This article summarizes the accomplishments of research on school safety in the past quarter century, identifies important gaps, and indicates promising directions for further progress. Although closely related, there are distinguishable bodies of research on physical and psychological safety. Physical safety research concerns the prevention of…

LGBTQ+ students have worse academic and health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts, and these disparities increase when taking race/ethnicity into account. 57% of Latinx LGBTQ+ students report feeling unsafe at school due to their gender expression, and 35% are more likely to miss school due to feelings of unsafety. This fact sheet…

Across time, frameworks for assessing school safety have failed to acknowledge the harm that institutional racism in school inflicts upon Black students. Such frameworks coupled with disparate outcomes resulting from policies meant to increase safety in schools have long begged the questions, "What does school safety look like for Black…

Ambulatory restraint is defined as any physical method of restricting an individual's freedom of movement, physical activity, or normal access to his or her body. There has been increased volume of restraints documented in public schools. This alerted the school of education at a midwestern university as to the possible need for crisis…

Restraint and seclusion are crisis or emergency responses, which should only be used in extreme situations (e.g., a student engaging in repeated forceful physical aggression toward self or others) when risk of serious and imminent physical harm or injury is high and when an emergency response may reduce that risk. Restraint and seclusion are not…

In accordance with the provisions of Section 7-424.1 of the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, the Maryland State Board of Education has developed and adopted a Model Policy to address bullying, harassment, or intimidation. This report presents the Model Policy, which is organized into the following eight points: (1) Prohibition…

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have used to promote school safety. SSOCS collects data from public school principals about violent and nonviolent crimes in their schools. The survey also collects…

As advocates for children and youth with exceptionalities, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recognizes the influence a safe and positive school and community climate has on meeting the promises made in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The CEC is committed to upholding the dignity and worth of all individuals with…

Today's school administrators and counselors recognize the continuing problem of aggression at recess, but struggle with how to respond to it. Given the wide range of possibilities, what can schools do to improve the playground environment? This article addresses that question and also offers a specific disciplinary model that can be applied to…

School counselors (SCs) have a wide range of responsibilities in schools, such as administrative, disciplinary, and counseling duties (Dahir & Stone, 2009). Due to the large number of responsibilities, SCs sometime struggle with developing programs to meet relational needs of at-risk students. The purpose of this article was to provide SCs with a…

This study uses 2011/12 data from the Oregon Department of Education to examine whether English learner students in six Oregon districts received exclusionary discipline more often and were suspended for more instructional days than non-English learner students. The study also identifies the most common reasons for exclusionary discipline for…

This report presents information provided by New Jersey public schools for the 2016-17 school year on incidents of violence; vandalism; weapon offenses; substance offenses; and harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB). The information is presented annually by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to the Governor and Legislature to…

Since 9/11, the lives of some Muslim students, and those perceived to be Muslim, have changed across the country, shaped in part by the distrust and harassment Muslims have endured from fellow Americans. In the months immediately following the attacks, accounts of harassment of Muslim students mounted in the news media, as did efforts by Muslim…

This report presents information provided by New Jersey public schools for the 2015-16 school year on incidents of violence; vandalism; weapon offenses; substance offenses; and harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB). The information is presented annually by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to the Governor and Legislature to…

Youth diagnosed with "conduct disorder" are often placed in programs using forced compliance and coercive control. One type of intervention used to treat conduct disorder is the boot camp. The basic idea is that disruptive behaviors can be corrected by strict behavioral regulation and an emphasis on skills training (Weis & Toolis 2009; Weis,…