Promoting School Safety: A Comprehensive Emotional and Behavioral Health Model, Baltimore, Maryland, 2014-2017 (ICPSR 38192)

Version Date: Feb 13, 2024

Cite this study |

Principal Investigator(s):
April Lewis, Baltimore County Public Schools; Sharon A. Hoover, National Center for School Mental Health; Jill H. Bohnenkamp, National Center for School Mental Health

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38192.v1

Version V1

Slide tabs to view more

Summary

Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, Developing Knowledge about What Works to Make Schools Safe solicitation, partnered with The National Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland to address the significant school safety issue of student emotional and behavioral health crises. In 2012, BCPS implemented a five-year strategic plan known as Blueprint 2.0: Our Way Forward.

One of the major goals of the plan states: "Every school and office will be safe and secure, promote individual wellbeing and provide positive, respectful and caring environments for teaching, learning and working." The plan included key actions which call for "equitable access to counseling, social work, and psychological and other support services" as well as more "internal and external partnerships to improve delivery of mental health and other supportive services."

This study employed a randomized controlled design to evaluate the impact of the emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) model on school safety, emotional and behavioral health outcomes, and stakeholder knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health concerns across the continuum. A cost-benefit analysis assessed the net benefits of the EBH-CRP intervention.

Citation

Lewis, April, Hoover, Sharon A., and Bohnenkamp, Jill H. Promoting School Safety: A Comprehensive Emotional and Behavioral Health Model, Baltimore, Maryland, 2014-2017. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-02-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38192.v1

Export Citation:

  • RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
  • EndNote

Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2014-CK-BX-0021)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

None

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Hide

Time Period(s)

2014 -- 2017

Date of Collection

2014 -- 2015 (Baseline), 2015 -- 2016 (Intervention Year 1), 2016 -- 2017 (Intervention Year 2)

Data Collection Notes

  1. These data are a Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped for release, but not checked or processed except as noted in the ICPSR README documentation.

Hide

Study Purpose

The purpose of the study was to test the impact of a new comprehensive emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) intervention.

Study Design

The study employed a randomized controlled design to evaluate the impact of the emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) model on school safety, emotional and behavioral health outcomes and stakeholder knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health concerns across the continuum. The following datasets are included in this collection.

EBH-PKS--LSCI-Kognito.sav: This dataset is a combination of the Emotional and Behavioral Health Preparedness and Knowledge survey (EBH-PKS), the Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) survey, and the Kognito survey.

  • EBH-PKS Survey: The Emotional and Behavioral Health Preparedness and Knowledge survey (EBH-PKS) is an 18-item questionnaire. Staff were asked to respond to items based on how much they agree with each item on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Agree; 5 = Strongly Disagree). Additional questions were added to the EBH-PKS in the final data collection time point. This survey was administered to school staff at 3 time points, including: Fall School year 1 (SY1), Spring SY1, Spring School year 2 (SY2).
  • LSCI Survey: The Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) survey is a 22-item questionnaire. Staff were asked to complete the pre-test before the training and post-test immediately following training. Staff responded to Likert-type questions about their confidence and understanding of crisis-related concepts and skills. This survey was administered to all school staff who participated in the LSCI training during 2 time points, including: Fall SY1 and Summer before SY2.
  • Kognito Survey: The Kognito survey is a 23-item questionnaire. Staff were asked to complete the pre-test before the training, post-test immediately following training, and follow-up two months after completing the training. Staff responded to Likert-type questions about their confidence and understanding of crisis-related concepts and skills. This survey was administered to all school staff who participated in the Kognito training throughout SY1 and SY2.

    • Incident_Reports.sav: The Emotional and Behavioral Health Crisis Incident Report is a 1-page form that documents incident type, frequency, response and disposition. Staff were asked to provide descriptive information about the crisis incident and response and disposition procedures. This report was completed by school staff after responding to an EBH crisis throughout the academic year during SY1 and SY2.

    SSA_student.sav: The Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) Student surveys include pre, post and year end surveys. Students who participated in the SSA program completed the surveys. This survey was administered to SSA student participants prior to SSA training Y2, Post SSA training Y2 and Year End Y2.

