Increases in student experiences with social and mental health, acts of violence, and the school-to-prison nexus have prompted many schools to evaluate alternatives to safety that are equitable, inclusive, and student and family-centered. Punitive approaches to school safety have been shown to disproportionately affect underserved schools and…

Schools should be safe places for young people, educators, school staff, and community members, and policies and practices can help create learning environments where kids thrive. Gun violence in U.S. schools has prompted calls for increased school safety measures; however, which policies contribute to safe school environments is often a topic of…

Devastating school shootings have spawned a cottage industry of untested responses to school violence. Some involve target hardening, or making schools less vulnerable to violent attacks. School administrators and community members can be quick to gravitate towards target hardening measures for preventing school violence. However, crime prevention…

This publication provides an overview of the literature on school safety in the United States, with a focus on equity. Using the framework developed by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), this publication situates a comprehensive school safety approach as a balance of three key elements: physical safety, school climate, and student behavior,…

Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) was the only high school district profiled as part of this project. The high school district is made up of 13 elementary districts that feed into it and has 11 comprehensive high schools, four small specialty schools, three micro-schools, three support schools and a digital…

Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on children's rights, where all students are accepted, teaching-learning processes are organized according to children's interest needs, health, safety and protective measures are taken for children and gender-based discrimination is not provided. Preschool education institutions, which…

Inequality in educational outcomes is a frequent topic of policy debate. This paper investigates one potential source of educational inequality--school safety. With panel survey data of middle school students, this paper estimates racial gaps in student feelings of safety in the classroom, in the hallways, and outside the school building, and how…

Safe school policies in many urban schools in Ontario have featured security guards, electronic surveillance, student identification tags, discipline, and zero tolerance. In 2000, the Ontario Ministry of Education passed the Safe Schools Act, which set out a list of offences that could trigger expulsion, suspension, and other disciplinary…

Education, like other governmental activities, is characterized by a competition for scarce resources. Security, whether in the form of metal detectors or condom availability, is an additional fundamental value that has grabbed center stage in the struggle among competing fundamental values (efficiency, equity, liberty, and quality) in educational…