DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37592.v1
title: School Climate, Student Discipline and the Implementation of School Resource Officers, Kentucky, 1999-2016
title: Version 1

description: This study made use of existing data to examine the effect of implementing school resource officers (SROs) on exclusionary discipline (e.g., arrests, suspensions) as well as perceptions of school climate in a school district in the Midwestern United States. The data used in this study were from district administrative records from the 1999-2000 through 2015-2016 school years.
Among the schools in district that have implemented SROs, this study estimated the rates of exclusionary discipline and perceptions of school climate over the years before SROs were implemented, and compared those outcomes to parallel measures from after SROs were implemented. Schools that have not implemented SROs acted as a comparison group. 
Analytic techniques included latent growth curve modeling with multiple group piecewise models to examine differences between (a) schools with and without SROs (b) before and after SRO implementation. 
This study also incorporated interviews and surveys with SROs for the purpose of understanding how their roles and responsibilities in schools as well as their subjective experiences of stress may play a role in the relationships examined in the study.
description: The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of implementing SROs on outcomes related to school climate and suspension rates, with particular attention to racial differences in these effects and the role of school context. This study also examined how SROs perceived their roles and responsibilities and how these may be shaped by school contexts.
description: Data in this study came from both surveys administered to students, parents, and staff and administrative data on suspensions from the school district involved with the study. 
 The school climate data available in this study were from the 2007-08 through 2015-26 school years. A total of 130 schools provided data across all of these waves. School climate data were aggregated to the school level and provided as school means. This study used three different measures from each school for each survey item: (a) overall mean; (b) mean for White students; (c) mean for Black students. 
 The school district provided school-level out-of-school suspension counts and rates for each school year from 1999-2000 through 2015-16 for (a) all students, (b) White students, and (c) Black students. There were 131 schools that provided suspension data across all of these waves. 
 Qualitative data was also collected through interviews with the school resource officers in the study. The interviews with the SROs covered a wide range of topics including their roles and responsibilities, job related training, and perspectives on job duties. The qualitative data is not being made available in this release.
description: The following measures were used to evaluate school climate: sense of belonging, student voice, relationships with adults, and perception of safety. Other variables in this study include suspension rates, school size, school racial composition, and school-level poverty. 
 The variable <strong> SCHOOLID </strong> can be used to link cases across data files.
description: Not applicable
description: Response Rates: Not available
description: Presence of Common Scales: A Likert-type scale was used.
description: The data for this study came from a single large school district in the U.S. Midwest. The district had approximately 150 schools and serves approximately 100,000 students who came from diverse backgrounds. About 50 percent of the students were White, 35 percent were Black, and 15 percent were Latinx or another race/ethnicity. Similarly, students in the district came from families with a wide range of socioeconomic statuses; 60 percent of students district-wide were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. The district used a school assignment plan based on socio-economic status to distribute students across the city in a more equitable way.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Certified Staff Data
DS2: Classified Staff Data
DS3: Parent Data
DS4: Student Data
DS5: Suspension Data
description: Students, parents, and staff at a school district in the Midwestern United States. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: face-to-face interview; mail questionnaireQualitative data was collected during this study, but is not being released at this time.