School Emergency Preparedness Study, United States, 2018 (ICPSR 37222)

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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The study sought to address the following research questions at state, district, and school levels:

State:

District:

School:

Study Design View help for Study Design

The study addressed questions about state guidelines and mandates through rigorous reviews of emergency planning materials posted by state agencies on their websites (Phase I). At the district level, questions were addressed about the comprehensiveness of district guidelines and alignment with federal recommendations through a national survey of school districts (Phases II and III). Finally, at the school level, preparedness from the local school perspective was sought by interviewing school officials (Phase IV).

Sample View help for Sample

In Phase II, RTI administered a web-based survey to school district safety and security directors and superintendents between January and June 2018. The sampling frame consisted of all public school districts with an e-mail address for either the safety and security director or the superintendent. Of the approximately 14,675 public school districts in the United States, 13,583 school districts had usable e-mail addresses and were eligible for the study. Demographic characteristics such as poverty status, urbanicity, and enrollment size were obtained from NCES Common Core of Data and added to the database. All targeted districts were initially contacted via hard-copy letter, then e-mail. District staff could obtain additional information about the study, including sample survey questions, through the study's website. A toll-free number was also available to callers for any questions or concerns or for technical assistance with the survey. Nonresponding districts were reminded with repeated e-mails. In addition, trained telephone interviewers conducted telephone prompting and completed surveys by telephone with a subsample of nonrespondents. A total of 2,692 districts completed the survey (19.82% of eligible districts).

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

All public school districts with an e-mail address for either the safety and security director or the superintendent.

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

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

19.83 percent for the district survey portion of the study.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

none

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2022-01-13

Weight View help for Weight

RTI International calculated statistical analysis weights such that responding districts would represent all eligible districts. The weights were computed as the product of two components: the base weight and an adjustment for nonresponse. Because all districts were included in the survey, the base weight for all districts was equal to 1. The nonresponse adjustment was calculated using the procedure WTADJUST in SUDAAN (RTI International 2012). The WTADJUST procedure uses a logistic model to predict response and is designed so that the sum of the unadjusted weights for all eligible units equals the sum of the adjusted weights for the respondents. The predictor variables used in the nonresponse modeling included census division; district locale; and district size based on enrollment. RTI International also created a 34-category "group" variable from a combination of census region, locale, and district size. These variables were defined for all respondents and nonrespondents. The beta parameters of the logistic model were used to determine the nonresponse adjustment factors.