Teacher Perceptions of School Resource Officers and Associations with School Safety

ABSTRACT

This study investigated teacher perceptions of school resource officers (SROs) and their associations with school safety. The sample consisted of 10,668 teachers in 404 middle schools and 11,900 teachers in 284 high schools. Most middle (86.5%) and high (85.5%) school teachers agreed that the SRO makes them feel safer; however, endorsement differed by race, gender, and teaching experience. Regression analyses found favorable teacher perceptions of their SRO were associated with a greater feeling of safety and security, higher job commitment, and lower teacher victimization. Although correlational, these results add a missing teacher perspective that should be considered in policy debates over the role of SROs in schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher victimization
• school safety
• school resource officers

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by grant #NIJ 2017-CK-BX-007 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Center for School and Campus Safety at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Many school divisions began to close in mid-March due to the Coronavirus epidemic. As a result, it was not feasible for some schools to complete the surveys. These schools were somewhat smaller and more rural. See (Cornell et al., 2020, p. 10) for details.

2. See https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/methods1112.asp.

3. See https://doe.virginia.gov/teaching/workforce_data/index.shtml.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice [NIJ 2017-CK-BX-007].

Notes on contributors

Jennifer L. Maeng

Jennifer Maeng is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on the role contextual factors of the educational setting, such as school climate and safety, play in supporting effective teaching and learning.

Dewey G. Cornell

Dewey Cornell is a Professor of Education and director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project in the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development. His research is concerned with school safety and the prevention of youth violence. He led the development of the Authoritative School Climate Survey and the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines.

Francis L. Huang

Francis Huang is an Associate Professor in the Statistics, Measurement, and Evaluation in Education program in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri and the methodology co-director of the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. His research focuses on both methodological (e.g., analysis of clustered data) and substantive (e.g., school climate, bullying, disparities in disciplinary sanctions) areas of interest.