How Safe Are Our Schools?

Abstract

Schools are basically safe places for children. School violence and disruption, although in decline through the mid- to late 1990s, remains a concern. National surveys that inform research, policy, and practice have been designed for different purposes and can present conflicting findings. Common standards of risk and harm that could advance policy and practice are lacking. Progress in the field of school safety has been hindered by the lack of a coherent conceptual structure to guide measurement and research. This article identifies some of the conceptual and methodological challenges that must be addressed and calls for a 10-year national strategic plan to improve school safety.

Keywords

at-risk students school psychology student behavior/attitude violence

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arseneault

Walsh

Trzesniewski

Newcombe

Caspi

Moffitt

(2006). Bullying victimization uniquely contributes to adjustment problems in young children: A nationally representative cohort study. Pediatrics, 118, 130–138.

Biemer

P. P.

Groves

R. M.

Lyberg

L. E.

Mathiowetz

N. A.

Sudman

(1991). Measurement errors in surveys. New York: John Wiley.

Bierman

K. L.

(2004). Peer rejection. New York: Guilford.

Borum

Cornell

D. G.

Modzeleski

Jimerson

S. R.

(2010). What can be done about school shootings? A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher, 39, 27–37.

Boxer

Edwards-Leeper

Goldstein

S. E.

Musher-Eizenman

D. R.

Dubow

E. F.

(2003). Exposure to “low level” aggression in school: Effects on aggressive behavior, future expectations, and perceived safety. Violence and Victims, 18, 691–704.

Braga

A. A.

Kennedy

D. M.

(2001). The illicit acquisition of firearms by youth and juveniles. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 379–388.

Brown

(2004). Juveniles and weapons: Recent research, conceptual considerations, and programmatic interventions. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 161–184.

California Legislative Analyst Office. (2002). Review of school crime reporting. Sacramento: Author.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008). School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992–2006. MMWR, 57(02), 33–36.

10.

Cross

J. E.

Newman-Gonchar

(2004). Data quality in student risk behavior surveys and administrator training. Journal of School Violence, 3, 89–108.

11.

Cornell

D. G.

Mayer

M. J.

(2010). Why does school order and safety matter? Educational Researcher, 39, 7–15.

12.

Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629 (1999).

13.

Dinkes

Cataldi

E. F.

Lin-Kelly

(2007). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2007 (NCES 2008–021/NCJ 219553). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

14.

Dinkes

Kemp

Baum

(2009). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2008 (NCES 2009–022/NCJ 226343). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

15.

Eaton

D. K.

Kann

Kinchen

Shanklin

Ross

Hawkins

. (2008). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2007. Surveillance Summaries, June 6, 2008. MMWR, 57(No. S S04), 1–131.

16.

Elliott

Hamburg

Williams

(Eds). (1998). Violence in American schools. New York: Cambridge University Press.

17.

Evans

G. W.

(2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59, 77–92.

18.

Furlong

M. J.

Paige

L. Z.

Osher

(2003). The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative: Lessons learned from implementing comprehensive youth development programs. Psychology in the Schools, 40, 447–456.

19.

Furlong

M. J.

Sharkey

J. D.

(2006). A review of methods to assess student self-report of weapons on school campuses. In Jimerson

S. R.

Furlong

M. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of school violence and school safety: From research to practice (pp. 235–256). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

20.

Furlong

M. J.

Sharkey

J. D.

Bates

M. P.

Smith

D. C.

(2004). An examination of the reliability, data screening procedures, and extreme response patterns for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. Journal of School Violence, 3(2/3), 109–130.

21.

Furlong

M. J.

Sharkey

J. D.

Felix

E. D.

Osher

(Eds.). (2007). Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative: Outcomes and legacy [Special issue]. Journal of School Violence, 6(2).

22.

Gatti

Tremblay

R. E.

Vitaro

McDuff

(2005). Youth gangs, delinquency and drug use: A test of the selection, facilitation, and enhancement hypotheses. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 1178–1190.

23.

Hildyard

K. L.

Wolfe

D. A.

(2002). Child neglect: Developmental issues and outcomes. Child Abuse and Neglect, 26, 679–695.

24.

Hoffman

J. P.

Johnson

R. A.

(2000). Multilevel influences on school disorder: A Comment on Welsh, Greene, and Jenkins. Criminology, 38, 1275–1288.

25.

