Brevard Public Schools School Climate and Safety Study, Florida, 2015-2018 (ICPSR 37680)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The goal of this study was to evaluate a mental health program that sought to improve school climate and safety. The three primary objectives were to:

• Train school personnel on strategies to identify and response to students' needs.
• Increase mental health services available to students and their families.
• Train school resource officers on crisis intervention techniques.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Five target schools were selected to participate in the program. These schools were located in low income areas of Brevard county and were selected due to high rates of discipline incidents. The five schools represented a "feeder" pattern in which four elementary schools were selected that feed students into one large middle and high school. The four elementary schools offered the program for the full three years of implementation; the middle/high school stopped offering the program at the start of the Spring 2018 school year (the last year of implementation). Three comparison schools were also selected by the school board with the goal being to choose schools which had similar rates of discipline incidents, students enrolled, and community characteristics. Surveys were administered at all 8 schools every semester from Fall 2015 to Spring 2017.

To participate in the student-level evaluation, parent consent and student assent was required. To be involved in the school-wide surveys and training evaluations, passive consent (i.e., completion of surveys implied consent) was required. The evaluation had three components which assessed program impacts at: (1) the school-level (i.e., aggregate effects), (2) among students who participated in the program, and (3) across trainings.

The evaluation involved anonymous surveys of students and staff, confidential interviews of students that receive services, and anonymous pre- and post-evaluations of the trainings.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Students in grades 1 to 12, associated school personnel, and law enforcement officers located in Brevard County, Florida.

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

DS1 to DS3: Grades 1 to 3 Interview

• Demographics only in Baseline (DS1) file - gender, grade, and race
• 6-items of delinquent acts ever done at school plus a combined computed score of those acts

DS4 to DS6: Grades 4 to 12 Interview

• Demographics only in Baseline (DS4) file - gender, grade, and race
• Questions on number of days suspended from school and skipped school in the past 6-months
• 6-items of delinquent acts ever done at school plus a combined computed score of those acts

DS7 and DS8: Grades 4 to 12 Student Survey

• 3-items of being a victim of delinquent acts during the current semester plus a combined computed score of those acts
• 7-items of being bullied at school during the current semester plus a combined computed score of those acts
• Presense of gangs at the school

DS9 and DS10: School Personnel Survey

• 12-items of personally witnessing student delinquency during the current semester plus a a combined computed score of those acts
• 8-items of knowing about problems at the school plus a combined computed score of those acts
• 6-items of personally being a victim of student delinquency plus a combined computed score of those acts

DS11: Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS)

• Combined file of pre-test and post-test scores
• Items covering 6-domains: life functioning (14), youth strengths (11), acculturation (4), caregiver strengths and needs (11), youth behavioral needs (9), and youth risk behaviors (10)
• Computed score for each domain and overall for both pre- and post-test

DS12: Crisis Intervention Training for Youth (CIT-Y)

• Pre-test and post-test designed to measure training effectiveness of CIT-Y
• Pre-test completed the same day as the training, and the post-test completed immediately afterwards
• Respondents were law enforcement officers from local police and sherriff departments
• Basic demographics include education, age, ethnicity, race, and gender
• Questions on confidence to recognize issues in children and communicate with them
• Overall feelings of agreement on mental health issues

DS13: Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA)

• Pre-test and post-test designed to measure training effectiveness of YMHFA
• Pre-test completed the same day as the training, and the post-test completed immediately afterwards
• Respondents were school personnel of which about 70% were teachers
• Basic demographics include gender, ethnicity, race, education, and role in school
• Questions on confidence to identify or have knowledge about warning signs regarding suicide and self-harm
• Overall feelings of agreement on mental health issues
• Questions on how they might deal with a hypothetical situation of good student they notice going through a hard time

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The average response rate across semesters was 76% for the student surveys and 88% for the school personnel surveys.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Please refer to the final page of each P.I. Codebook for detailed references regarding scales and measures that items were adapted from.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2024-03-27

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

None.