An analysis of state data shows that the presence of police officers in Connecticut schools leads to a higher average of student arrests, but the impact on student achievement is negligible.
In a report released last month, the New Haven-based policy-research group Connecticut Voices for Children analyzed state data comparing districts with school resource officers to those without.
Among the report’s findings is that Latino students at schools with SROs are six times more likely to be referred to law enforcement than Latino students at schools without police officers. Black children at schools with SROs were nearly twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement than in schools without officers in schools.
The report also found no statistical significance in academic performance on state testing along racial and ethnic lines between students at schools with SROs and those without.
