessed and addressed. However, equally important are harm mitigation aspects of school safety, which can be divided into a few key components: identifying the threat at the earliest possible moment; notifying others of the threat; implementing an effective response by those vulnerable to the threat; and stopping the threat as soon as possible. These harm mitigation concepts should be immediately implemented across all Florida K-12 schools. There are more complex, proactive components to school safety that will help prevent violence from occurring, but once an attack has commenced, the focus must be on immediately mitigating the harm, and these basic concepts, as set forth in this report's recommendations, are essential to that goal. Details: Tallahassee: Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 2019. 458p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2019 at: http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/CommissionReport.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/CommissionReport.pdf Shelf Number: 154628 Keywords: Gun ViolenceMass ShootingsMass ViolenceSchool SafetySchool SecuritySchool ShootingsSchool ViolenceThreat Assessment |
Author: Klinger, Amy Title: Violent Threats and Incidents in Schools: An Analysis of the 2017-2018 School Year Summary: On February 14, 2018, the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida became the spark that once again ignited a national conversation about violence in schools. Amid the political agendas, recriminations, activism, and just plain fear, a critical element has been overlooked - the need to move beyond speculation and anecdotes about school safety to a data-based analysis of the threats and incidents of violence that have occurred in K-12 United States schools during the past academic year. This report provides insights and a critical analysis of the 2017-2018 school year. The Educator's School Safety Network (ESSN), a national non-profit school safety organization, has compiled the most current information on threats and incidents of violence in America's schools to examine the frequency, scope, and severity of the problem. In the 2017-2018 school year, more than 3,659 threats and incidents of violence occurred in American K-12 schools. Perhaps the most concerning figures are the significant increases in threats and incidents from school year to school year. There were at least 3,380 threats recorded in the 2017-2018 school year, a 62% increase from 2,085 threats in the 2016-2017 school year. Details: s.l.: Educator's School Safety Network, 2019. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 25, 2019 at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55674542e4b074aad07152ba/t/5b685da703ce64d6290738f5/1533566404851/www.eSchoolSafety.org_Violent+threats+and+incidents+in+schools+report+2017-2018.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55674542e4b074aad07152ba/t/5b685da703ce64d6290738f5/1533566404851/www.eSchoolSafety.org_Violent+threats+and+incidents+in+schools+report+2017-2018.pdf Shelf Number: 154733 Keywords: Mass Shootings School SafetySchool Shootings School Violence Threat Assessment |
Author: Fronius, Trevor Title: Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: An Updated Research Review Summary: This report summarizes information from a comprehensive review of the literature on restorative justice in U.S. schools. It updates and expands an earlier review on this subject, published by WestEd in 2016, and covers literature that was published or made publicly available between 1999 and mid-2018. The review captures key issues, describes models of restorative justice, and summarizes results from studies conducted in the field. Restorative justice is a broad term and is used in this report to capture what the literature describes using a variety of terms, including "restorative practices," "restorative approaches," and similar language. The report describes restorative justice as encompassing "a growing social movement to institutionalize non-punitive, relationship-centered approaches for avoiding and addressing harm, responding to violations of legal and human rights, and collaboratively solving problems." This updated review was developed with funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of a larger effort of the WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center (JPRC) to document the current breadth of evidence on restorative justice, provide a more comprehensive picture of how restorative practices are implemented in schools, and lay the groundwork for future research, implementation, and policy. Details: San Francisco, California: WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center, 2019. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 31, 2019 at: https://www.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/resource-restorative-justice-in-u-s-schools-an-updated-research-review.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/resource-restorative-justice-in-u-s-schools-an-updated-research-review.pdf Shelf Number: 156120 Keywords: Restorative Justice School Crime School Discipline School Safety |
Author: Sechrist, Stacy M. Title: Educating Kids about Gun Violence (EKG) Evaluation Results Year 1: Sept. 2014 - May 2015 Summary: The Educating Kids about Gun Violence (EKG) program is part of the Fayetteville Police Department's Operation Ceasefire initiative, The EKG program began in 2014 and is designed to teach kids about gun and gang violence and prepare them for healthy decision-making. The program is taught by Fayetteville Police Department officers to youth in all 7th and 9th grade health classes in the Cumberland County School System, representing a unique partnership between law enforcement and the schools. By the end of the 2014 - 2015 school year, the Department will have reached over 8600 students county-wide with its gun and gang violence prevention and education message. The EKG program uses a video called "Decision Points" (which was created and produced in Fayetteville, NC) featuring a number of scenarios involving a young male who is faced with various decision points about gun and gang violence. The video exposes the classroom participants to the potential consequences of poor decision-making about guns and gangs. Classroom participants then discuss decision-making and how the young male in the video could have made better decisions along the way to prevent the negative consequences he experienced in the video. Details: Greensboro, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Greensboro and North Carolina Network for Safe Communities, 2016. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 17, 2019 at: https://ncnsc.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/EKG-Evaluation-Results-Year-1-Mar-2016-v4.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://ncnsc.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/EKG-Evaluation-Results-Year-1-Mar-2016-v4.pdf Shelf Number: 156471 Keywords: Educating Kids about Gun Violence Firearms Gangs Gun Violence Law Enforcement Police Officers School Safety |
