Flight to Safety in Deindustrialized Cities: Perceptions of School Safety in Charter and Public Schools in Detroit, Michigan

Safety is one of the primary reasons why parents report seeking out a school of choice in depressed cities with a high proportion of charter schools. However, little empirical research has examined how parents assess school safety in these settings. This study explores factors that parents associate with school safety in Detroit, Michigan by conducting semi-structured interviews with parents ( n = 31) in both charter and public schools. To contextualize parents’ perceptions of school safety, teachers ( n = 23) were also interviewed. Findings indicate that parental perceptions of safety were shaped by school building conditions, school disciplinary environment, school-based parental involvement, student selection, and school location. These perceived indicators of safety suggest that components of school climate may be important for raising perceptions of safety in challenging contexts where school safety is a pressing concern.

Assessment of Physical School Environment of Public Sector High Schools in Pakistan and World Health Organization’s Guidelines

The physical school environment influences the health and educational performance of students and staff. World Health Organization (WHO) has developed guidelines for developing countries to evaluate the Physical school environment. Hence this study analyzed the physical school environment of high schools to ascertain the extent of implementation of these guidelines in Multan. T en core indicators water quality, water quantity , water facilities , hygiene promotion practices , toilets and handwashing facilities, control of vector-borne diseases, cleaning and waste disposal system, school building conditions, school safety and supportive classroom conditions were assessed by three research tools. The responses of 10 core indicators were scored and described. The study concluded that the 10 core indicators at the district level were not meeting the WHO desirable score and the district score (1.01) was below the WHO desirable score (1.5). The development of the Physical School Environment is in the positive trend of

The relationship between school building and school life satisfactionOkul binaları ve okul yaşam doyumu arasındaki ilişki

The purpose of this research is to examine whether low and high student success and green-mixed-old types of buildings have a meaningful relationship with perceptions of teachers on quality of school buildings, and the relationship between school building conditions and life satisfaction of teachers, and the degree of effects of buildings to this satisfaction. Quantitative methods were used in the research. 170 participants of research were elementary and middle school teachers from Madison/Wisconsin, US. Stratified random sampling was used in the research. In data collection, ‘Quality School Building Scale’ and ‘Teachers Life Satisfaction Scale’ were used. Data was analyzed with Mann Whitney U test, F & r statistics, and multifactor regression analysis. According to results, school building conditions and life satisfaction of teachers has a positive relation. A significant correlation was found between perception of teachers of school buildings, and low or high academic success of students in the dimension of ‘equipment and building of school’ and ‘physical condition and equipment’ - in favor of green schools. Life satisfaction has an intermediate level meaningful relationship with school campus and lightnings, and with a close resulted, there is a low level meaningful relationship with visibility range and acoustics. School building sizes explains 20% of unidimensional life satisfaction. Thus, bettering the conditions of building should be an important task for authorities and employees of schools.Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu araştırmada öğretmenlerin okul bina kalitesine algıları arasında öğrenci başarısı ve okul bina tipine göre anlamlı bir farkın olup olmadığı; okul bina koşullarıyla öğretmenlerin okul yaşam doyumları arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın katılımcıları ABD, Wisconsin/Madison’da ilk ve orta dereceli okullarda görev yapan öğretmenlerdir. Araştırmada tabakalı seçkisiz örnekleme yöntemi kullanılmış, 170 öğretmen örneklemde yer almıştır. Veri toplama aracı olarak “kaliteli okul binası ölçeği” ve Yaşam Doyumu Öğretmen Ölçeği adlı ölçekler kullanılmıştır. Veriler Mann Whitney U, F ve r istatistiği ile çok faktörlü regresyon analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonuçlarına göre öretmenlerin okul bina koşulları ve yaşam doyumuna algıları olumludur. Akadamik başarıya göre öğretmen algıları toplam ölçek ve fiziksel koşullar boyutunda farklılaşırken, okul tipine göre yeşil okullar lehine tüm tüm boyutlarada farklılaşmaktadır. okulların lehinedir. Okul binaları ve öğretmenlerin okul yaşam doyumları arasında pozitif yönlü bir ilişki vardır. Okul yaşam doyumu ile fiziksel koşullar ve ışıklandırma boyutları arasında orta, akustik ve görüş mesafdesi boyutları arasında ise az bir farkla düşük düzeyde püzitif bir ilişki vardır. Okul bina ve donanımı okul yaşam doyumunu %20 düzeyinde açıklamaktadır. Bu durumda okul binalarının durumun iyileşmesi yetkililerin ve okul çalışanlarının önemeli bir konusu olmalıdır.

How related are technical and subjective measures of building conditions?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between technical school building conditions and student satisfaction with the school buildings. Learning more about the relationship between the measures will be useful for researchers who are studying the effect from physical work conditions on student achievement. Design/methodology/approach – The paper aims to study the correlation between technical condition and user satisfaction with school buildings using two different data sources. The first source is administrative data, where the local governments have reported the condition of their school buildings to a national investigation of school building conditions. The second source is survey data where students in Norwegian primary schools report their satisfaction with their learning environment, including the school buildings. Combining the two data sources provides a unique data set for a large number of Norwegian primary schools. Findings – The measures of technical and subjective condition are significantly correlated, but the correlation is far from 100 percent. Hence, it will be of great interest for researchers to look more into potential effects from subjective measures of building condition. Originality/value – The paper provides an investigation of the link between two different measures of building conditions that can both be relevant to use in studies of how school buildings affect student performance.