Ensure a Safe and Secure Environment
June 2011
A
positive, safe, and clean school environment is essential to sound child development and highlevel learning and is directly linked to student academic performance. Students learn best and
achieve to their fullest potential when they are taught in an environment where they are physically,
socially, and emotionally safe.i A positive school environment is associated with fewer student behavioral
and emotional problems, increased academic success, and higher rates of staff retention which is
important for providing a consistent set of adults whom students learn they can trust throughout their
academic careers.ii
Feeling unsafe, however, adversely impacts student motivation, attitude, behavior, and overall functioning
in school while also producing lower levels of academic achievement. The daily incidents of gossiping,
bullying, and fighting that occur regularly in today’s schools are far more likely to contribute to students’
and teachers’ overall sense of safety, or lack thereof, than the major incidents of school violence that are
often reported in the media.iii Victims of violence and harassment attend school less frequently, feel less
connected to and less engaged in school, and spend less time on homework and in extracurricular
activities. These daily incidents also lead to classroom interruptions and students missing class for
reasons including fear of other students, removal from class, and suspension from school. Yet the
research indicates that “zero tolerance” policies and high rates of suspension do not make students and
teachers feel safer. In fact, schools with high suspension rates are often less safe than schools with lower
suspension rates, even when they serve similar students from similar types of neighborhoods.iv
In addition to the school environment, external conditions around schools and in students’ backgrounds
and home communities also play an important role in the level of safety in schools. The rates of
neighborhood poverty, crime, and social resources in students’ home neighborhoods are related to school
safety, even more than the levels in the school neighborhood. Additionally, research shows that schools
with large numbers of students with low academic accomplishments are less safe, a result of the fact that
low-achieving students often come from neighborhoods with high rates of poverty and crime.v
Therefore, creating a safe and secure school environment involves multiple facets of a school
environment, including the school climate, norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, and the
physical state of the building.vi In order for students and staff to perform at their best, they must feel safe
in all aspects of their experiences, which requires a concerted effort on the part of all stakeholders. To
support safe and productive learning environments, schools can engage in several evidence-based,
targeted strategies to improve school climate. These efforts should be relationship-focused so that every
student connects to at least one caring adult, and based on a curriculum that promotes social, emotional,
and civic competencies along with content-area competencies.vii Also, any school-wide attempt to
improve school climate should emphasize students’ unique strengths and use diverse and increasingly
intensive approaches to support students’ academic abilities.viii
Several important strategies and resources can be used to create safe, positive, and secure school
environments: the quality of relationships between staff and students and their families; additional staff
and supports from the community, including law enforcement and social service agencies; and the
physical state of a school building such as air quality, noise levels, lighting, and temperature.
Research shows that the quality of relationships between staff and students and between staff and
families most strongly defines safe schools.ix Students who have a positive, trusting relationship with at
least one adult in the building are less likely to drop out and more likely to achieve at higher levels.x
Schools serving a large population of low-achieving students must make stronger efforts to foster
trusting, collaborative relationships with students and their families. These relationships play an
important role in insulating students from adverse neighborhood conditions and creating safe schooling
environments.xi To this end, schools need to ensure that every student will have a supportive relationship
with at least one adult in school by designing academic and extracurricular programs with the specific
goal of providing adult role-models. This will require that schools have staff members willing to develop
positive relationships and receive necessary training in identifying potential problems and finding
resources to assist students. Organizational factors within schools can also mediate the impact of the
community on school safety, such as the adoption of clear procedures that teachers and staff support,
and a coherent school educational mission.xii
Research also shows that schools need additional staff, and other supports from the community in order
to expand students’ access to counseling, anger management, and peer mediation services.xiii Additional
pro-active partnerships with law-enforcement and social service agencies, including deliberate strategies
to prevent bullying, gang activity, and other issues that put students and staff at risk can provide some of
the supports schools need.xiv Also, consistently disruptive and potentially violent students should be
placed in alternative settings. Schools should have the ability to place students who put themselves and
others at risk in high-quality alternative education programs, distance learning opportunities, or other
schools that can meet their academic, behavioral, and emotional needs while also providing job training.
Administrators and teachers in these alternative settings need appropriate training for working with and
teaching these students.xv There is also research to suggest that stricter dress codes and/or uniforms,
when used in conjunction with other reform efforts, can reduce the perception of violence in schools and
alter the school climate in positive ways.xvi Stricter dress codes and uniforms can lead to fewer
distractions, increased self-esteem, and less gang activity in schools.
Furthermore, schools should establish a School Safety Committee comprised of students, parents,
community members, teachers, support professionals, pupil services personnel, and administrators to
cooperatively develop and implement a plan for establishing and maintaining safety in their schools. The
Committee should also assess the need for additional professional development and resources to
address school safety issues.xvii Finally, schools should provide students with the tools and resources to
know how to communicate with adults about rumors, threats, or abusive behavior. These tools and
resources include school-wide anti-bullying, anti-cyber-bullying, conflict resolution, and peer mediation
programs, as well as access to counselors, social workers, and mentors in the school setting. Also,
schools can create anonymous tip lines or suggestion boxes for reporting potentially dangerous situations
or providing ideas to improve school climate. The School Safety Committee should then be responsible
for promptly reviewing suggestions and appropriate implementation.
The physical state of a school can also impact student achievement. Research has shown that several
aspects of a school building can affect learning, including spatial configurations, noise, temperature,
lighting, and air quality.xviii Students need clean air, good lighting, and quiet and comfortable classrooms in
order to achieve at their highest levels. The organization of classrooms, including the arrangement of
furniture and well-planned and interactive lesson plans, can also impact student behavior and learning by
optimizing learning time, minimizing disruptions and distractions, and maintaining an orderly and effective
learning environment.xix
In order for students to be successful in school, they need to feel safe, secure, and connected to the
school and their teachers. A variety of factors must be in place to accomplish that level of safety and
connection. Students need teachers and other adults who care about them and their achievement, and
they need to know that they will not be physically or emotionally harmed while at school. Students need to
be armed with knowledge about the resources available to them and what to do and who to talk to if they
do not feel safe. And finally, students need a clean environment that is conducive to learning with few
distractions or opportunities to waste time. When these factors are in place, students are free to learn and
achieve at their highest levels.
i
School Safety; http://www.nea.org/tools/16364.htm.
ii
Freiberg, H. J. (Ed.). (1999). “School climate: Measuring, improving and sustaining healthy learning Environments,”
Philadelphia, PA: Falmer Press.; Good, T.L. & Weinstein, R.S. (1986). “Schools make a difference,” American
Psychologist, 41, 1090-1097; Haynes, N. M., & Comer, J. P. (1993). “The Yale School Development Program process,
outcomes, and policy implications,” Urban Education, 28(2), 166-199. Cited at:
http://education.gsu.edu/schoolsafety/downloadpercent20files/wppercent202002percent20schoolpercent20climate.pdf.; Kuperminc,
G. P., Leadbeater, B. J., Emmons, C., & Blatt, S. J. (1997). “Perceived school climate and difficulties in the social adjustment of
middle school students,” Applied Developmental Science, 1(2), 76-88. Cited at:
http://education.gsu.edu/schoolsafety/downloadpercent20files/wppercent202002percent20schoolpercent20climate.pdf.; National
School Climate Council. (2007). “The School Climate Challenge: Narrowing the gap between school climate research and school
climate policy, practice guidelines and teacher education policy,” New York: Center for Social and Emotional Education.; Steinberg,
M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of community
context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban Education
Institute. ; Taylor, D. L., & Tashakkori, A. (1995). “Decision participation and school climate as predictors of job satisfaction and
teacher’s sense of efficacy,” Journal of Experimental Education, 63(3), 217-227. Cited in
http://education.gsu.edu/schoolsafety/downloadpercent20files/wppercent202002percent20schoolpercent20climate.pdf.;
http://www.schoolclimate.org/climate/standards.php.
iii
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
iv
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
v
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
vi
National School Climate Council. http://www.schoolclimate.org/climate/faq.php.
Cohen, J., Fege, A. & T. Pickeral. (2009). “Measuring and improving school climate: a strategy that recognizes, honors, and
promotes social, emotional, and civic learning—The Foundation for love, work, and engaged citizenry,” Teachers College Record;
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
vii
viii
Adapted from: http://www.preventionworksct.org/docs/SDFSC/PDF/Case_for_climate.pdf.
ix
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
x
Brown, T. M. (2007). “Lost and turned out: Academic, social, and emotional experiences of students excluded from school.” Urban
Education, 42(5), 432-455). Brown, T. M., & Rodriguez, L. F. (2009). “School and the co-construction of dropout.” International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(2), 221-242.
xi
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
xii
Steinberg, M. P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D. W. (2011). Student and teacher safety in Chicago Public Schools: The roles of
community context and school social organization. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban
Education Institute.
xiii
Monk, D. (2008). “School Safety: The Twelve Myths and Realities.” Presentation at the May 2008 PSEA House of Delegates.
xiv
Band, S. R., & Harpold, J. A. (1999). School violence: Lessons learned. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 68(9), 9-16.; Redding, R.
E., & Shalf, S. M. (2001). The legal context of school violence: The effectiveness of federal, state, and local law enforcement efforts
to reduce gun violence in schools. Law & Policy, 23(3), 297-343.
xv
Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth, http://www.pde.state.pa.us/alt disruptive/site/default.asp.
xvi
Wade, K. K., & Stafford, M. E. (2003). Public school uniforms: Effect on perceptions of gang presence, school climate, and
student self-perceptions. Education and Urban Society, 35, 399-420.
xvii
Monk, D. (2008). “Ten Essential Elements to Examine to Enhance School Safety,” Presentation at the May 2008
PSEA House of Delegates.
xviii
Schneider, M. (2002). “Do school facilities affect academic outcomes?” National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities,
Washington, D.C.
xix
LePage, P., Darling-Hammond, L., Akar, H., Gutierrez, C., Jenkins-Gunn, E., & Rosebrock, K. (2005). “Classroom management.”
In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford (eds.) Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to
do. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 327-357.; Simon, B. S. (2001).