Reimagining School Safety From a Perspective of Care and Opportunity: Considerations for Policy, Research, and Evaluation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 64
  In Roundtable Session: Restorative Approaches to School Violence Roundtable

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of current political conceptualizations of school safety from a liberal egalitarian perspective. We argue that existing conceptual understandings of school safety, and their focus on extreme external factors, especially as codified in state and federal policy, are insufficient and fall far short of the crucial goal of advancing equal educational opportunity for all students. In order to promote this goal, school safety policy must care for the lived experiences of students in their day-to-day school lives by acknowledging factors that contribute to their internal safety. Through our analysis, we present a framework for understanding how education policy, research, and evaluation can provide this care.

Authors

• Bethy Leonardi, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Lauren P. Saenz, Boston College