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Objective assessments of neighborhood environment and students’ self-reported school and neighborhood safety were both strongly associated with academic performance. Increasing neighborhood violence was associated with statistically significant decreases from 4.2 to 8.7% in math and reading achievement; increasing perceived safety was associated with significant increases in achievement from 16 to 22%.
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After controlling for the percent of students receiving free and reduced price lunch there were still strong associations between school climate and academic achievement with a few noteworthy exceptions.
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Poverty may be a more important predictor of academic achievement than neighborhood violence.
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In the 2005-2006 school year 60% of BCPSS 3rd graders performed at the proficient or advanced levels on the MSA; fewer did so in 5th grade (~52%).
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Fifth grade students had lower agreement with feeling safe in the school compared to 3rd and 4th graders.
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Neighborhood violence was slightly lower among 5th graders due to a higher proportion of fifth graders in schools within lower violence neighborhoods.
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Schools with higher self-reported safety going to and from school had a higher percentage of students passing the reading and math MSA.
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Student reports that there were a lot of broken windows, desks, and doors had lower academic achievement (β: −11.0% to −21.1%).
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Students reporting that weapon possession, drug and alcohol abuse were problems at their school performed worse on reading and math assessments.