Search Results

This special topic poll, conducted February 20-24, 1997, solicited responses from parents and their teenage children, aged 12-17, on the topic of illegal drug use among America's youth. One parent and one child from each household were asked a series of questions covering illegal drugs, violence in school, underage drinking, academic challenges, and parent-child communication. Respondents were asked to assess their understanding of the presence of drugs and drug users in their local schools, throughout the community, across the nation, among the teen's peer group, and within their own family. A series of topics covered the availability and effectiveness of school-sponsored anti-drug programs. Parents were asked how their possible past and present use and/or experimentation with marijuana and other illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products influenced the manner in which they approached drug use with their own children. Teenage respondents were asked for their reaction to the use of drugs and alcohol by their friends, the seriousness of the contemporary drug problem, and whether they believed that their parents had used or experimented with illegal drugs. Other questions asked about teenage respondents' plans after high school and whether they attended a public or private school. Demographic variables for parental respondents included age, race, sex, education level, household income, political party affiliation, and type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural). Demographic variables for teenage respondents included age, race, sex, residential area, and grade level in school.

This special topic poll, fielded April 22, 2007, is a part of continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on various political and social issues. This poll focused on respondents' views on gun control and laws. Respondents were asked whether they favored stricter gun laws, whether they would support laws requiring a nationwide ban on semiautomatic handguns, a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons, a nationwide ban on people carrying a concealed weapon, and a law requiring a nationwide ban on the sale of handguns, except to law enforcement officers. Respondents were also asked whether they thought stricter gun control laws would reduce the amount of violent crime, whether the best way of reducing gun violence was either by passing stricter gun control laws or by stricter enforcement of existing laws, if the respondent or anyone in their home owned a gun, and whether they thought states should or should not be required to report mentally ill people to a federal database in order to prevent them from buying guns. Views were sought concerning the Virginia Tech shooting and university policies. Specifically, respondents were asked whether they thought school officials did or did not do enough to investigate concerns that the student who committed these shootings was mentally unstable, whether news organizations did the right thing or the wrong thing by airing photos and videos of the Virginia Tech gunman, whether they supported a law requiring universities to provide stricter screening and counseling for students who are suspected of being mentally unstable and possibly dangerous to themselves or others, and whether they supported changing confidentiality laws so that when a college student is suspected of being mentally disturbed, the school would be required to notify their parents. Views were also sought on the primary cause of gun violence in America and whether shootings like the one at Virginia Tech could happen in the respondent's community. Respondents were queried on whether they supported legislation giving Washington, D.C., a full voting member in the United States House of Representatives and whether they approved of the proposed law that would give Democratic D.C. a full voting member in the House, while also giving the Republican state of Utah another congressional seat. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education, political party affiliation, and political philosophy.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed. This study was a randomized controlled trial of a dating violence and sexual harassment (DV/H) prevention program called the Shifting Boundaries (SB) Program. Thirty-five public middle schools in New York City were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions of the SB program. The project includes a baseline and two follow-up surveys with 6th, 7th and 8th grade students to assess short to medium term impact on rates of DV/H. The classroom curriculum intervention (SBC) covered the consequences for perpetrators of DV/H, state laws and penalties for DV/H, and respectful relationships. The school (building-level) intervention (SBS) included the use of school-based restraining orders, higher levels of faculty and security presence in areas identified through student mapping of safe/unsafe "hot spots," and the use of posters to increase awareness and reporting of DV/H. The project examined (1) the effects of saturating a school environment by providing the SB intervention to all three middle school grades compared to only two grades or one grade and (2) the effects of two dosages of SB across two years compared to one dosage of the SB intervention across one year which was explored in two prior evaluations of the program.

The Assessment of National and State Tip Line Technology as a Strategy for Identifying Threats to School Safety was conducted by RTI International, in partnership with the Oregon State Police, from 2018 through 2021. The project was designed to describe the national prevalence and characteristics of school safety tip lines, and to develop lessons learned on successful implementation approaches by conducting a case study with the SafeOregon tip line. The three main goals of the project were to: Describe the prevalence and variability of tip line technology in public middle and high schools across the U.S. through a national survey of school administrators (Component 1). Evaluate the relationship between tip line technology implementation and school safety by augmenting the national survey data with publicly available data on student disciplinary and school safety outcomes from the Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) (Component 2). Assess the implementation experiences, outputs, and costs through an in-depth case study in the state of Oregon (Component 3). For component 1, RTI conducted a national survey of public middle and high school administrators. For component 2, RTI conducted a national evaluation of school tip lines and measures of school safety, merging the national survey findings with eleven offense categories schools reported to the Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). For Component 3, the team set out to better understand how tip lines are implemented, the characteristics or features of these systems, challenges school administrators face during implementation and use, and perceived effectiveness. Using a mixed-methods design, researchers analyzed the efforts to implement and operate Oregon's SafeOregon statewide school tip line program and present data from the national survey for context. Case study objectives included identifying the (1) prevalence and school characteristics of tip line use; (2) basic operational characteristics of tip lines, including partnerships, staffing, tip submission and triage processes, and anonymity and confidentiality; (3) barriers and challenges involved in tip line implementation; and (4) perceived impact of tip lines. This qualitative assessment was informed by interviews with key stakeholders, school administrators and students. As part of the final component, RTI analyzed tip line data from the SafeOregon statewide tip line program (2018-2020). Data and documentation from the qualitative interviews (student focus groups and school-level stakeholders) will be made available at a future date.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed. This study seeks to test the Fourth R curriculum, a curriculum that seeks to build relationship knowledge and skills, with a younger, urban population of middle school students in the Bronx, New York. Utilizing a randomized controlled trial design, this study tests the effectiveness of the Fourth R curriculum with seventh-grade students drawn from ten public middle schools in the Bronx, New York. A secondary quasi-experimental study seeks to examine diffusion of program impacts by comparing outcomes between students assigned to the experimental control sample and students in three comparison schools where no one received the Fourth R. The study seeks to measure program impact on five primary and three secondary domains. Primary program impact domains include: Dating violence (victimization and perpetration) Sexual harassment/assault (victimization and perpetration) Peer violence/bullying (victimization and perpetration) Sexual activity Drug and alcohol use Secondary outcomes, which are targeted by the Fourth R curriculum, but are not the core program focus, include: Perceived school safety Positive beliefs (e.g., anti-fighting/violence, rejection of gender stereotypes) Pro-social behaviors This study achieved their goals through student surveys, administrator and teacher interviews, and student focus groups.

