Fewer Incidents but Feeling Less Safe: Revisiting the Climate and Culture Distinction in the Context of a School Safety Initiative

• In Event: Promoting School Safety and Security: Considering the Impact of Student Support on Student Engagement

Abstract

In this paper, I use the results of a 4-year district-wide anti-violence initiative as a springboard for addressing conceptual, programmatic, and assessment issues related to the concepts of school safety climate and school safety culture. I present program outcomes and discuss plausible explanations for how the program simultaneously decreased violent incidents and reduced feelings of safety. I use these seemingly contradictory program outcomes to explore climate and culture concepts. In doing so, I make problematic the conflation of school climate and culture, especially in the context of school safety, anti-violence, and discipline studies. To conclude, I argue that improving school safety culture should take precedence over school safety climate and present a theory of change to explain this rationale.

Author

• Decoteau J. Irby, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee