In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $38.8 million in Safe and Supportive School (S3) grants to 11 states to measure school safety at the building level and to provide federal funds for interventions in the schools with the greatest needs.
Goal and Focus of the S3 Grant Program
The ultimate goal of the four-year grants was to create and support safe and drug-free learning environments and increase academic success for students. Through these grants, funded by the Office of Safe and Healthy Students, the U.S. Department of Education supported state efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, ensure the health and well-being of students, and teach students good citizenship and character.
Funds were used by State education agencies to develop measurement systems that allowed them to assess conditions for learning within individual schools, including school safety, and to make this information publicly available. Using these data, states worked in collaboration with participating local educational agencies to improve the learning environment within schools that faced the biggest challenges.
S3 Descriptive Study
A descriptive study of the S3 grant projects was completed, summarizing participating districts and key operational partners, as well as primary implementation activities and outcome data.
Download the S3 Descriptive Study Executive Summary
In addition to the cross-grantee Executive Summary, a longer study document is available upon request (contact NCSSLE@air.org).
Comprehensive S3 grantee reports (full profiles and brief snapshots) can also be found on NCSSLE's State pages which are linked below (select "Safe Supportive Schools" on the State page).