Background: Violence at a school can have a negative impact on the health of students, teachers, administrators, and others associated with the school and surrounding community. The use of weapons in school buildings or on school grounds accounts for the majority of violent deaths, particularly among males. This national trend suggests the need…

Background: School safety and quality affect student learning and success. This study examined the effects of a comprehensive elementary school-wide social-emotional and character education program, Positive Action, on teacher, parent, and student perceptions of school safety and quality utilizing a matched-pair, cluster-randomized, controlled…

Background: Exposure to community violence compromises teacher effectiveness, student learning, and socioemotional well-being. This study examined the challenges, strategies, and support needs of teachers in urban schools affected by high levels of community violence. Methods: Twenty teachers from 3 urban middle schools with predominantly…

Background: Approximately 10-25% of child and adolescent injuries occur at school. Little is known about school-related injuries to teachers and other adults or about the direct cost of injuries to schools. This study examined the characteristics of cases involving injuries resulting in lawsuits against schools, compared cases in which schools…

Background: Protective factors associated with positive youth development predict health and education outcomes. This study explored trends in these protective factors and in physical activity among low-income students, and determined the impact of a school-based youth development program on these trends. Methods: This study used a…

Background: Research has shown that participating in activities outside of school hours is associated with lower dropout rates, enhanced school performance, improved social skills, and reduced problem behaviors. However, most prior studies have been limited to small populations of older children (greater than 12 years). This analysis focuses on…

Background: School violence can impact the social, psychological, and physical well-being of both students and teachers and disrupt the learning process. This review focuses on a new area of research, the mechanisms by which the school environment determines the likelihood of school violence. Methods: A search for peer-reviewed articles was made…

Background: There is a need for greater international understanding of student safety in schools. This New Zealand study investigated the causes and school location of fractures sustained by students attending elementary school, with special emphasis on the types of fractures sustained following falls from playground equipment of various heights.…

Background: The role of race and ethnicity is consistently found to be linked to the likelihood of students experiencing school violence-related outcomes; however, the findings are not always consistent. The variation of likelihood, as well as the type, of student-related school violence outcome among the Latino student population may be…

Guidelines for handling animals in the classroom are presented. (BY)

Background: Involvement in interpersonal violence or suicidal behaviors can have a significant impact on an adolescent's physical health. Similarly, previous research has suggested that lived experiences, more than the presence or absence of physical ailments, can significantly influence self-assessed health status among adolescents. The purpose…

Examined the incidence of violence-related injuries in an urban school district, comparing characteristics of intentional and unintentional injuries. Data from student accident report forms indicated that 77.2 percent of injuries were unintentional, 16.8 percent were intentional, and 6.0 percent were of unknown intent. High school students and…

The US General Accounting Office (GAO) documented generally poor conditions of school facilities in the early 1990s. Previous papers examined, for time intervals ending before 2002, relationships between education facility indoor air and environmental quality (IEQ), including adequate ventilation, and occupant health and productivity. Research on…

A curriculum designed to promote fire prevention and safety methods for both parents and teachers is described. Ways to help prevent fires are listed and sample curriculum objectives are given. (JN)

Describes an epidemiology of school injuries in Utah's public schools, analyzing 1990-97 school injury data from a standardized Student Injury Report form. Results find that 85 percent of the state's 44,565 school injuries were evaluated at a medical facility. High risk students were males and students in 4th-6th grades. Contributing factors…