Gender and sexual diversity (GSD) needs to be identifiable, included in curriculum, and accepted in schools. School leaders need to advocate for policies to include a queer-inclusive curriculum. A gay-straight alliance is an extra-curricular group that promotes diversity and supports gender and/or sexually diverse students. Schools need to support…

The purpose of this study was to examine the shared concerns and remedies school social workers have about safety in their schools. A sample of school social work practitioners across the United States (N = 260) provided a response to the qualitative prompt: "In general, how do you think school safety in the United States can be…

In-class participation is a common component of many university students' course grade, yet there has been some debate over whether it is fair to grade participation, given that some students are " naturally" introverted. In this paper, we problematize the central assumption that the arguments against grading participation rest upon:…

Were those gunshots I just heard? Between 1990 and 2014 school shootings more than tripled when compared the prior 30-year span of 1960 to 1990. FBI data from 2000-2013 shows active violent incidents were resolved or ended due to citizen engagement of the perpetrator in 16.2% of the total incidents. Common police response times to an active…

This report offers seven suggestions for social and emotional learning (SEL) advocates and funders as they seek to deliver on SEL's promise and avoid its pitfalls. The case for SEL must not become an excuse to diminish attention to academic skills and knowledge or serve to deflect educators from the centrality of academic instruction. SEL will be…

Students often have differing perceptions of their school's climate. Although these subjective perceptions can be meaningful outcome predictors, discrepancies create challenges for those seeking to globally characterize or intervene to improve the climate of a school. Trained, outside observers can provide insights on perceptible and ostensibly…

Research related to the "teacher characteristics" dimension of teacher quality has proven inconclusive and weakly related to student success, and addressing the teaching contexts may be crucial for furthering this line of inquiry. International large-scale assessments are well positioned to undertake such questions due to their…

Compared to non-HBCU institutions, studies associated with student perceptions of campus crimes in HBCU settings are limited. Utilizing survey data from two HBCUs, nearly 200 students express their opinions in association with victimization, offender characteristics, and campus safety strategies. Descriptive results indicate high levels of support…

The problem addressed by this study is how violence in the school affects school safety teams' perceptions of safety. School safety teams are often made up of a principal, counselor, school resource officer and a teacher, in an effort to address safety issues in the school. Studies show that students tend to report unsafe behaviors in school the…

This qualitative dissertation study focused on the perceptions of school professionals in working with transgender and gender queer students. Twelve school professionals were individually interviewed utilizing a semi-structured format regarding their experiences working with transgender and gender queer students. School professionals were…

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency that has spread across Kentucky affecting all age groups. Scientific knowledge about this novel virus continues to evolve. The following guidelines are based upon what is known about mitigating risks of transmission across the Commonwealth to protect all populations. Protecting students and staff…

McMillan Public Schools (MPS) is a public school system in the southeastern part of the United States that serves approximately 28,000 students. Gregory Middle School (GMS) is one of 52 schools within MPS that serves 985 students. I used MPS and GMS as pseudonyms to anonymize the school system and school. In July 2019, I was appointed as the…

This essay encourages research on the presence of guns in college classrooms. Readers are asked to consider that around 11 million individuals have concealed carry permits (Crime Prevention Research Center, 2014), and roughly 20% of states allow concealed guns on campus (e.g., Anderson, 2016). Given the centrality of guns in our culture, and…

Law enforcement agencies stress that public reporting of terror-related crime is the predominant means for disrupting these actions. However, schools may be unprepared because the majority of the populace may not understand the threat of suspicious materials or what to do when they are found on school grounds. The purpose of this study was to…

Hazing impinges on campus safety, leadership development, and the missions of postsecondary institutions. There is limited research on hazing prevention and a need for a research-informed framework to guide prevention efforts. Based on findings from a research-to-practice initiative to develop comprehensive approaches to hazing prevention, this…