As educators, especially those with graduate and doctoraldegrees, you have been exposed to “continuous improvement” and “improvementscience” models as a foundation for strengthening curriculum, instruction, andschool leadership.  But are you applying continuousimprovement models to school safety, security, and emergency preparedness, aswell?

Continuous improvement models and school safety

In Learning to Improve: How America’s Schools Can GetBetter at Getting Better, Bryk et al. (2015) present thePlan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle as a foundation for improvinglearning.  First we plan by defining thechange, predicting what will happen, and designing a way to test thechange.  Second, we do by carrying outthe change and collecting data on how the change was implemented.  Third, we study by analyzing the data, comparingwhat happened to the predictions, and obtain insights for the next cycle.  Finally, we act by deciding what to do nexton what we learned and whether we abandon the idea or make adjustments, andthen start the cycle over again in our process for improving.

As we travel the country consulting for and with superintendents,principals, and their safety and crisis/emergency teams, we are often asked howthey can improve their school safety planning and emergency preparedness? Welook to see if they are using continuous quality improvement strategies.  Too often the answer we receive is no.

Why not? The concept of continuous improvement is not new inthe educational environment. It is used in other areas of education but notregularly in safety and security. When we ask if school safety is the numberone priority in their schools, we often get a lengthy pause before we get ananswer.

Yet in the public realm, school safety is always number one,at least in rhetoric. But the often-hidden reality is that curriculum,instruction, and test scores are really the number one priority in most school districts.  School safety is, or at least should be, either“another number one” or an equal value number two on the list.

Apply continuous improvement to school safety, security, and emergency preparedness programs

School safety and instruction do not have to be mutually exclusive.  In fact, they should go hand-in-hand, not only in rhetoric to parents and school-community, but also in practice. Using the improvement sciences that are applied to curriculum and instruction for school safety, security, and emergency preparedness can help school leaders meet school safety goals.

Continuous quality improvement for school safety does nothave to be complex. The Plan-Do-Study-Act does not require paralysis-by-analysis.  It can provide a four-step framework that canguide school leaders in evaluating what they and their school safety teams doas a part of their school safety program. It can also provide quality data and documentation for pursuing schoolsafety grants and other outside funding to support prevention, security, andpreparedness measures.

Some areas where continuous quality improvement can beapplied include:

• Hiring and management of schoolpolice/security/SROs
• Physical security hardware and producteffectiveness and use in PreK-12 contexts
• Training of ALL employees (including supportstaff) on emergency preparedness
• Emotional, behavioral, and other mental healthstudent supports
• Threat Assessment

This is only a partial list, but it provides a startingpoint for superintendents and principals to change how you think about schoolsafety planning.

School security and emergency preparedness assessments as a part of continuous improvement

Superintendents and principals often do curriculum audits,facility audits, and other assessments to have an independent, objectiveoutside “second set of eyes” examine what they are doing and how they can buildupon those strengths. Why should they do anything less with school safety —the area they tell parents, staff, students, and the media is their “number onepriority” as school leaders?

See our School Security and Emergency Preparedness Assessment page for more information on how independent, non-product-affiliated professional assessments can be a starting point or next level step in your school safety continuous improvement process.  Is it time (or past time) for a professional assessment of your school safety program?

Chuck Hibbert is a Senior Consultant to National School Safety and Security Services

Ken Trump is the President of National School Safety and Security Services

National School Safety and Security Services

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