In 1995, the Broward County (Florida) Public Schools initiated a safe-school program. The first step was to ensure collection of accurate, consistent, and timely data. This article describes the district's revised data-collection and incident-reporting system, and documents the program's effectiveness in improving safety. (MLH)

Research suggests positive interaction between students and teachers is a hallmark of a safe and effective school. Yet to date there is no literature presenting findings or case examples of what constitutes positive engagement or how to measure its frequency. This paper shares observations of a "model" rural middle school in an attempt…