Lindenwood University Digital Commons@Lindenwood University Dissertations Theses & Dissertations Spring 1-2016 Missouri Public School Administrators’ Perceived Effectiveness of Senate Bill No. 75 Joby B. Steele Lindenwood University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/dissertations Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons Recommended Citation Steele, Joby B., "Missouri Public School Administrators’ Perceived Effectiveness of Senate Bill No. 75" (2016). Dissertations. 290. https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/dissertations/290 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses & Dissertations at Digital Commons@Lindenwood University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Lindenwood University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Missouri Public School Administrators’ Perceived Effectiveness of Senate Bill No. 75 by Joby B. Steele January 2016 A Dissertation submitted to the Education Faculty of Lindenwood University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education School of Education Missouri Public School Administrators’ Perceived Effectiveness of Senate Bill No. 75 by Joby B. Steele This Dissertation has been approved as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Lindenwood University, School of Education Declaration of Originality I do hereby declare and attest to the fact that this is an original study based solely upon my own scholarly work at Lindenwood University and that I have not submitted it for any other college or university course or degree. Full Legal Name: Joby B. Steele Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Terry Reid and Dr. Sherry DeVore for their part in bringing the Lindenwood doctoral program to rural southern Missouri. Words simply cannot adequately express my appreciation of Dr. Julie R. Williams for her patience, guidance, and encouragement. I would like to thank the 52 Missouri high school administrators who took time from their busy schedules to participate in the research. To my children, it is going to be hard to make up for lost time spent working on this project, but I shall try. To my wife, I thank you for your continued love and support. Thanks for being so good to me for all these years. Lastly, I want to thank my Lord Jesus Christ for saving me and providing me the opportunity and ability to complete this program. I do know to whom much is given, much is required. ii Abstract In this quantitative study, the perceptions of safety and preparedness of Missouri’s high school administrators after participating in active shooter training as mandated by Missouri’s Senate Bill No. 75 were analyzed. As school shootings continue, states have passed legislation to prepare schools to provide safety for students and faculty members (Shah, 2013b). There are currently limited data about the perceived effectiveness of Missouri’s Senate Bill No. 75 and its ability to help administrators feel safe and prepared in the event of an active shooter. This study involved examination of what schools can do to prepare for a school shooting before one occurs and what schools can do during a school shooting. It also included information on what schools can expect after a shooting has occurred. Fifty-two Missouri high school administrators were surveyed, then data were aggregated by gender, years of educational experience, years of administrative experience, district size, and district location (urban or rural) as reported by the administrators. The majority, or 86.6%, of Missouri high school administrators felt more safe and prepared after participating in active shooter training. Differences did exist between rural and urban administrators in the perception of safety and preparedness with three of the smallest districts indicating feeling the least amount of safety and preparedness. When parsing data by gender only two of the 26 females did not feel prepared after training, while 10 males indicated they did not feel prepared after training. A slight majority, or 53.8%, of the administrators, were not in favor of arming selective school personnel after proper training. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables.................................................................................................................vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................ viii Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ...................................................................................... 3 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................ 8 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................. 10 Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................... 11 Research Questions and Hypotheses ....................................................... 12 Definitions of Key Terms ................................................................................... 13 Limitations and Assumptions ............................................................................ 13 Sample Demographics ............................................................................ 13 Instrumentation ...................................................................................... 14 Summary .......................................................................................................... 15 Chapter Two: Review of Literature ................................................................................ 16 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................... 17 Before School Shooting ..................................................................................... 18 Factors That Influence Violence ............................................................. 19 School Resource Officers ....................................................................... 30 Preparedness........................................................................................... 33 During School Shooting ..................................................................................... 42 Columbine and Other School Shootings.................................................. 46 iv After School Shooting ........................................................................................ 52 How Schools Respond ............................................................................ 52 Short-term response .................................................................... 54 Long-term response .................................................................... 55 How others respond .................................................................... 63 Legislative responses .................................................................. 65 Gun control ................................................................................. 69 Summary .......................................................................................................... 71 Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................ 75 Problem and Purpose Overview ......................................................................... 75 Research Questions and Hypotheses ....................................................... 76 Research Design ................................................................................................ 77 Population and Sample ....................................................................................... 78 Instrumentation .................................................................................................. 79 Data Collection .................................................................................................. 79 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 80 Ethical Considerations ...................................................................................... 80 Summary .......................................................................................................... 81 Chapter Four: Analysis of Data ..................................................................................... 83 Research Question 1 .......................................................................................... 84 Research Question 2 .......................................................................................... 84 Research Question 3 .......................................................................................... 86 Research Question 4 .......................................................................................... 87 v Research Question 5 .......................................................................................... 89 Summary .......................................................................................................... 90 Chapter Five: Summary and Conclusions .....................................................................