The National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) awarded approximately $246 million in grants from 2014 to 2017 to support nearly 100 research projects on school safety. This fact sheet summarizes the findings from these CSSI projects to help schools identify and implement the components of a comprehensive framework for school safety, reflecting the diversity of programs and practices available for school safety and the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing them in America’s schools. In this publication, NIJ discusses the following five things about comprehensive approaches to school safety: 1) A comprehensive framework for school safety balances evidence-based strategies for addressing school climate, student behavior, and physical security with consideration for the school’s unique needs and resources; 2) A positive school climate benefits multiple student- and school-level outcomes, including academic achievement, behavior, and physical safety; 3) To proactively address the underlying causes of student behavior problems and school violence, schools should adopt a multi-tiered system of supports with a range of assessment tools, referral options, and disciplinary strategies; 4) Schools should be discerning when selecting physical security technologies, considering the research on both the effectiveness of the technologies and the potential unintended consequences for students; and 5) Due to schools’ limited resources and capacity, the implementation of school safety programs and practices often differs from guidelines, diminishing their impact.
Five Things About a Comprehensive School Safety Framework
NCJ Number
309995
Date Published
January 2025
Abstract
Date Published: January 1, 2025