The Effectiveness of the Say-Something Anonymous Reporting System in Preventing School Violence: A Cluster Randomized Control Trial in 19 Middle Schools

• NCJ Number: 305376
• Journal: Journal of School Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2022 Pages: 413-428
• Author(s): Hsing-fang Hsieh; Daniel B. Lee; Marc A. Zimmerman; Naomi Pomerantz; Mary C. Cunningham; Elizabeth Messman; Sarah A. Stoddard; Alison R. Grodzinski; Justin E. Heinze
• Date Published: August 2022
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2017-CK-BX-0002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System to Improve School Safety

Annotation

We examined the effectiveness of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) program in improving school safety in a cluster randomized control trial among over 700 students in 19 middle schools in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Abstract

The SS-ARS is a program that emphasizes youth engagement and trains youth to recognize warning signs of possible harmful behaviors and to safely report potential threats. We compared 3-month posttest reports of students’ self-efficacy and intention to report warning signs and 9-month posttest perceptions of school and exposure to school violence in treatment versus control schools. Results show that SS-ARS improved both 3-month and 9-month self-efficacy and intention to report. The intervention also promotes perceptions of school safety and reduced violence exposure at 9-month posttest. (Publisher abstract provided)