In 1999, Indiana's General Assembly enacted law requiring every Indiana school"% corporation to designate a Safety Specialist. A training and certification program was established which required the designated Safety Specialist to attend six days of training in 1999-2000, and to attend subsequent annual training.In this study, a survey was conducted among the 294 Safety Specialists from the first group of trainees to determine the impact the Safety Specialist program has had in Indiana school corporations in such areas as school climate, student behavior, administrator/teacher behavior, safety awareness, and the implementation of "best practice" programs. Variables such as school size, location, occupation of the Safety Specialist, number of buildings in the corporation, and full-time vs. part-time status of the Safety Specialist, were considered. The survey return rate was 73%.Data were analyzed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and a t-test. ANOVA indicated that school size, location, and the occupation of the Safety Specialist were significant (F scores greater than 1.0) in determining changes in overall safety awareness and "best practice."School corporations with more than 2000 students showed greater safety awareness and implemented "best practice" programs more often than corporations with fewer than 2000 students; urban schools indicated higher levels of safety awareness and utilized "best practice" programs more often than suburban or rural schools; schools where the Safety Specialist is the superintendent, assistant superintendent, or "other" had "best practice" programs in place and had more safety awareness than schools where the Safety Specialist was the principal, assistant principal, or teacher.Pearson correlation testing indicated little correlation between the number of school buildings and any of the research topics. However, a positive correlation of .806 did exist between school climate and administrator/teacher behavior.The t-test revealed no differences in any category between part-time and full-time Safety Specialists; mean scores in each category were similar.A follow-up case study conducted in five schools of varying size and location revealed results similar to the survey: Safety Specialists in the majority of schools considered the training to have, been worthwhile, its overall impact positive, and their schools to be safer than ever before. / Department of Educational Leadership
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175803 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Dean, Elizabeth A. |
| Contributors | Sharp, William L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | xi, 148 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | n-us-in |
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