Can Parent Volunteering in School Improve School Safety in Disadvantaged Urban Neighborhoods? An Analysis of Nationally Representative Data

• In Event: 21.013 - Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

School safety is at the forefront of national policy discussions. Incidents of school crime and violence also indicate that safety represents a considerable educational disparity with disadvantaged urban schools reporting disproportionately high rates of crime and violence. Theoretical reasoning suggests that parent participation in school may contribute to improved school safety, but little empirical work has tested this relationship. This study examines the relationship between parent volunteering in school and two measures of school safety (i.e. school crime and violence and student bodily harm) by merging five waves of the School Survey on Crime and Safety, Common Core Data, and the American Community Survey. Results from analyses of 12,698 schools showed that parent volunteering in school was associated with less school crime and violence and student bodily harm, net of controls for school organizational features, safety practices, sociodemographic characteristics, and neighborhood-level crime. For schools in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, this relationship persisted with parent volunteering in school being associated with considerable declines in incidents of school crime and violence and student bodily harm. The overall analyses indicate that parent volunteering in school may be a tool for improving school safety in distressed urban settings.

Author

• Daniel Hamlin, University of Oklahoma