    SSA_adult.sav: The Safe School Ambassadors Adult surveys include pre, post and year end surveys. Adults who participated in the SSA program completed the surveys. This survey was administered to SSA staff participants prior to SSA training Y2, Post SSA training Y2 and Year End Y2.

    Principal_survey.sav: The Principal Survey varied in length in Year 1 and Year 2. Principals were asked to respond to items asking about emotional and behavioral health incidents and staff knowledge and preparedness for the respective school year. This survey was administered to all school principals at 2 time points, including: between spring and summer SY1 and Spring SY2.

    School_system_data.sav: This dataset includes a number of data categories and were collected by the school system during SY0, SY1 and SY2. A list of these secondary data are included below. Users should note that the numbered items with a single asterisk (*) are items where data were unavailable for some schools and numbered items with two asterisks (**) are items that were not available for SY2.

    1. Official number and length of suspensions by school, gender and race
    2. Number of and outcomes for risk assessments completed*
    3. Number of threat assessments completed
    4. Number of bullying reports completed
    5. School counselor cumulative reports
    6. School pupil personnel workers' cumulative reports
    7. School resource officers' cumulative reports
    8. School psychologists' cumulative reports
    9. Community mental health cumulative reports
    10. Total enrollment by school
    11. PARCC scores as relevant
    12. Official number of office referrals
    13. Number of times Baltimore County Mobile Crisis was utilized
    14. Number of students referred to juvenile justice services
    15. School behavioral interventionists' cumulative reports*
    16. Attendance by school
    17. Number of students suspended to the Designee**
    18. Number of arrests by school and category**
    19. Multi-stakeholder (student, parent, educator, administrator) school survey

    Sample

    At the start of the project period (2014-2015 school year), Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) served over 108,000 students in 173 schools and centers, making it the 26th largest school district in the country in terms of number of students enrolled. The student population is remarkably diverse in terms of race, ethnic origin, and income. The demographics of BCPS students are as follows: 43.2% Caucasian, 38.7% African-American, 7.2% Hispanic, 6.4% Asian and 4.0% Multi-racial. BCPS families come from 110 countries and speak 89 languages at home. The BCPS population has become poorer and increasingly mobile over the last decade. Forty-six (46%) of BCPS school children are eligible for free or reduced price meals, a 60% increase during the last 10 years. The district has also experienced a 222% increase in the number of homeless children over the last decade with nearly 2,000 in this category.

    After consideration of potential target samples within BCPS, it was determined that addressing emotional and behavioral health (EBH) crises across the continuum of grade levels would allow for the best understanding of this safety issue. By using all school levels, it was also determined that it would enhance the facilitation of replication of the intervention to other schools in the future. To employ and evaluate the emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) intervention across the continuum of grade levels, it was determined that "feeder patterns" within BCPS that are matched on key demographic variables, including race/ethnicity, poverty, and current EBH supports, would be randomized to receive the EBH-CRP intervention or participate in the comparison condition. BCPS feeder patterns are developed based on geography and typically include one high school, 2-4 middle schools, and 5-10 elementary schools.

    Two sets of feeder patterns matched on key demographic variables (Mental Health Risk, Enrollment, Free and Reduced Meals, Race/Ethnicity, availability of community-partnered school mental health services) were randomly assigned with one feeder pattern in each set receiving the intervention and one in each set participating in the comparison condition. After this randomization, there were 20 intervention schools with the following breakdown: elementary schools, 5 middle schools and 2 high schools, and 20 comparison schools: 14 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 2 high schools.

    Time Method

    Longitudinal

    Universe

    Public school system grades pre-kindergarten through 12

    Unit(s) of Observation

    Organization

    Data Type(s)

    Mode of Data Collection

    Description of Variables

    The variables in this study include rates of bullying via varying methods, school demographics, descriptions of school personnel and implementation of the emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) model, effectiveness measures of the EBH-CRP model, and overall emotional and behavioral health crisis incident reports per school.

    Response Rates

    Not available

    Presence of Common Scales

    Likert-type scales

    Hide

    Original Release Date

    2024-02-13

    Version History

    2024-02-13 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:

    • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

    Hide

    Weight

    Not applicable

    Hide

    Notes

    • These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

    • 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.