The California Families Project (CFP) is an ongoing longitudinal study of Mexican origin families in Northern California. This study uses community, school, family, and individual characteristics to examine developmental pathways that increase risk for and resilience to drug use in Mexican-origin youth. This study also examines the impact that economic disadvantage and cultural traditions have in Mexican-origin youth. The CFP includes a community-based sample of 674 families and children of Mexican origin living in Northern California, and includes annual assessments of parents and children. Participants with Mexican surnames were drawn at random from school rosters of students during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school year. Data collection included multi-method assessments of a broad range of psychological, familial, scholastic, cultural, and neighborhood factors. Initiation of the research at age 10 was designed to assess the focal children before the onset of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) use, thus enabling the evaluation of how hypothesized risk and resilience mechanisms operate to exacerbate early onset during adolescence or help prevent its occurrence. This study includes a diversity of families that represent a wide range of incomes, education, family history, and family structures, including two-parent and single-parent families. The accompanying data file consists of 674 family cases with each case representing a focal child and at least one parent (Two-parent: n=549, 82 percent; Single-parent: n=125, 18 percent). Of the 3,139 total variables, 839 pertain to the focal child, 1,376 correspond to the mother, and 908 items pertain to the father. Please note: While the California Families Project is a longitudinal study, only the baseline data are currently available in this data collection.

In 2014, Chicago Public Schools, looking to reduce the possibility of gun violence among school-aged youth, applied for a grant through the National Institute of Justice. CPS was awarded the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative grant and use said grant to establish the "Connect and Redirect to Respect" program. This program used student social media data to identify and intervene with students thought to be at higher risk for committing violence. At-risk behaviors included brandishing a weapon, instigating conflict online, signaling gang involvement, and threats towards others. Identified at-risk students would be contacted by a member of the CPS Network Safety Team or the Chicago Police Department's Gang School Safety Team, depending on the risk level of the behavior. To evaluate the efficacy of CRR, the University of Chicago Crime Lab compared outcomes for students enrolled in schools that received the program to outcomes for students enrolled in comparison schools, which did not receive the program. 32 schools were selected for the study, with a total of 44,503 students. Demographic variables included age, race, sex, and ethnicity. Misconduct and academic variables included arrest history, in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, GPA, and attendance days.

This study focuses on bullying prevention in classroom context. An approach was used to address bullying in the classroom through an adapted version of the Classroom Check-up coaching model, which is combined with a mixed-reality simulator called TeachLivE to build teacher skills in preventing, detecting, and responding to bullying.

This multi-year study investigated the causes and consequences of school victimization (e.g., property theft, minor assault, bullying, cyberbullying) as well as factors contributing to safe learning environments (e.g., school disciplinary practices, students' willingness to report dangerous behavior, availability and utilization of victim services). The project includes three annual surveys of students initially enrolled in 12 middle schools in St. Louis County; a summer component consisting of semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 197 students, including in-depth interviews with 37 students the following summer; and two surveys of school personnel. There are three areas of interest that guide this project and are associated with better understanding of the root causes and consequences (i.e., correlates) of school violence: (1) Identification of patterns of school violence: the principal investigators surveyed two student cohorts over three years as they transitioned from middle to high school (7th/8th grades to 9th/10th grades) (2) Identification of correlates of school violence relying on multiple sources, including: the individual (e.g., gang membership, attitudes toward violence), the school and school climate (e.g., willingness to report, awareness and utilization of victim services, views on the procedural justice of school disciplinary practices, gang presence at the school) and the situation (e.g., where, when, and with whom violence occurs) (3) A specific examination of bullying and cyberbullying as unique forms of school violence with regard to their correlates stemming from each source identified above

This project seeks to to provide clear and comprehensive answers to the questions that plague researchers on how school violence impacts future student outcomes. To that end, the principal investigators plan to review, organize, and synthesize extant research on consequences of school violence and aggression for perpetrators and victims by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis on longitudinal studies of school violence and outcomes. The primary goal of the current study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the extant longitudinal research literature on the consequences of school violence.

Using a multi-methods research design, this study classified the contents of cyberbullying messages, measured their frequency and associations with offline bullying, and examined whether and how peer groups in social networks promote these behaviors. Beginning in January 2015, 164 adolescents from 2 Iowa middle schools, grades 6 through 8, were surveyed. Two surveys, one at the start of the spring semester and one at the end of spring 2015, gathered self-reported information on perpetration, victimization, and witnessing of online and offline bullying and the structure of peer networks. A total of 77 students furthermore participated in an electronic capture period from January through May 2015. Participant smartphones were equipped with an application that collected incoming and outgoing text messages and Facebook and Twitter activity, and also surveyed them weekly about their bullying experiences. Demographic information collected included age, grade, gender, ethnicity, parents' marital status, household composition, religiosity, and socioeconomic status.

The Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act was enacted in 2018 to improve school safety by providing grants to states, local governments, and Indian tribes in the United States. Under this legislation, the Bureau of Justice Administration (BJA) was allocated $50 million per year to dedicate to grants for mental health and violence prevention training and education for school personnel and students, as well as the development or enhancement of threat assessment systems and crisis response teams. In the first two years, 2018 and 2019, 43 and 85 grantees were awarded funding for STOP programs, respectively. In 2020, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded funding to researchers to study the implementation of the first STOP programs. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of South Florida Child and Family Studies Department and the College of Education received an NIJ grant to study the STOP programs from the first two years of the grant program. The research questions guiding this study were: How have diverse stakeholders (e.g., school administrators, school-based and community mental health professionals, teachers, student and families, law enforcement/SROs, policymakers) been involved in the various stages of implementation? How have violence prevention and mental health training programs reflected community needs? What are the perceived barriers and facilitators to implementing violence prevention and mental health training programs across grantee sites? How do various components of the implementation process contribute to satisfaction with implementation at different stages among stakeholders? What measures are in place to evaluate and inform continuous implementation processes, and where do opportunities and needs exist for incorporating feedback to strengthen overall implementation? This mixed-methods study included a cross-site survey and a case study analysis. The cross-site survey was sent to representatives from 128 grantee U.S. agencies who were involved in implementing programs or training from STOP grants (final n=90 respondents). Questions in the survey asked about implementation factors, barriers and facilitators to implementation, the capacity of schools at each site to address mental health, satisfaction of the implementation process, and how COVID-19 has impacted the implementation of STOP programs. There was also an opportunity to share open feedback. This survey was administered in July 2021 and in July 2022. The case study was an in-depth analysis of a smaller sample of grantee agencies. The researchers conducted stakeholder interviews, meeting observations, and document review to gain insights on participant experiences with implementation of STOP programs and what social, political, and cultural factors may have affected implementation.

This project assesses the effectiveness of a one-day, 5-hour workshop (ESSI training, hereafter) designed for joint instruction by school staff and police to all school staff. The goal was to promote positive outcomes and reduce police involvement in interactions between staff and students exhibiting inappropriate behavior through increased staff awareness of youth behavior, the functions of the juvenile justice system, and disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in disciplinary action. 1,024 school staff participated in 51 ESSI training sessions throughought the 2015/16 academic year, which also serves as the training year in the longitudinal data. Schools which did not participate in the training served as controls for the participating school. Data were drawn from a panel of students enrolled in either a training or control school, with ten schools in each group. Data on this panel of students was collected for a five-year period, from the 2013/14 through the 2017/18 academic years. School-level data serves as the unit of analysis, as the study's main goal was to test the effects of training on school-wide outcomes. The estimated coefficient indicates small attendance reductions during the post-training phase for the training group. This indicates that most of the differences between the training and control group were statistically insignificant and that there was no pattern of statistically significant positive effects across the training schools. The second set of analyses, performed on student-level data, indicates that male and minority students are more likely to be involved in disciplinary incidents and to receive suspensions or expulsions as a consequence of their behaviors than White and female students.

This NIJ-funded project extended an evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) conducted as part of a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The OBPP is a comprehensive school-based program designed to prevent youth violence and bullying by improving school climate. The CDC-funded project used a multiple baseline experimental design that randomized the order and timing of implementing the OBPP in three urban public middle schools in the southeastern United States over a five-year period from 2010-2015. The project collected outcome data from random samples of students at the three participating middle schools on their frequency of aggression and victimization, peer factors related to aggression, and school climate variables every three months, and obtained ratings of student's frequency of aggression and victimization from teachers. The NIJ-funded project extended the CDC-funded project by continuing the implementation of OBPP in schools that were already receiving the program, implementing OBPP in the remaining school that served as the control school for the Virginia Commonwealth University - Violence Prevention Project (VCU-VPP), and collecting an additional 10 waves of data from 2015 to 2018. The dataset included in this study includes data from both the CDC and NIJ-funded projects across 29 waves of data collection from 2011 to 2018.

Since 1982, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has sponsored a cross-national, school-based study of health-related attitudes and behaviors of young people. These studies, generally known as Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), are based on nationally independent surveys of school-aged children in as many as 30 participating countries. The HBSC studies were conducted every four years since the 1985-1986 school year. The United States was one of three countries chosen to implement the survey out of cycle. The data available here are the results of the United States study from the 1995-1996 school year. The study results can be used as stand-alone data, or to compare to the other countries involved in the international HBSC. The HBSC study has two main objectives. The first objective is to monitor health-risk behaviors and attitudes in youth over time to provide background and identify targets for health promotion initiatives. The second objective is to provide researchers with relevant information to understand and explain the development of health attitudes and behaviors through early adolescence. The study contains variables dealing with many types of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens, and over-the-counter medications. The study also examines a person's health and health behaviors such as eating habits, depression, injuries, anti-social behavior including questions concerning bullying, fighting, using weapons, and how one deals with anger. There are also questions concerning problems with attention span at school and opinions about school itself.

