Implementation of Tiplines and Reporting Apps for School Safety: A Qualitative Analysis of Parent and School Personnel Perspectives

ABSTRACT

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/or reporting apps for school safety. Barriers and facilitators for the development and successful implementation of Advocatr, a school-based tipline/reporting app were identified. Adult participants were recruited from four U.S. high schools. These participants attended one of three sets of focus groups (parents, staff, and administrators) at two time points (Wave 1: n = 56; Wave 2: n = 55). Results indicated that parents and school staff are primarily concerned about mental health as a school safety issue. While many thought school tiplines could be useful, they identified improvements that could support its successful development and implementation such as school-wide training and school climate improvement frameworks. Implications for practice, policy, and future research addressing school safety are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Tiplines
• reporting
• school-safety
• school staff
• parents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice [2015-MU-MU-K003].

Notes on contributors

Dorothy L. Espelage

Dorothy L. Espelage, Ph.D., is the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina.  She is the recipient of the APA Lifetime Achievement Award in Prevention Science and the 2016 APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy, and is a Fellow of APS, APA, and AERA. She was recently elected to the National Academy of Education and awarded the SPR Prevention Science Award in 2020.

Luz E. Robinson

Luz E. Robinson is a first-year doctoral student in School Psychology at the University of North Carolina. Her research interests include developing and evaluating educational technology for violence prevention and mental health promotion. Specifically focusing on school-based programming that strengthens protective factors among Latinx and other marginalized students. Her clinical training includes telehealth assessments and recommendations for Latinx children with developmental disabilities.

Ashley Woolweaver

Ashley Woolweaver, MPS is the coordinator for the Espelage Research Addressing Violence in Education (RAVE) lab in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include improving social systems to better support all youth and families. Specifically, how to provide necessary supports to reduce contact with various criminal justice systems, including the school to prison pipeline.

Alberto Valido

Alberto Valido is a graduate student in Applied Developmental Science and Special Education at the Peabody School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Valido’s research interests include intersectionality with a mental health prevention focus and randomized clinical trials, specifically among adolescents who experience discrimination or are victimized at school due to their sexual, racial, or gender identities.

Alex Davis

Alex Davis is a senior undergraduate at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill majoring in Human Development and Family Studies with minors in History and Education. In the future, Alex plans to earn her master’s in social work. Her research interests include equitable education, and adolescent mental health.

Kristen Hunt

Kristen Huntis a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and Karen M. Gil Clinical Psychology Intern at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research and clinical work focus on identifying risk factors for interpersonal and sexual violence, and translating these empirical findings into meaningful community interventions. She also serves as Director of Allyship and Programming for the Social Justice Advocacy Board at UNC, leading programming efforts to teach community members how to support survivors of these traumas. She is intending to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska in Dr. Katie Edwards’ Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory.

Roslyn Reynoso Marmolejos

Roslyn Reynoso Marmolejos is a junior undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in Psychology with a double minor in Neuroscience and Health and Society. Roslyn plans to enroll in a physician assistant program upon graduation. Her research interests include investigating intersectional inequalities in healthcare, specifically mental health among adolescent and adult racial and ethnic minorities, as well as mental health promotion.

Courtney Medina

Courtney Medina is a senior undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill double majoring in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies. She has plans to pursue a doctorate degree and her research interests include adolescent mental and sexual health promotion, as well as healthy romantic relationship development.

Zeke Meltsner

Zeke Meltsner is an undergraduate research assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is majoring in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Health and Society. Zeke plans to pursue a doctorate degree in social work upon graduation. His research interests include underprivileged and at-risk youth development and implementation of intervention strategies for later success.

Kovida Yalamanchi

Kovida Yalamanchi is a senior undergraduate student double majoring in Psychology and Sociology. Kovida plans to pursue a dual degree of a masters in Public Policy and a Juris Degree and to focus on public interest, legislative, and governmental law. Her research interests include mental health, education, and poverty.

Claudia G. Vincent

Claudia G. Vincent, PhD, is a Research Associate in the Center for Equity Promotion at the University of Oregon. Her work focuses on developing and testing school-wide interventions that promote equity in discipline, academic outcomes, and physical and emotional safety for students from varying racial-ethnic backgrounds, genders, and abilities.

Brion Marquez

Brion Marquezis an educational media developer with extensive experience translating research-based concepts into usable applications.

Hill M. Walker

Hill M. Walker is currently an emeritus professor in the College of Education at the University of Oregon. For the past five years he has collaborated on a school safety, technology grant with the senior author, Espelage, funded by the National of Justice. He served as the U of O Director of the Center on Human Development for 26 years and is also the founder and Co-Director of the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior in the College of Education, He has been a long-time Senior Research Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute. He has had a career-long interest in developing universal screening systems for detecting behaviorally at-risk students and in the development of effective, early intervention procedures for use in school settings with a range of behavior disorders. He has been engaged in applied research on school-related behavior disorders dating from 1967. Hisresearch interests include social skills assessment and curricular development, longitudinal studies of aggression and antisocial behavior in school settings, school safety, and the development of early screening and intervention procedures for detecting students who are at-risk for social-behavioral adjustment problems, negative developmental outcomes, and/or later school drop-out.

Rita Svanks

Rita Svanks is a research assistant at the University of Oregon coordinating multiyear federally funded research relating to safe and equitable schools. Her experience gives her insight into the challenges of introducing interventions into day-to-day school operations and supporting strong collaborative partnerships.

Jordan Pennefather

Jordan Pennefather, PhD, is a Research Scientist and Methodologist at Trifoia. His research interests include school-based interventions, stress-reduction technologies, parent training programs, and measurement development and evaluation.