This document discusses a framework for supporting State School Safety Centers based on four promising practice categories: vision and mission, structure and staffing, supports and services, and audience and outreach; it also discusses factors unrelated to awareness, use, and perceptions of State School Safety Centers, as well as ways for stakeholders to approach future research studies.
This framework document provides readers with information about the structures and approaches that encourage user engagement with State School Safety Centers (SSSCs) that yield outcomes such as: high awareness of the SSSC; high SSSC usage; and positive perceptions regarding the quality, utility, and impact of an SSSC. The document details the evaluation process which led to a comprehensive examination of all data collected over the course of the study to develop a framework of promising practices by participating SSSCs. The evaluation led to the identification of several promising practices for structuring, functioning, and providing supports and services within SSSCs, which are laid out in this framework document and presented as falling into four categories: vision and mission, structure and staffing, supports and services, and audience and outreach. The document is divided into sections for each category, with each section containing examples from the field. It also describes some factors that do not strongly influence awareness, use, and perceptions of SSCs, and emphasizes the need for additional research to determine the efficacy of SSSCs in enhancing school safety.