Author: National Gang Center Title: Responding to Gangs in Schools: A Collaborative Approach to School Safety Summary: Gang affiliation is not something that students leave behind when they come to school. Gang members do not leave their behaviors, attitudes, and conflicts outside the school environment. Gangs, unchecked and unidentified in a school setting, often engage in threat and intimidation; physical and cyber bullying; fighting; recruiting; and criminal activities such as the introduction and use of weapons, assault, sex trafficking, vandalism, and illegal drug sales. The absence of a well-developed, strategic, collaborative, and effective school safety plan can lead to violence and other unsafe and disruptive activities within a school setting. It is not solely the responsibility of schools to create and maintain a safe learning environment, free from the disruption gangs can cause, for students, faculty, and staff. To develop a comprehensive plan that identifies effective, evidence-based strategies to address gang issues in the school environment requires the involvement of law enforcement, school administrators and staff, and other key sectors of the community. The OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model highlights such a holistic approach by coordinating the roles of all agencies and organizations within a community that are responsible for addressing gang-related crime and violence. Schools are part of the larger community. Details: Tallahassee, Florida: National Gang Center, 2019. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2019 at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED594661.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Gangs-in-Schools Shelf Number: 156924 Keywords: CyberbullyingGangsSchool SafetySchool Violence |
Author: Mears, Daniel Title: The Pam Beach County School Safety and Student Performance Partnership Research Project: Final Research Report Summary: Statement of the Problem In the 1980s, school districts around the country began to implement "get tough" responses to juvenile offending. Simultaneously, and consistent with the broader tough-on-crime movement, schools focused their attention on high-risk youth and on more punitive, and less rehabilitative, interventions. In more recent years, there has been recognition that a more balanced approach, one that provides for accountability and for rehabilitation and support, may be a more effective way to promote student and school success. To this end, schools have sought to develop interventions that reduce offending, juvenile court referrals, and school-based behavioral problems, and, at the same time, improve academic outcomes such as attendance, academic promotion, and grades. There is a need not only to develop such interventions but also to evaluate their effectiveness and to examine factors that influence their implementation. This project responded to this need through the expansion of a pilot initiative in Florida's School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) and an evaluation of it, in collaboration with Florida State University (FSU), using an experimental design. A central premise of the intervention is that improved school safety requires systematic attention to law enforcement- and court-involved youth. It therefore focuses on youth who have had contact with the police, been arrested, received a law enforcement sanction, or received a court-ordered sanction. The implementation of the program and study involved a collaboration among the SDPBC, FSU, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the SDPBC Police Department, the Parent-Child Center (PCC), and the Drug Abuse Treatment Association (DATA). This collaborative partnership afforded a unique opportunity to develop a promising initiative for promoting school safety not only in SDPBC but also in other districts. Research Goals and Objectives: The purpose of this project was to implement and evaluate a school-based intervention that aimed to improve school safety, reduce school misconduct and referrals to juvenile court, and improve students' behavioral and academic outcomes. To assess the effect of the intervention on students and schools, respectively, the evaluation employed a mixed methods approach that included (1) an experimental design in which students were randomly assigned to the program or a control group, (2) a longitudinal analysis of intervention and comparison schools to assess school-level effects, and (3) a process evaluation that documented how well the program implementation conformed with the program's design, barriers and facilitators to effective implementation, and strategies other schools and districts might use to implement the intervention successfully. The reliance on an experimental design is a central strength of this study. Despite the fact that randomized trials are generally considered the "gold standard" for assessing internal validity, they continue to be the exception rather than the rule in criminological research (Weisburd 2010; Welsh et al. 2013). An additional strength of the study is the incorporation of a process evaluation, which was used to monitor implementation, identify strategies for improving implementation, and glean lessons about how other districts might successfully implement similar interventions (Laub 2012). Three goals guided the evaluation. Goal 1. Test the impact of targeted wraparound services on the delinquency and educational outcomes of law enforcement- and court-sanctioned youth through an experimental design in which eligible youth are randomly assigned to the intervention (treatment) or to "business as usual" (control). In this study, "business as usual" constituted the typical approach used with youth who had police- or court-contact. Youth in the control group did not receive the school-based wraparound services and treatment. This approach was justified by the fact that at the outset it was unknown whether the intervention was more effective at improving youth outcomes and by the fact that the intervention did not remove services for students but rather augmented them to determine if doing so improved outcomes. Objectives related to goal 1 included assessing the impact of wraparound services and, for youth on probation, school-based probation on future delinquency, school attendance, and academic performance for both law enforcement- and court-involved youth. To achieve these objectives, the study sought to answer the following research questions: 1. Does the intervention reduce at-risk youths' likelihood of future police contact? 