Who Determines Whether a School Is Safe: Exploring Strategies and Possibilities for School Safety Data Collection in Schools

• In Event: What Is School Safety, and Who Gets to Have It? An Interdisciplinary Conversation

Abstract

Background & Objectives. School safety research has often relied on survey data with individual items asking students to report their self-assessment of whether they feel safe at school or various areas of a school (e.g., Fisher et al., 2018). Less common is qualitative data collection, speaking with various members of school communities about whether they feel safe and what detracts from or contributes to their safety. Research specifically focused on effective methods to gather this data qualitatively is even less common. There is a particular challenge to recruit a heterogeneous sample of students but organize homogeneous focus groups to help prompt discussion and encourage openness. This is an especially important challenge to address as school safety is inequitably distributed with higher proportions of racially minoritized students feeling unsafe in school, an overlooked source of injustice in education (Viano & Truong, 2022). The objective of this research study is to explore the strategies and possibilities for equitable recruitment in student-centered school safety data collection in schools.

Theoretical Framework. Placing a focus on student voice, this research study is grounded in the theoretical framework of critical youth engagement which places equity and social justice as the central focus of engagement with students (Fox, et. al, 2010). Critical youth engagement research involves gathering student data with the goal of using results to ignite and inform social action strategies. We argue that this approach to student engagement can support efforts to create more equity in schools.

Methods & Data. This study is part of a larger mixed methods research study that combines quantitative measures of school security and focus groups of school staff and students at 20-30 high schools across 2 school districts. This particular study is focused on our approach to addressing barriers in recruiting and organizing student focus groups that are representative of school demographics and students’ experiences with the disciplinary system.

Results Summary and Significance. While the recruitment of a heterogeneous sample representative of school demographics was the goal, specific strategies were employed to prompt discussion and openness during the student focus groups. This presentation will focus on these strategies, including organizing student focus groups based on identities and similar lived experiences (e.g., directly impacted by the school disciplinary system, residence in neighborhoods with higher rates of police surveillance, enrolled in the honors program, etc.). In addition to these recruitment and focus group organization strategies, this presentation will discuss other ways school safety researchers might consider eliciting deeper responses about the nature of safety from the staff and student perspectives including journaling exercises and youth participatory action research projects.

Authors

• Aishia Brown, University of Louisville

• Samantha L. Viano, George Mason University