Though elementary and secondary schools remain among the safest places for children, school safety concerns continue to garner considerable attention from school and community stakeholders, as well as policymakers. As affirmed in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), it is clear that all children need a safe environment in which to learn and achieve. However, the process for ensuring such a school environment is not always as clear, especially given the nature (both quantity and quality) of available data to assess needs, range of problems to be addressed--from building security to improving student behavior--and the multitude of available programs, policies, and materials being pitched to school administrators and community partners. Decision makers increasingly need information to help them identify needs, set goals, determine strategies and select programs, build partnerships, implement new activities, and assess progress. Perhaps even more important, school decision makers need a framework for ensuring that all of these efforts are strategically aligned and that limited resources are effectively allocated to best address the needs of their students, schools, and district/community. In response, this brief is designed as a framework for assessing student health and school safety and determining appropriate courses of action. All too often, districts and schools make policy, program, and practice decisions in response to specific crises, complaints, or funding opportunities. These responses also tend to be relatively discrete strategies, often isolated from each other and from a larger understanding of the district or school context and other improvement efforts. The challenge is to think about improving student health and school safety in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion.