School Safety Resources

National Resource Center for Safe Schools-The National Resource Center for Safe Schools works with schools, communities, state and local education agencies, and other concerned individuals and agencies to create safe learning environments and prevent school violence.

Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools- Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools offers research-based practices designed to assist school communities identify these warning signs early and develop prevention, intervention and crisis response plans.  The guide includes sections on: Characteristics of a School that is Safe and Responsive to All Children, Early Warning Signs, Getting Help for Troubled Children, Developing a Prevention and Response Plan, etc.

Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide-  a jointly developed Action Guide to help schools and communities prevent school violence. This guide  follows up on the  Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide To Safe Schools, which offered guidelines for school safety and was also co-authored by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. Tthe Office of Special Education Programs and the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program once again teamed to produce the Action Guide, which emphasizes early intervention and prevention, and the importance of teamwork among educators, mental health professionals, parents, and students.

Safe & Drug Free Schools Program- The Safe and Drug-Free Schools program is the Federal Government's primary vehicle for reducing drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, and violence, through education and prevention activities in our Nation's schools. This program is designed to prevent violence in and around schools, and strengthen programs that prevent the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, involve parents, and are coordinated with related Federal, State, and community efforts and resources.

School Safety and the Legal Rights of Students -In ensuring school safety, the courts have sought to balance students' constitutional rights with the need for safety and freedom from violence in the schools. At present, the balance is thoroughly tilted towards efforts to effect tough safety and drug policies in the schools and against any extension of the current scant constitutional rights students enjoy

National School Safety Center -serves as an advocate for safe, secure and peaceful schools worldwide. The Center will serve as a catalyst for the prevention of school crime and violence. It will provide school communities and their school safety partners with quality information, resources, consultation, and training services. The Center will identify and promote strategies, promising practices and programs that support safe schools for all students as part of the total academic mission.

NEA Action Sheet: Safe Schools -Reports about school violence continue to dominate the news media, giving people the impression that school violence is rampant in our nation's schools. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. If the truth be known, the vast majority of our schools are safe places and are operating effectively. This is not to say that school violence is not a problem. It is.

NEA Safe Schools Manual-The manual describes why school safety is important, reviews research about violence, and responds to the question: "Who owns the problem?" It provides the rationale for NEA's Safe Schools Framework: that school violence transcends the school, and that the school, the family and the community share equally the responsibility for making our children safe. The manual also provides detailed guidelines for all of these broad areas to help make our schools safe havens for learning.

NEA Safe Schools Now -Safe and healthy school communities are the product of safe families and safe communities.

Behavior Interventions and School Safety

School Violence Prevention: Strategies to Keep Schools Safe  - a policy study from the Reason Public Policy Institute by Alexander Volokh with Lisa Snell.

The "Keeping Schools and Communities Safe" Web site was unveiled in May 1999 by the U.S. Department of Education. It features publications, funding opportunities, and organizations that can help us keep our schools and communities safe.

Protecting Students From Harassment and Hate Crime: A Guide for Schools (January 1999) provides a framwork for developing policies and practices to prevent harassment and to respond to it effectively when it does occur.

Trends and Issues: School Safety and Violence Prevention (2000) from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management includes an in-depth analysis of the research literature and other Web resources on the topic

AskERIC has compiled a School Safety and Violence Prevention "Hot Topic," that lists school safety and violence prevention information, including Web sites and mailing lists.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education offers a rich source of information about school safety issues, with full-text essays, bibliographies, ERIC Digests and other publications.

Creating Safe and Drug Free Schools: an Action Guide (1996) includes action steps, information briefs, selected research findings, and lists of resources about ways to make schools safe and free of drugs.

Gangs And Victimization at School (1995), from the Department's National Center for Education Statistics, looks at the relationship between gang presence in schools and students' reports of victimization or fear.

Cover Story: Anger in the Halls, October 1999
Anger management programs are giving educators the tools they need to create safer schools.

Safe Schools (1998)
Although schools are safe, even one threat to student safety is too many. Learn the causes of school violence and how to prevent it.

Interview: William Pollack On Decoding Boys, September 1999
A psychologist suggests strategies for reaching boys before they reach for guns

News: Little Steps, But a Long, Long Way To Go, February 2000
Congress is spending millions on a billion-dollar problem: school safety. It's time for a new Congress.

Health: Easing the Strain of Student's Stress, September 1999
Stress has invaded the lives of even the youngest students, rendering the notion of a carefree childhood virtually obsolete. But educators can help kids before they reach the breaking point.

School Violence: Perceptions and Solutions (1998)
This pamphlet explores the different perspectives and perceptions of school violence held by the public and the education communities and discusses an inclusive framework developed by NEA to help make our children safe.

News: School Safety, There's Just No Competition, September 1999
The tragedy of Columbine High School can happen elsewhere. That's why it's important to recognize the causes of school violence and reach out for support in the community.

A Job Well Done: Counselor, Adviser, and Peace Officer, November 1998
NEA member J.D. Jones has a badge and a gun. But scratch the surface, and you'll find another caring education support staffer

Rights Watch: Laws That Make Parents Pay, March 1999
State statutes help make parents legally responsible for some of the havoc their children wreak.

Innovators: When Children Witness Violence, November 1998
Betsy McAlister Groves created the Child Witness to Violence Project in 1992 as a way counsel children who have witnessed gang- and drug-related violence, domestic abuse even the horrors of war.

Health: New Path for Aggressive Boys, October 1998
Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis is professor of psychiatry at the New York University School Medicine and clinical professor at the Yale University Child Study Center. She spoke with NEA on male aggression.

Newsmakers: Voices Against the Violence, September 1998
Prompted by school shootings, a Senate panel solicits advice on how to keep kids and teachers safe.

Rights Watch: Taking Threats Seriously, September 1998
In the wake of recent school shootings, police and school officials are cracking down on students threatening violence.

Health: Why Some Students Rage, September 1998
Dr. Baer Max Ackerman is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Plano, Texas, who helps families deal with rage in young people. He recently spoke to NEA Today.

Inside Scoop: What Can We Do About School Violence?, September 1998
Schools nationwide are facing a wider array of threats and violence each year. Here's what safety experts suggest you can do in response.

Protecting Precious Lives: Lesson's Learned from Last School Year's Tragedies (September 6, 1998) Washington Post

Order in the Classroom: Violence, Discipline, and Student Achievement (1998) from Educational Testing Service confirms the relationship between an orderly classroom and academic achievement, takes a look at the current level of discipline problems in schools, and reports about some of the approaches being used across the country to reduce violence and increase order and discipline.

Prevention Strategies That Work from the Center For Effective Collaboration and Practice describes prevention practices that K-8 public school administrators have found to be effective in creating a safe school environment.

Educators for Social Responsibility provides a comprehensive school-based program in conflict management called Resolving Conflict Creatively which currently serves 350 schools nationwide, including the New York City Public Schools