School Climate

Louisiana’s Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative evaluates a school’s climate based on an analysis of data and provides data-driven interventions through a program called Positive Approaches for Safe and Supportive Schools or PASSS.

Schools are assessed based on four measures - support and engagement (40%), violence, victimization and substance abuse (40%), discipline rate (10%) and attendance rate (10%). Eight school districts were scored for the 2010-2011 school year - Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lafourche, Jefferson, Plaquemines, Tangipahoa and Terrebone.

The evaluation tool was developed in 2010 by the Louisiana Department of Education with a 13.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.