Building Evidence on What Works for School Safety

October 16, 2025

By Ashley Boal

Classrooms should be safe spaces for students, but they have unfortunately become the backdrop to some of the nation’s most devastating tragedies. Over the years, school safety has garnered national attention, particularly following mass casualty events. Despite a unified interest in the safety of students and staff, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about which measures best support school safety.

Research and evaluation are valuable tools to help leaders better understand the implementation and impact of the strategies available to improve school safety. This post explores five school safety projects led by WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center, highlighting both completed studies with actionable findings and ongoing work that continues to build evidence for safer, more supportive schools.

State School Safety Centers

State school safety centers (SSSCs) can serve as powerful, centralized hubs that provide resources, training, and technical assistance to diverse interest holders as they plan for and respond to school safety incidents. Despite their important role in supporting school safety infrastructure within states, little information exists about the origins of these centers, their structure and focus, the supports they offer, and the ways district and school leaders interact with them. To address this knowledge gap, WestEd conducted a study to develop a comprehensive understanding of SSSC characteristics and activities, as well as intended users’ awareness, use, and perceptions of their SSSC.

Evaluation results moved quickly from evidence to action, helping shape decisions at the highest levels of government and supporting the development of safer, more supportive schools nationwide.

Key Findings: Findings from this study, which was completed in 2024, provide rich information to support policymakers and agency leaders in developing effective systems to support school safety, including a framework to guide the development and refinement of SSSCs. For example, the study’s recommendations encourage SSSCs to diversify their funding streams, build multidisciplinary teams, and use data to ensure the consistent delivery of high-quality services and supports.

School Police Reform

Existing research on police in schools is mixed and largely suggests a detrimental impact on student experiences; however, there is a limited body of evidence on the impact of school-based police, and even less is known about the impact of policies to remove police. To better understand what happens when police are removed from schools, WestEd conducted a mixed-methods study to examine the impact of school police reform on student safety, behavior, well-being, and disciplinary outcomes in California schools.

Key Findings: Preliminary results from the study suggest that although police reform didn’t affect discipline rates, student behavior, or safety perceptions, removing police from schools

• enhances student–staff relationships,
• improves student engagement, and
• protects against negative outcomes linked to insufficient mental health staffing.

Behavioral Threat Assessment

Behavior threat assessment (BTA) is a systematic process to address school safety concerns by identifying, investigating, assessing, and intervening in potential safety threats. Although BTA is commonly used, implementation of this process varies widely across states, local education agencies, and schools. Given this variation and its potential impact on the effectiveness of BTA, WestEd conducted a study of BTA in Texas to develop a better understanding of the necessary elements to facilitate successful implementation—supporting BTA teams in navigating challenges to implementation and enacting structures and norms that support strong BTA implementation.

Key Findings: Successful BTA implementation requires the following key qualities:

• ample school and community resources
• a positive school culture
• consistent communication

These findings also inform the technical assistance supports WestEd provides to BTA teams across the country.

Training for Police in Schools

The use of police in schools, most commonly school resource officers (SROs), is a widely used practice across the United States for preventing and responding to crime. Although placement of SROs in schools is common, it is widely acknowledged that working in schools requires a distinct skill set and specialized training is necessary. However, there is limited research about the quality and effectiveness of such training.

To address this gap, WestEd is evaluating SRO training funded by the National Association of School Resource Officers, the largest trainer of SROs nationwide. This study examines the quality, relevance, and usefulness of training, as well as growth in trainee knowledge, skills, and ability to keep schools safe.

Findings from this study will be available in 2026 and will be used to improve SRO training and to provide important information to the field about the extent to which training improves SRO knowledge and skills.

School-Based Firearms

Previous research suggests that safe gun storage, including gun safes, trigger locks, and separate ammunition, is an effective strategy to limit unauthorized access to guns and that most Americans are supportive of safe gun storage practices. In 2023, Texas became one of the few states to legislatively mandate and hold schools responsible for communicating the importance of safe firearms storage practices to parents and guardians.

WestEd, in partnership with the Texas School Safety Center, is conducting the first empirical study to examine the potential impact of a school-based statewide legislative mandate to deliver safe firearms storage information to families.

This study seeks to fill a critical knowledge gap about the impact of such legislation, which may be used within Texas and other states and localities seeking to implement and refine such campaigns.

How We Help: Building Safe and Healthy Communities

Research and evaluation to better understand the most effective strategies to prevent and respond to school safety incidents is vital. WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center builds evidence to guide school safety policies and practices that help educators, policymakers, and community leaders create safe and supportive schools.

Connect with our experts to learn how we can partner to support school safety in your state.

About Our Author

Ashley Boal is a research director with WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center. She leads mixed-methods research and evaluation studies on topics such as school safety, training for law enforcement and educators, community schools, and school climate.