School Safety and Academic Achievement: Disentangling Actual Threat and Misperceived Risk of Violence Victimization

• In Event: Poster Session 2

Abstract

Prior research has demonstrated the acute impact of school violence on educational performance outcomes, but similar studies that focus on long-term academic achievement outcomes have produced mixed results. One potential reason for this discrepancy is that scholars have not fully accounted for student perceptions of safety. Students in high-violence schools are more likely to experience repeated periods of cognitive stress that derail their academic performance. However, students in low-violence schools might misperceive the risk of violence victimization and experience similar derailment processes. This study examines the relationship between school violence and academic achievement by disentangling the effects of actual threats versus misperceived risks of violence. I leverage transcript records from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS), a nationally representative survey of over 20,000 9th graders, to examine the association between perceptions of safety and high school grade outcomes. I match the HSLS data to external, publicly available data sources to construct measures of violent crime, gun ownership, and disorder around youth’s school environments. Preliminary findings show that high exposure to violent crime and low perceptions of school safety are each negative predictors of grade outcomes. Future models will assess how these contextual measures shape long-term academic achievement.

Author

• Max Lubell, University of Texas at Austin