Performance Measures
This section presents selected program performance information on the program below, including, for example, GPRA goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of the progress made toward achieving program results.

Achievement of program results is based on the cumulative effect of the resources provided in previous years and those requested in fiscal year 2013 and future years, and the resources and efforts invested by those served by this program. Unless stated otherwise the source of these GPRA data are grantee annual and final performance reports.
Safe Schools/Healthy Students

Goal: To help ensure that schools are safe, disciplined, and drug free by promoting implementation of high-quality drug- and violence-prevention strategies.

Objective:Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative grantees will demonstrate substantial progress in improving student behaviors and school environments.

The following performance information is for the most recent (2007, 2008, and 2009) cohorts of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants. (Since 2010, the program has funded continuation awards only.)

Measure: The percentage of grantees that experience a decrease in the percentage of their students who have been in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Measure: The percentage of grantees that report a decrease in the percentage of their students who report current (30-day) marijuana use.

Measure: The percentage of grantees that report a decrease in students who report current (30-day) alcohol use.

Measure: The percentage of grantees that report an increase in the number of students receiving school-based mental health services.

Measure: The percentage of grantees that report an increase in the percentage of mental health referrals for students that result in mental health services being provided in the community.

Additional information: For the second measure above (the percentage of grantees that experience a decrease in the percentage of their students who have been in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey), data for the 2007 cohort are a mixture of survey data and incident data. For the 2008 and 2009 cohorts, data for that measure are exclusively survey data.

The data present a mixed picture. Generally they show improvement within cohorts on individual measures across years; but of the 36 targets for which data are available, only 10 targets were met. For the 2007 cohort for the last measure (the percentage of grantees that report an increase in the percentage of mental health referrals for students that result in mental health services being provided in the community), the 2011 actual data of 11 percent warrant some explanation. While only 11 percent reported such an increase, only 48 percent (rather than the balance of 89 percent) reported a decrease on this metric. The remaining 41 percent either reported they had no change, or did not report both of the 2 years of data needed to determine how they performed on this measure.

The following performance information is for the three cohorts of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants preceding the 2007-2009 cohorts that are displayed above.

Measure: The percentage of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant sites that experience a decrease in the number of violent incidents at schools during the 3-year grant period.

Measure: The percentage of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant sites that experience a decrease in substance abuse during the 3-year grant period.

Measure: The percentage of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant sites that improve school attendance during the 3-year grant period.

Additional information: Data present a mixed picture. Generally they show improvement within cohorts on individual measures across years; but of the 15 targets for which data are available, only 2 targets were met. The data generally show an improvement on the measures for the 2006 cohort compared to the prior cohorts.

Other Performance Information

Safe Schools/Healthy Students Evaluation

Two national evaluations of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative have been conducted, the first under a cooperative agreement with the Department of Justice and the second under contract with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. Both were jointly managed by the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice. The evaluations sought, overall, to document the effectiveness of collaborative community efforts to promote safe schools and provide opportunities for healthy childhood development.

The first evaluation focused on the fiscal year 1999, 2000, and 2001 cohorts under the initiative, a total of 97 sites. Three waves of data were collected from each of the sites, with data collection spanning 2001-2004. (Data collection was conducted three times over the life of each 3-year grant cohort.) The evaluation collected data from principals and teachers in schools served by these sites, as well as from middle and high school students in a more limited subset of “sentinel” sites representing various regions of the country and a variety of population densities. The sentinel sites included a total of 410 schools. (Surveying students in all 3,932 schools among the 97 sites would have been cost prohibitive.)

