On kidsdata.org, most measures of school safety come from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) through a partnership with WestEd, which developed and administers the CHKS, and the California Department of Education. Indicators include student reports of:

• Perceptions of school safety
• Fears of being beaten up at school
• Physical fighting at school Carrying at gun at school
• Carrying a knife or other weapon at school

These data are available by gender, grade level (7th, 9th, and 11th), race/ethnicity, and level of connectedness to school. School connectedness is a summary measure that includes the following elements: being treated fairly, feeling close to people, feeling happy, feeling part of school, and feeling safe at school. Additionally, a measure of parents' perceptions of their child's safety at school or preschool comes from a 2010 survey of parents.

Physical and emotional safety at school plays a crucial for student learning and overall health and well being. Safe school environments foster the intellectual and social interactions that academic achievement requires. Violence and fear of violence hinder students’ development, concentration, and learning. Bullying and harassment also interfere with students’ education and healthy development. This issue is closely related to students’ connectedness to school.

Source for this narrative: WestEd. California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). (2009). California School District Secondary School Survey Results Fall 2008/Spring 2009, Core Module A. http://chks.wested.org/reports

A key aspect of school safety is effectively addressing bullying at school. Bullying and harassment have taken on new forms in recent years with the advent of digital technologies (1), and the issue has come under closer scrutiny by schools and policymakers. (2) The majority of curriculum-based, anti-bullying programs have not been proven effective, but some whole-school, systemic interventions (focusing on bullies, victims, and bystanders) have been shown to have positive effects. (3) Many schools have adopted “zero tolerance” discipline policies to address a wide range of misbehavior, including forms of bullying. At schools that employ these policies, students actually may feel less safe than students at schools with more moderate discipline policies, and these “zero tolerance” approaches may deter reporting of misbehavior. (4, 5) Although any student could be a victim, students who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, or who are perceived to be so, are at particularly high risk of being bullied or harassed. (6)

According to research and subject experts, policy options that could improve school safety and prevent bullying and harassment include:

• Supporting well-implemented, age-specific, whole-school approaches to bullying prevention that involve multiple systems and methods, the entire school community, and long-term involvement by staff (3, 5)
• Instituting discipline policies that respond effectively to aggressors, victims, and bystanders, while avoiding unintended consequences of “zero tolerance” policies (4, 5)
• Crafting anti-bullying policies that increase the likelihood that victims will report bullying, rather than those that may inadvertently create a school culture that deters it (5, 7)
• Implementing a multi-pronged strategy of staff training, student support, information sharing, and public statements of policy to reduce harassment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students (6)

For more policy ideas and information, see the federal government’s StopBullying.gov, the California Department of Education, and the writings and presentations of Dan Olweus and Barbara Coloroso. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under School Connectedness, Pupil Support Services Personnel, and Truancy, Suspensions & Expulsions.

Sources for this narrative:

1. Hertz, et al. (2008). Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Educators and Caregivers. (US Department of Health and Human Services). http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/EA-brief-a.pdf
2. New York Times Topics: Bullies, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/bullies/index.html
3. Vreeman, et al. (2007).  A Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Bullying. (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine). http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/1/78
4. McNeeley, et al. (2002). Promoting School Connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. (Journal of School Health). http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwche/Promoting%20School%20Connectedness%20Evidence%20from%20the%20Natl%20Longitudinal%20Study%20of%20Adolescent%20Health.pdf
5. Sampson, Rana. (2009). Bullying in Schools. (U.S. Department of Justice). http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e07063414-guide.pdf
6. O’Shaughnessy, et al. (2004). Safe Place to Learn: Consequences of Harassment Based on Actual or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Non-Conformity and Steps for Making Schools Safer. (California Safe Schools Coalition and 4-H Center for Youth Development). http://www.casafeschools.org/SafePlacetoLearnLow.pdf
7. Petrosino, et al. (2010). What Characteristics of Bullying, Bullying Victims, and Schools Are Associated With Increased Reporting of Bullying to School Officials? (Regional Educational Laboratory for WestEd). http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northeast/pdf/REL_2010092.pdf

More than half of California students in 7th, 9th, and 11th grades reported feeling safe or very safe at school in 2006-08, with 11th grade males most likely to feel safe (60%) and non-traditional male and female students least likely (53%). Across all racial/ethnic groups, 50-64% of students reported feeling safe or very safe at school, with Caucasian White students feeling safest (63.6%) and African American/Black students feeling least safe (50%). These figures generally have been stable since the 2003-05 period.

Nearly 30% of boys and girls in 7th grade reported that they had been afraid of being beaten up at school once or more in the past year. While roughly 85-95% of students in 7th, 9th, and 11th grades said they had not carried a knife or other weapon to school in the past year, 6% of males in 9th and 11th grades said they had done so four times or more.

• Adolescent Violence Prevention Knowledge Path, Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University
• California Safe Schools Coalition
• Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports: Effective Schoolwide Interventions, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs
• School Connectedness, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• School Safety and Mentoring Guides, Hamilton Fish Institute, George Washington University
• StopBullying.gov
• Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Consortium to Prevent School Violence

• A Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Bullying, 2007, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Vreeman & Carroll
• Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey, 10/2009, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
• Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, and Racial Justice, 10/2011, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado Boulder, Losen, D.
• Effectiveness of Universal, School-Based Programs to Prevent Violent and Aggressive Behavior, 2007, American Journal of Prevention Medicine, Hahn et al.
• Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Educators and Caregivers, 2008, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hertz & David-Ferdon
• Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in Efforts to Close the Achievement Gap, 2010, Equity Matters: Research Review No. 6. The Campaign for Educational Equity, Basch, C.E.
• How Safe Are Our Schools?, 2010, Educational Researcher, Mayer & Furlong
• Involved, Invisible, Ignored: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Parents and Their Children in Our Nations K-12 Schools, 2008, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Kosciw & Diaz
• Peer Victimization in Schools: A Set of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies of the Connections Among Peer Victimization, School Engagement, Truancy, School Achievement, and Other Outcomes, 07/2009, National Center for School Engagement, Seeley, Tombari, Bennett & Dunkle
• Protective Factors in Individuals, Families and Schools: National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health Findings, 2001, National Resilience Resource Center, University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, & The Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Benard et al.
• Safe Place to Learn: Consequences of Harassment Based on Actual or Perceived Sexual Orientation, 2004, California Safe Schools Coalition & 4-H Center for Youth Development, UC Davis, O'Shaughnessy et al.
• School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth, 2009, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Student and Teacher Safety in Chicago Public Schools: The Roles of Community Context and School Social Organization, 05/2011, Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, Steinberg, Allensworth & Johnson

• The Developmental Assets Survey: Young People Talk About Growing Up in Silicon Valley, 2011, Project Cornerstone

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