Since 1982, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has sponsored a cross-national, school-based study of health-related attitudes and behaviors of young people. These studies, generally known as Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), are based on independent national surveys of school-aged children in as many as 30 participating countries. The HBSC studies were conducted every four years since the 1985-1986 school year. The data available here are from the results of the United States survey conducted during the 1997-1998 school year. The study results can be used as stand-alone data, or to compare with the other countries involved in the international HBSC. The HBSC study has two main objectives. The first objective is to monitor health-risk behaviors and attitudes in youth over time to provide background data and to identify targets for health promotion initiatives. The second objective is to provide researchers with relevant information in order to understand and explain the development of health attitudes and behaviors through early adolescence. The study contains variables dealing with many types of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens, and over-the-counter medications. The study also examines a person's health and other health behaviors such as eating habits, body image, health problems, family make-up, feelings, bullying, fighting, bringing weapons to school, personal injuries, and opinions about school.

Since 1982, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has sponsored a cross-national, school-based study of health-related attitudes and behaviors of young people. These studies, generally known as Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), are based on independent national surveys of school-aged children in as many as 30 participating countries. The HBSC studies were conducted every four years since the 1985-1986 school year. The data available here are from the results of the United States survey conducted during the 2001-2002 school year. The study results can be used as stand-alone data, or to compare with the other countries involved in the international HBSC. The HBSC study has two main objectives. The first objective is to monitor health-risk behaviors and attitudes in youth over time to provide background data and to identify targets for health promotion initiatives. The second objective is to provide researchers with relevant information in order to understand and explain the development of health attitudes and behaviors through early adolescence. The study contains variables dealing with many types of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, and any other substances. The study examines the first time these substances were used and the frequency of their use. Other topics include questions about the person's health and other health behaviors. Some of these topics include eating habits, body image, health problems, family make-up, personal injuries, bullying, fighting, and bringing weapons to school. A school administrator and the lead health education teacher also completed individual surveys concerning school programs and policies that affect students' health and the content of various health courses.

Since 1982, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has sponsored a cross-national, school-based study of health-related attitudes and behaviors of young people. These studies, generally known as Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), are based on independent national surveys of school-aged children in more than 40 participating countries. The HBSC studies were conducted every four years since the 1985-1986 school year. The data available here are from the results of the United States survey conducted during the 2005-2006 school year. The study results can be used as stand-alone data, or to compare with the other countries involved in the international HBSC. The HBSC study has two main objectives. The first objective is to monitor health-risk behaviors and attitudes in youth over time to provide background data and to identify targets for health promotion initiatives. The second objective is to provide researchers with relevant information in order to understand and explain the development of health attitudes and behaviors through early adolescence. The study contains questions dealing with many types of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other substances. Other topics include questions about family composition, the student's physical health, and other health behaviors and attitudes. Some of these topics include eating habits, dieting, physical activity, body image, health problems, and bullying. A school administrator also completed a survey concerning the school's programs and policies that affect students' health and the content of various health courses.

Since 1982, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has sponsored a cross-national, school-based study of health-related attitudes and behaviors of young people. These studies, generally known as Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), are based on independent national surveys of school-aged children in more than 40 participating countries. The HBSC studies were conducted every four years since the 1985-1986 school year. The data available here are from the results of the United States survey conducted during the 2009-2010 school year. The files contain data on 12,642 students from 314 participating schools. Of the 314 participating schools a school administrator questionnaire was completed by 283 of them. The study results can be used as stand-alone data, or to compare with the other countries involved in the international HBSC. The HBSC study has two main objectives. The first objective is to monitor health-risk behaviors and attitudes in youth over time to provide background data and to identify targets for health promotion initiatives. The second objective is to provide researchers with relevant information in order to understand and explain the development of health attitudes and behaviors through early adolescence. The study contains questions dealing with many types of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other substances. Other topics include questions about family composition, the student's physical health, and other health behaviors and attitudes. Some of these topics include eating habits, dieting, physical activity, body image, health problems, and bullying. A school administrator also completed a survey concerning the school's programs and policies that affect students' health and the content of various health courses.

Since 2008, the Youth Restoration Project (YRP) and the Central Falls School District (CFSD) in Rhode Island have collaborated to implement a multi-level restorative justice intervention focused on building partnerships among police, schools, social services, families, and communities through training and dialogue. Restorative justice (RJ) encompasses a broad framework of practices aimed at repairing harm and achieving accountability rather than imposing punishment. In criminal justice contexts, RJ models include victim-offender mediation, peer courts, and RJ conferences. The current project undertaken by the Urban Institute focused on evaluating the impact of restorative justice conferences conducted by the YRP in partnership with Family Services of Rhode Island. A restorative justice conference (RJC) is a highly structured, facilitated meeting that allows affected parties (e.g., offending student, victim, teacher) and their allies (e.g., parents/guardians, peers) to arrive at the best possible solution for all parties following a negative event or behavior. Three different types of student misbehavior were considered for referral to restorative conferencing as an alternative to more formal processes: (1) arrestable offenses (with or without victims), (2) chronic unexcused absenteeism (truancy), or (3) chronic disruptive behavior. The Urban Institute began implementing a conference observation pilot in a CFSD middle school and high school in fall 2014; the 2015-2016 school year was the first full year of implementation. Starting in 2016-2017, a middle school and high school in Providence also participated; conference observations were also conducted in a charter high school in the area. At these 5 schools between 2015-2016 and 2017-2018, 786 cases were referred for RJ conferencing; conferences were held in about half of these cases (379). A total of 105 conferences were observed by trained field staff. Post-conference interviews were conducted in the months following RJCs and allowed adult conference participants to share feedback regarding their experience and satisfaction with the conference process. Additionally, an outcome evaluation was conducted using student administrative data to assess the impact of conferences on student behavior. Finally, teacher surveys and focus groups were conducted in 4 participating schools to assess teacher perceptions of overall school climate as well as attitudes toward restorative practices and RJCs. This collection includes data from restorative justice conference observation (DS1) and teacher surveys (DS2). Administrative data from the outcome evaluation and qualitative data from post-conference interviews and teacher focus groups were not deposited and are not included in the ICPSR release.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigators if further information is needed. The current study subjected the body of empirical literature on school violence to a meta-analysis or "quantitative synthesis", to determine the key individual-, school-, and community-level factors that influence violence in school. The data are based on 693 studies of school violence that contributed a total of 8,551 effect size estimates--3,840 for delinquency/aggression (44.91%) and 4,711 for victimization (55.09%). These effect sizes were drawn from 545 independent data sets and 68 different countries. The majority of effect size estimates (56.22%) were based on U.S. samples. A total of 31 different predictors of school violence were coded at the individual, institutional, and community levels. The collection includes one Stata file, Meta-Analysis-Data-for-NACJD.dta (n=8,551; 9 variables).

