A national survey of school board members' perceptions of efforts to control the level of violence in American schools

The major purpose of this study was to determine school board members’ perceptions about violence in their school districts. The study asked school board members if they thought violence was a problem in their district, how violence affected their school district and about the effectiveness of policies, educational programs and other measures enacted to control violence. Data were collected regarding the frequency of board members’ perceptions that violence was a problem and their perceptions as to the effect of violence in their district. Data were collected to determine board members perception of the effectiveness of programs and measures their district had taken in an effort to control violence. Data were cross tabulated by size of school district, region of the country and type of school district. Descriptive research methods were employed in this study. A stratified, random sample of school board members was identified from the list of school board member subscribers to The American School Board Journal. Of the 21,655 board members in the population, 5,847 or approximately 27% were surveyed using a mailed questionnaire. The response rate was 17.9%. The study was sponsored by The American School Board Journal. The study revealed that while the majority of board members who responded to the survey do not feel violence is a problem in their district, the board members who feel that violence is a problem represent approximately 75% of the students in the United States. The majority of board members from the southern and pacific regions of the country perceive violence as a problem. The board members from the southern and pacific regions are more heavily involved in programs designed to control violence. Of note is the fact that in virtually all cases and cross tabulations, if a school district had enacted a plan to control violence, the plan was viewed by the majority of board members to be effective.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration

Department dc:contributor.department

Educational Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Weisenburger, William

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Underwood, Kenneth E.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Fortune, Jimmie C.
• Curcio, Joan L.
• Worner, Wayne M.
• Gaul, Thomas H.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06062008-171631

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38487