School-based mental health services aim to foster positive academic and behavioral outcomes in students, however families often are not directly involved in implementing these practices. Family engagement in schools should be an essential focal point in school-based mental health services, as the partnership between families and schools has been shown to lead to positive student outcomes. This study used an evaluation tool known as the FAMSET to examine the PFS CARE intervention, a trauma-informed and culturally responsive intervention measuring family engagement in schools, which operates from an MTSS-framework. Specifically focusing on trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices, administrators and staff members were asked a series of thirteen questions regarding the construct. This study aims to examine the construct of trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices, to analyze administrator and staff differences, and to create a consolidated scale. Results showed that overall, the scales were efficient in capturing the construct of trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices, and the scales should be analyzed separately for administrators and staff members; additionally, several questions should be omitted or reworded in the administrator survey in future administrations. Family engagement in schools is an understudied topic, and one with promising future implementations – this study is one of the first to evaluate the FAMSET tool. In future studies, this preliminary data can be used to create a validated scale, and it is recommended that future samples are larger and expand to other faculty positions as well.
As a result of recent public attention on school resource officers (SROs), concerns regarding the effects of police presence in America’s schools have emerged. Despite this, little is known about how SROs and SRO programs function within the U.S. This project uses qualitative and quantitative methods to describe the six state-level programs that exist to regulate and fund SROs, as well as analyze the relationship between the schools that receive funding and their student demographics. Program elements were inconsistent among states, though some commonalities were found, such as the usage of the triad model, training sources, usage of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), and lack of regular evaluations or assessments. No relationship was found between student demographics and SRO-funded schools when compared to the overall state. The findings highlight a need for regulation and consistency among SRO programs, as well as more reliable publicly available information regarding these programs.