UVa study: Serious violence rare in state high schools

Virginia high schools are generally safe and serious acts of violence are rare, according to a study released Wednesday by the University of Virginia.
The study, conducted by Curry School of Education professors Dewey Cornell, Anne Gregory, Xitao Fan and Peter Sheras, represents the first statewide effort to gauge student attitudes toward their school environments.
According to Cornell, who was the project director, the main goal of the study was to look at school discipline, safety practices and student-support efforts.
Around 7,400 ninth-grade students and 2,500 ninth-grade teachers completed the online school climate survey, which was coordinated by the Curry School’s Virginia Youth Violence Project.
The survey was conducted in April and May of 2007. Because of this timing, researchers were able to compare responses of students before and after the shootings at Virginia Tech, which took place April 16.
The Virginia Tech shootings had little effect on student perceptions of school safety or reports of being bullied or victimized. But the number of students willing to seek help for threats of violence jumped from 72 percent before the shootings to 80 percent after.
“It was good news to see the high numbers of students who were willing to seek help for a violent threat, particularly since we know that many acts of violence have been prevented when schools knew about threats and investigated them,” Cornell said in a statement. “We would like to see even higher numbers, so it is important for teachers to emphasize to their students the difference between snitching for personal gain and seeking help to prevent someone from being hurt.”
The study’s other findings included that ninth-grade students generally see their teachers as supportive and encouraging and regard their school rules as strict but fair. Also, nearly three-fourths of students reported being teased about their physical appearance, about half reported teasing about sexual topics, and about one-third reported that students are often put down because of their race or ethnicity.
Three-fourths of students also reported, however, that new students are made to feel welcome and that students from different neighborhoods get along. More than 80 percent agreed with the statement “students at this school accept me for who I am.”
For the full report, visit http://youthviolence.edschool.vir
ginia.edu.