Master of Education Research Theses

Date of Successful Defense

4-15-2014

Date Degree Awarded

5-3-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (M.Ed.)

School/Department

Education

Advisor

Bryan Moore, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Eddie Baumann, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Timothy Heaton, Ph.D.

Keywords

armed teachers, armed employees, CCW, gun control, school safety, school shootings

Abstract

This mixed-methods study examines the perceptions of classified and certified staff members at a rural, Southwestern Ohio high school and was based on results from a 27-item questionnaire. The study covered three main topics: (1) perceptions of safety, (2) perceptions of armed employees, and (3) views on what procedures and limitations should be in place if a school were to adopt an armed employee policy. With results similar to previous nationwide surveys, 94.4% of participants believe their school is a safe place to work, however only 66.7% believe their school has sufficient procedures in place should a school shooting occur. Also the results indicated that 38.8% of participants would be willing to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds, 30.6% would not be willing to carry a concealed weapon, and 30.6% were unsure. While many of the participants believe that there is a need to fight back, they also raised concerns regarding teachers carrying concealed weapons such as: weapon security, training, and mental health stability. The results showed a significant difference between the perceptions of certified and classified staff in the following areas: (1) the sufficiency of current procedures; (2) having multiple teachers carry concealed weapons; and, (3) having multiple administrators carry concealed weapons. The research also indicated the need for schools to critically examine, discuss, and practice the procedures that are already in place in order to ensure that the current procedures are sufficient should an active shooting occur.

DOI

10.15385/tmed.2014.2

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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