Johnson

J. G.

Cohen

Brown

Smailes

Bernstein

D. P.

(1999). Childhood maltreatment increases risk for personality disorders during early adulthood. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56, 600–606.

26.

Johnston

L. D.

O’Malley

P. M.

Schulenberg

J. E.

Bachman

J. G.

(2001). The aims and objectives of the Monitoring the Future study and progress toward fulfilling them as of 2001 (Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper No. 52). Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

27.

Justice Research and Statistics Association. (2009). Status of NIBRS in the states. IBR Resource Center. Retrieved June 17, 2009, from http://www.jrsainfo.org/ibrrc/background-status/nibrs_states.shtml

28.

Keiley

M. K.

Howe

T. R.

Dodge

K. A.

Bates

J. E.

Pettit

G. S.

(2001). The timing of child physical maltreatment: A cross-domain growth analysis of impact on adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 891–912.

29.

Kendall-Tackett

K. A.

Eckenrode

(1996). The effects of neglect on academic achievement and disciplinary problems: A developmental approach. Child Abuse and Neglect, 20, 161–169.

30.

Kirk

D. S.

(2006). Unraveling the neighborhood and school effects on youth behavior. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, Illinois (National Criminal Justice Reference No. NCJ 214854).

31.

Kish

(1965). Survey sampling. New York: John Wiley.

32.

Kish

Frankel

(1974). Inference from complex samples. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 36, 1–37.

33.

Ladd

G. W.

(2003). Probing the adaptive significance of children’s behavior and relationships in the school context: A child-by-environment perspective. In Kail

(Ed.), Advances in child behavior and development (pp. 43–104). New York: John Wiley.

34.

Leone

P. E.

Mayer

M. J.

Malmgren

Meisel

S. M.

(2000). School violence and disruption: Rhetoric, reality, and reasonable balance. Focus on Exceptional Children, 33(1), 1–20.

35.

Luthar

S. S.

Cicchetti

(2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for intervention and social policy. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 857–885.

36.

Lynch

(2003). Consequences of children’s exposure to community violence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6, 265–274.

37.

Lynch

Cicchetti

(1998). An ecological-transactional analysis of children and contexts: The longitudinal interplay among child maltreatment, community violence, and children’s symptomatology. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 235–257.

38.

MacMillan

D. L.

Speece

D. L.

(1999). Utility of current diagnostic categories for research and practice. In Gallimore

Bernheimer

L. P.

(Eds.), Developmental perspectives on children with high-incidence disabilities (pp. 111–133). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

39.

Margolin

Gordis

(2000). The effects of family and community violence on children. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 445–479.

40.

Masten

A. S.

Hubbard

J. J.

Gest

S. D.

Tellegen

Garmezy

Ramirez

(1999). Competence in the context of adversity: Pathways to resilience and maladaptation from childhood to late adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 143–169.

41.

Mayer

M. J.

(in press). Structural analysis of 1995–2005 School Crime Supplement datasets: Factors influencing students’ fear, anxiety, and avoidant behaviors. Journal of School Violence.

42.

Mayer

M. J.

Leone

P. E.

(2007). School violence and disruption revisited: Establishing equity and safety in the school house. Focus on Exceptional Children, 40(1), 1–28.

43.

Mayer

M. J.

Van Acker

(2008). Historical roots, theoretical and applied developments, and critical issues in cognitive-behavioral modification. In Mayer

M. J.

Van Acker

Lochman

J. E.

Gresham

F. M.

(Eds.), Cognitive-behavioral interventions for emotional and behavioral disorders: School-based practice (pp. 3–28). New York: Guilford.

44.

McGloin

J. M.

Widom

C. S.

(2001). Resilience among abused and neglected children grown up. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 1021–1038.

45.

Mercy

J. A.

Krug

E. G.

Dahlberg

L. L.

Zwi

A. B.

(2003). Violence and health: The United States in a global perspective. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 256–61.

46.

Modzeleski

Feucht

Rand

Hall

Simon

Butler

. (2008). School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992-2006. MMWR, 57(2), 33–36.

47.

Morrison

G. M.

Peterson

O’Farrell

Redding

(2004). Using office referral records in school violence research: Possibilities and limitations. Journal of School Violence, 3(2/3), 39–61.

48.

Morrison

G. M.

Redding

Fisher

Peterson

(2006). Assessing school discipline. In Jimerson

S. R.

Furlong

M. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of school violence and school safety: From research to practice (pp. 211–220). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

49.

