College of Education and Human Development

Samantha Viano Receives National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Fellowship in Support of Research on How School Security Impacts Students

Samantha Viano

Samantha Viano, associate professor in the Education Leadership and Policy division within the School of Education at George Mason University, received a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in support of her research on whether school security differentially impacts minoritized students. Titled “Hardening Schools, Targeting Students: Minoritized Students, School Security, and the School-Prison Nexus,” Viano’s study will focus on a long-running grant program that provides schools with funding to purchase security enhancements like surveillance cameras and automatic door locks. The study will assess the impact that these security measures have on student outcomes including exclusionary discipline and the likelihood of incarceration or arrest in the criminal justice system. In doing so, the study will provide empirical evidence on the extent to which school security contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline.

The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship is highly competitive. This year, out of over 240 applications, 25 Fellowships were awarded. It is considered one of the most prestigious honors in recognition of early career educational research faculty members.

It is estimated that schools in the U.S. spend approximately $3 billion annually on the purchase of a wide array of security measures. Previous research has found that a police presence in schools can negatively impact Black youth and exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline. However, there is little research on how other kinds of security measures implemented in schools can affect student perceptions of their school environment and subsequent outcomes. The findings from Viano’s study will be among the first causal impact estimates of the effects of a wide array of modern school security measures on the overall student population and on marginalized students. In particular, the results will demonstrate whether school security measures affect educational outcomes like exclusionary discipline or the likelihood of student involvement in the criminal justice system.

Viano will analyze student data obtained from the education agency in one large state that has a diverse student population attending schools in several urban areas and economically disadvantaged communities. The data will consist of student-level data from all elementary, middle, and high schools in that state including records linked to data from juvenile justice and the adult criminal justice system.

In discussing how her research will address the school-to-prison pipeline, Viano stated, “I will include juvenile justice and felony criminal outcomes to assess whether students are at increased risk of arrest or incarceration when their school installs new security equipment. This will allow me to directly test whether new security equipment can be part of the school-to-prison pipeline by causing students to be more likely to be incarcerated.”

Viano elaborated on how this project aligns with her research interests. “My research has often examined issues related to school safety and security,” she stated. “I previously was part of a study funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative on the roles and perceived impacts of school resource officers in elementary schools. I am currently co-principal investigator on a study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education on school security’s relationship with student, teacher, and school-level outcomes.”

Viano commented on how the implementation of security measures at a school may not be effective in increasing safety and could create an environment where certain student populations feel unwelcome. She observed, “My continued research on school security stems from concerns about schools spending significant amounts on security without knowing whether security makes schools safer in addition to schools primarily serving Black and Brown students being especially likely to have prison-like security procedures. Schools have legitimate reasons for focusing on increasing school safety, but I am interested in how they can better understand whether solutions that focus on security are more or less effective than solutions that are more targeted at improving climate and belonging.”

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) extends its congratulations to Samantha Viano on being selected for the prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Viano is the first CEHD faculty member to receive this postdoctoral fellowship since it was established in 1984 and the first George Mason faculty member to receive this fellowship since 2001. Previously, Viano received the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship in 2017 to support her dissertation research.

To learn more about the Education Leadership program at George Mason’s School of Education, please visit the program website.