The purpose of this study was to gather information and statistics for determining and explaining the perceptions of teachers, administrators, and other professional staff with reference to the benefits and the need for promoting school safety and prevention of student violence. The collection and analyses of survey data served to provide relevant information about nine essential components of effective school safety programs (Dusenbury et al., 1997). This study determined and explained differences in perceptions reported by the participants regarding current conditions of school safety and participation and value of safe schools staff development training. In addition, this study sought to determine and explain perception differences as reported by the respondents from schools of different sizes, grade levels and environments related to perceived degree of criminal activity in the areas in which students lived when the current safety conditions, staff development participation and value of the staff development training were considered. A descriptive, non-experimental research design was selected and data was gathered using a 30-item survey. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the data. Conclusions, derived through data investigation, indicated safe schools staff development was occurring in central Florida school districts and that educators felt a need for this training. However, all the nine essential components of effective school safety programs Other professional staff, followed by administrators and then teachers, was shown to be most cognizant of the need for school safety training. While administrators felt their schools were safe, they recognized the need for safe schools training, and in fact, participated in more hours of staff development in a 12-month period than did teachers or other professional staff. All three categories of educators participated in safety training that involved two particularly important areas that stressed developing connections to home, school, and community, and creating violence-prevention programs early in students' lives. These two areas of common staff development emphasis and participation appeared to support building stronger linkages between the home and school. Educators from very large schools, schools whose students live in high areas of crime, and middle and high schools, more than others, reported believing in safety training for their faculty and staff. Educators from middle and high schools grades combined, more than others, were shown to recognize the value of safe schools staff development training. These conclusions led to several implications and recommendations for future staff development in the areas of school safety and student violence prevention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:rtd-2593 |
| Date | 01 January 2002 |
| Creators | Lisle, Evon |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Retrospective Theses and Dissertations |
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