NCJ Number
212466
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2005 Pages: 121-141
Date Published
2005
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the psychometric integrity of the Adolescent Index for School Safety (AISS), an anonymous school-safety survey developed by Florida State University’s School Violence Prevention Project.
Abstract
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 requires in Title IV (Part A) that school systems use a self-report survey to assess school safety on a school-by-school basis. In response, the AISS was developed for students in grades 7 through 12, measuring five main domains: (1) prevalence rates for psychological, property, physical, and sexual student-on-student victimization (SSV); (2) perpetration of SSV; (3) fear of SSV; (4) perceived risk of SSV; and (5) coping strategies and perceptions of the school environment. The psychometric integrity of the survey was measured using school-based data on perceived risk of SSV collected from 3,337 children in grades 7 through 12 in a single Florida school using the AISS. Under analysis was the survey’s factoral structure, the associated scales for subtypes of perceived risk of SSV, and the reliability of those subscales. Exploratory factor analysis using Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) was used to identify and extract the underlying dimensions of perceived risk for SSV as reported through the AISS. Oblimin Rotation was used on measures of perceived risk for different types of psychology, property, physical, and sexual SSV. Results indicate the AISS contains face-valid measures for various types of perceived risk of SSV and therefore, holds promise for meeting the requirements of the NCLB Act. More research is necessary to determine the reliability of the scales in different school settings with differing student populations. Tables, references