WestEd’s Justice & Prevention Research Center conducted the first-ever empirical evaluation of SSSCs, giving policymakers and practitioners a framework to guide their development and improvement across the country.
The Challenge
School shootings in Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, Oxford, and Uvalde put school safety at the top of every state’s agenda. In response, many states created SSSCs—centralized hubs designed to coordinate resources, training, and support for schools statewide. But no one had ever studied them. What states had them? How did they operate? What made them effective?
How We’re Taking Action
Funded by the National Institute of Justice, we spent 3 years answering those questions, collecting data from 43 states.
We surveyed key informants in each state to map the landscape and to identify who knew these systems best.
We interviewed SSSC directors to document each center’s history, structure, and services to understand how it fits within the broader state school safety ecosystem.
We heard from schools directly. Surveys of superintendents and principals captured how aware schools were of their state centers, how much they used them, and whether they found them helpful.
We went deeper with stakeholder interviews, talking with people who work closely with their SSSCs to understand real-world impact and unmet needs.
The result was a first-of-its-kind framework to guide states in improving their school safety centers.
Resources
- Boal, A., & McKenna, J. M. (2024). What do we know about state school safety centers? Translational Criminology, Fall 2024, 29–31.
- Boal, A., Russo, S., Sutherland, H., Washington, A.Q., Muñoz, E. C., White, S. E., & McKenna, J. M. (2024). Recommendations to support awareness, use, and perceptions of state school safety centers: A framework. WestEd.
- Boal, A., Russo, S., Washington, A. Q., White, S., Muñoz, E. C., Sutherland, H., & McKenna, J. M. (2024). Service users’ perceptions of state school safety center supports and services. WestEd.
- Boal, A., Russo, S., Washington, A. Q., White, S., Muñoz, E. C., Sutherland, H., & McKenna, J. M. (2023). Research and evaluation on school safety: Stakeholder perceptions of state school safety center supports and services. WestEd.
- McKenna, J. M., Russo, S., Sutherland, H., Boal, A., & Petrosino, A. (2021). Research and evaluation on school safety: An evaluation of state school safety centers—the history and characteristics of state school safety centers. WestEd.
- McKenna, J. M., Russo, S., Sutherland, H., Boal, A., & Petrosino, A. (2022). States’ school safety centers: A brief look into history, characteristics, and activities. WestEd.
- McKenna, J. M., Russo, S., Sutherland, H., Muñoz, E. C., Boal, A., & Petrosino, A. (2023). Research and evaluation on school safety: The structure, services, and products of state school safety centers. WestEd.
- McKenna, J. M., Russo, S., Sutherland, H., Muñoz, E. C., Boal, A., & Petrosino, A. (2023). The structure, services, and products, of state school safety centers. WestEd.
What Sets Our Work Apart
Trusted in Both Education and Justice
We work across both sectors, which means schools, justice agencies, and policymakers all come to the table.National Scope, Local Nuance
We understand how school safety approaches vary across states. This lets us identify best practices that travel while recognizing when context changes everything.We Reach the Right People
Even when participants have no direct connection to a program, we know how to design data collection that captures the perspectives that matter most.