School Climate, Student Discipline and the Implementation of School Resource Officers, Kentucky, 1999-2016 (ICPSR 37592)
Version Date: Mar 13, 2024 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Benjamin W. Fisher, University of Louisville
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37592.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study made use of existing data to examine the effect of implementing school resource officers (SROs) on exclusionary discipline (e.g., arrests, suspensions) as well as perceptions of school climate in a school district in the Midwestern United States. The data used in this study were from district administrative records from the 1999-2000 through 2015-2016 school years.
Among the schools in district that have implemented SROs, this study estimated the rates of exclusionary discipline and perceptions of school climate over the years before SROs were implemented, and compared those outcomes to parallel measures from after SROs were implemented. Schools that have not implemented SROs acted as a comparison group.
Analytic techniques included latent growth curve modeling with multiple group piecewise models to examine differences between (a) schools with and without SROs (b) before and after SRO implementation.
This study also incorporated interviews and surveys with SROs for the purpose of understanding how their roles and responsibilities in schools as well as their subjective experiences of stress may play a role in the relationships examined in the study.
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Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
None
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
-
Qualitative data was collected during this study, but is not being released at this time.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of implementing SROs on outcomes related to school climate and suspension rates, with particular attention to racial differences in these effects and the role of school context. This study also examined how SROs perceived their roles and responsibilities and how these may be shaped by school contexts.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Data in this study came from both surveys administered to students, parents, and staff and administrative data on suspensions from the school district involved with the study.
The school climate data available in this study were from the 2007-08 through 2015-26 school years. A total of 130 schools provided data across all of these waves. School climate data were aggregated to the school level and provided as school means. This study used three different measures from each school for each survey item: (a) overall mean; (b) mean for White students; (c) mean for Black students.
The school district provided school-level out-of-school suspension counts and rates for each school year from 1999-2000 through 2015-16 for (a) all students, (b) White students, and (c) Black students. There were 131 schools that provided suspension data across all of these waves.
Qualitative data was also collected through interviews with the school resource officers in the study. The interviews with the SROs covered a wide range of topics including their roles and responsibilities, job related training, and perspectives on job duties. The qualitative data is not being made available in this release.
Sample View help for Sample
The data for this study came from a single large school district in the U.S. Midwest. The district had approximately 150 schools and serves approximately 100,000 students who came from diverse backgrounds. About 50 percent of the students were White, 35 percent were Black, and 15 percent were Latinx or another race/ethnicity. Similarly, students in the district came from families with a wide range of socioeconomic statuses; 60 percent of students district-wide were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. The district used a school assignment plan based on socio-economic status to distribute students across the city in a more equitable way.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Students, parents, and staff at a school district in the Midwestern United States.
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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The following measures were used to evaluate school climate: sense of belonging, student voice, relationships with adults, and perception of safety. Other variables in this study include suspension rates, school size, school racial composition, and school-level poverty.
The variable SCHOOLID can be used to link cases across data files.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not available
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
A Likert-type scale was used.
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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.
ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.
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.