Wisconsin School Violence and Bullying Prevention Study, 2015-2017 (ICPSR 37228)
Version Date: May 26, 2021 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
John D, Bowser, Wisconsin. Department of Public Instruction
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37228.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The Wisconsin School Violence and Bullying Prevention Study sought to understand the impact of comprehensive bullying prevention programs on outcomes related to violence, safety, and bullying rates. This study focused on 24 middle schools (grades 6 to 8) in Wisconsin.
To examine the effectiveness of the school's current anti-bullying program, the Bullying Prevention Program Assessment tool (BPPAT) was completed at the end of the school year. The BPPAT focused on administrative policy and procedures geared towards students, faculty, parents, or administrators. This tool examined the following items: policy and procedures, program implementation, staff training, parental education and communication, student training, reporting systems, and continuous quality improvement (CQI). Students and faculty were given surveys to determine bullying rates and perceptions of school safety. The school safety survey was given to all students concerning their bullying victimization and perception of school safety. This survey contains the following demographic variables: age, sex, grade, and race. The verified bullying incident data contains incident reporting from faculty, which focused on the type of bullying and the demographics of the perpetrator and victim. After new bullying prevention programs were implemented, students were given the safety and bullying victimization survey which focused on perceptions of bullying and school safety.
The number of bullying incidents, number of student victims and perpetrators, and the demographic characteristics of victims and perpetrators were retained in aggregate form for each school were submitted to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for analysis.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of comprehensive bullying prevention programs on school safety. For schools to be able to participate, they needed to have an inclusion criteria requirement of tier 1 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). This requirement was to ensure that schools have made prior efforts towards addressing the climate of their schools.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Answers from questions included in commonly administered school climate surveys were anonymously collected and analyzed by the state education agency (SEA) of Wisconsin. As such, it was determined by SEA and the national institute of justice (NIJ) that a formal IRB process was unnecessary. Students were not required to complete the questionnaire, and their voluntary completion was stated on the survey. In addition, schools were free to institute their protocol of consent (opt-in vs. opt-out).
During a four-week/20 school day period in the fall and spring semesters, schools were instructed to track and report data related to verified bullying incidents. For an incident to be included, it needed to match the public health definition of bullying (repeated, imbalance of power), involve a conversation between the victim and school staff, documentation of name(s) involved (victim and perpetrator), and the type of bullying involved. Schools were also encouraged to document the resolution or next steps, the number of incidents, the number of student victims and perpetrators, and the demographic characteristics of victims and perpetrators. These factors were recorded in aggregate form for each school and were submitted to the department of public instruction (DPI) for analysis.
The student surveys had multiple ways to record their data including a standalone online youth risk behavior survey (OYRBS), taken in conjunction with a larger OYRBS survey, or through a survey monkey questionnaire that could be answered online or on paper.
Sample View help for Sample
The focus of the study was at the middle school level (grades 6 through 8) across 24 Wisconsin schools.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Middle schools in Wisconsin that have anti-bullying programs incorporated into their school system.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
- Variables in the Bullying Prevention Program Assessment Tool Data include variables on anti-bullying strategies and tracking methods and the extent to which they were in place at the participant schools.
- Variables in the School Safety Survey Data include student responses to a survey covering demographic information and students' perceptions of and participation in bullying at their school, as well as summary variables.
- Variables in the Verified Bullying Incident Data include variables on the frequency and types of bullying incidents at participant schools, as well as demographic data about those involved in the incidents.
- Variables in the Safety and Bullying Victimization Data include further student survey responses regarding bullying victimization and perceptions.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Response rate from the school level was 100%. Response rate from individual schools used a benchmark of 70% of eligible students completing surveys.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2021-05-26
Version History View help for Version History
2021-05-26 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.