Bullying, fighting, and other forms of interpersonal violence occur frequently in elementary schools, and are associated with student distress, poor school functioning, and increases in aggression, delinquency, and other behavior problems. Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a holistic, multi-tiered, evidence-based approach for preventing and reducing aggression and other problem behavior in school. However, the majority of PBIS schools struggle with more intensive interventions, which many students who present aggressive and disruptive behaviors need. School mental health (SMH) offers promise for addressing these limitations in PBIS. However, SMH lacks an implementation structure and as a result a student must effectively be at a crisis level to be referred for services. Because PBIS and SMH have operated separately, the impacts of both initiatives have been limited. To address these limitations, the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) has been developed by leaders from national centers for both initiatives, providing specific guidance on PBIS-SMH interconnection through effective teams, data-based decision making, implementation support for evidence-based practices, and ongoing quality improvement to assure responsiveness to school and student needs. Involving partnerships with school districts and community mental health agencies in two school districts located in South Carolina and Florida, 24 schools implementing PBIS with fidelity were randomly assigned to the three conditions: the ISF, PBIS and SMH, or PBIS alone (8 schools per condition). Data were collected from school records, teacher and student reports, and school implementation teams. The impacts of ISF were compared to the other two conditions on school climate and safety, student exposure to violence, problem behavior and discipline problems, and access to and quality of services.

School safety research rarely considers the school security climate as a product of the simultaneous implementation of several school safety interventions. This is potentially problematic, as schools seldom employ only one safety intervention. Rather, schools today employ several interventions simultaneously to meet their safety and security needs. The purpose of this study is to investigate and identify effective types of school security climates and examine student growth within these climates. This multi-year project attempts to meet two goals: 1) Identify effective types of school security climates; and 2) Determine how the school security climate affects individual students. Data were collected from approximately 600 students attending 10 schools over the course of three years. Measures included an adapted version of the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) and the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Survey (MDS3). The survey also included questions to obtain respondent demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity) and other descriptive information about students and their experiences.

This study investigated root causes of school shootings by using a case-control methodology to compare 157 adolescent school shooters (cases) to samples of two key comparison groups: 157 non-school adolescent shooting offenders and 157 non-offending youths who attended the same school as the school shooter (controls) in the United States between 1990 and 2020 (overall n=471). Specifically, the researchers compared: Adolescent school shooters who committed shootings both fatal and non-fatal to adolescents who committed shootings both fatal and non-fatal outside school grounds in the community. Adolescent school shooters who committed homicide to adolescents who committed shooting homicides outside school grounds in the community. Adolescent school shooters who caused non-fatal injuries to adolescents who committed non-fatal shootings with injuries outside school grounds in the community. Adolescent school shooters to non-offending students from the same school. All groups were compared on items theorized to be risk and protective factors to crime based on major criminology theories, such as social learning, general strain, social control, bio-social, life course, and psychology. Building upon the methodology used in The American School Shooting Study (TASSS), this study relied on open-source, content analysis research methods to obtain all publicly available information on the sampled individuals. Files were collected from over 60 databases, major search engines, and archival resources, which were then reviewed and coded by the research team for evidence of risk and protective factors.

The K-12 School Shooting Database records every time a gun is brandished or fired on U.S. school property. The database includes information on the location, date, and circumstances of the incident, including the time of day of the incident, the number of people killed or injured, whether victims were targeted or randomly chosen, what types of firearms were used, the shooter's affiliation with the school, and reasons given for why the incident occurred.

The Link for Schools project was a longitudinal study evaluating the implementation and administration of a school-based violence prevention program, Link for Schools (also referred to as Link), in a high-risk school district in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Study populations consisted of school staff and community members who participated in a two-tiered training program aimed at preventing and intervening with violence, and a sample of children in grades 1-8 who attended a school where the program was implemented. Study procedures took place during three academic years, starting in 2017 and ending in 2020. The Link program was built upon the principles of trauma-informed care (TIC) and psychological first aid (PFA) based in motivational interviewing to identify and intervene on mental health and behavioral precursors of violence, and to mitigate the immediate impacts of violence among exposed youth. TIC training for the entire school community served as the first tier of support, then a safety net of staff trained in PFA and screening for non-specific stress and referral (referred to as Link interventionists) served as a second tier. Students whose needs exceeded the existing school resources were directly referred to appropriate care. This collection contains the following data types: Case management records for each encounter interventionists had with students during the study time period (DS1) and linkages to other supports (DS2) Pre- and post-program survey data from school staff (DS4, DS7) Post-training survey data from school staff or parents who completed trauma-informed care (TIC) training (DS3), and staff who completed Link interventionist trainings (DS5, DS6) Costs of program administration, implementation, and training to estimate cost effectiveness (DS8) Student administrative records shared by the school district to determine initial eligibility for the intervention and track outcomes related to disciplinary action (DS9)

This supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (formerly the National Crime Surveys) was designed to collect data on crime victimization in schools in the United States. Student respondents were asked a series of questions to determine their school attendance in the last six months. Other questions concerning schools were posed including preventive measures employed by schools, students' participation in after-school activities, students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules, the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in schools, student bullying, hate-related incidents, and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. Other variables cover general violent crimes, personal larceny crimes, and household crimes and offer information on date, time, and place of crime. Demographic characteristics of household members such as age, sex, race, education, employment, household income, and marital status are provided.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The primary purpose of the School Crime Supplement (SCS) is to obtain additional information about school-related victimizations so that policymakers; academic researchers; practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels; and special interest groups who are concerned with crime in schools can make informed decisions concerning policies and programs. The SCS asks questions related to students' experiences with, and perceptions of crime and safety at school, including preventive measures employed by schools; students' participation in after school activities; students' perception of school rules and enforcement of these rules; the presence of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and gangs in school; student bullying; hate-related incidents; and attitudinal questions relating to the fear of victimization at school. These responses are linked to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) survey instrument responses for a more complete understanding of the individual student's circumstances.

The goal of this study was to test specific hypotheses illustrating the relationships among serious victimization experiences, the mental health effects of victimization, substance abuse/use, and delinquent behavior in adolescents. The study assessed familial and nonfamilial types of violence. It was designed as a telephone survey of American youth aged 12-17 living in United States households and residing with a parent or guardian. One parent or guardian in each household was interviewed briefly to establish rapport, secure permission to interview the targeted adolescent, and to ensure the collection of comparative data to examine potential nonresponse bias from households without adolescent participation. All interviews with both parents and adolescents were conducted using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology. From the surveys of parents and adolescents, the principal investigators created one data file by attaching the data from the parents to the records of their respective adolescents. Adolescents were asked whether violence and drug abuse were problems in their schools and communities and what types of violence they had personally witnessed. They were also asked about other stressful events in their lives, such as the loss of a family member, divorce, unemployment, moving to a new home or school, serious illness or injury, and natural disaster. Questions regarding history of sexual assault, physical assault, and harsh physical discipline elicited a description of the event and perpetrator, extent of injuries, age at abuse, whether alcohol or drugs were involved, and who was informed of the incident. Information was also gathered on the delinquent behavior of respondents and their friends, including destruction of property, assault, theft, sexual assault, and gang activity. Other questions covered history of personal and family substance use and mental health indicators, such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, weight changes, sleeping disorders, and problems concentrating. Demographic information was gathered from the adolescents on age, race, gender, number of people living in household, and grade in school. Parents were asked whether they were concerned about violent crime, affordable child care, drug abuse, educational quality, gangs, and the safety of their children at school. In addition, they were questioned about their own victimization experiences and whether they discussed personal safety issues with their children. Parents also supplied demographic information on gender, marital status, number of children, employment status, education, race, and income.

Project SOARS (Student Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility for School Safety) utilized a mixed-methods study design to develop and test a student-centered and technology-driven school safety framework to address peer victimization, violent behavior, and student reluctance to share critical safety information within high school settings. SOARS was a project of IRIS Media, Inc. and consisted of 4 phases implemented between 2016 and 2020. Activities for each phase were carried out in Oregon and Illinois high schools in order to facilitate inter-site replication of outcomes. Phase 1 was conducted in 2016 and consisted of focus groups and key informant interviews with students, school personnel, and parents to gather perceptions of current school safety practices. Phase 2 was undertaken in 2017 and asked students, school personnel, and parents to assess the acceptability and usability of prototypes of the SOARS framework. The SOARS framework consisted of (a) the Advocatr mobile app, which allowed students to report positive and negative behaviors in their school environment; (b) a 9-week curriculum engaging students with the concepts of student ownership of school safety, advocacy/self-advocacy, physical and emotional safety, and restorative conflict resolution; (c) informational briefs for school personnel and parents about the framework components and their rationale; and (d) guidelines for a student-led school-wide safety campaign. Phase 3 was rolled out in 2018 and 2019 and consisted of feasibility testing conducted with a small subset of teachers and students in those teachers' classrooms. Participants were surveyed before and after implementation of the SOARS framework. The focus of the feasibility test was on student access and use of the Advocatr app and the accompanying curriculum. During Phase 4 implementation in 2019 and 2020, researchers conducted a pilot test with students, school personnel, and parents from 4 high schools, 2 assigned to the intervention and 2 to the control condition. The focus of the pilot was to test the effectiveness of the SOARS framework. Demographic information was collected from all informants and includes gender (sex male or female; transgender identification), ethnicity, and race. Additional demographic information about students includes sexual orientation, approximate age (over/under 18 years), primary language, GPA, and grade. Parent demographics also include education level and student's grade, while school personnel (teachers and staff) also provided information regarding education level, school role, job title, years in current position, grades taught, and subjects taught. Users should note that qualitative data collected during phase 1 focus groups and phase 2 user acceptance tests are not included in version 1 of the ICPSR release. Additionally, in the quantitative datasets, character variables featuring open-ended string responses have been masked by ICPSR. This study will be updated at a later date to include qualitative data files and character variables in the quantitative datasets.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed. Bullying affects large numbers of U.S. students in elementary schools and is associated with short and long-term harms for both victims and bullies. Although prevention is critical, schools also need effective interventions for dealing with bullying once it occurs. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, and in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District and No Bully, WestEd conducted a two-year study of the impacts of the No Bully System (NBS) - a set of interventions designed to activate adult and peer support systems within the school for the targets of bullying. No Bully trains staff to prevent and interrupt student harassment and bullying and ensure school-wide antibullying policies are in place. The core component of NBS is the Solution Team where a trained adult facilitator (Solution Coach) brings together a group of 6-8 students (Solution Team) that includes the bully or bullies, bystanders and pro-social peers, and leads the team through a series of three brief meetings to end the bullying of one of their peers by cultivating empathy and developing peer-driven solutions. The target is not included in the initial meetings though s/he is invited to attend the final session. The collection contains 2 SPSS data files: NoBully_ST-Log-Data_final_archive.sav (n=94; 47 variables) and No-Bully_Survey-Data_final.sav (n=6410; 204 variables).

