Building Schools' Readiness To Implement a Comprehensive Approach to School Safety

• NCJ Number: 252055
• Author(s): Beverly Kingston, Sabrina Arredondo Mattson, Allison Dymnicki, Elizabeth Spier, Monica Fitzgerald, Kimberly Shipman, Sarah Goodrum, William Woodward, Jody Witt, Karl G. Hill, Delbert Elliott
• Date Published: July 2018
• Length: 17 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: A Roadmap to Evidence-Based School Safety: Safe Communities Safe Schools

Annotation

This paper aims to bridge the gap between scientific evidence and the application of that evidence in schools and communities by defining the key components of a comprehensive approach to school safety and describing how schools can assess their readiness to implement a comprehensive approach.

Abstract

Research has consistently found that a comprehensive approach to school safety, which integrates the best scientific evidence and solid implementation strategies, offers the greatest potential for preventing youth violence and promoting mental and behavioral health; however, schools and communities encounter enormous challenges in articulating, synthesizing, and implementing all the complex aspects of a comprehensive approach to school safety. The current study used readiness and implementation data from the Safe Communities Safe Schools project to illustrate the challenges and solutions in planning and implementing a comprehensive approach to school safety. The findings suggest that (1) readiness assessment can be combined with feasibility meetings to inform school selection for implementation of a comprehensive approach to school safety, and (2) intentionally addressing readiness barriers as part of a comprehensive approach may lead to improvements in readiness (motivation and capacity) to effectively implement a comprehensive approach to school safety. 132 references (Publisher abstract modified)