Job performance expectations of school resource officers

Linda Adell Kennedy, Tennessee State University

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine (a) the differences in perception among principals, assistant principals, teachers, and school resource officers regarding the tasks and roles of the school resource officer; (b) the differences in perception among grade levels regarding the tasks and roles of the school resource officer; and (c) the differences in perception of the tasks and roles of the school resource officer based on school personnel's years of experience working with/as school resource officers. Participants employed in fourteen Rutherford County, Tennessee, schools were surveyed using an adapted version of Battle's (1996) Middle School Campus Police Officer Questionnaire. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine if statistically significant differences existed among positions regarding tasks and roles. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to determine if statistically significant differences existed between ethnic groups by position and between genders by position regarding tasks and roles. The Pearson correlation was used to determine relationships between (a) participants' years of experience working with/as school resource officers and tasks/roles; (b) years of teaching experience and participants perception of tasks and roles; and (c) participants teaching grade level and perceptions of tasks and roles. It was concluded that (a) principals and assistant principals tended to agree on perceptions of tasks and roles of the school resource officer; (b) male and female principals tended to agree on perceptions of roles of the school resource officer; (c) male and female school resource officers tended to agree on perceptions of tasks and roles of the school resource officer; and (d) principals, assistant principals, teachers, and school resource officers tended to agree that the advantages of staffing a school resource officer position outweighed the disadvantages. Based upon the findings of this study, it was recommended that (a) a proactive approach to school violence should be taken; (b) in-service training should be conducted to educate stakeholders about the responsibilities of the school resource officer; (c) schools' security plans should be periodically evaluated; and (d) the effectiveness of the school resource officer program should be periodically evaluated.

Subject Area

School administration

Recommended Citation

Linda Adell Kennedy, "Job performance expectations of school resource officers" (2000). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI3024624.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3024624

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