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We present outcomes from a field test of a student-centered and technology-driven school safety framework. We describe the framework components rooted in school violence prevention. Results from our field test indicate moderate student and teacher use of the framework components, improvements in student perceptions of school safety, reductions in student reported peer victimization, and reductions in teacher and parent reported inappropriate student behavior. Consumer satisfaction rating were adequate. We present recommendations for implementing a school safety framework emphasizing student voice.

We conducted focus groups with high school staff, students, parents, and administrators to gain information about how to design professional development training supporting high school staff in implementing restorative practices within a multitiered support system. Results indicated that all stakeholders valued trust and relationship building and identified equity, accountability, and home−school communications as key elements of effective discipline approaches. We provide recommendations for designing professional development for high school staff in effectively and sustainably integrating restorative practices with existing multitiered student support systems.

This study, grounded in the theory of diffusion, utilizes a qualitative phenomenological methodology to understand perspectives of parents and school personnel on the implementation of tiplines and...

This paper has two purposes: First, we describe the components of the Student Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility for School Safety (SOARS) framework in the context of the literature on school safety. Second, we offer outcomes from a pilot study testing the framework's impact on student perceptions of: (a) school belonging, (b) sense of personal safety, (c) level of disruption, (d) level of delinquency, (e) responsibility for school safety, (f) engagement in victimizing behavior, and (g) sense of being victimized by peers. We conducted a study with two conditions, intervention and control. The study was conducted in Oregon and Illinois. Four high schools participated in the study. Two high schools received access to the SOARS framework and two high schools served as controls. We collected usage data of the Advocatr app, the central components of the SOARS framework, as well as survey data from students. We examined Advocatr use by overall frequency as well as across student race and gender. Survey data were analyzed using an ANCOVA analytic approach. Almost all outcomes were in the desired direction. Intervention effects on student-reported school belonging, sense of personal safety, and level of disruption reached statistical significance. Effect sizes ranged from small to medium, with the largest effect in students’ perceptions of personal safety. We contextualize our study in the literature on school safety and describe the alignment of the SOARS components with existing recommendations for increasing students’ safety at school.

This article is focused on the initial development and trial testing of a brief teacher rating tool that can be used for universal screening and tracking of instructionally relevant forms of student social behavior over time. A 12-item scale is described in which teachers make judgments about student performance on a skills-based rather than a frequency-based rating dimension. We believe teachers are expert judges of student skill levels in social behaviors and academic enablers that are of critical importance to school success (i.e., enhanced social-behavioral adjustment and academic performance) as opposed to frequency- or rate-based estimates that are less essential to a teacher’s instruction and management of the classroom. The Elementary Social Behavior Assessment (ESBA) asks teachers to judge each student’s performance regarding evaluative criteria based on their teaching and management of the classroom. Case-study illustrations of the universal screening and tracking functions of the ESBA are provided.

Objective: Playground injuries result in over 200,000 US paediatric emergency department visits annually. One strategy to reduce injuries is improved adult supervision. The Stamp-in-Safety programme, which involves supervisors stamping rewards for children playing safely, has been demonstrated in preliminary classroom-based work to reduce child risk-taking and increase the quality of adult supervision. This study evaluated the efficacy of delivering Stamp-in-Safety to playground supervisors via the Internet. Design: Pre-post design following a pragmatic trials approach. Setting: Twenty-four preschools in the USA. Method: Guidance for implementing the Stamp-in-Safety programme was delivered to preschool supervisors via the Internet. Supervisors and preschool directors completed online surveys concerning self-efficacy to keep children safe, playground supervision behaviour, perceptions about playground safety, and knowledge about playground supervision/Stamp-in-Safety both prior to and after the intervention was implemented. They completed a usability survey after using the online intervention. Results: Ratings of usability and satisfaction with the programme were high, indicating feasibility. Paired-samples t-tests showed some improvement in supervisors’ self-efficacy, and improvement in most aspects of supervisory behaviours, perception of playground safety, and knowledge about playground supervision/Stamp-in-Safety. Conclusion: Results suggest the Stamp-in-Safety programme can be delivered successfully via Internet. A public health challenge is translating effective interventions to broad dissemination. Internet delivery of Stamp-in-Safety holds the promise to overcome this challenge and improve playground supervision practices.

We describe the development and initial evaluation of the efficacy of We Have Skills! (WHS), a video-based social skills instructional program for early elementary school students. The components of WHS were designed to be scientifically sound, maximally useful to elementary school teachers, and effective in increasing students’ social skills. Results from feasibility and social validity testing showed that teachers felt the program was easy to implement and highly recommended its use. The initial efficacy evaluation of WHS conducted with 70 classrooms randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions showed that teachers in the intervention group scored significantly higher on self-efficacy than teachers in the control group. Students in the intervention classrooms were rated significantly higher on key social skills by their teachers at posttest compared to students in the control group. Implications for further testing of WHS are discussed, along with study limitations and recommendations for future research and practice.

The quality of the child care environment and caregiver practices can potentially have significant, lasting impact on children’s social development. This study involves the development and a small-scale efficacy trial of the Carescapes program, a video-based training program that focuses on promoting positive social development in young children attending family child care. Fifty-seven caregivers who provided child care in their homes were randomly assigned to immediate intervention or waitlist control groups. Random coefficients analyses showed significant increased use of effective behavior management practices and decreased overall children’s problem behavior for the intervention group. A mediation model demonstrated that increases in effective behavior management practices were associated with decreases in problem behavior. A medium intervention effect was found for caregiver’s monitoring and a small effect for use of positive attention. These effects declined 5 months following the intervention. Implications for future efficacy and effectiveness studies in family child care settings that involve strategies to facilitate maintenance are discussed.