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Abstract
The effects of school safety on school performance are analyzed in this study. 359 public schools in the Miami-Dade school district are analyzed over a 3 year time period. School performance is gauged by a school’s combined FCAT score provided by the Miami-Dade Public Schools district. A mean school safety score is constructed for each school from the results of an annual school climate survey that assesses students’ perceptions of school safety. It was found using a panel random effects model that, in elementary schools, a 1 percentage point increase in a school’s mean school safety score increases a school’s FCAT score by 18 points, on average. No relationship was found in middle schools or high schools. Possible reasons for the discrepancy in findings between elementary schools and middle and high schools are discussed.