2. Does it reduce at-risk youths' likelihood of misconduct at school? 3. Does it improve school attendance among at-risk youth? 4. Does it increase grade advancement among at-risk youth? 5. Does it improve academic performance among at-risk youth? Goal 2. Test the impact of the intervention on overall school safety and student performance through analyses of matched samples of schools. Objectives related to goal 2 included assessing the effects of the intervention on school disciplinary infractions, delinquency, student performance, and climate. The research questions were as follows: 1. Does the intervention reduce schools' rates of disciplinary infractions? 2. Does it reduce school suspensions and improve student academic performance? 3. Does it improve school climate, as assessed through school climate surveys? Goal 3. Assess how well the intervention is implemented, document barriers and facilitators to effective implementation of the intervention, and identify strategies that other school districts could use to successfully adopt a similar intervention. Objectives related to goal 3 included assessing the intervention's implementation, documenting barriers and facilitators to successful implementation, and identifying how the intervention might be successfully transferred to or adopted by other schools or school districts. Here, the research questions included: 1. What intervention activities were fully implemented with fidelity to program design? 2. What activities were viewed by program staff as most effective in improving outcomes? 3. What factors inhibit or facilitate full and quality implementation of program activities? 4. What approaches would contribute to successful adoption of the intervention? Details: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2018. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2019 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252845.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=275073 Shelf Number: 156920 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Offenders Law Enforcement Program Evaluation Rehabilitation School Safety |
Author: Mears, Daniel Title: The Causal Logic Model of the Palm Beach County School Safety and Student Performance Program Summary: Introduction The School Safety and Student Performance Program (hereinafter "the program") was designed by the School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC), a large, racially and economically diverse school district. The SDPBC is typically among the top 10 largest public school district in the nation. Its student population is larger than the total student populations of many states (National Center for Education Statistics). Among students, approximately one-third percent are white, almost one-third are Hispanic, about 30 percent are African American, and the remaining percent are "other" (Florida Department of Education). In addition, over half of students are eligible for the free/reduced lunch program (Florida Department of Education). The goals of the program are to increase school safety, reduce school behavioral incidents and referrals to juvenile court, and improve student academic outcomes. This program is one of many programs that the SDPBC uses to improve student behavior and academic performance. It emerged from a pilot initiative developed by the district's School Justice Partnership - a collaboration between school district leadership and other agencies, including the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). The program is unique among SDPBC efforts in its focus on law enforcement- and court-involved youth, its collaborations with multiple agencies that serve these youth, and its schoolwide focus on safety. The pilot initiative was implemented at one school with a single school-based juvenile probation officer. The larger project entailed scaling up this pilot initiative to four schools. It also entailed hiring program staff, including a juvenile probation officer, placed at each school. These schools were selected by the SDPBC based on evidence of high arrest and referral rates. In addition, these sites typically received lower performance grades, had more students eligible for the free/reduced lunch program, and had fewer students who took the ACT or SAT. The SDPBC program seeks to address the needs of youth referred to school administrators by school or local police, youth on intake status with the juvenile court, juvenile first-time offenders, youth diverted from juvenile court, and youth placed on probation. The guiding logic of the program is to address these needs by providing multi-system, wraparound services at schools. These wraparound services are intended to occur primarily during school hours through a team of program and school staff who enable individualized support and assistance and have the ability to integrate and coordinate the efforts of the school, law enforcement, and the juvenile court. This team can refer youth to community-based agencies that provide wraparound family support, mental health and substance abuse services outside of school and after school hours. These program services and staff are in addition to police- or court-ordered sanctions that result from a juvenile first-time offender status, diversion from juvenile court, or probation placement. The five sets of youth are described below, followed by a description of the program staff positions and potential program services. These sections are followed by a description of the causal logic by which various aspects of the program may contribute to intermediate outcomes for youth and schools and, in turn, to longer-term outcomes for them. Figure 1 provides an overview of the program's causal logic and the discussion that follows. Details: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2019 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252846.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252846.pdf Shelf Number: 156917 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Justice Juvenile Offenders Law Enforcement Program Evaluation School Safety |