School safety and order are essential conditions for learning but represent a relatively new field of study, stimulated in large part by repeated episodes of school violence that have generated considerable public concern and triggered substantial changes in school discipline and security practices over the past two decades. This article sets the stage for the current special issue of "Educational Researcher" ("ER"), in which the study of school violence is recast into the broader and conceptually more fertile framework of school safety and order. Each article addresses key practical questions that map a school safety perspective to multiple bodies of education research as well as to broader transdisciplinary interests.