Impact of school police reform on student safety, behavior, well-being, and disciplinary outcomes in California

• In Event: NIJ Day: Large-Scale Assessments of School Safety Strategies: Implications for Policy and Practice

Abstract

This study examines the impact of school police reform resulting in the removal of school police on student outcomes. The study takes advantage of recent widespread school police reforms in California and extant survey and administrative data, and uses a quasi-experimental study to compare school districts that removed school police during 2019–20 or 2020–21 with a matched comparison group of districts that did not remove school police. The study examines the impact of such policies on middle and high school students’ reported safety (violence victimization, harassment/bullying victimization), behavior (substance use, weapon carrying), and well-being (connectedness, adult supports) as well as administrative disciplinary data (suspensions and expulsions) and how these outcomes vary by race/ethnicity. This study also examines whether school police reform has differential impacts depending on the level of schools’ mental health supports (student-to-counselor ratio) and inclusive student supports (restorative practices). There are no impact studies, to our knowledge, that examine the impact of removing school police. This study’s findings are critical to the national focus on the potential detrimental effects school police may have on student outcomes—particularly for Black and Brown students—and whether there is evidence to support removing school police.

Authors

• Arena Lam, WestEd

• Trevor Fronius, WestEd