Changes were calculated between wave one and wave three data collection for each of the three grant cohorts. Some statistically significant changes (at the p=<.05 level) in student outcomes related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and incidents of violence have been identified. For example:

• Student self-report data for high school students indicated decreases in 30-day alcohol and tobacco use, cigarette sales on school property, and disapproval of peer substance use. Current alcohol use was down 10 percent, and current tobacco use declined 13 percent. Middle and high school students also reported feeling less unsafe at school (a 7 percent reduction for middle school students and a 6 percent reduction for high school students). 
• Teachers in elementary schools reported a 5 percent reduction in classroom bullying, a 21 percent reduction in feeling threatened by a student, and an 11 percent reduction in being verbally abused by a student. Finally, although not statistically significant, elementary school principals reported a 33 percent reduction in current-year tobacco infractions and a 36 percent reduction in total alcohol infractions, and elementary school teachers reported an 8 percent reduction in classroom fighting.

The second evaluation is examining activities implemented by 175 sites in the fiscal years 2005 through 2009 cohorts. Data continue to be collected through site visits, project- and school-level surveys, telephone interviews, and focus groups. Thus far, this evaluation is finding that communities can make effective use of limited funds through high-functioning partnerships that bring together key local agencies to serve children and youth. The results offer substantial evidence of the Initiative’s success, including reduced violence and improved school safety, improved access to mental health services, and reduced alcohol and other drug use. By comparison, data for the same period (2005 to 2009) from sources such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (CDC, 2010) show no significant improvements in violence, school safety, or current substance use for all youth across the Nation. Findings from the evaluation also demonstrate the effectiveness of the grants with regard to the collaboration among Safe Schools/Healthy Students partners, improved services and systems, and increased use of data to guide policies and procedures. Key findings from the second evaluation for the 2005 to 2007 cohorts of grants (which have completed all grant activities) include the following:

• A 15 percent decrease in the number of students involved in violent incidents during the grant period (from 26,727 in year 1 to 22,342 in year 3).
• A 5 percent decrease in the number of students reporting that they had experienced violence from year 1 of the grant period to year 3.
• Most staff at grantee schools reporting that the initiative had made their schools safer. By year 3 of the grant, 93 percent said the initiative had improved school safety, 90 percent said it had reduced violence on campus, and 76 percent said it had reduced violence in the community.
• Grantees experiencing a dramatic 288 percent increase in the number of students who received school-based mental health services and a 242 percent increase in those receiving community-based services.

Data collection continues on the cohorts awarded in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 and will become available as those cohorts complete all of their grant project activities in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) information in the spreadsheets below is for the FY 2007 cohort of Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative grantees.

Data are included in the spreadsheets below for the following measures:

• Percentage of grantees that experience a decrease in students who did not go to school on 1 or more days during the past 30 days because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to and from school;
• Percentage of grantees that experience a decrease in students who have been in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey;
• Percentage of grantees that report a decrease in students who report current (30-day) marijuana use; and
• Percentage of grantees that report a decrease in students who report current (30-day) alcohol use.

Some grantees provided data about similar topics (for example violent incidents at school or students who reported being bullied), but not provide data for the four identified measures. In those instances, "no data" was recorded in the spreadsheet because the grantee was not able to provide data for the established measure.

We have designated these results as "interim" because some sites may be able to provide additional in their next semi-annual reports.

• Fiscal Year 2007 Cohort
  MS Excel (58KB)

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) information contained in the spreadsheets below represents data for the Fiscal Year 2004, 2005, and 2006 cohorts of Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative grantees.

The measures track grantee progress in reducing substance abuse and violence, and improving attendance and access to mental health services. Grantees were not required to provide baseline data for the measures in their applications for funding, or to collect baseline data before beginning program implementation. Grantees were able to select individual items that responded to the GPRA measures, but also addressed locally identified problems and challenges. As a result, data furnished for GPRA measures may not be comparable from grantee to grantee.

In many instances, grantees provided data in their performance reports for more than one item (for example, data about rates of use for several different drugs, or information about attitudes about drug use). In order to provide a brief look at grantee progress for this cohort, we selected just a single item measure per grant site to include the spreadsheets posted here. Generally, we selected items for inclusion that were reported by the largest number of grantees.

• Fiscal Year 2006 Cohort
  MS Excel (69KB)
• Fiscal Year 2005 Cohort
  MS Excel (87KB)
• Fiscal Year 2004 Cohort
  MS Excel (49KB)