School Resource Officers and School Climate: A Difference-in-Differences Approach

• In Event: Research on School Safety: Disciplinary Actions, Security and School Climate

Abstract

Although much of the focus on evaluating the effectiveness school resource officers (SROs) has been in the area of crime and punishment, there is reason to believe that SROs may also affect school climate more broadly. Prior qualitative and descriptive research has found that SROs may affect perceptions of safety, students’ sense of connectedness, and other related elements of the educational environment. However, the link between SRO implementation and school climate is largely under-examined in the quantitative literature. To address this gap, the present study uses 15 years of survey data from approximately 130 schools within a single large school district to examine the changes in school climate associated with implementing school resource officers. The study design capitalizes on the staggered implementation of SROs within the district as well as a set of comparison schools that did not implement SROs to conduct a difference-in-differences analysis in an effort to isolate the effect of SROs on school climate. This study’s findings will be useful for further understanding the implications of the merging of the institutions of education and criminal justice embodied by the implementation of SROs.

Authors

• Benjamin W. Fisher, University of Louisville

• Brandon S. Coffey, University of Louisville

• Kristin Swartz, University of Louisville

• Cherie Dawson-Edwards, University of Louisville

• Ethan M. Higgins, University of North Carolina Wilmington

• Suzanne Overstreet, University of Louisville