School Crime and Safety

Our nation’s schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community.
 

Our Work

AIR conducts research and evaluation, synthesizes information, develops tools to improve, and provides consultation and technical assistance regarding school crime and safety. AIR’s work has included conducting school and district audits, collecting and analyzing national data, and producing guides which have been released by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.

AIR also provides technical assistance and support for questionnaire development and sample design, producing and fully documenting analytic data files from raw survey data for the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS).

Contact
Jana Kemp

Jana Kemp

Principal Researcher
Related Topics
Justice Systems
School Climate
Social and Emotional Learning
Related Work
Child with a backpack holding a parent's hand

An Evidence-Based Road Map for School and Community Safety

14 Jun 2022
The tragic school shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, school initiated discussion over how to prevent future violent events. While there is no magic answer to reducing violence in our schools and communities, AIR’s David Osher and Sandra Williamson discuss evidence-based actions.
Girl looking lonely in the dark

Bullying Prevention

28 Sep 2020
The 2018 Indicators of School Crime and Safety reports that 20 percent of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school during the 2017 school year. As more is being learned about the negative psychological and physical effects of bullying, researchers are focusing on how to address the problem. The ...

Spotlight on School Climate

15 Aug 2020
Accurately measuring school climate helps schools identify areas of improvement and choose evidence-based interventions for effecting positive change. Read what our researchers are finding out about how learning environments affect whether students feel—and are—safe, connected, supported, and challenged. ...
Infographic: Student Bullying and Perceptions of Power Imbalance

A Public Health Approach to School Bullying: A Q&A With Xan Young, Senior TA Consultant

19 Aug 2019
Xan Young, senior technical assistance consultant at AIR, directs the Violence Prevention Technical Assistance Center, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this Q&A, Young shares her insights on bullying and AIR’s work on this issue.

Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety

25 Jul 2019
These reports present key findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS). SSOCS provides information about school crime-related topics from the school’s perspective, asking public school principals to report the frequency of violent incidents, such as physical attacks, ...

Social and Emotional Learning at Pasco County Schools

In the aftermath of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, education leaders in Pasco County renewed their commitment to improve school safety and student mental health—which, according to research, can also improve academic learning. With guidance from AIR experts, a core team of district and school stakeholders examined research and ...

A Quick Word With: Patricia Campie on a Rare, Longitudinal Study of School Violence

28 May 2019
Patricia Campie is a criminologist with more than 20 years of experience leading community-based research, evaluation, and implementation science initiatives. She is the principal investigator for the Research on Lowering Violence in Schools and Communities (ReSOLV) project, a five-year longitudinal study of the root causes of school violence and community, ...
Image of boy with backpack holding his father's hand

Building Schools’ Readiness to Implement a Comprehensive Approach to School Safety

02 Jul 2018
Schools and communities encounter enormous challenges in articulating, synthesizing, and implementing all the complex aspects of a comprehensive approach to school safety. 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 ...

Indicators of School Crime and Safety

The purpose of this project is to plan, research, design, and execute the annual Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a flagship report co-sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Spotlight on School Crime and Safety

23 Aug 2017
Educators, parents, and communities want their schools to be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Explore these selected reports, tools and informational graphics to learn more about crime and safety incidents in schools, how they are handled, and what approaches may be having a positive ...