Although several studies have focused on why school climate is important, the timing of the collection of climate measures should be considered. This is of particular interest to schools that gauge school improvement efforts within a school year and are interested in how climate changes from the beginning to the end of the academic year. We show…

Although several studies have focused on why school climate is important, the timing of the collection of climate measures should be considered. This is of particular interest to schools that gauge school improvement efforts within a school year and are interested in how climate changes from the beginning to the end of the academic year. We show…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) conducted a Special Circumstance Review of Philippi Middle School at the specific direction of the State Superintendent beginning on November 9, 2023, to examine compliance with the laws and policies affecting students' safety and well-being, discipline and administrative protocols, and academic…

School leaders must make decisions and implement strategies to improve a school climate and student achievement, and it benefits them to understand which areas of school climate have the greatest impact on student achievement. The State of Georgia measures school climate and student achievement with its school accountability measure, the College…

Restorative practices are a way of humanizing education. Human existence cannot be silent, nor can it be nourished by false words. It can only move forward with true words, with which men and women can transform the world. The essence of human existence lies in the ability to transform and change the world. Humans are not designed to remain in…

This fourth of six briefs analyzing data from the 2020-2021 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), released earlier this year, focuses on the experiences of students with disabilities with disciplinary practices at both charter schools and traditional public schools. Though the COVID-19 pandemic was still in its early stages, concerns about the…

Disciplinary incidents at U.S. public middle- and high-schools are a public policy concern. Although businesses popularly give credence to leaders' subjective intelligence, principals' reports of their schools' strengths and weaknesses are questioned. To determine whether principals' reports carry legitimacy as indicators of student offenses, the…

The implementation of school-based law enforcement officers, commonly referred to as school resource officers (SROs), became an increasingly popular response to school crime in the United States, particularly in the aftermath of high-profile school shootings in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following the expansion of SRO programs came the…

McMillan Public Schools (MPS) is a public school system in the southeastern part of the United States that serves approximately 28,000 students. Gregory Middle School (GMS) is one of 52 schools within MPS that serves 985 students. I used MPS and GMS as pseudonyms to anonymize the school system and school. In July 2019, I was appointed as the…

Black boys often experience oppression and marginalization in schools. Black boys with disabilities in secondary school are frequently targeted with inequitable and biased discipline practices, exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline. As such, it is important to examine the school climate experiences of Black boys to inform the creation of…

School resource officers (SROs) are common in schools, yet consequences of their presence are poorly understood. This study leveraged mixed-methods data from student surveys and group interviews across 25 schools to examine how the frequency of interactions and trust/comfort between students and SROs relate to disciplinary outcomes and feelings of…

The "defund the police" movement has recently called for the removal of police--or school resource officers (SROs)--from schools. This call is driven by concerns that SROs may heighten student contact with criminal justice or lead to disproportionately harsh disciplinary consequences. This study uses linked disciplinary, academic,…

Zero tolerance as an approach to school safety has been around for almost 3 decades. Despite widespread criticisms of zero tolerance policies, few empirical studies have investigated the relationship of zero tolerance with school safety. More generally, the Government Accountability Office report on school shootings noted the need for research on…

National debate over law enforcement in schools has largely overlooked student reporting of violent threats to school resource officer (SROs). This statewide assessment of Virginia high school students (n = 99,358) found that the majority of Black (64%), Hispanic (72%), White (71%), and other racial/ethnic identity (71%) students agreed the SRO…

School resource officers' (SROs) presence (e.g., engagement in patrol, carrying firearms, etc.) and prevention (e.g., mentoring, teaching) roles have not been distinguished in investigations of SROs' association with student outcomes. A model predicting nonviolent incidents and serious violent incidents reported to police from SRO presence and…