Preventing School Violence in Colorado through School Climate Improvement and Enhanced Safety Plans

This project will provide regional trainings for at least 750 diverse stakeholders (e.g., educators, mental health professionals, school resource officers) across Colorado. Fifteen safety teams representing 75 schools will receive intensive training, coaching, and implementation support, including engaging in a community of practice that will lead to more effective safety plans. Additionally, safety teams will train 2,200 school staff on the updated safety plans. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) will create free online modules focusing on violence prevention, positive school climate, and school safety topics based on the identified needs of the safety teams; this will help scale up outreach efforts across the state. These training modules will be added to an existing open-access learning management system currently being provided at a state and national level. CDE promotes collaboration with other state agencies to ensure aligned support for the field and will work through existing partnerships across state agencies (e.g., Colorado School Safety Resource Center) to build coherence on violence prevention in schools.