Enhancing School Resource Officers Effectiveness through Online Professional and Job Embedded Coaching

The proposed project is aimed at promoting the skills of School Resource Officers (SROs), through an innovative online professional development platform.

The 36 month project will pilot a system of job-embedded professional development to train at least 140 Miami-Dade County Public Schools SROs in research-based techniques for addressing the unique needs of the school environment, using a combination of both online and in-person supports.

The system will target four areas found to be important for the SRO’s success, but rarely included in current training: 1) Social/emotional learning; 2) Trauma informed care; 3) Cultural Competence; and 4) Restorative Practices/Problem-Solving. SRO supervisors will receive coaching training so they can have the skills to help SROs effectively bridge the concepts learned to their day-to-day work.

The study will employ an experimental time-series design where 70 SROs are randomly assigned to participate in the program (Cohort 1), and a control group of 70 SROs is placed on a waiting list to participate in the program starting six months after the first group completes the program (Cohort 2). The outcomes for this study include school discipline and offense data, student self-reported measures of violence perpetration and victimization, peer support and school engagement.

This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in the applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements – 2 CFR 200.210(a) (14). ca/ncf