Impact Findings

These are the main findings regarding intervention impacts after 3 years.

• There were no statistically significant differences between intervention and control schools on self-reported student violence or victimization (figure ES-1). On average, 8th-graders in the intervention schools reported engaging in 2.84 violent acts at school in the past 30 days, compared with 8th-graders in control schools, who reported engaging in 2.69 violent acts at school in the past 30 days. On average, 8th graders in intervention schools reported being victimized 4.14 times in the past 30 days, while 8th graders in control schools reported being victimized 4.16 times in the past 30 days.
• There were no statistically significant program impacts on violence or victimization for students who were at risk for engaging in violence but who had not previously done so (figure ES-2). On average, 8th graders in the intervention schools who were categorized as being at a high risk for violence but who had not self-reported any of eight serious acts of violence ever at baseline (nonperpetrators) reported at the third-year follow up that they had engaged in 3.30 (change from baseline of 1.28) violent acts at school in the past 30 days. This is compared with high-risk, nonperpetrator 8th graders in the control schools who reported at the third follow-up that they had engaged in 3.12 (change from baseline of 1.35) violent acts at school in the past 30 days. In addition, high-risk, nonperpetrator 8th-graders in the intervention schools reported being victimized an average of 4.30 (change from baseline of 3.60) times at school in the past 30 days. This is compared with high-risk, nonperpetrator 8th-graders in the control schools who reported being victimized an average of 3.79 (change from baseline of 3.41) times at school in the past 30 days.
• There were no statistically significant program impacts on violence or victimization for high-risk students who had previously engaged in violence (figure ES 3). On average, high-risk, perpetrator 8th-graders in the intervention schools reported at the third follow-up that they had engaged in 3.95 (change from baseline of 5.36) violent acts at school in the past 30 days. This is compared with high-risk, perpetrator 8th-graders in the control schools who reported at the third follow-up that they had engaged in 3.90 (change from baseline of 4.92) violent acts at school in the past 30 days. Those in intervention schools reported being victimized 4.90 times at school in the past 30 days, on average (change from baseline of 6.29), while those in control schools reported an average victimization rate of 5.05 (change from baseline of 6.10).
• There were no statistically significant impacts on either secondary or intermediate outcomes. In addition, after 3 years of exposure to the RiPP and Best Behavior intervention, student measures for secondary outcomes—including student safety concerns, teacher victimization and safety concerns, and student prosocial behaviors—did not differ between students in intervention schools and students in control schools. Also, there were no statistically significant differences on intermediate outcomes—that is, where the program logic model predicts change would be observed before it would be observed on the outcome measures. These include student self-reported coping strategies, student perceptions of behavior expectations, and student attitudes toward violence.

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