When done reliably and efficiently, measuring school climate can help improve schools' vital signs and help state boards of education realize their goals and objectives for the system as a whole. Moreover, because it is as consequential to schools as checking heart rates and blood pressure are to humans, schools should always use climate measures…

Recent incidents of school-based violence have resulted in the widespread implementation of school safety strategies across the United States. While research on these strategies has grown over the past decade, there is little understanding about their collective influence on indicators of school violence. Using data from the 2007-2008 School…

School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are school-wide, data-driven frameworks for promoting safe schools and student learning. This article explains PBIS and provides practical examples of PBIS implementation by describing a school counselor-run PBIS framework in one elementary school, as part of a larger, district-wide…

While college campuses are relatively safe environments, the promise of safety and security on campus was shattered by a single gunman on April 16, 2007. Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot 49 students and faculty, killing 32, before killing himself. The authors are psychologists and directors of university counseling centers; they…

A crisis can occur at any time, whether or not a school's staff plans for it. This resource guide is a compilation of user-friendly examples of policies, procedures, guidelines, checklists, and forms to help Virginia schools develop and implement a systematic crisis-management plan. Chapter 1 provides an introductory overview of the essential…