The November 2008, Child Trends Research Brief points out several areas of concern for school officials related to school policy development and action. One of those areas is School Safety and Violence.  Noted was that a safe school environment is a prerequisite for effective learning to occur.  This was so much a significant concern that the No Child Left Behind initiative required schools to include in their larger plans to improve academic performance programs in place to reduce levels of violence.

Research reviewed for the brief  showed that unsafe school environments result in students having more health issues and less success in college.  Students were more likely to get into fights, to get injured, and to experience higher stress levels.  Other research noted in the brief tied similar outcomes to bullying problems as well.  Another piece of research found being involved in violence, as victims or perpetrators, was the most important factor in students carrying weapons to school.  As many as 12% of students reported not going to school because of the fear associated with school violence (down to 6% in the last year) and 36% of students in urban schools reported gang activity in their school (21% in suburban schools).  Violent threats and attacks in high schools were reported at a rate of 31.2 per 1000 students in another report.

Clearly school officials need to continue to address these issues.  The research on the consequences of violence related to student well-being is relatively strong and this brief adds to that foundation of information.  For more go to http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2008_11_14_RB_SchoolEnviron.pdf