Finding the Best Way to Reduce School Violence

Though we first think of beefing up security to prevent violence at our children’s schools, a new study shows that there may be an alternative. A new report indicates that a school climate resulting from character education and social skills training may be a better way to keep out the violence.

By Kate Black, NCPC Staff

In the wake of school violence such as the shootings in Paducah, KY, Columbine, CO, and Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, school crimes and security measures at schools have become a major issue. “In 1999-2000, 71 percent of public schools in the United States experienced at least one violent incident,” according to researcher Greg Chen of the City University of New York. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, that number rose to 78 percent in 2005-2006.

Many school officials have responded by adding extra security measures on the premises, such as metal detectors, security guards, and surveillance cameras, and by instilling harsher penalties, such as expulsion or suspension, for any aggressive act. However, a recent study by Chen shows that this response may not only be ineffective, but misguided.

This study, “Communities, students, schools, and school crime: A confirmatory study of crime in U.S. high schools,” focuses on the relationship between community, student, and school characteristics and the effects on school crime.* In particular, this study focuses on urbanicity (the urban or rural location of a school), the amount of crime that has occurred in the community the school is located in, the socio-economic status of students, the size of the school, the frequency of misbehavior in classrooms, access to campus and the monitoring of students once they are on campus, the number of serious penalties that have been imposed, and the total number of criminal incidents that have occurred in the past 12 months.

What Chen found was that school climate (defined as school size, student mobility, and student misbehavior) had an enormous effect on school crime, showing that the higher the levels of student mobility and misbehavior, the higher the rate of school crimes. School location, school size, and the socioeconomic status of students showed a moderate effect on school crime. Chen also found that “schools that create and maintain a positive culture through character education and social skills training seem to be a better alternative for consideration in combating school violence.” One unexpected finding was that specific security measures and intervention programs had no impact on the incidence of school crime. Because of this finding, Chen suggests that instead of instilling punitive measures to help reduce school crime, school officials should consider implementing “programs that facilitate and enhance a positive school climate” instead.

NCPC’s Be Safe and Sound in School program was designed to raise awareness of school safety and security issues and provide concrete measures that parents, community members, and educators can take to make schools safer and more secure. Be Safe and Sound in School promotes a comprehensive approach to school safety and security that addresses both physical and climate issues, while engaging all stakeholders.

Participating schools begin by evaluating physical conditions such as lights, locks, alarms, and cameras, as well as cultural and social variables such as bullying, violence, and vandalism that may promote an unsafe environment. Together, school principals and parents develop comprehensive safety and security action plans unique to the needs of their school, including, for example, character education or social skills training. When asked, Joselle Shea, the director of children and youth services at NCPC, explained, “The more we can help young people show respect for one another, show empathy for one another, the healthier we can make school environments, which will ultimately lead to safer schools.”

*The data for this study were taken from the 2000 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), which was conducted by the National Center for Education Research. Originally there were 712 schools in the SSOCS survey. Thirty-two of the schools in the SSOCS survey did not have complete data. Since they constituted less than 5 percent of the entire sample, these schools were simply eliminated from the analysis.

Resources:

Chen, Greg (2008) Communities, students, schools, and school crime: A confirmatory study of crime in U.S. high schools. Urban Education, 43, 301-318.

U.S. Department of Justice. (2007). Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.