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Showing 1 – 6 of 6 results.

Curated

Assessing the Role of Immigration in the Linkage Between School Safety, Education, and Juvenile Justice Contact, Texas, 2000-2019 (ICPSR 38260)

Released/updated on: 2022-08-30

Geographic coverage: United States, Texas

Time period: 2000-01-01--2001-01-01, 2001-01-01--2002-01-01

This project utilizes secondary data analysis of existing data. Recognizing that the school discipline and juvenile justice experience of immigrants may differ from non-immigrant children, the project explores the role immigration status and border location has on these outcomes.

Curated

Evaluation of Gender Violence and Harassment Prevention Programs in Middle Schools in Cleveland, Ohio, 2006-2007 [United States] (ICPSR 22660)

Released/updated on: 2010-11-12

Geographic coverage: United States, Ohio, Cleveland

Time period: 2006-11-01--2007-05-01

The study was designed to help increase the capacity of programs to prevent gender violence and harassment (GV/H) among middle school youth. The long-term goal of the study was to help prevent intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and sexual harassment by employing rigorous methods to evaluate strategies for altering violence-supportive attitudes and norms of youth. Specifically, the study was structured to evaluate the relative effectiveness of common approaches to youth GV/H prevention programming (in terms of knowledge, attitudes, intended behavior, behavior, and emotional safety of youth participants) for one of the youngest populations ever studied in this area. In a longitudinal randomized controlled trial study, two five-lesson curricula were created to address gender violence and harassment (GV/H) in middle schools, and classrooms were assigned randomly to treatment and control groups. Treatment 1 was an interaction-based curriculum focused on the setting and communication of boundaries in relationships, the determination of wanted and unwanted behaviors, and the role of the bystander as intervener. Treatment 2 was a law and justice curriculum focused on laws, definitions, information, and data about penalties for sexual assault and sexual harassment. The control group did not receive either treatment. Pencil-and-paper surveys were designed for students to complete, and were administered either by a member of the research team or by teachers who were trained by a member of the research team in proper administration processes. Data were collected from three inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, from November 2006 to May 2007. Surveys were distributed at three different times: immediately before the assignment to one of the three study conditions, immediately after the treatment (or control condition) was completed, and 5-6 months after their assignment to one of the three study conditions. The data contain responses for 1,507 students over 3 waves. Additionally, researchers used multiple imputations for this dataset which resulted in 5 imputed datasets for each record for a total of 7,535 cases in the data file. The data have 697 variables, including from such questions as whether someone had ever or in the past 6 months done something to the respondent such as slapped or scratched the respondent, hit the respondent, or threatened the respondent. Additionally, respondents were asked if they had done these same actions to someone else. Respondents were also asked a series of questions regarding whether they had ever been sexually harassed by someone or if they had sexually harassed someone themselves. Next, respondents were asked to rate whether they agreed with a series of statements such as "It is all right for a girl to ask a boy out on a date", "If you ignore sexual harassment, more than likely it will stop", and "Making sexual comments to a girl is wrong". Students were then asked to indicate whether a series of statements were true or false, such as "If two kids who are both under the age of 16 have sex, it is not against the law" and "If a person is not physically harming someone, then they are not really abusive". Respondents were then asked to read three scenarios and indicate how they would respond in that scenario. Also, students indicated how likely they would be to react in specified ways to a prepared statement. Data also provide demographic information such as age, gender, and ethnic/racial background, as well as variables to generically identify school district, school, and class period.

Curated

Impact Evaluation of Complementarities Between Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Restorative Justice, Maryland, 2018-2021 (ICPSR 38863)

Released/updated on: 2024-12-10

Geographic coverage: United States, Maryland

Time period: 2018-01-01--2021-12-31

Across the United States (U.S.), school districts have grappled with how to create safe community- and achievement-oriented schools and how to ensure the necessary discipline is applied transparently, fairly, and without bias. Two programs that many schools have turned to in order to achieve these goals are Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Restorative Justice (RJ). PBIS is an evidence-driven schoolwide behavioral management approach that aims to outline clear expectations for students and to cultivate shared norms and practices across classrooms and school spaces. PBIS has become a popular approach in schools and districts: as of 2020; over 19,000 schools in the U.S. have implemented PBIS.

A second program, Restorative Justice (RJ), has grown in popularity in recent years. RJ typically focuses on restorative relationship building between affected parties, peaceful reconciliation, and non-punitive approaches to rectifying harm, using a structured circle discussion format. RJ schools use both community circles, designed to build a safe space for students and staff to share and listen to each other, and restorative circles, designed to share perspectives on and redress a behavioral issue.