Murnan

Dake

J. A.

Price

J. H.

(2004). Association of selected risk factors with variation in child and adolescent firearm mortality by state. Journal of School Health, 74, 335–340.

50.

Nansel

T. R.

Overpeck

M. O.

Pilla

R. S.

Ruan

W. J.

Simons-Morton

Scheidt

(2001). Bullying behavior among US youth: Prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094–2100.

51.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). Schools and Staffing Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Educational Sciences. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/

52.

Office of the New York State Comptroller. (2006). Reporting of violent and disruptive incidents by public schools (Rep. No. 2005–S–38). Albany: Author.

53.

Okoro

C. A.

Nelson

D. E.

Mercy

J. A.

Balluz

L. S.

Crosby

A. E.

Mokdad

A. H.

(2005). Prevalence of household firearms and firearm storage practices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002. Pediatrics, 116, 370–376.

54.

Rand

M. R.

Rennison

C. M.

(2002). True crime stories? Accounting for differences in our national crime indicators. Chance, 15(1), 47–51.

55.

Reiss

A. J.

Roth

J. A.

(Eds.). (1993). Understanding and preventing violence. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

56.

Schuster

M. A.

Franke

T. M.

Bastian

A. M.

Sor

Halfon

(2000). Firearm storage patterns in US homes with children. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 588–594.

57.

Sharkey

J. D.

Furlong

M. J.

Yetter

(2006). An overview of measurement issues in school violence and school safety research. In Jimerson

S. R.

Furlong

M. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of school violence and school safety: From research to practice (pp. 121–134). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

58.

Sheley

J. F.

McGee

Z. T.

Wright

J. D.

(1995). Weapon-related victimization in selected inner-city high school samples. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

59.

Sheley

J. F.

Wright

J. D.

(1998, October). High school youth, weapons, and violence: A national survey. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

60.

Skiba

R. J.

Simmons

A. B.

Peterson

McKelvey

Forde

Gallini

(2004). Beyond guns, drugs, and gangs: The structure of student perceptions of school safety. Journal of School Violence, 3, 149–171.

61.

Snell

(2005, January). School violence and No Child Left Behind: Best practices to keep kids safe. Los Angeles: Reason Foundation.

62.

Snyder

H. N.

Sickmund

(1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

63.

Stroul

(2002). Issue brief—System of Care: A framework for system reform in children’s mental health. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center, National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health.

64.

Taylor

T. J.

Freng

Esbensen

F. A.

Peterson

(2008). Youth gang membership and serious violent victimization: The importance of lifestyles/routine activities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23, 1441–1464.

65.

Thomas

D. E.

Bierman

K. L.

, & the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2006). The impact of classroom aggression on the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 471–487.

66.

Thornberry

Huizinga

Loeber

(2004). The causes and correlates studies: Findings and policy implications. Juvenile Justice Journal, 9(1), 3–19. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

67.

United States. (2004). Keeping schools safe: The implementation of No Child Left Behind’s persistently dangerous schools provision (Field hearing before the Subcommittee on Education Reform of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, September 29, 2003, in Denver, CO). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

68.

U.S. Department of Education. (1984). Disorder in our public schools: Report of the Cabinet Council on Human Resources (CCHR) Working Group on School Violence/Discipline to the President. Washington, DC: Author.

69.

U.S. Department of Justice. (2008). Highlights of the 2006 National Youth Gang Survey. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Fact Sheet (FS–200805). Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

70.

U.S. National Institute of Education. (1978). Violent schools, safe schools: The safe school study report to Congress (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

71.

Vacha

E. F.

McLaughlin

T. F.

(2004). Risky firearms behavior in low income families of elementary school children: The impact of poverty, fear of crime, and crime victimization on keeping and storing firearms. Journal of Family Violence, 19, 175–184.

72.

Watkins

A. M.

(2008). Effects of community, school, and student factors on school-based weapon carrying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 6, 386–409.

73.

Welsh

W. N.

Greene

J. R.

Jenkins

P. H.

(1999). School disorder: The influence of individual, institutional, and community factors. Criminology, 37, 601–643.

74.

Widom

C. S.

Maxfield

M. G.

(1996). A prospective examination of risk for violence among abused and neglected children. In Ferris

C. F.

Grisso

(Eds.), Understanding aggressive behavior in children (pp. 224–237). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.