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) partnered with educators in 46 middle schools to implement Safe Communities Safe Schools (SCSS). SCSS seeks to prevent and reduce behavioral incidents, address mental and behavioral health concerns, and increase prosocial behavior in the school setting through three core program components: developing a functioning multidisciplinary school team, building capacity around data use, and selecting and implementing evidence-based programs. The study explored research questions in three areas: readiness (whether schools met baseline criteria and experienced changes in readiness over time), implementation (whether the SCSS model was implemented as intended; whether it is feasible, acceptable, and effective when implemented schoolwide), and associated outcomes (effects on school climate, safety, related behavioral and mental health indicators, and academic outcomes). To explore questions in these three areas, CSPV and external evaluators from American Institutes for Research conducted a mixed-methods randomized control trial with a staggered implementation design using qualitative data (open-ended questions on implementation surveys, focus groups) and quantitative data (staff and student school climate data, attendance/truancy rates, and suspension rates, and academic achievement data). This collection is organized into 12 parts and includes administrative school record data, student and staff climate surveys, and fidelity data. School record data from years 1 and 2 of the study include school-level attendance, truancy, and suspension rates, as well as student-level assessment data. Qualitative focus group data is not currently included in the collection.

The study assesses school climate and bullying across 45 schools in 20 rural districts and 5 counties of Southern Illinois. Investigators also evaluated the effectiveness of a low-cost, component-based intervention that focused on improving classroom management, playground monitoring, and school-wide disciplinary procedures. This mixed-methods study incorporated hierarchical linear modeling, with mixed-effects longitudinal models for repeated outcomes. The project design incorporated random assignment, with multiple pre- and post-intervention assessments. Major categories of variables include: students' feeling of safety in school areas; students' history of involvement in or observation of bullying; staff opinion and experience of bullying prevention methods; school policies on bullying; staff completion of training workshops; and demographics. The units of analysis are individuals and schools.

The School Emergency Preparedness Study, United States, 2018, was conducted to better understand the state of knowledge concerning violent emergency preparedness in schools and the interrelationship between federal, state, district, and school perspectives on safety planning. RTI International conducted a two-year study in four phases. In Phase I, the project team reviewed federal and state guidelines and mandates for school safety planning. In Phases II and III, a survey was administered to district safety and security directors and superintendents, then the team reviewed guidelines and mandates for a subset of districts. In Phase IV, interviews were conducted with administrators from 37 schools and results were analyzed from all four phases.

Student threat assessment is intended to maintain school safety by resolving student conflicts or problems before they escalate into violence, with the secondary benefit of reducing reliance on safety practices that have deleterious consequences (e.g., zero-tolerance discipline). In 2013, Virginia legislation mandated the establishment of threat assessment teams in all K-12 public schools by July 1, 2014. The major goals of the project were to: determine how student threat assessment is implemented in statewide practice in Virginia schools; determine what student and school outcomes are associated with student threat assessment; and determine whether training/technical assistance can improve student threat assessment. To address Goal 1, the research team collected data across five years from the annual school safety audit survey that included information on how often threat assessments occur, characteristics of the threat cases, such as student demographics and how the threats were assessed, and the outcomes of the threat. The team also collected data on threat assessment training needs. To address Goal 2, the team correlated threat assessment data collected under Goal 1 with data on student and school outcomes obtained from the annual secondary school climate survey and statewide disciplinary records for school suspensions. To address Goal 3, the team developed, tested, and updated four separate online educational programs tailored to students, parents, staff, and threat assessment teams. These online programs have been implemented by schools in Virginia, 28 other states, and Canada. This collection contains school safety audit data from 2013 to 2018 and all-time data for the online educational program assessments through 2019. Case-level data, high-risk case level data, and school climate data are available for limited years. Qualitative data on training needs will be made available in a future update.

This study is driven by the hypothesis that intervention and prevention programs to address violence and bullying in general, and cyberbullying in particular, can affect students' cyberbullying perpetration and victimization outcomes. Cyberbullying can occur throughout a student's day via various information and communication technologies. Thus, school administrators, teachers, and researchers have a unique opportunity to implement prevention programs that will, in addition to reducing toxic behavior, increase students' academic achievement, attendance, and rates of high school graduation. The researchers used meta-analytic techniques, such as combining all available effect sizes using robust variance estimation, to determine program effects. Specifically, the team answered the following questions: What is the overall impact of anti-cyberbullying, traditional anti-bullying, anti-violence, and school-climate intervention and prevention programming on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization? Are there certain program characteristics, types, or genres that are ineffective at producing meaningful changes in students' cyberbullying behaviors? Are there additional characteristics of the primary studies' methodologies, measurements, or samples that significantly and meaningfully moderate the intervention effect size? Do the programs have an impact on secondary outcomes, such as traditional bullying perpetration and student achievement?

