Getting Tough on Assaults: Do State and School Policies and Practices Reduce Physical Violence Against Educators?

Physical violence directed against educators is associated with adverse consequences. We employed a multilevel path analysis to test the relations between state- and school-level policies and practices to physical violence and the mediating and moderating roles of school-level disciplinary practices and school student racial/ethnic composition. Using a sample of 6,793 K–12 educators, findings revealed that state-level zero-tolerance policies did not predict physical violence or perceptions of school disciplinary policies and practices (i.e. strength of disciplinary policies, fair disciplinary practices, effective disciplinary practices). Perceived fairness of disciplinary practices was negatively associated with physical violence. School student racial/ethnic composition moderated the association between perceived fairness of school disciplinary practices and physical violence. Implications for school safety policies and practices are discussed.