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This chapter presents a rationale for developing and implementing comprehensive, multi-tiered interventions to reduce behavior problems in schools, and catalogs an array of empirically supported strategies and programs at each intervention level (i.e., primary/universal, secondary/targeted, and tertiary/remedial) designed to meet the needs of students while also meeting the unique needs of an individual school district in the most effective, pragmatic, and cost-efficient manner possible. It also discusses widely used school security measures that have not been empirically supported in improving school climate or reducing student behavior problems and makes a series of recommendations for improving the ways in which school discipline data are collected and reported to the general public.

This chapter explains how and why public schools and prisons have collaborated in the War on Crime era. It shows that the punitive shift in education catalyzes youth correctional vulnerability while serving larger social and political needs. Specifically, it documents the powerful influences of market forces in shaping school security expansion and what has been called the “at-risk youth industry.” As public schools have employed a correctional approach to education, they have established students' initial approach to correctional custody. In demonstrating how youths experience punitive schooling within the correctional spectrum of the at-risk youth industry, nationally and in New Orleans, the chapter revisits and revises current theories of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Chapter 7 examines the financial impact of school security and punishment practices. Unlike most other governmental efforts, school safety practices seem to have evaded prior scrutiny of their costs. This chapter estimates their direct and indirect costs, including the expense of security infrastructure and disciplinary personnel, as well as the future costs of lost wages and justice system involvement that may result from school punishment. Estimates show that school security and punishment are very costly, despite the fact that prior research shows them to be fairly ineffective and even harmful.

This chapter considers the effects of a particularly important (and symbolically powerful) school security initiative: full-time police officers in public schools. Though they bravely attempt to counsel and mentor students, often police have neither the skills nor the resources to do so effectively. Their presence escalates disciplinary situations, both by introducing a law-and-order mentality to the school and by facilitating the arrest of students whose crimes may otherwise have been considered too minor to warrant calling the police. Yet despite these real problems, their presence helps in some ways; though they seem unable to prevent most misbehavior, they do ease the fears and insecurities of almost all stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, and administrators. This benefit needs to be considered along with the drawbacks in an informed, critical discussion about whether the schools should have full-time police officers on campus.

This concluding chapter offers suggestions for school punishment and security that would be more effective at preventing school crime and misbehavior than the current regime. Such strategies would be strict, but more fair and consistent; they would not include zero-tolerance policies; they would include more rewards for good behavior; they would involve counseling, treatment of students' underlying problems, and conflict resolution; and they would involve students as partners rather than objects of punishment. The chapter also addresses the issue of police in schools, and suggests that on balance, they would best be restricted only to schools with demonstrated crime problems. There are ways that we can better protect children in schools from harm, and one important mission of this book is to discuss these methods.

This introductory chapter argues that much of the new homeroom security prevalent in schools today is a response to fear and general insecurities rather than careful, evidence-based deliberation. Though it is compelling to argue that contemporary school punishment and security is a response to Columbine and other school shootings, such an explanation oversimplifies a complex trend that began long before Columbine. As a result, school discipline policies are overly simplistic reactions to fears that appease demands for harsh accountability. Though they may be well-intentioned, these policies often are not based on evidence of what actually works to help the problems schools and students face.

This chapter summarizes the existing evidence on the subject of school safety practices. It argues that students need firm and clearly communicated rules, but that schools across the U.S. have gone too far in this direction, resulting in harmful over-policing and punishment of students. After describing how excessive punishment harms students, it then discusses the evidence about policing in schools. The chapter concludes by describing policies and practices supported by evidence as more promising strategies for promoting school safety.

Chapter 8 concludes the book by summarizing the argument about the real school safety problem and why this problem is vitally important for the well-being of youth, families, communities, and all of society. It outlines productive next steps for moving forward by discussing a series of principles that should be applied when addressing school security and punishment, and discusses potential obstacles for meaningful reform that must be overcome.