Working with a large school district in a mid-Atlantic state, researchers set out to test whether these two programs substitute for or complement each other. In partnership with the school district researchers conducted two separate school-level randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The first RCT (RCT 1) sought to uncover the marginal impact of RJ by adding the program to a set of randomly selected schools that were already implementing PBIS. The second RCT (RCT 2) was designed to discover the impact of introducing both programs together into schools that had neither program at baseline. Researchers conducted student and staff surveys to collect measures of school climate, teacher logs to record program implementation, and researchers also received administrative data from the district on student test scores, teacher and student absences, student disciplinary infractions, and school costs.

There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of each of these programs in isolation. A recent meta-analysis of 32 experimental and quasi-experimental impact studies of PBIS found that PBIS reduced disciplinary exclusions and problem behavior and increased academic achievement. The findings were statistically significant and showed small to medium effect sizes. Individual studies have found that PBIS reduces the use of office disciplinary referrals and other exclusionary disciplinary measures (including the use of in-school and out-of-school suspensions), while improving student behavior and attitudes across school levels. Individual studies show variable--some statistically significant and some null--impacts on academic outcomes.

The empirical evidence on the effect of RJ in U.S. schools is more limited, with little rigorous casual evidence published to date. Based on patterns across rigorous and non-rigorous research, restorative justice is associated with decreases in suspension rates and disciplinary disparities, improved student behavior, and improved school climate and relationships.

Curated

Pursuing Equitable Restorative Communities, Pittsburgh, PA, 2015-2017 (ICPSR 37387)

Released/updated on: 2023-01-31

Geographic coverage: United States, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

Time period: 2015-01-01--2017-01-01

This study represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the impacts of restorative practices on classroom and school climate and suspension rates. The research team collected extensive data about implementation to help examine how it is related to effects and to develop operational guidance for school district leaders. The studied schools, all part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools district, implemented restorative practices for two school years (2015-16 and 2016-17) under the leadership of the International Institute for Restorative Practices.

Curated

Role of Law Enforcement in Public School Safety in the United States, 2002 (ICPSR 4457)

Released/updated on: 2008-12-24

Geographic coverage: United States

Time period: 2002-01-01--2002-05-01

The purpose of this research was to develop an accurate description of the current involvement of law enforcement in schools. The researchers administered a school survey (Part 1) as well as a law enforcement survey (Part 2 and Part 3). The school survey was designed specifically for this research, but did incorporate items from previous surveys, particularly the School Survey on Crime and Safety and the National Assessment of School Resource Officer Programs Survey of School Principals. The school surveys were then sent out to a total of 3,156 school principals between January 2002 and May 2002. The researchers followed Dillman's mail survey design and received a total of 1,387 completed surveys. Surveys sent to the schools requested that each school identify their primary and secondary law enforcement providers. Surveys were then sent to those identified primary law enforcement agencies (Part 2) and secondary law enforcement agencies (Part 3) in August 2002. Part 2 and Part 3 each contain 3,156 cases which matches the original sample size of schools. For Part 2 and Part 3, a total of 1,508 law enforcement surveys were sent to both primary and secondary law enforcement agencies. The researchers received 1,060 completed surveys from the primary law enforcement agencies (Part 2) and 86 completed surveys from the secondary law enforcement agencies (Part 3). Part 1, School Survey Data, included a total of 309 variables pertaining to school characteristics, type of law enforcement relied on by the schools, school resource officers, frequency of public law enforcement activities, teaching activities of law enforcement officers, frequency of private security activities, safety plans and meetings with law enforcement, and crime/disorder in schools. Part 2, Primarily Relied Upon Law Enforcement Agency Survey Data, and Part 3, Secondarily Relied Upon Law Enforcement Agency Survey Data, each contain 161 variables relating to school resource officers, frequency of public law enforcement activities, teaching activities of law enforcement agencies, safety plans and meetings with schools, and crime/disorder in schools reported to police according to primary/secondary law enforcement.

Curated

School Climate Enhancement and Bullying Prevention in Southern Illinois, 2016-2019 (ICPSR 37311)

Released/updated on: 2020-12-17

Geographic coverage: Illinois, Southern Illinois

Time period: 2016-01-01--2019-04-30

The study assesses school climate and bullying across 45 schools in 20 rural districts and 5 counties of Southern Illinois. Investigators also evaluated the effectiveness of a low-cost, component-based intervention that focused on improving classroom management, playground monitoring, and school-wide disciplinary procedures. This mixed-methods study incorporated hierarchical linear modeling, with mixed-effects longitudinal models for repeated outcomes. The project design incorporated random assignment, with multiple pre- and post-intervention assessments.

Major categories of variables include: students' feeling of safety in school areas; students' history of involvement in or observation of bullying; staff opinion and experience of bullying prevention methods; school policies on bullying; staff completion of training workshops; and demographics.

The units of analysis are individuals and schools.