For Waves 1 and 2 (2016-2017), the two-year longitudinal research examined the prevalence of seven different types of teacher victimization, its negative consequences among victimized teachers, and predictors of aggression directed against teachers. The research, using a stratified multistage cluster sampling design, surveyed 1,628 middle and high school teachers in 14 school districts, located in a large metropolitan area in the southwest region of the United States. Two waves of the longitudinal research collected 1) teachers' socio-demographic factors, 2) teacher classroom management styles, and 3) school climate factors which are related to teacher victimization. Also, the data contained characteristics of victimization, school responses to teacher victimization, and negative consequences of teacher victimization. Waves 3 and 4 (2018-2019) explored the trends and patterns of different types of teacher victimization focusing on victimizations via verbal abuse and non-physical contact aggression. They also examined the percentage of teachers reporting victimizations to school administrators, school responses to teacher victimization, and satisfaction with school handling of victimization incidents. Finally, Waves 3 and 4 investigated the effect of procedural justice on 1) victimized teachers' satisfaction with school responses, 2) physical distress, and 3) emotional distress. Users should refer to the data collection notes field below for additional information about study citation.

Many schools have implemented programs to address bullying, such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), or broader school behavioral issues, such as School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), but there have been calls to integrate school interventions in order to address the limits of each "stand alone" program. The purpose of this project was to develop an intervention combining OBPP and SWPBIS strategies into one integrated program, evaluate its effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), analyze the program's cost effectiveness, and examine the use of school-based mental health services in elementary, middle, and high school settings. Implications for policy and strategy are also discussed. School-level data were presented including disciplinary incidents, student and teacher attendance, program costs, and the presence of mental health services. Students and teachers within intervention and control conditions were surveyed about their perceptions of bullying, school safety, and school climate. Teachers in intervention schools were asked about program satisfaction, self-efficacy, and fidelity. Students were asked numerous questions pertaining to physical and mental health, bullying perpetration and victimization, and substance abuse. Teachers and students were asked their grade, gender, and race.

This study provides an evidence-based understanding on etiological issues related to school shootings and rampage shootings. It created a national, open-source database that includes all publicly known shootings that resulted in at least one injury that occurred on K-12 school grounds between 1990 and 2016. The investigators sought to better understand the nature of the problem and clarify the types of shooting incidents occurring in schools, provide information on the characteristics of school shooters, and compare fatal shooting incidents to events where only injuries resulted to identify intervention points that could be exploited to reduce the harm caused by shootings. To accomplish these objectives, the investigators used quantitative multivariate and qualitative case studies research methods to document where and when school violence occurs, and highlight key incident and perpetrator level characteristics to help law enforcement and school administrators differentiate between the kinds of school shootings that exist, to further policy responses that are appropriate for individuals and communities.

This is a multi-method study of school violence and victimization during the transition to high school. This study has two major data collection efforts. First, a full population survey of 7th through 10th grade students across 10 Flint Community Schools (fall 2016) -- which serve primarily African American and poor populations -- that will identify patterns of student victimization, including the location and seriousness of violent events, and examine the connections between school and community violence. This will be followed by a three-wave panel qualitative study of 100 students interviewed every 6 months beginning in the spring of their 8th grade year (spring 2017) and continuing through their 9th grade year. The goal of the interviews will be to further the research from the survey and develop a deeper understanding of how school safety impacts the transition experience, school violence, including how communities conflict impacts school safety, and what youth do to protect themselves from school-related victimization. Researchers integrated crime incident data from the Flint police department as a source for triangulation of findings. A community workgroup will provide guided translation of findings generated from mixed-methods analyses, and develop an action plan to help students successfully transition to high school. Results and policy implications will be given to practitioner, researcher, and public audiences through written, oral, and web-based forums. De-identified data will be archived at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.

This special topic poll, fielded January 3-8, 2008, is a part of continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on various political and social issues. The District of Columbia was the focus of this poll. Residents were asked for their feelings about the future of the District of Columbia, whether they thought the District was moving in the right direction, and the biggest problems facing the District at that time. Respondents were asked for their opinions of Mayor Adrian Fenty and whether they approved of the way he was handling his job and other issues such as improving city services, reducing crime, creating more jobs for District residents, the number of African Americans serving in city government, as well as their opinions of Mayor Fenty's relations with the District Council. Opinions were also solicited on the District of Columbia Council, respondents' own ward council members, the District police, Ward Eight Representative Marion Barry, head coach of the Washington Redskins Joe Gibbs, Police Chief Cathy Lanier, District Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools Michelle Rhee, and District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Natwar Ghandi. Several questions asked about issues in the respondents' own neighborhood, including safety from crime, how the process of redevelopment would affect the rich and poor, the neighborhood, and the city overall, whether respondents thought they would be forced from their homes due to the redevelopment, and whether respondents thought they could find a home they could afford within the District if they had to move that day. A series of questions focused on District public schools, including the school system's budget, violence and crime in the schools, lack of parental involvement, what was the biggest problem facing District public schools, and whether the transfer of control of District public schools to the mayor had made a difference. Additional topics included the theft of millions of dollars from the city by employees in the District's Tax and Revenue Department, respondents' financial situation, the Washington Nationals major league baseball team and new publicly funded baseball stadium, opinions on financing a soccer stadium for the team D.C. United, terrorist attacks in the Washington area, and gun control. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income, whether anyone in the household worked for the federal or city government, frequency of religious attendance, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), whether respondents rented or owned their home, voter registration status and participation history, political party affiliation, political philosophy, the presence of children under 18 in the household, and whether respondents had children in the District of Columbia public school system.